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He chuckled softly with a deep and wonderfully rumbly sound and shrugged. “Naturally you have nothing to fear fromme, but I think you are safe enough doing so here. Most of the fae here that you meet are roamers or trying to find their own homes. Most won’t be of the mind to carry you off along the fairy roads to the fae realm. Nor would any get past me if they tried. But it is best to be cautious.”
“I see. Thank you, I suppose.”
He shook his head. “No thanking either. Otherwise, with any other than me, you are acknowledging an owed debt.”
She eyed him warily. “Why are you the exception? What makes you safe compared to everyone else?”
He gave her a bewildered, searching look and his face hardened. “Who do you think my mate is, female?”
Every word of his was drawn slowly and dropped sharply from his tongue. She scowled at him in turn, confused at the shift in conversation back to his mate. This again? The way he said it, however, made something tighten sensually within her in response.
No! She absolutely was not going to start getting hot and bothered by a troll—and a mated troll at that. She would never mess with a married man, and she had a strong suspicion that being mated was as good as being married for his kind.
“How should I know?” she replied. “I don’t even see what that has to do with my question—oh!” Her eyebrows flew up as clarity struck. “Is she human like the overseer’s mate?” She tapped her bottom lip with her fingertip as she considered it. “That would explain why you’d be so worried. Though I suggest you don’t be so grabby with other women—regardless of how it is with trolls, human women don’t like that even if you’re just being, uh, protective, I guess.”
And she would never, ever breathe a word of how it made her feel being held like that by him. How good it felt. She would be taking that to the grave.
He stared at her blankly for a long moment and swiped a hand over his face, his palm muffling his muttered words. When he finally lowered his hand, he gave her a flat, somewhat patient, pointed look.
“In a manner of speaking,” he growled. “But I don’t think that my mate has anything to fear of me doing anything of the sort with another female. There is only one female that I have any interest in touching.”
“Th-that’s good,” MaryAnne replied, her eyes widening as he suddenly moved in closer. The warm musky scent of his body surrounded her in the clean scent of cedar and pine after a rain with some sort of unknown sweetness and spice. “I… I just need to know if you’re going to help me or not. Because if you aren’t, I can’t afford to waste any more time when my kids need me.”
His chest heaved as a deep sigh left him. “You are that determined? Even if it’s dangerous?”
Her jaw hardened. “Buddy, you haven’t even seen determined yet. I’m going one way or the other, and I’m not going to waste anymore daylight arguing with you. Besides, they’re camped near three towns. That’s bound to minimize the danger with so many witnesses nearby.”
He groaned softly. “Do not count on it. There’s something wrong with that place. I cannot say what, but it is a taint that makes me uneasy.” He gave her a sidelong look. “Are you certain that you wish to face this?”
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.” That was a lie. She was terrified, but she couldn’t let her kids down. They were counting on her. She could be brave and face anything for them.
“Very well. I will take you. If nothing else to keep you from getting yourself killed by whatever dangers are lurking around The Bend.”
“Fabulous!” She grabbed her backpack off the bed and swung it over her shoulder, her flashlight in her free hand. When he remained rooted to the spot, she eyed him curiously. “Don’t you need to tell your mate that we’re leaving?”
His brows lowered further, making him look considerably more dangerous as he eyed her. “We are leaving,” he annunciated slowly.
She blinked.Wait.She blinked again.Gods. How…Their earlier conversation took on a completely new meaning, and her mouth rounded in shock as she processed it.
“Come along,mate,” he growled as he took the lantern from her hand and immediately squinted. “What is this cursed light? I’ve never seen a fire with such a fierce glow.”
She choked back a laugh as she reached over and dimmed the setting. “My flashlight? Isn’t it great? It was a pretty nice high-powered model. It’s battery-powered,” she explained. “Batteries are hard to come by, but it’s useful to have while it works.”
He gave it a look of intrigue. “Ah.”
She tucked the flashlight under her arm and rubbed her hands against her thighs, trying to look anywhere but at the massive troll who, with one word, suggested and promised every sort of lurid fantasy her mind had ever come up with. Worse, though her mind was panicking, her body was breaking out in preemptive celebrations as a warm flush of desire rapidly spread through her. Her cheeks and ears heated with embarrassment when her obvious arousal was met with a distinct rumble of approval. Gods, he probably smelled it.
Just kill me now and put me out of my misery.
“You smell good enough to eat,” he rasped, his breath warming her ear, and he inhaled with a deep sound of appreciation.
MaryAnne jumped and nearly dropped her flashlight before catching it at last minute.. When had he suddenly drawn in so close to her? “It’s rude to sniff at people,” she grumbled as she jerked away but was immediately spun around to face him.
“It is not rude when it is my mate,” he growled, the sound sending a lick of lightening to her clit. “I will do this thing for you. I will help you find your younglings because your desire is honorable and one that any troll would understand. And because I refuse to see you put yourself in danger. But youaremy mate.Do not worry, I will not mount you yet. Instead, I will give you a reprieve few would get when Ha’shena calls—but you are mine to protect, and you will follow my lead upon arriving at the carnival. That is my condition.”
She couldn’t deny that his words gave her a private thrill, though she tried to bury it where she wouldn’t have to acknowledge it.
“Fine,” she growled back at him. “But be prepared for blue balls from hell because I’m not interested in being anyone’s mate.”
