The Healing Souls

Best Friends

When I got home, I went straight to the back and started some woodchips in my grill. It was also a smoker. My guys from work came over for a barbeque a year ago and one asked how many people I could fit. One whole cow fits in it. I rarely cooked for fewer than three trolls when I grilled.

Being able to make a lot of meat at once was useful when trying to feed that many large creatures. I wouldn't be grilling, though. I would be smoking today. Normally, for a whole pig, you wanted a really long time, but trolls ate raw and slightly rotten meat for most of existence. We didn't need it to be cooked through.

It was all about the flavor. Most trolls don't have many taste buds, but I did, being half human. My friends appreciated having food that tasted good, as well.

There were a lot of differences between my friends and me. I could see, smell, and taste better than they could. Some trolls were born blind. Not like Carmen, though. They didn't have eyes.

I thought about her icy blue eyes. Goddess, they were beautiful. I shook my head. I shouldn't be thinking about the sweet little werewolf. There was no world in which a troll and a werewolf could be together. And even if we were, we wouldn't be accepted. At least, not by other wolves.

Other trolls thought I was strange enough. They would laugh about it, but wouldn't care. They would even protect her as if she were one of our own. Damn it. I was thinking about her again.

Heading into the house, I cleaned up from breakfast and went to clean the bedroom and bathroom. It wasn't that I was a neat freak, but I didn't want to lose track of time and not get the pigs on to cook in time.

I decided not to wash the bedding. It smelled like her. I wanted that for a little longer. The good memories and the smell of something other than burnt cinderblock after ѕex.

After getting my laundry from yesterday and the day before started, I fished the pigs out of the bath and carried them out to the grill. It was fairly easy for me to get them each on a spit that rotated at a slow pace while it was engaged. It would stop one side of the pigs from getting overcooked on one side because they were closer to the smoking chips.

Once that was done, I relaxed in the living room with a beer. That was a lot of drama earlier. I didn't know how people dealt with it all the time. From what I'd heard, werewolves and vampires were the most dramatic of all the supernatural beings. That's why they were so widely known.

I didn't know what the deal was with Carmen's parents, but they really needed to check their damned priorities. They would lose her if they didn't back off.

My mind wandered away from all that. I focused on my future and my mate. Forrest and Elbio said I was dreaming when I said I would find her on my birthday, but what the hell did they know? They were both younger than I was. They didn't understand what this was really like.

All they knew was a life of youthful, uninhibited behavior. They worked a little, but nothing like I had. They still had a year or two before they reached their coming of age. Of course, they didn’t have as much to make up for as I did. They were handsome and from pretty successful families who were held in high esteem.

Not that my family wasn’t. I was the black sheep of the family because of being half-human, so I made my own way in the world. My mother was proud of me. She said it was the sign of a strong troll.

In the evening, there was a pounding knock on the door. I let Forrest and Elbio in. They took their shoes off and rested their feet on the carpet for a while. I got the plushy carpet for this reason… and because it stopped people from trying to pet me in my own home.

“I’m starved. You got food for us?” Elbio asked.

“A little longer. We can talk about the plans for the party. I have an addition to the guest list and I wanted to check on how the confirmations were going,” I told him leading them to the couch and chairs.

My living room set was custom-made by lesser elves. They were like other elves, but not royal, so we were supposed to call them ‘lesser’. I didn’t like it, but people got in a snit over it. I liked to call them elves to fuсk with those ones.

“We have a few who’re on the fence about it. Mostly females. They don’t want to risk finding out you’re their mate,” Forrest said as he sat in a chair.

“Well, maybe my addition will help. I have a female werewolf who wants to come and she’ll let people touch her.”

Forrest’s eyes widened. “How’d you manage that? Everyone’s gonna want to come when they hear that. She told you she’s really going to let people touch her? No matter how ugly they are?”

“She might even ask to touch them. Her name is Carmen. I don’t know her last name, but I do know that she’s small, soft, and doesn’t seem to be afraid of anything.”

“Is this the woman my cousin said you carried out of the club last night?” Elbio asked.

“I need you guys to tell them she couldn’t go through with it and I was too human to force her. I don’t want them to put her in the room. I know how they are, but she doesn’t have a mate and I want her to be my friend,” I insisted. “Please, promise me you’ll tell them not to put her name in.”

“The rules are the rules. Any eligible female can be nominated. You should tell her not to come,” Forrest replied.

I shook my head. That wouldn’t work. I made a promise as part of the agreement. She would sleep with me and I had to invite her to my party. If someone put her in the room, I would say things that could hurt her feelings, especially if I realized it was her. I could change my tactics and lie to her.

When we were on our shift, we weren’t ourselves. We would do anything to get what we wanted. And what we wanted was to sink our diсks into as many females as possible. At the end of the three-day period, we would be fertile. Men could father children and women could carry them. It was as if our bodies knew that and overpowered our minds.

“She only slept with me because I promised her I’d let her come to the party. Fuсk. I want to keep her safe.” I sighed.

“You slept with this wolf? AND you didn’t feel like you should lead with that? I thought we were your friends, Rock! What the hell? You were going to sleep with a softie and keep it quiet?” Elbio growled.

Forrest laughed. “He did tell us. He’s playin’ it cool. You really nailed a softie? How did you manage that? Are you as smooth with them as you are with troll women? Maybe you should have been trying with them more before your coming of age. Even if I could talk them into it, I don’t think I could get it up for a softie. They’re just so ugly.”

“I mean, if we closed our eyes, maybe. Then there’s all the sсreaming. You know mountain trolls can’t fuсk anything but other trolls. I could nail a softie, but you can’t.” Elbio scoffed.

“How did you manage it? I mean, soft isn’t enough for me. Was she half decent looking?”

I shook my head. “I thought she was beautiful. She had eyes that were gorgeous no matter what you are. I think she was considered hot by human standards, though. You guys know I like troll women and human women….”

“True, you’ll fuсk anything as long as you can get it into bed with you. So, how was your ‘friend’?” Forrest grinned.

A slow smile spread across my face. “She was softer inside than she was outside. I didn’t even think it was possible. Everything was so tiny, but she stretched to fit me. It was the most amazing thing I ever saw or felt. Best ѕex of my life, if I’m being honest.”

“Damn. We’re friends, you think she’d let me have a turn?” Elbio joked.

“You don’t touch my wolf,” I growled.

We all laughed. The boundaries had been set, though. Carmen was mine and Elbio wouldn’t try to sleep with her. He wasn’t as charming as I was, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.

I knew Forrest wouldn’t. Mountain trolls didn’t want to potentially kill a partner. Carmen being willing to be touched would be enough for him.

Forrest was actually a little soft when it came to personality. He thought humans were funny and he wanted to be friends with them. I knew Carmen would be a perfect person to introduce to him. I could see her being understanding of him and trying harder to be friendly with him than anyone else would.

I shook my head. I needed to stop that. Carmen might not be around much after I found my mate. My true mate might not like me hanging out with a female I slept with. Some females were possessive like that.

We talked about everything we all did last night. It was the first time I said more than a few sentences about what I did with a woman ever since we were old enough to start sleeping with them. I finally felt like I could talk to my friends on their level.

They agreed to tell people that Carmen backed out and I was too soft to stop her. It would make them think I was weak, nothing new, but it would keep her safe. No one would pick on her about almost sleeping with me.

I told them she was blind and about the face touching stuff she did. They were excited about it. I told Forrest I wanted him to watch out for her and make sure people behaved themselves. He was excited about the chance to kick someone’s ass. It was how trolls were. Someone would cross the line and Forrest would put them in their place.

By the time we finished eating, I was certain Carmen would be safe while she was at my party and my friends were eager to be there. I hoped other people would be swayed. Some were by the addition of Rosario and Sean, but a werewolf who would let them touch her was more enticing than a couple of little princes who might let others shake their hands.

After my friends left, I cleaned up the meal and got to work on a few other things. I wondered if my brothers would accept the invitation to my party now that there was going to be a wolf there. My mother would be there to see me locked up and give her blessing, but would probably leave after that.

It was traditional that the opposite gender parent came to coming of age parties and gave their blessing for what was going to occur. They asked the goddess to guide their child’s mate to them quickly and praise them in order to let the goddess know why their child deserved their mate.

My mother wasn’t soft on anyone but me. She never saw me as a mistake, like other troll mothers might have. Instead, my mother called me her blessing from the goddess. She lost her mate a few decades before and was having trouble finding purpose after my older brother, Goran, reached his coming of age.

Haldor, my oldest brother, had kids and Goran found his true mate at his coming of age. Mother didn’t like the idea of no longer raising a child. She offered to take Haldor’s youngest on, but his true mate wouldn’t permit it.

Without a purpose, she was lost. That was what put her in the position where she agreed to let a large, burly human take her home. My mother said she was surprised at how troll-like he was. She even said he was pretty good-looking by troll standards. It was a shame he didn’t survive the mating.

I was a surprise to her, but a welcome one. She believed the goddess guided her to a human who could father a child with her because of how lonely she was. My mother went back home to raise her child with her best friends, Elbio and Forrest’s mothers.

Before I was ever born, she had decided my life. Who my friends would be. How I would be strengthened. Where we would live and all of the values she would teach me. My brothers didn’t hate me but were both much older than I was. I hoped this would be a chance for us to bond, but it appeared not.

Perhaps sometime after I was of age. I always looked up to them. With luck, they would see my admiration as a compliment and not a weakness on my part. Maybe they’d surprise me and just show up. That would make this the best birthday I had ever had.