[Carmen]It had been about two weeks since the babies were born. Rock and I saw them at the last family dinner. They were growing so fast.He was becoming more confident with them as well. By the time we had our own pup, I knew he would have acclimated to the size of werewolf babies. Though, I was a little afraid of our baby being more troll than werewolf. Perhaps that’s why Orella said I wouldn’t be able to carry more than one.Things in the territory calmed down. Mike updated me on everything since we seemed to get mixed up in things without even trying. He was still on paternity leave, but he pestered Trent until he had an update.No more of the things that attacked us had been seen in town, and there were few people being approached by the cult. Trent figured they were trying their recruiting in other towns since we’d made sure ours wasn’t as susceptible as before.There were things that my brother couldn’t tell me. He didn’t tell me what they were really wanting or what the cult was really about. He didn’t tell me what their plan was to end the cult, either.Mike said the only people who knew everything were the leaders of all the supernatural groups. Queen Bellamy had even assigned a team of her warriors to help us when the time was right.It almost sounded like they were planning a war. That scared me. Jordan, my first mate, the boy who rejected me, was killed not even a year ago in a big battle. Rock promised me he wouldn’t go fight when Queen Maeve started recruiting people from the fae lands.Whatever was going on, it was happening soon. How many people would lose loved ones? How many would say goodbye to the people most important to them for the last time?The thought was terrifying, but the leaders wouldn’t do something like this if they didn’t think it was important. We had to trust them. They always tried to do what was best for us.Things around the office had calmed down after our special project. It actually seemed like it was a wonderful bonding experience. Rock was thinking about projects like that they could do once a year. It would probably be in the fae lands or the pack lands. Somewhere humans wouldn’t see them.I thought that was a great idea. We could use donations and leftover materials from other builds for future projects. The entire company really came together, and they were still talking about it.“Hey, Carmen, I was going to go out to grab lunch. You want to come?” Austin asked.There wasn’t much to do lately. I found there was less to do around the middle of projects. It was more on the actual crew than on the office. All of the orders for materials for the upcoming jobs were out. I had paid bills for the month. We didn’t have any new meetings for possible projects to bid on.“Sure,” I replied. “Viola, can you take over the phone while we’re gone?”“Yeah. Grab me a big bottle of fruit punch while you’re at the store.”“Will do,” I said.Though not all fae were into sweets, I was learning which ones were. Elves of all sorts seemed to like them. I’d had lunch with Rosario and Sean the other day and they both ordered the biggest desserts the restaurant offered after eating a relatively small savory meal.Sean explained that pixies craved sugars a lot, and they burned through them faster than other people did. A cookie could hold over a normal pixie, but a human-sized one took a lot more. He told me he ate at least one whole sheet cake a day. It was impressive, but he didn’t seem happy about it.I grabbed my purse and went to Austin. He led me out to his car. Well, Gemma’s car, but it was essentially his. She didn’t really need it since the pack lands were pretty walkable and they didn’t need to buy a second car this way.We got in and headed to the store. On the way, we talked about the first barbecue of the year. Rock and I had started planning it. I was looking forward to inviting all our friends over again and having fun with them. Austin was excited about going because he had never gotten to do something like that in his old pack.When we arrived at the store, I pulled out my membership card. Austin led me into the building and we got a big cart to push around. After showing my card to the person at the door, I put it in my back pocket.Normally, I came here with Rock and he pulled the cart along while I held onto the handle. Austin always walked right next to me and talked to me while we shopped. He wasn’t as straight to the point as Rock was, either. We wandered a little and looked at things while talking.Austin and I had become pretty close, and it was nice to have someone who could understand my relationships the way he did. I definitely counted him as one of my best friends.We picked up food and drinks, getting the biggest fruit punch they had for Viola. Austin grabbed a bouquet of flowers and some snacks for Gemma on our way to the checkout. He picked up all of her favorites.He spoiled Gemma, and she spoiled him back. They were so perfect for each other. Gemma needed someone who was gentle and caring. Austin needed someone who loved life and wanted someone to share everything with their mate. Plus, Gemma had Gamma blood and was really adept at caring for other pack members.“How’s the wedding planning going?” Austin asked as we waited in line.“With my mom and Rock’s mom taking over as my wedding planners, I barely have to do anything. I would honestly be happy just going to city hall and getting married by a judge. Rock’s already my marked mate. I don’t need anything else. The paper is just a formality, so we can make sure our family is taken care of if anything happens,” I answered.“You’re pretending not to care about it, but I know you do. Are you afraid of it not being what you wanted? It seems like you think pretending not to care will make it better if it falls short….”I blushed. “You’re not wrong. I love the idea of the ceremony. Since Mom has been busy with Mike and Beth’s family, Eru has been taking care of everything. So I’m still getting regular updates, but not with as much conflict as before. ”He chuckled. “At least there’s that. So it seems like everything will be on track for your date?”“Yeah. I’m glad to have Rock’s mom around now. Ever since she came back, I’ve had more time to get to know her. Rock is a lot like her. I think she actually cared for his dad a little bit, even if she says it was a one-night stand.”Austin hummed in agreement as we moved forward. I knew most werewolves were like me. They wanted the insta-love happily ever after story. We were heavy believers in some things being ‘meant to happen’, even if it didn’t involve love at the time.Eru needed something to help ground her after she lost her mate. She got a baby who needed her more than a full troll baby ever would. They made the only man I could ever love that night. I couldn’t imagine ever loving Jordan the way I loved Rock. How could I feel safe and secure with anyone who wasn’t my big, strong troll?“You have that goofy look on your face again,” Austin chuckled.“I’m sure you get a goofy look sometimes, too.”“Yeah, but you can never call me out on it.”I laughed. He was right. I wasn’t using my magic as much as I thought I would. Now that I had a pretty good handle on it, it was just another tool.Back when I started, I thought I would have to build up my stamina with it so I could use it all the time, but I wasn’t doing that. If I was somewhere important, if there was something I wanted to see, then I would use it.There were no regrets about learning, though. It was such an amazing gift, but I was learning to accept my blindness as more than a disability and a thing that made me different. Meeting so many blind fae who weren’t treated like children made it easier for me.No one in the fae lands acted as if I was broken. Orella told me they used their magic only when they needed it. For the most part, they were like me and just made sure things were always kept in their places. There was magic to help with things, like the blind menus at restaurants, but most of them just lived their lives in a way that made it easier to function.Austin and I finally reached the checkout counter and put our things on the conveyer belt. It didn’t take long to get checked out. I was fairly certain the wait times were because of the sheer amount of things people were buying. Then there were the ones who were very friendly and had to tell the cashier their life story at checkout.We were polite as we paid for our things and the attendant packed them into boxes before putting them into the cart for us to take out. I liked that about this store. They didn’t have bags but used boxes from their shipments to hold food. It cut down on the added plastic in the world.The weather had warmed up a little more. I loved how April smelled. It was very fresh and bright. The temperature was perfect, and it had rained last night, so there was a bit of humidity and a thickness in the air. It was a very hopeful scent.I used my magic to help me assist in loading up our groceries. Austin would be better at the actual placement of items. I was just handing them to him. Once they were safely in the trunk, I headed to the passenger side of the car while Austin took the cart to the return area.While I waited, I checked my watch. We’d been gone for over an hour. I hoped Viola and Forrest hadn’t become too upset. We were very late with their lunch.Leaning back in my seat, I thought a little more about the wedding. I had the perfect dress, and I just knew Rock would love it. We had a honeymoon planned in the fae realm. He said he would take me to places unlike any I’d ever been to before. As long as I was with him, I didn’t care where we went.We could stay home for all I cared. All I wanted was for him and me to have alone time. Something no one else could intrude on. Something we didn’t have to stop for work. That was all.I realized it had been a while since Austin went to return that cart. Checking my watch again, I realized he had been gone for ten minutes. I got out of the car and called out his name, but there was no answer.This wasn’t good. I spread my magic out as far as I could around me, in case he was on the ground. I walked over to the cart return and still didn’t see him. As I turned to go back, there was the sound of something large and solid falling just outside my magic’s range. I rushed back to the car, but three people appeared, surrounding me.They weren’t monsters, like the things that had attacked me last month. These were people, but I couldn’t smell them. It was as if their scents were hidden.“You can come peacefully, or we can do to you what we did to your friend and the troll that was watching you,” one of the people said.“D-did you kill them?” I asked hesitantly.The group laughed.“No. But we can if you want to resist. Will that make you more compliant?”“Why do you even want me?”“You’ll find out soon enough. Now, are you coming along, or do we need to knock you out as well?”‘Rock, someone is taking me away. They have Austin and they did something to Wylder. I have to go or they’ll kill them. I don’t know if you’re close enough to hear me. Tell my brother. Tell Rhett. Don’t get hurt.’ I linked my mate before I nodded to the men.They led me past Wylder’s prone form. How did three people take down a full-grown troll? That told me I made the right choice. I couldn’t have stopped them.