The Healing Souls

Coming of Age

(Saturday)

[Forrest]

We were going through women too fast. Not many opted to stay in and fuсk Rock. The ones who had him before said it wasn’t worth it. The ones who hadn’t, were iffy. The first one came out pretty pleased with herself.

After twelve hours, we’d gone through almost half of the women who came. It wasn’t that Rock wasn’t trying his hardest, but most of these women had at least heard of how persuasive he could be. The ones who were best at resisting him were the ones who had slept with him before.

Normally, women would have wanted one more roll, but troll women only wanted to touch Rock. They didn’t like him as much as they liked Elbio and me. I knew after seeing him why they weren’t interested. Rock wasn’t built like a troll. He definitely had a human diсk.

It was rounded at the top and not spear-like. There was no jagged ridge on the top or anything like that. We grew up together, but I never realized how different he was. There was no way his mate was a troll. The goddess wouldn’t curse a troll woman to unfulfilling ѕex for the rest of her life.

This didn’t bode well for his dream of finding his true mate this weekend. She wouldn’t be a troll and the only female we had who wasn’t a troll was Carmen. I couldn’t risk her by putting her name in. Rock made me promise to protect her.

“Mm, you’re even ѕexier when you’re thinking heavily like that,” a voice from behind me purred.

Thick fingers stroked up my back and caressed the tips of my ears. I groaned. I knew that voice and those hands.

“Shayle. I’m hosting a party. I can’t fuсk around with you right now.”

“No one’s gonna notice if we sneak off for a while. The halfie can have a little longer with whoever’s stuck in there with him.” She giggled.

I grabbed her hands and pulled them off my ears, then turned around. She was leering at me with a ‘come fuсk me’ look I recognized all too well.

A lot of people speculated that Shayle would end up with Elbio or me. She was one of the hottest troll women in the troll community. Her family was well-connected and it would be beneficial to whoever ended up being her mate. With Elbio or me, she would be part of a high-power couple.

“Don’t call my friend a halfie, you fuсking whоre.”

“Keep up those mixed messages and I’ll get confused.” Shayle laughed.

I grabbed her chin roughly and forced her to look into my eyes. Goddess, she was beautiful, but I wouldn’t let some spoiled princess talk ѕhit about my best friend. My other hand wrapped around her upper arm and I squeezed it tight.

“If you ever want my cоck again, you don’t insult my friends. I’m not joking. I’m not teasing. If you keep calling him that, I won’t sleep with you anymore. If I turn out to be your true mate then I won’t have ѕex with you for a year each time you do it. And that could be a lot of years without fuсking,” I warned with a growl.

She whimpered as my grip on her arm tightened. Shayle licked her lips. Everyone knew she liked me more than she liked Elbio and wanted me to be her true mate. Her friends didn’t keep secrets from anyone if they thought it would get them attention, not even her secrets.

“I-I’ll do my best to stop.”

“Submitting to me already, Shay? You must really want it.”

There was a knock at the door and I sighed. I couldn’t go sneaking off with any of the women while I was hosting. It was good to get out of the mindset of someone who could sleep with anyone.

I let go of her and pushed her aside. Her friends flocked to her as I left the room. Most of us hadn’t come of age and it was still like high school sometimes.

Rock was the only one of us who seemed to grow up. He was more serious and dedicated to his future than any of us were. I was a little jealous of his work ethic sometimes. I knew I’d be fine, but sometimes I wanted to have something else to focus on.

I opened the front door to find the princes standing there with a woman between them. That must be Carmen. She was almost as tall as they were with long dark hair and icy blue eyes, as Rock said. She was ugly, but pretty in a human way.

“Ah! The entertainment has arrived.” I laughed.

“Very funny, Forrest,” Prince Rosario groaned.

“This party had a boom of people accepting their invites after they found out you two were going to be here. I honestly appreciate it. I was worried our boy wasn’t going to have much of a turn out. Though, the females who have gone in have come back pretty happy. Rock always could charm the pants off any girl.”

It wasn’t much of a lie, more of a bending of the truth. Most had left happy. They weren’t his true mate.

The girl pressed her lips together in a slight frown but didn’t say anything. She didn’t seem to like it. People thought trolls were oblivious to other people’s feelings. That wasn’t true. We read physical cues better than anyone else did. We simply didn’t care.

“And you must be Rock’s little wolf. He said he made a new friend at the club last weekend. You think just because Rock didn’t scare you that real trolls won’t?” I asked.

He did ask that we not say anything about knowing exactly what happened last weekend. Knowing she was blind might not be a thing she would have wanted him to talk about. I’d pretend I didn’t know, so she wouldn’t be mad at him for telling.

“I thought it would be interesting to see what full trolls are like. With our people creating an alliance, we should try to get along.” She smiled.

“You’re not even looking at my face.” I scoffed.

“I’m blind. You would have to let me touch you so I could see you.”

This time, she looked directly at me. Was she really blind? She didn’t flinch or anything when she looked at me.

I swung my hand past her face. Still nothing. Not even a reflexive retreat from the feel of the breeze my hand made. She was a tough little wolf.

“Ѕhit. You’re telling the truth. You really want to touch me? You might get scared.”

“Then that would be one heck of a compliment for you. Rock told me what is considered beautiful for a troll is hideous or terrifying for a human.”

“He was probably letting you know because you’re pretty ugly,” I told her plainly.

“Thank you. I’m flattered.” She bowed her head slightly.

Hell, if she weren’t so ugly, I’d be half in love with her. She was honest and straightforward. I liked that in a woman. Plus, she was tiny and soft.

I took her hand and guided her in as carefully as I could. She was my guest and the friend of my friend. As I walked into the room, I glared and others made a path until we were in the center of the room, then I whistled for their attention.

“Our final guests have arrived. Prince Rosario and his fiancé, Sean have come to celebrate Rock’s coming of age. They brought Rock’s friend with them. No harm will come to the guests in my home. Anything you three want to say before we get back to partying?” I asked.

Carmen took a deep breath. “I’m Carmen. I’m a werewolf. I will allow people to touch the skin I have showing. Hands only, please. I am blind and I would like to touch your faces when I meet you so I can know what you look like.”

There was an excited chatter among the other guests. She smiled and patted my hand. A few people pointed at how she rested her hand on mine while I held her other hand.

“What about the fairy boys?” Ruby called out.

“We will shake hands with anyone who wants to meet us. No negotiation.” Prince Rosario replied.

I wanted to see what this face feeling thing was and pulled Carmen with me to my chair. With a glare, I got the guy in it to get up. I let go of Carmen so I could sit.

Once I was settled, I took her hand again and guided it to my face. She had to get close to me to be able to touch me with both hands. Her little body pressed against my chest while she felt over my features. Her hands were so soft, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of it.

“Are there different species of trolls? It feels like you would come from a colder climate,” Carmen asked.

“Yeah. I’m a northern mountain troll. How could you tell?”

“Long noses are often associated with people who come from northern regions because it gives more time for the air to warm up as you inhale.”

She really could see me this way. That was cool. I was totally relaxed until her hands reached my ears.

Carmen slept with Rock and she was friends with the princes. She had to know that massaging ears was like stroking a fae’s cоck. I wasn’t going to stop her if she wanted to molest me and a few dozen other trolls.

It wasn’t long, but it was good enough that it didn’t need to be. I’d never had soft hands touch my ears and goddess only knew if it would ever happen again. If for nothing more than that, Carmen had my protection for the rest of her life.

Pulling back, she smiled at me. “Thank you for letting me look at you, Forrest. You are exceedingly handsome for a troll.”

If I could have blushed, I would have. I knew I was handsome, but having someone who would have normally called me terrifying, or worse, call me handsome was different. Almost embarrassing.

I got up and there was a struggle between a couple of trolls to get into the chair. I glared at them and they settled down. Other trolls started touching Carmen. They were gentle like she was a little dog or something.

She certainly knew how to get people to do what she wanted. Carmen didn’t act nervous, she didn’t flinch, and she always had a smile on her face. That would make any troll happy with her. Rock was right to invite her.

My timer went off and I went to check on the woman in the room with Rock. He was talking, but she wasn’t falling for it. She sauntered out of the room and I closed the door on my friend while he struggled to break free of the chains that bound him.

I went back to the main area and caught everyone’s attention. They cheered when the woman came out of the hall and raised her arms in victory. The stories of Rock’s charms were making it like a game to see who could resist him.

“Another failure. Bring the bowl!” I announced.

Elbio brought me the name bowl and I mixed the few remaining names before pulling one out. I opened the folded paper and practically groaned. It was Shayle. She would not be his mate. I was fairly certain she actually was mine.

“Shayle, you’re up.”

“Keep that bowl handy. I’ll be back in thirty. There’s no way that halfie is my mate and I’ve already had him, so I don’t need another go,” she replied, walking past me.

I followed her back, grabbing her and pinning her to the wall by her neck. “What did I tell you about calling him that?”

“I… for… got….”

“Don’t make your life harder than it needs to be, Shay. You go in, you come out, and you don’t act as if he’s anything less than you are. Do you understand?” I growled.

She nodded. I couldn’t resist her anymore and I kissed her deeply. Shayle moaned against my lips as I devoured her mouth, grinding her little bulge against my larger one.

When I pulled away, I was hornier than ever. “You did that because I let the softie touch my ears, didn’t you?”

“She can’t do what I can, Forrest. She couldn’t survive your love like I can. Don’t start chasing softies because one was nice to you,” Shayle whispered.

“You’re jealous.” I laughed. “Don’t be. She’s a friend of Rock and ugly as sin. It was just fun to try. You should when you come out. Be a good girl now and resist Rock’s charm.”

“After a kiss like that, you’re the only troll I’m thinking of, Forrest. You promise you’re not interested in the little wolf?”

“Not at all. Come on.”

I let her off the wall and took her to the room where Rock was. Leaving her there was difficult. I didn’t want her to be Rock’s mate, but I had to put her in there if her name was drawn and she met the criteria.

-

Thirty minutes later, Shayle was back out. She managed to resist Rock’s charm. Shayle stuck near me for the rest of the evening, except when I was taking women back to Rock.

A lot of the women really warmed up to Carmen. They saw that she wasn’t after their men, she was only a simple werewolf girl who didn’t know anything about fae. Carmen asked them a lot of questions and listened to them when they talked to her.

Everyone loved having her around. After the new wore off, they treated her like she was one of us. Carmen could take it like a troll and innocently replied with scathing burns.

“Alright, next name…” I called out.

Elbio brought me the bowl for the next name to be drawn. There were a few more slips of paper than last time, but I hadn’t seen who put them in. I knew they’d mess with the princes, so I wasn’t surprised.

“Very funny, guys. He’s mated and Rock’s straight.” I chuckled.

“Read the name!” Someone shouted.

“Sean.”

“What!?” Sean yelled.

“Settle down. He’s straight. We only send unmated women back. Sometimes the guys play around and drop a man’s name in for fun. It’s just a joke. I bet they put Rosario’s name in here, too.” I assured him. “I have to read out every name I pull so everyone knows this is fair.”

Carmen was giggling on the couch. She couldn’t even see the terror in Sean’s face. Being closed up in a dark room with a chained-up troll was frightening for some softies.

After another failure sometime later, I got the bowl again. This wasn’t good. We were nearing the end. A couple of women had indulged with Rock, but not a lot. Most of them went in and out.

Reaching in, I pulled the next slip of paper and opened it. I read it a couple of times. They liked her; they shouldn’t have done this. It was dangerous. I felt a growl rumble deep in my chest.

“This isn’t funny. This is dangerous and risks me breaking my promise of safety to my guest.”

“Read the name!” Someone shouted.

The sound of laughter was in his voice. This was definitely the man who put her name in. I was going to kill him.

“Carmen,” I replied sullenly. “Are you mated?”

“No,” she answered, a small smile crept across her face. Of course, she thought this was funny. She didn’t realize how dangerous it was.

“The rules are the rules. We have to follow them. Can someone bring her here?”

Sean took Carmen’s arm and guided her to me. Everyone moved out of the way, so they didn’t squish Carmen or Sean. They could all tell how angry I was. The people who thought it was funny, weren’t smiling anymore as I glared around the room.

He handed her over and I took her to the hall where the room was. She shivered and I stopped. She must have been putting on a brave face in front of the other people. It pissed me off even more.

“Everything is going to be alright, Carmen,” I assured her. “I have to put you in the room with him, but the chains only reach halfway across. If you stay near the door, he can’t get you. You only have to stay in for thirty minutes.”

“Anything else I should know?” she asked.

“Don’t speak. He may be crazy, but he’s also smart. His body is telling him to sink it into as many females as possible right now. That means you, too. He’ll say whatever he has to in order to get you to come close enough to grab.”

“How would anyone be able to tell if it was smooth talking or an actual mate bond?”

“The room is small so Rock would be affected after a few minutes when his mate goes in. You do it by smell, right?”

Carmen nodded.

“Ours is the actual bond itself. When our true mate is near us, we feel calmed and soothed. Trolls can be explosive. Our mates temper us. Right now, Rock isn’t the man you know,” I explained.

“I’ll do my best.”

“I can’t save you if you get too close to him. If I come back in thirty minutes and he has you, you’re on your own until he’s done with you,” I warned.

“Got it,” she murmured.

I didn’t know if I helped, but I hoped I did. If she knew what she would experience in there, then she would have the chance to keep herself safe. He was so crazed he might treat her like a troll female and that would be dangerous. Even in love, we were more violent than werewolves and I didn’t know how strong she was compared to him.

Opening the door, I did my best to block out the shape of her. The light in the hallway was dim, but he could still make out shapes. I grabbed Carmen’s arm gently and put her in the room.

“Here’s the next one,” I said and pushed her off to the side so I could close the door. “Goddess watch over her.”