[Gemma]After I was released from the hospital, I went back to my apartment, even though my aunt and uncle wanted me to go to their house. I wasn’t a pup. I didn’t need to be watched over like that. I changed out of the scrubs and started the oven preheating for my dinner. It was a pot pie Aunt Dot made for me and put into my fridge. Once it was ready, I slid the pie plate into the oven and went to take a quick shower. There was sticky stuff all over me and I didn’t like it. Once I was clean, I went to dress in my cozy pajamas. They were buried under my ѕexier ones, but a girl needs to have one set of pajamas that is just for her. They had fuzzy pants and a spaghetti strap top. Getting the pie out of the oven, I carefully dumped the whole thing into a mixing bowl. Yeah, it was pretty, but I was only serving one, so I’d eat as much as I could, then put a lid on it and reheat leftovers in the microwave tomorrow. Going out with my friends was pretty much the only time I would get a change in my habits. Everyone talked about how I hated being alone, but they didn’t seem to realize how much I relished this quiet time. I was an ambivert. I loved being around people and I loved being alone. All of it charged my batteries. I took my meal to the couch in the living room. No one to stop me from eating in front of the TV. I watched some romance movie while I ate my dinner. I subscribed to a service that had all romance and romantic comedies. Ash and Carmen teased me about it, but I loved love. I couldn’t wait to find my mate and have the love I saw all around me and on television. One of my favorite pastimes was imagining what sort of mate the goddess would give me. I would love him and care for him for the rest of our lives. My days of bed hopping would be over and I would be only his. It wasn’t that I was a huge ѕlut or anything, I just enjoyed the company of men while I was searching for my mate. Maybe he’d see that as a plus. I wouldn’t be some super innocent little virgin. Or he might be mad. I was prepared for that, too. In my mind, my mate didn’t understand love the way I did. Carmen said I would have a mate who needed to be taught to love. When she confirmed it, I trusted her. Carmen had a weird way of knowing things. It wasn’t only the few times when she seemed to move as if she could actually see or reacted as if she did. Once, I said something like ‘Carmen must be psychic’ around her parents and they flipped. Only red wolves could see the future, so it would mean they were mixed with something else. It wasn’t shameful to have a witch or something in your bloodline. I didn’t know what was up with them. I turned off the TV and imagined finding my mate at the conference. He would be handsome and tall. Our eyes would meet at the first mixer and we’d be drawn to each other like magnets. He’d be hesitant, but I’d touch his chest and let him know how much I wanted to be there, with him. Our first kiss would be magical. With a smile, I got up and put my dinner away. I turned some music on and danced around with my imaginary mate until about ten o’clock. I needed to get some sleep if I was going to be to work on time. No warlock was going to scare me off. Carmen and Rock were counting on me. I wouldn’t let them down. When I was in bed, I thought about my friends and their mates. Ash was perfect for Roald. She was realistic, but also bright and cheerful. He was pessimistic and all dark and broody. Ash told me Roald was really very sweet, but always on his guard. He lost his first mate and their pup in childbirth. It hurt him deeply. His first mate had been his human high school sweetheart. Losing her totally broke him. I couldn’t imagine the pain of losing a mate. Especially after marking. I heard from some older women that it was like having your heart literally ripped from your chest and it was a wound that never quite healed. Ash wasn’t mad about Carmen keeping her rejection quiet, but I was a little mad. I remembered seeing Jordan watching Carmen a lot and he died in the hunter fight. I was certain it was him. I hated that Carmen was afraid people would be mean to Jordan if they found out he rejected her. I hated that she thought we would tell her parents if we knew. I wouldn’t have ever told them about Jordan. Carmen’s parents were way too overprotective. Like how they wanted her to reject Rock. After seeing them together last weekend, I knew he was a perfect fit for her. Even when they were talking in separate groups, he looked for her. Sometimes, Carmen would turn toward wherever Rock was as if she was trying to look for him. He took care of her and they were strangely cute together. He was pretty damned ugly with that low brow and broad nose making him look like some big stupid monster. Those tusks were scary, but I saw how Carmen used them as landmarks on his face. She really loved him and I could see how he loved her. Just watching them today made me wish for a mate again. I wanted someone who looked at me the way Rock looked at Carmen and who treated me sweetly but a little rough. I drifted to sleep praying to the goddess for a mate to come into my life. I prayed to her every night ever since I was eighteen. All I wanted was to find my mate and my place in the pack. I felt like I would know myself better once all the pieces came together. When I woke up in the morning, I got dressed in a nice blouse and pants with some strappy heels. I made some eggs and toast for breakfast and left soon after I finished eating. My aunt would come to clean. It was how she spent her time now that she was retired. She would clean up for Ash and me, but Ash was getting ready to move to Alaska. My car was parked in front of my apartment building. Ben sent someone with his spare key to get my car for me. I appreciated it. I didn’t think I could trust my aunt and uncle to help me get to the office. Plus, I didn’t want them to know where it was.The drive was nice and I listened to some music as I dealt with the traffic getting into the human city and over to where Rock’s office was. It took about twenty minutes to get there when it wasn’t rush hour, so it took double. I didn’t know why it was that people went slower when there were more of them. It was frustrating. I wanted to go someplace I wouldn’t have to deal with rush hour traffic. There was something to the idea of staying in the pack lands and never leaving. At least it didn’t take forever to get somewhere. When I reached the office, I parked and went into the building through the smaller door. Some of the guys were in the lobby. One of the shifter guys checked me out and winked. I wiggled my fingers at him and turned to Carmen and Rock’s office. The door was closed. I rolled my eyes and knocked loud enough they could hear me. I didn’t hear any rushed rustling or anything like that before the door opened. Rock stood in front of me in his glamour. His human glamour made him look older, like he was in his early fifties. His nose wasn’t as wide as it really was and his brow not as thick. His tusks and long pointed ears were entirely hidden. He actually looked almost handsome in his human glamour. Not that I found him attractive even in his human form. The hottest thing about Rock, in either form were those big, hard muscles. Carmen went on about them and I found myself curious about what he looked like without a shirt on. I blushed when I realized he said something to me and I was too busy staring at his chest to hear what it was. I looked up into his eyes. He had an amused look on his face. “Don’t fall in love with me, Gemma. I’ll only break your heart.” He winked at me and I started laughing. “Just because I spaced out doesn’t mean I’m falling in love with you, Rock.” “That’s not what your eyes were saying.” “Maybe I’m still dealing with the effects of whatever the warlock did to me,” I scoffed. He turned back to Carmen and left me there. He was done with me, just like that. It was kind of hot, too. Carmen was frowning. He must have sensed that she was upset. Carmen didn’t like showing her feelings very much. It was one of the reasons why she closed her eyes when she was feeling something strongly. Carmen’s eyes were always very expressive. We spent most of the day learning the different programs and procedures for the office. Rock was very strict about what he wanted done and how it needed to be done. We asked about things to make it easier and he would explain why it was important to do things the way he said. Carmen and I convinced him to let her scan things onto the computer. It would stop him from needing to have someone input things. I started researching programs that he could use to enable them to go paperless. The less paper they used, the easier it was for Carmen to take over. That would be my goal while I was part of this company. I would help them go paperless and get everything ready for Carmen to run it. I knew how she was as serious as Rock was about his company. Carmen would match his energy. There were projects in school where people put Carmen in charge because they didn’t think she could do anything. They always regretted it. Carmen was a dictator who would work everyone, including herself, to the bone to make a deadline. Rock left to get us all lunch. He locked the front door, but I doubted that it would mean anything to the warlock if he wanted to come in. I was wary, but my cousin seemed to be pretty certain that the warlock wouldn’t come back and so did Rock. “So, what did the warlock want?” I asked Carmen. She sighed. “He wanted to ask me a bunch of questions. He asked about stuff I never told anyone but Rock. This guy knew stuff he shouldn’t have known. I didn’t like it. Then he showed up at the hospital and asked Rock a bunch of questions, too. I smelled him when my mom showed up.” “Your mom showed up? What happened? I missed all the drama!” “She told me I was ungrateful and disrespectful because I wouldn’t reject Rock and let her pick me a ‘better mate’. She said I don’t belong with a fae and that I needed a werewolf mate,” Carmen growled. “Maybe we should let her pick another mate for you. With her luck, it’ll be mine.” I laughed. Carmen snickered. “I can’t believe she would want me to give up Rock for some unknown werewolf who might only want me because he was desperate or because of my connections. Rock only wants me because I’m me. You get it, right?” “Your mate is your other half. Nothing matters more than that bond. You and Rock are meant to be and no one else’s opinion matters. I don’t know exactly what you see in him, but he’s not my mate and he makes you happy,” I answered. She was quiet for a little while. I knew she was thinking about things to say. Ways to respond. Carmen would sometimes take a while to talk because what she said was always honest, even if it wasn’t always kind. “Rock’s going to introduce me to his mom, but he said she hasn’t responded to his messages. Do you think she doesn’t want me mated to him, too? If my mom and Rock’s mom both don’t want us together, then we won’t have any family support…. I don’t know how we’re going to do everything without them,” Carmen said quietly. “If she doesn’t accept you, then she doesn’t deserve to be part of your life, anyway. She’ll like you when she meets you. There’s no way Rock’s mom is as crazy as yours….” “He’s weaker and smaller than other trolls. She might be.” “A mama troll…. You might have some trouble.” I shook my head.“I hope not. I don’t know how much resistance we’ll see, but having at least one of our parents like the match would be helpful.” “It’s not like he’s gonna give you up. Stop pouting. I’m going to grab some water. You want some?” I asked. “Sure, thanks.” “No problem,” I answered. I headed over to the kitchen. Carmen would see that she didn’t need parental approval, she was just reeling from losing all the support she’d always had. Mike liked Rock. He was the only member of her family that mattered. I’d help her feel better about it. That’s what friends were for.