[Carmen]The rest of the weekend was quiet, which I didn’t like, but I spent most of my time on Sunday as Blanche and went wandering the neighborhood. There were a lot of trolls living in the area. I went to Forrest’s house, and he got to see me in wolf form for the first time. He went with me when I wandered the area. He introduced my wolf form to a lot of people. Forrest even took me to Pyla’s house so she could see me. She was so different from all the other trolls. I could definitely see how she was more lizard person than troll. She even had a little tail that stood straight up behind her when she answered the door and saw Forrest. I remembered they had a date the day before. She blushed and focused on me. I could tell she was overcome with emotion. “This is Carmen’s wolf form. She told me she’s called Blanche when she’s a wolf,” Forrest told her. “Oh, she’s pretty.” Pyla got down on her knees and held out her hand to me. She was treating me as if I were a wild wolf. Blanche was amused and put her head in Pyla’s hand. Pyla looked excitedly at Forrest. She was pretty when she looked at him. I wondered if she loved Forrest. He definitely had a crush on her. It was my first time seeing him today, but the way he looked at Pyla was different from how he looked at anyone else. “Yeah, Carmen should just spend most of her time as a wolf. She’s a lot prettier than she is in her human form,” Forrest replied. I saw Pyla look upset before she started petting me. Many people would think what he said was rude. Forrest was just trying to make conversation. He didn’t realize he seemed rude to her. “You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to look at her and her little friend all day while I’m working security. And sometimes the other one forgets I don’t look like my glamour and starts getting flirty,” he laughed. “It’s disgusting.” “Maybe, if you don’t like it, stay away from them or quit,” Pyla muttered. “I think you’re pretty no matter your form.” Forrest scratched his head. He knew he did something wrong, but not what it was. Pyla was raised around beings who looked different from trolls. It would make sense that she was around others who looked more like humans, as well. He didn’t understand that it wasn’t just how he treated her, but how he treated others. Forrest was trying to make conversation, but he was talking to her as if she was a troll. She wasn’t raised like that. “It’s my job, though. There’s no one else to protect them from the warlock. Rock is counting on me. Plus, I have to get used to them. Carmen’s gonna be my friend for the rest of her life.” I pawed at her dress and whimpered a little. She seemed to get what I was saying and got up. She left the room and came back a few minutes later with a dress that she slipped over my head. I shifted back into myself and slipped my arms into the sleeves. “Forrest isn’t hurting my feelings, Pyla. I understand he finds us ugly. And even I think it’s a little gross when Gemma forgets Forrest isn’t his glamour and gets flirty. I’ve talked to her about it. It’s really hard to hurt my feelings, but most trolls would agree that I was hard to look at. Rock doesn’t though, and that’s all that matters to me,” I told her. Forrest sighed. “Sorry, Carmen. I didn’t realize what I was saying could be considered rude by human standards. I think your wolf is beautiful and you’re not too bad to look at.”Pyla gasped a little, and I had to stop myself from doing the same. Fae didn’t enjoy apologizing and admitting they were wrong about something. Forrest apologized with such ease that I was shocked. “What?” he asked. “I didn’t think you would apologize for that,” I admitted. “It was wrong of me to say something rude. You deserve better than that. You’re my friend and I’m still learning how people other than trolls act. I’m gonna make mistakes.” “Of course I forgive you, Forrest. I appreciate the apology. I’m learning, too. We should help each other,” I said. “I can help with non-troll interactions if you can help me with how trolls act and talk, I’d appreciate it, too,” Pyla told Forrest. “Sure. We can work on it whenever you want. Maybe you could come over to my house a couple of nights a week and we’ll work on it. I can work with Carmen at work when it’s slow and you can tell me how I’m doing.” “S-sure. I’d like that a lot. Call me when you want me to come over and I’ll come,” she replied. With that resolved, I shifted back into Blanche and we went to play in Pyla’s backyard. We had a snack, and I watched them interact with each other. With that hiccup resolved, Pyla went back to looking at Forrest as if she was interested in him. Pyla came with us as we explored more of the neighborhood. We wandered out of the troll area of the neighborhood and I saw even more types of fae wandering around. Children came up to say hi and pet me. Like other supernatural communities, they didn’t seem to have pets around here. I understood for shifters, werewolves couldn’t have cats because they never trusted us, and it felt weird to have dogs because they were basically domesticated wolves. It just wasn’t natural. Fae probably had similar issues. Trolls were so big, that a small animal wasn’t a great idea for them. Other fae probably had similar things. People who took animal forms were usually better about letting children touch them than letting adults touch them. “Forrest! What a surprise to see you out on this side of the neighborhood. Most of the trolls prefer to stay within their area. I hope this is means we’ll see more of you out and about,” Rosario said. He and Sean had come from across the street. Not many people I knew really engaged in afternoon walks, but they were out. I didn’t know anything about this neighborhood, though. Rosario looked exactly like I imagined with a regal bearing and handsome face. I hadn’t been expecting that his hair was green, though, and his skin was the same shade as tree bark. I knew by scent that it was Sean with him, but he also looked like I figured from when I got to feel his face when we first met. Sean was thin in a way that didn’t look healthy, but I could see from his arms that he had muscles. They weren’t the thick, heavy muscles my mate had, but I could imagine it would be hard for him to fly if he had muscles like Rock had. His skin was pale green, and his hair was a bright yellow. Not a human blond, but some shade that reminded me of flowers. Of course, what gave him away as being Sean was the scent of ripe melon. I wondered if it was a pixie thing. “Prince Rosario, have you met Pyla and Carmen’s wolf Blanche yet?” Forrest asked. “I haven’t. Hello, Pyla, are you new to the neighborhood? Blanche, it’s very nice to meet you.” “I am new. I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks. I was raised in the lizard man village in the fae realm.”“Ah, they are a species that can’t naturally use glamour. The link between the fae and reptilian shifters. Are you dating Forrest? He’s a good troll. I can vouch for him being an excellent host and friend as well.” I turned to see her reaction, and she was blushing and looking away. Forrest was trying not to smile but failing. I walked over to Sean and sat next to him. This wasn’t about me anymore. They looked like two humans who had crushes on each other. Not like trolls. “We’re just friends,” she replied. “Yeah. It’s weird being friends with a female troll,” Forrest added. “Especially one as beautiful as Pyla, but I’m learning.” Her tail went straight up again, and I was starting to think that was some sort of sign that she liked Forrest. Maybe lizard people’s tails stuck straight up when they had a crush on someone. I knew lizard people were honest, but maybe it was because they couldn’t hide anything.  That must be terrible for them. I closed my eyes when I was hiding my true feelings because they gave them away, but there was no hiding a tail that did whatever it wanted. “Well, we’ll let you get back to your tour of the neighborhood. Sean and I have to be going. We were leaving the house when we saw you and wanted to talk to you,” Rosario replied. “Gray, Cam, and Harmony showed us their wolves a little while ago. You’re about the same size as Cam’s wolf,” Sean told me. I nodded. I was actually a little bigger than Cam’s wolf. I was on the small size for a ranked blood female, but that was fine. It meant I could get in places my mother couldn’t. That was useful when Blanche and I were trying to have some alone time back when we lived on the pack lands. They said goodbye and let us go on our way. In this neighborhood, it seemed like they had similar rules to the forest village. The trolls had to stop for children, but they didn’t have to get down and bow when they came across Rosario. They only stopped for him and waited until he left before they could move. Instead of making them stop for every person, I would walk off to the side and it drew children over to where I was instead of them running up on the sidewalk. The children never ran into Forrest and Pyla’s path. They stopped when I got swarmed, but no freezing stop like before. We ended up walking all over the neighborhood. I saw all sorts of fae in their natural form and some of the ones who could change into dogs came to run and play with me a little. I tried to make sure I could see Forrest. If I lost sight of him, I would head back. The ones who could change got my information from Forrest so they could arrange runs. We couldn’t understand each other like I did with members of my pack. And their clothes changed with them! It wasn’t even a glamour it was how their magic worked!Forrest and I walked Pyla back to her house. I pretended to be looking at a dandelion growing in the craсk of the sidewalk. They said goodbye and hugged each other. Pyla went to the door and turned back to wave to Forrest. He was planted in place until she was in the house. I thought it was so cute. We would definitely talk about it at work on Monday. I couldn’t wait to tell Gemma about how cute Forrest is with Pyla. She would just die if she could have seen that hug and the way Pyla looked at Forrest on the walk. He took me home next and opened the door for me. I appreciated it since I didn’t want to bother Rock by ringing the bell to be let in. I ran off to our room and shifted right next to where I’d taken my clothes off. I got dressed and headed back out to the front door. Forrest was waiting and patted my head before he left. I didn’t need to bug him today, I’d get him on Monday. Rock was in the dining room. I could hear him writing and went to sit in the chair next to his. He stopped writing for a moment. “How’s it going?” I asked. “I think I have most of the math done. If this works out and the master vampire of the territory becomes a regular client, then we could have a lot more business. Most supernaturals follow their leader. I know the other vampires will hire us if he does.” Rock sounded excited but also restrained. It was as if he was trying not to be too happy about it. I wanted him to be happy and excited, but it really wasn’t his personality. Even when he found out I was his mate, he was more sedate than I liked. “That would be good. Maybe it would replace the people you had to get rid of on Friday. You still haven’t said anything about that. You told me that woman tried to do things with you, but you didn’t tell me how it went when you told them you wouldn’t be working with them again…” I said. Rock took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “They shorted us on the check and said it was because I tried to have ѕex with the wife. I already spread their name through the supernatural business community and moved the money from our personal account into the business account, so the completion checks would be what they were supposed to be for the guys.” I growled. I couldn’t believe they would do something so disgusting and dishonorable. Even if it were true, that’s something for a court to handle, not a reason to break a contract. “I’m sorry, little wolf. I didn’t see what was going on sooner.” Getting up from my seat, I went to him and crawled into his lap. I held him close and kissed his neck. “You did what you had to do, and I’m not mad or disappointed in you. I’m mad at them for what they tried to do and how they dishonored you with their lies. Honor is very important to fae. I believe you and believe in you.” “That woman is truly hideous. I would never try to touch her like that.” “Shh. I know. You’re mine, and I know how much you love me. No matter how difficult loving me has been, you’ve always loved me. I’m not some stupid, emotional girl who would think you wanted anyone but me. Before you came of age, I heard you talk about your mate. I know you would never cheat with some human,” I murmured as I stroked his face. “Goddess, you are perfect. Your trust makes me feel a lot better. I’m so glad you found me, Carmen,” Rock said as he wrapped his arms around me and held me tightly. This was what I wanted for us. Being able to be open and honest. Loving each other implicitly. Having open communication and mutual understanding.