[Forrest]On Saturday, I put together the picnic like Carmen and Gemma told me to. It was such a weird thing to do. Normally, we would find a place to drink and flirt, then go back to someone’s house. Maybe we would go out to a human club to drink and dance. A picnic was a stupid idea. Maybe we could laugh about it later. I didn’t know what Pyla liked doing, yet. I knew exactly where I was taking her, though. There was a meadow that got a lot of sunshine and had a stream around the edge of it. If I stayed still long enough, I could watch animals come to the stream to drink. Only Rock knew about the place because I didn’t think anyone else would appreciate it as much as I did. This was the first time I would be taking anyone, other than Rock, to my secret place. If Gemma and Carmen were right, Pyla would like it. I hoped she would. Once the picnic was packed up, I strapped the bag to my back and headed out. I didn’t wear a shirt like they told me. It got some catcalls and flirtatious suggestions from other trolls. It bolstered my confidence. Was I hot to her? Was she like Rock and could see the attractiveness of both her species? If she didn’t think I was hot, what would I do? I would need to work a lot harder to make her want me. I shook it off as I approached her door. I had only barely knocked when the door flew open. A female troll stood in the doorway. Her eyes scanned up and down me. She was a desert cave troll with sandstone-colored skin and stringy gray hair. Her features were stretched over her face in an attractive, tight way. “You must be Forrest. I haven’t seen you since you were a little boy. How’s your mother?” she asked. “My mother’s fine. You must be Ms. Peri. She was just talking about you last week.” “Only bad things, I’m sure.” “She was surprised that your daughter was so beautiful for being a half-lizard person,” I replied. “She said it must have been your good looks that made that mix anything but a catastrophe.” Peri put her hand over her mouth to hide her smile. Getting a compliment about looks from my mother was like being blessed by the goddess. All of the friends of Rock’s mom were nobles and beautiful in their own ways. Eru, Rock’s mom, was one of those who wasn’t gorgeous, but she more than made up for it with her personality and love. People flocked to Eru, not just trolls. She was one of those people others were drawn to. “And do you think my daughter is beautiful, young man?” she asked once she pulled herself together. “Of course I do. Any troll with eyes can see that she’s gorgeous and any troll with ears would know it after talking with her for only a few minutes,” I answered.“You know she went out with Elbio Sanderman just the other night. You might have some competition for my daughter’s attention.”I laughed. “Elbio is no competition. He doesn’t understand Pyla like I do.” “Bold. As I should expect from a son of the Montblanc family. I approve of you taking her out.” I bowed to her slightly and she moved from the doorway. It wasn’t long before Pyla came out. She was dressed in another sweet-looking dress that swished with the movement of her tail. She took one look at me and blushed. “Where’s your shirt?” Pyla asked in a breathy voice. “It’s a warm day, so I decided to leave it at home. Are you okay with that, or should we stop by my house to grab one?” I smiled at her. “It… it’s fine.” Pyla took my hand with only a little hesitance and I started walking toward the forest surrounding our neighborhood. She kept up with me and looked around as we walked. “People are watching us,” she whispered. “Because you’re so beautiful,” I replied. She squeaked a little and moved closer to me. I watched how Rock complimented Carmen and I knew Pyla would respond to things like that better than me telling her it was because she was with me. I needed her to understand that I liked her and not that I was full of myself. It was strange to not be telling her how amazing I was and how she should submit to me because she was weaker and smaller. I wondered how Rock lived like that, but I got the feeling he and Carmen had an understanding. She certainly acted as if she understood he was stronger than her. Anywhere that I saw the path wasn’t entirely stable, I told Pyla to hold on to me tightly. She looked up at me as if I were a hero of some sort. I never realized it could feel so good to have someone naturally realize I was powerful. “This spot is difficult,” I told her as we reached a narrow place. Instead of helping her across, I picked her up in my arms and carried her. She squeaked again and blushed while hiding her face. She felt good in my arms. When we were on a wider bit of the path, I set her down and checked her over. “Did I hurt you?” I asked as I ran my hands over her body. “N-no…. I’m fine,” Pyla replied breathily. “Your skin is so soft. I was worried I might have scraped you with my rougher skin.”“It feels soft, but it takes a lot to break it. I’m fine. Thank you, Forrest.” I held my hand out to her and she took it again. We weren’t far from the meadow. I held her hand the rest of the way. Ever since I was old enough to have ѕex, I’d been sleeping with female trolls. I’d never just held a woman’s hand after I was old enough not to hold my mother’s hand anymore. I liked it. When we reached the meadow, Pyla looked around with wide eyes. I turned to her and smiled. “This is my favorite place. I figured we could have a picnic here and get to know each other better. This way there’s no pressure from other people or prying eyes. Only you and me,” I told her. “All alone?” she whispered. “You can trust me, Pyla, I won’t do anything other than eat and talk. I thought you would enjoy being in the sun since you’re part lizard. I like the sun because I’m a mountain troll. If we stay still, we can probably see some animals come to drink from the stream.” I led her to the center of the meadow and pulled off my backpack. After setting out the blanket, I had her sit down and sat with her. I began pulling out the food and drinks for our meal. Once everything was out, I smiled at Pyla. She smiled back and looked at all the food we had. She laughed. “This would feed several of my friends back home. My father would tell me I was eating him out of house and home.” “A troll’s appetite is larger than most creatures. I only learned recently that werewolves can eat almost as much as a smaller troll. I wonder what else can eat as much as us that isn’t as big as us….” “You really like your friend’s mate, don’t you?” she asked. “Carmen has never been afraid of me. Most soft things are. I wanted to be her friend and she’s worked to be my friend ever since she found that out. She told me I could hug her after she and Rock came out of the room they shared during his coming-of-age party. She’s a bold little wolf,” I said. “I like her too. I know she can’t see me, but she did that face-feeling thing and never looked disgusted or shocked. I’m bigger than most of the other lizard people and my tail is shorter. I have friends, but that didn’t stop people from teasing me for being different.” “Rock was teased a lot about being half-troll. He’s smaller and weaker than most females and he’s not attractive, because he looks too human,” I told her. “I think he’s handsome. I told Carmen that and she didn’t get mad at me like a lizard woman would have if I’d said that about her mate.” She thought Rock was handsome? That wasn’t good. I mean, I liked that she didn’t think he was ugly but did that mean she didn’t think I was handsome? I was the best-looking troll in the area. At least, the best-looking single one.“I have weird taste in men. It has nothing to do with how they actually look. It’s about what kind of person they are. Rock was nice when I met him and the way he looked at his mate was tender and gentle. I think you’re more handsome than Elbio….” Pyla blushed and looked down at the food in front of her. I thanked the goddess. With a smile, I started opening containers for her. She took a bite from the first one and moaned in a way that damn near killed me. “This is so good. Did you make all of this?” she asked. “Yeah. I learned to cook when I moved out on my own. I could have hired a cook, but I wanted to take care of myself,” I told her.“I can’t wait to try more… Forrest….” The way she said my name was beautiful. She had the cutest little tusks and the sweetest smile. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. We ate our food while we talked about the differences between her village and what she’d experienced in the troll neighborhood. I did explain to her that trolls were brutally honest and often vulgar. She nodded while I talked and I knew it explained a lot of what she’d experienced. No one else seemed to realize that they couldn’t treat her like a troll. I felt bad for her. It was as if I was cheating to have realized that she needed a gentler approach, but then I didn’t care. Any troll who stopped to watch her reactions would have seen that she needed something different to connect with someone. I was the only one who actually paid attention to anything besides the fact that she was beautiful. From what she said, a lot of males had been trying to assert their dominance over her. She was so put off by it and how they were treating her, that she would just walk away. “Are you having a good time?” I asked. “Yes, I am. I worried a little. Over the last week, so many men have been rude and crude to me. Honestly, it was the memory of how nice you were that made me accept when you told me you were taking me out. I like that you took me away from everyone else instead of somewhere crowded,” Pyla replied. “I figured a beautiful woman like you was gawked at enough. You shouldn’t be trapped inside a house so you can escape unwanted advances and interactions. We can stay here for as long as you need.” “Advances?” “When the males are telling you how much more powerful they are and how you’re weak and can’t beat them in a fight, they’re trying to get you to have ѕex with them. Dominance fights are common in troll society. Females want a strong male and males want a strong, yet submissive female. Since we’re ѕexually active for about thirty-five years before we come of age, a lot of people end up sleeping together,” I explained. “Oh…. Did you bring me out here so you could have ѕex with me?” she asked. I sighed and shook my head as I started picking up containers. “No. I come of age in February. The next woman I sleep with will be at my coming-of-age party. All that ѕex was clouding up my mind and I want to be a good man before I find her.” She smiled at me. “I thought all those trolls were bullying me. As a half-troll in a lizard community, I wasn’t attractive. You, Carmen, and my mother are the only people to tell me that I’m beautiful. I was always different. I decided a long time ago that I’d wait for my mate, but it wasn’t hard when no one was interested….” “If I had met you a month ago, I would have tried, too. But seeing Rock and Carmen made me want to wait. You know, have a clean palate when I finally find her. Rock found Carmen before his coming of age, and he told me he kept thinking of her when his troll brain started taking over.” “So our troll brain will focus on our true mate even if we can’t see them?” “I heard something like that from a few other people, too. But…. I think I already found her. I won’t say anything else, because… if I’m wrong… I don’t want to be embarrassed,” I admitted to her. Pyla scooted closer to me. “I like how honest and vulnerable you are with me, Forrest. Is it because you think I’m your true mate?” I put the last of the containers into my bag and set it aside before laying down with my hands behind my head. The way she looked at my body didn’t exactly make me think Pyla liked me only for my personality. “There are a couple of good options and I think you’re one of them. You were gorgeous and you liked my friends. I want a mate who will like my friends and won’t try to control my life like Shayle will. If she’s my true mate, it will be a lot of work to keep my friends. She never liked Rock and she really doesn’t like Carmen,” I replied. “Why doesn’t she like Carmen? Because she’s a werewolf?” “Because she touched my ears and the ears of every troll she met at Rock’s coming-of-age party. She didn’t know any better and none of us felt the need to explain it to her. I should have, but it kept people excited for Rock’s party and I didn’t know she was his mate at the time.” She was silent. I looked over at her and it looked like she was trying to keep herself from laughing. “What’s so funny?” I asked. “Lizard people don’t have ears like other fae do. I’m the only one who has them. A lot of people touched my ears. It always felt really good, but I didn’t realize what kind of good feeling it was until I was older. I stopped them once I did, but I never told them.” Pyla giggled nervously and blushed. “Do you think Carmen figured it out while she was touching people’s ears?” “I think she knew before she ever decided to do it. They said at the barbecue that she spent the night with Rock before his coming of age. I wouldn’t doubt if she touched his ears, too.” “Yeah, but he wouldn’t have told her, either. She would have had to know before she met him and it’s not something we share with others. All fae keep that weakness a secret,” I told her.“Well, it just seems to me that she knew. I’ll bet you she did. Someone else told her.” “Why do you think that?” “Because she wanted someone to put her in the room. If she’s so innocent that she would touch the ears of that many fae, it would be funny to send her into a room with a wild troll. I’ve known enough people who thought it was funny to do something dangerous to someone else because they didn’t know better.” Carmen was trying to hide a smile when I took her back to Rock. I knew that she already knew he was her mate. I thought about the way she touched my ears. She didn’t grip them or pinch them, she rubbed them gently and stroked them in what I could only call a sensual way. “Fuсk…. She knew.” I laughed. Pyla laughed as well. She tipped over and her face and hand landed on my chest. Her laughter stopped and she moaned slightly. “Warm…” Pyla whispered. That was why they told me not to wear a shirt. My skin was soaking in all of the heat from the sun and her lizard side wanted that. Clever little wolves. I grabbed her and put her on my chest. Her tail shot straight up in the air and she squealed as I held her. I didn’t hold her for very long, only enough to help stabilize her, then I let go. “Forrest! Why did you do that?” she asked as she sat up on me. Pyla was smaller than Rock. She was about six and a half feet tall, which made her very small compared to my eight feet. She was also trim, which was rare in most trolls, I really was a lot bigger than her. Which she seemed to notice as her hands began sliding over the expanse of my chest. “You liked how warm I was. I like cute little lizards sunning themselves on my skin. Sometimes I lay out here and lots of them come. I finally found one that’s not going to be afraid if I sneeze,” I joked. “You’re not trying to make me have ѕex with you?” “I would never make a woman have ѕex with me. You like warm and I’m very warm. Come on, Pyla, lay down and enjoy the heat. I’m serious. I won’t force you into anything,” I promised. She looked a little doubtful but laid down on top of me. I loved the feeling of her soft little body on top of mine. This was the best idea ever. We lay in the sun and she talked to me about her childhood being the only half-troll in her village. She had some good friends who protected her, like Elbio and I protected Rock. I couldn’t wait to meet her friends. As she talked, I felt more and more comfortable. This was what it meant to be with your true mate. They calmed that volatile part of a troll’s personality. It was part of what helped us live a long life. We could think things through instead of acting on instinct and emotion. I liked listening to her as she told stories that were a mix of happy, sad, upsetting, and funny. I was mentally making a list of lizard men I was going to beat the ѕhit out of when I saw them. They took their teasing too far. “The sun’s starting to go down. How did we spend over eight hours out here? You must have been suffering with my weight on you. I’m sorry!” Pyla said, sitting up on me again. “You weigh next to nothing, Pyla. I’m a grown man I can easily lay down with you on me. Don’t be scared or worried. I liked it. Did you like it?” I asked. She blushed and nodded. “You were very comfortable. Better than a normal stone.”I chuckled. “Anytime you want to do this again, you let me know. I don’t think I’ve had a more pleasant trip out here.” We got up and packed up the blanket before heading back. Pyla wrapped herself around my arm and stared up at me. “You’re so tall.”“And handsome,” I replied with a wink, making her laugh. She held on to me as we walked back and didn’t complain when I carried her through the narrow place. It felt like we were a lot closer to each other than we were before. When we got back to her house, she hugged me without me asking. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. I was glad she went out with me. Nothing could make me happier than this date did. I’d be flying high on it for days.