I GOT MY PURPLE BELT!

This means nothing to you, but a little peak into my life... I'm a martial artist, and yesterday I spent six hours at the dojo putting myself through hell to get that belt. And it was awesome! And I am a freaking BEAST! Who says girls can't kick ass?

Anyways, you may or may not be able to guess why the title is such, but you can try.

Don't own stuff... ENJOY!

Chapter 18: What the actual effing hell!?

It's Halloween night, and the clouds were thick enough for me to walk with Claire home. A rare occurrence, but one that seems to become more frequent as it nears winter.

Amanda gave both Claire and I costumes she had put together from old thrift shop clothes. And by some strange miracle, she decided to get me the most baggy and large pirate clothes she could find. So, they actually fit my troll form. They fit like a regular shirt and pants would.

Claire was given a tight corset and a loose cream blouse, brown leggings with and (her words, not mine) the cutest boots but look like a death trap. They came past her knees and laced up on both sides with lots of buckles and chains. She has a sash and a leather belt with a few pouches.

Mine was simpler, The shirt would've been loose on a human, but on me, it's a tight cream shirt with brown pants that were still high on my legs but fit like the cargos I usually wear. I also have a belt with several pouches, brown leather.

Claire comes out in her costume…

I think I forgot how to breath.

Her hair is in a loose french braid, coming down to just above her shoulder blades. The white streak woven in and out, her makeup making her eyes brighter than normal. The corset against the cream shirt with the loose V-neck with undone ties complimenting her figure. And… just… wow.

She takes strides up to me. "What do you think Jim?" She smiles, small sparkles on her cheeks glint in the light of the glow crystals.

I can't find any words, I growl my approval. Claire looks slightly confused but smiles anyways.

"You ready to go? The dance starts in about half an hour."

I slowly nod my head. Smiling like an idiot, and I can't help but purr.

She looks me up and down, noticing I don't have my headband on, she takes it from my hand on pulls on my shoulder so I'll lower for her.

"You know Jim, if you can't talk by the time we get to the dance, we may have some problems." She says while tying the brown fabric around my head, minding the horns.

"Well," I manage. "You're just too beautiful for words to describe."

She fumbles slightly while positioning the headband, a blush goes to her cheeks at my comment. She bites her lip and smiles down at me. I feel her grasp my horns and presses a kiss to my forehead.

I stand halfway up and cup her cheeks, pressing my horns against her head.

My ears flick as I hear several panicked steps climbing up the steps. I carefully move Claire away as I growl and let it grow. She asks what the matter is, I turn to the doorway and point. "We have guests."

Blinkey, Arrrggg, and NotEnrique come bursting in.

"We have a problem!" Blinkey shouts.

"Understatement," Arrrggg grumbles.

"I agree, we really need a door." I growl.

"That's not it Lake," NotEnrique says. "I just got back from another scouting trip. The goblins, they're going to be causen' lots of trouble tonight!"

"What?" I snarl.

"Indeed, Master Jim."

"Where are they?" Claire questions, stepping slightly into a fight stance.

"That's the problem!" NotEnrique says. "They're at you's school!"

"WHAT!?" I roar.

"Nests," Arrrggg says.

"Nests?" Claire repeats.

NotEnrique nods, "They've built a whole bunch of nests around the forest area near the sports fields."

"That's where the party's at, on the football field." Claire says.

I let out a long growl, "The one day we decide to do normal kid stuff after school!"

"Is anyone hurt yet?" Claire asks.

"Not yet. The suns just set, but they'll be wakin' up soon." NotEnrique says.

"Than we still have time," I say.

"You have a plan, Master Jim?" Blinkey asks.

I give a heavy nod, filling the pouches on the belt with my amulet, and a horngazzle. Picking my phone up off the counter I scroll through the contacts and press the phone to my ear.

It rings four times.

"Hello?"

"Maggs, it's Jim. I've got a favor to ask."

At her name, Claire's eyes narrow. "Jim, what are you doing?"

"Yeah, that's what the Caller ID said. What do you need?"

"I saw a pair of dual swords in The Hazard Room, I need you to wear them on your costume. And I need you to bring one of your quarterstaffs, for Claire."

There's silence on both ends for a second.

"Need?"

"Need," I growl.

"Yesh! Dude, sure fine."

I sigh, letting the growl go. "Thank you. We'll see you in a bit." I quickly hang up and look to Claire.

"Really?"

"Yes, I need you to be armed."

"But Maggie?"

"The dual swords are just in case I can't use the amulet."

"So what's the plan?" Blinkey asks.

"Claire and I are going to the dance, just as planned. If nothing happens, nothing happens. If they attack, Claire and I will draw them away, deal with them then."

"Your planning skills have greatly improved," Blinkey comments.

"Not like plan," Arrrggg says.

"Yes, it does lack a certain amount of… us." Blinkey gestures to the other trolls.

"I'm doing my best to keep everyone safe, these people aren't as oblivious as the people back in Arcadia. I don't want you going out when there's a chance you could be spotted." I say firmly.

"But…"

"No buts," I snarl.

The three of them grumble and glare.

"Jim's right you guys, it's not safe. Especially with the whole field going to be filled with Snapchat happy teens."

"I do suppose you have a point."

"We do, now we need to get going," I say.

Claire tosses me the mask, puts her phone in her pocket and follows me out.

We make quick work of the stairs, and I carry her through the woods before putting on the mask to match my costume, and bolt through town. We get to the dance, the lights are everywhere, and the speakers are blaring so loudly I can't repress a snarl while walking past them.

I fold my ears back, and we walk to the other side of the field. I scent the air and find Maggie with the others. I point out their direction to Claire, she goes and brings them to the far end of the football field where it's quieter and there aren't as many students. They're all dressed in other pirate garb.

Claire now has the staff in hand, and is looking around for any spindly green creatures cautiously. I can smell them nearby, unfortunately. I never realized how bad they smelled until now, and find myself shaking my head and scrunching my nose in an attempt to rid my nose of the scent.

"You know how busted I'll get if one of the teachers finds out these are real. Right?" Maggie asks, gesturing to the dual swords on her back.

I give a nod, "Yeah I do. And I really appreciate you bringing them. But honestly, do you know how much trouble you would be in if the teachers found out you brought a dagger to school everyday?"

"Wait… How'd…"

"You have a small dagger you strapped to your calf, and you hide it on the inside of your combat boots. It's practical, but teachers think those kinds of things are dangerous."

Maggie glares at me.

"I didn't even know that," Amanda says.

"When did you start doing that?" Kyle asks.

"About four years ago…" Maggie mumbled. "How did you notice?"

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Same way I notice how you always check your surroundings for threats. Or how I know, you know what the best makeshift weapon in every single one of your classrooms are. And how you're constantly checking behind you to make sure no one is following you."

"And how you read people when you first get to know them," Claire adds, "but that's not as obvious."

I nod at her statement.

My ears start to flick, I hear the mumblings of goblins on the move.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Alex asks.

"Uh… that remains to be seen about Maggie. But, 'the name' might have something to do with Jim and Claire," Amanda says.

I absently nod, staring through the crowd following the sound of goblins.

"Jim, do you hear them?" Claire asks.

The others look confused by her question, then stare at me to see what I'm doing.

I give a slow nod, "Where is the snack table, Kyle?"

"Um, directly through the crowd where you're looking," he presses his lips.

A low growl starts, Claire stares into the crowd as if she can see through the other kids.

"Of course they'd go for the food first," she says.

"You've lost it," Kyle says. "Actually, I don't think you've ever had it." He looks bored.

"I haven't had it since about a year ago, Kyle."

"Jim, what are we going to do?" Claire asks.

"Uh, the plan. Lure them away and kick goblin butt."

'Yeah, but are you going to do that with or without the glamor?' She whispers.

I slump my shoulders. I take in a deep breath and pull my hand down my face. I straighten up again before taking charge of absolutely nothing. "Alex, Kyle, Amanda, stay here or just wander around. Stay away from the snack table for a while. Maggie, come with Claire and I."

Without another word I stride in the direction of where I hear the goblins, Claire on my heels and Maggie following confused behind.

"Uh, what's going on? Gobins?" Maggie asks.

"Yeah, my brother found a whole horde of them, and tracked them here tonight. Just our kind of luck, huh Jim?"

"I'm starting to think Karma has it out for me," I growl. "I'd like one night, just one, to be a normal kid. But no! I have to save a bunch of humans from goblins!" I tell Claire as she comes closer to my side.

We reach the food, set up in front of the bleachers.

"Mr. Cunningham, have you seen anything weird?" I ask.

Claire looks up at me and rolls her eyes. "Ignore his question. Other than the Halloween dance, have you seen or heard anything out of the ordinary?"

He shakes his head. "No, there was some shuffling behind the bleachers, but that's normal for teens to go off during the dances."

Claire and I give each other knowing glances' just as Maggie comes up.

"You two going to tell me what's going on?" She asks.

I shake my head. "Nope. go enjoy the party. Claire and I will be back in a while."

Claire and I dash off to behind the bleachers and find several goblins, and the small start of several goblin nests in the trees behind them.

"They haven't spotted us yet," I whisper to Claire. "Do you think anyone will notice if we kill one and the rest start screaming WakaChaka?"

"It's a 50/50. With the music this loud we should be fine."

I nod and pull off the mask. "Hold this, I'm going to smash one and run. If we can take this to the forest no one will be wiser to what's going on."

I slowly stalk forward, moving to my hands and feet and pounce. Mid jump summoning the armor, and coming down swinging on one of the goblins. I make sure to growl loud enough that the others would notice.

They do.

All at once, multiple screams of "WAKA CHAKA!" Ring through the air. I dismiss the armor, pocket the amulet and run back at Claire. Sweeping her off her feet and making a mad dash for the woods. Half a horde on our trail.

We stop in a clearing and I set Claire down and she tosses the mast at the base of a tree trunk to grab later. The glowing red and yellow eyes quickly surround us as I once again dawn my armor.

Claire and I back up against one another and hold our weapons at the ready. "This remind you of something?" I grin.

"Duh, when NotEnrique screwed up and got a whole bunch of goblins to go after me and you borderline kidnapped me."

I laugh but it comes out as more of a bark, "at least this time I have the amulet, and you're armed and trained."

"Why is this our life?" She smiles as the goblins near.

I shrug. "I love our life, I couldn't be happier. And honestly, I've been itching to kill something."

"Oooh, you sound like a full troll."

"Yeah, well, that's a compliment." I scent the air and notice there's a lot more than just a single horde. "Also my senses are better than a full troll, and I can smell there's a lot more goblins than we expected."

I lower my stance and grip Dusk tighter, my armor casting an eerie red glow on the trees.

The goblins start attacking, all at once, and one by one. Claire lets loose her battle cry as I roar mine. Turning the spindly green creatures to goop as we hit them with our individual weapons. As more and more attack, I can feel the slime starting to coat my scruff and armor, glancing at Claire her costume isn't much better.

I'm sure that more than 20 minutes have passed and Claire's starting to slow down, allowing the goblins to scratch, claw and bite her anytime she falters. I snarl and run to guard her back.

"Jim!" She yells, though panting. "I'm capable of protecting myself!"

"You're forgetting something," I snarl as I slice a goblin in half.

"What's that?" She asks, spinning the staff and killing three more.

A large group jump down from the trees, bushes, and come at us from all angles. I summon my glaives and throw them in an arch, use my shield to block Claire's head from the attack in the trees, kick several away and slice at least five, all at once.

"You're my mate and I'm not letting anything hurt you." I stare her down, making sure she understands that.

She stares back and gives a single nod. "But I am not a damsel!"

"My love, you've fought Angor Rot and lived… multiple times. You're better than some of my predecessors." I return to killing goblins left and right, but not before adding… "I know you're no damsel, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to not protect you, if you need it."

She smiles and continues fighting alongside me. I miss a goblin jumping from the trees and Claire swipes it out of the air before slamming it down, exploding it on the ground.

"And I'm going to protect you, if you need it," she laughs.

The assault is constant, even I'm starting to get tired. But Claire's panting, and tripping from exhaustion, and using the staff to hold herself up whenever she's not hitting the goblins.

"Gahhh!" She yells, "how many of these things are there?"

I scent the air. "Too many. I can't smell an end."

"That means they're attacking us, and not the dance, right?" She pants.

I keep growling as they attack. "I sure hope so."

Goblin after goblin, minute after minute, and they. Keep. On. Coming. I hear a strangled 'oof'. I turn to see Claire on the ground, goblins jumping at the chance for an easy kill. I dismiss my sword and pounce, ramming my horns into the goblins on top of her. On my hands and feet I stand over her protectively. I re-summon Dusk and keep her safe.

"Jim!" She yells, trying to protest my protection, she tries to get up but I position myself over her so she can't.

"Just take a quick breather, give yourself a minute to rest. Please. You'll do better if you rest, even for just one minute." I grit out as I slice into goblins left and right.

She doesn't like it, but she nods and curls up tight so she's easier to protect, and I have more room to move around her.

After she felt rested up enough, (more than just one minute) she gains enough energy to go at it again. She stands and readys herself with the staff again. And jumps right back into the fray.

By this point I'm sure we've been going for at least an hour. But I can finally smell an end to the goblins.

"We just gotta keep going a little bit longer Claire. We've almost got them all."

She gives an exhausted, yet hysterical laugh. "Finally!"

"WHAT THE ACTUAL EFFING HELL!?" A new voice enters the clearing.

I feel like everything freezes when I turn and see Maggie standing within the large clearing. And then every thing returns full force when several goblins claw at my face and I shake them off before stabbing them.

The goblins quickly noticed the new target and several of the group split off and start attacking her. I glance at Claire who is frantically looking between everything going on and our friend.

"Claire, she might be in shock," I say. "Go snap her out of it. She should be able to hold her own against the goblins."

"Are we not talking about the fact that she's seen you, and she followed us?"

I shake my head and snarl. "Later."

Claire takes off across the clearing, which is about the size of a small parking lot. I keep on fighting the goblins, their attacks significantly lessened as their numbers dwindle, and the hordes are split up.

…Claire…

I run across the clearing as fast as I can, my legs and arms are trembling from the exhaustion of fighting for over an hour. As soon as I get to Maggie, I have to beat away several goblins. She's staring into the distance, Jim's usually right, she might be in shock.

This isn't normal shock though, and therefore does not follow the usual rules one would need for treating shock. I raise my arm and swing to slap her in the face but she blocks it well.

"What are you doing?" She narrows her eyes at me.

"Snapping you…" I swing the staff killing another goblin. "Snapping you out of your shock, draw those swords and help me kill these things!" I yell.

"Kill?" She looks shocked, disgusted and mortified even.

"Yes, Kill, rule number two." I knock more away before slaming the butt of the staff into them and they explode into more goo.

"But… I can't kill…" She tries.

"Draw your swords, or they will kill you."

"I don't know how to use…"

I don't let her finish, I grab a goblin by an arm as it jumps at me and throw it at her. "I don't care if you know how to use them or not. Just hit it with the sword, really hard!"

She looks pissed for having a goblin on her, and finally draws one of the swords. She throws the goblin off of herself and hits it with the flat side of the wide blade. Knocking it aside like a golf ball, but leaving it alive.

I slam my palm to my forehead, "With the sharp side!"

"But…"

"Maggie! Shut the hell up and kill the dang goblin! Or else!" I keep slamming the staff into the goblins coming at me and killing them. The assault almost over, I look back to Jim, who only has about a dozen left. I've only got about six or seven, plus the five attacking Maggie that she just keeps shoving away. "Slice them in half!"

"Why?"

"Because in our world, it's kill or be killed." I say it as firmly as I can, making sure she understands the truth in the statement.

She finally squares her shoulders and her eyes narrow in determination. Maggie turns back to the goblins and swiftly kills the last of them.

I place my hand on my hip and lean against the staff, "That wasn't so hard was it?" I smirk, but am panting hard.

...Jim…

I finally finish off the last of the goblins attacking me, I drop to my hands and run over to where Claire and Maggie are.

As I approach, Maggie pulls her sword on me. I quickly throw up my hands and take a step back, allowing Claire to get in between us.

"Maggie chill! What do you think you're doing?" She yells.

"You said to kill them…"

"I said kill the goblins. Not my mate!"

I roll my eyes, she said it would be the first thing, and technically, it was.

I put my hands down and smile. "Maggie, not that you could, but you would feel really bad if you killed me. I'd never have the chance to teach you swordplay."

Her eyes widen and the sword drops to the ground. "Jim?!"

I pull the amulet off my chest and put it back in one of the pockets on the leather belt, I shake like a dog, riding my scruff of goblin goo. "That would be me. And before anything else, the name of my species, not race, is troll."

"And the reason you won't ever date him is because I'm his mate, trolls mate for life."

"That… this… everything… and… Does Justin know this much?"

"Justin found me like this after I killed the stalkling. So yeah, he knows."

Claire walks stiffly over to me, "Babe, everything hurts…"

I lift her off her feet and nuzzle her hair, covered in goo.

"I know baby, but you did awesome."

She presses her forehead into the crook of my neck and nuzzles against me. "Thanks, but I don't want to fight goblins anymore."

I glance around at the remains of at least twenty hordes, I sigh. "Maggs, pick up your sword and clean it off. Claire, can you walk?" She nuzzles my chest, gives a mock whine, and nods.

I set her down and bound over to the mask, retrieve it and run back. "I'm not in much of a mood for a dance anymore Claire, you good if we just head home?"

"You read my mind. Can you read the rest of what I'm thinking?" She smiles weakly up at me.

I hand her the mask and lift her off her feet, holding the staff in my other hand.

"That you want a shower, a bath, and we're bringing Maggie to Trollmarket?" I look up to Maggie whose attention was grabbed at the sound of her name.

"Woah, you really can read my mind." Claire giggles and nuzzles against my upper arm. I nuzzle our noses in return.

"Com'on Maggie, you're coming over to our 'house'. And I'll answer every question you have. And I'll tell you the truth this time." I start walking back toward the school.

"Wait, you were lying about the things you told us?"

I nod. "Mostly."

She narrows her eyes at me before following. "You lied to us?!"

"Well, I couldn't exactly tell you the truth!" I snarl.

She freezes and takes a step back. "Well, now at least those sounds make sense, and match your face."

"Is that a compliment, or an insult?" I turn and ask, Claire is glaring at her from the crook of my arms.

"A fact," she replies.

"That's fair," Claire mumbles.

We walk in relative silence until we reach the bleachers. Once we're behind them, I set a wobbly Claire down and trade the mask for the staff. I think about just the costume I was wearing before and in a flash of light I'm human again. Sorta.

Maggie narrows her eyes at me, she walks up and moves her hand above my head back and forth. "Where did the rest of you go?"

"Physical illusion magic," Claire states.

"Oh! Another thing, we aren't really deep in 'supernatural' we're deep in the magical and mystical."

"And there's, a difference… why?"

"Ghosts vs Trolls," Claire shrugs.

"This is nuts…" She runs her fingers through her hair and looks up at the bleachers.

"Yeah, you haven't seen anything yet… You aren't going to tell anyone, right?" I say, my voice accidentally slipping to a growl.

She shakes her head, and it slowly grows to a grin. "No way, this is too cool to share. Besides, I'm sure if I told, you wouldn't teach me how to use a sword."

Claire rolls her eyes, "You are truly incorrigible."

"Let's go find the others, tell them we're leaving early."

I lead the other two through the crowd, directly to the others by scent.

"Hey, where have you been? It's been almost two hours." Alex states.

"My word! Claire are you alright?" Amanda shreks when she sees Claire covered in claw marks and subtle amounts of slime.

She huffs and folds her arms, "I'm fine. My skin just isn't stone," she murmurs.

"Anyways, we're heading home," I say. "Claire isn't feeling well, so we're going to leave early."

"Oh, sorry to hear that. I hope you're feeling better tomorrow." Amanda smiles and hugs Claire, her nose wrinkles up but she doesn't say anything about the stench of dead goblin.

"Thanks guys, see you tomorrow," Claire says.

We turn to leave, Maggie following but is stopped. "You leaving too Maggie?" Kyle asks.

She nods. "Yeah, I'm really tired. I didn't sleep well last night. Bye guys." She waves them off and follows.

As soon as we pass the front gates Claire backhands me in the chest. "Really Jim? You know how much I hate it when I'm the weak scapegoat!"

"I know, but have you seen yourself?" I ask carefully. "You're covered in goblin claw and bite marks. And you're limping." I whine to show my concern.

Maggie observes us both carefully.

She nods taking in her own appearance, "I guess that would be the most believable thing."

"Next time I'll make myself the weakling," I laugh. I take Claire's arm and pull in around my neck and let her put her weight on me so she isn't limping as bad.

"How long were you two out fighting those things?" Maggie speaks up.

"About an hour and a half. I don't think I've ever seen so many hordes in one place," Claire says.

"And there was a few that ran away, so we didn't even get all of them," I add. "But here's a better question…"

"Why the hell were you following us?" Claire cuts me off, yelling.

"We were all wondering where you were, I was getting worried. Because you said something about fighting, so I was coming to check on you. I just followed this strange chittering sound. It led me to Claire and a blue armored demon, exploding creepy green things."

Claire and I nod. "Thanks for the concern, but goblins aren't something we can't handle," I say.

We walk past a bunch of little kids going door to door in town, and trick or treating. As soon as we pass the warehouse and keep walking, Maggie gets confused.

"Where is your house?"

"House is kinda not the right word, you're just going to have to wait and see." Claire smiles.

We continue walking and I think about how our trip through NTM will go.

"Uh… Claire, I don't have my jacket that can hide her face and scent," I moan a little.

Claire's face scrunches up in frustration. Than concentration.

"I've got it. NotEnrique." She pulls out her phone and has a quick conversation to bring one of Jim's jackets to the top of the staircase then leave.

"Who the heck is NotEnrique? And why is he 'not' Enrique."

"Because he has yet to choose a name, he can't remember his real one. So he just keeps that one for now. He's not 'Enrique' because he's not my human brother Enrique."

She blinks hard once. "Yeah, I'm sure that would make total sense if I knew anything, but I don't, so…"

"Yeah, that one is really just a long story," I say as we walk under the bridge and stop.

"Where is your 'house'?" We've been walking for almost forty minutes.

I let go of Claire's arm and sigh. "I wasn't lying when I said that the sun will kill me. You really think I'd live above ground?"

She looks completely confused. I sigh and roll my eyes, pulling out the horngazle. I draw the arch and wait for the door to open. "Com'on, let's get going."

Maggie enters and I lift Claire to her feet before handing her the mask. Near the entrance, one of my jackets is sitting on the ground. I rub my face on it, making sure I breath heavily on it. Once halfway down the crystal staircase I toss it to Maggie.

"What's this for?"

"Trolls don't like humans, Claire and I are a few exceptions. But we've been with them for over a year. They know my scent. If you're wearing that, you'll be mistaken for me, or for someone in severely close relation to me. Like a sister or cousin. Just make sure you pull the hood up."

"Normally I'd carry you up, but I'm not leaving Claire alone in her state," I say.

"I love that you care Jim, but really?" Claire gives a half hearted glare.

"Or I could let you walk up all those stairs to our cave by yourself," I suggest. Playfully nuzzling her forehead.

"Fine, I get your point. Man, I'm out of shape. I haven't fought off goblins since… when was it last?"

"I think with was when my mom remembered everything and we had that intervention thing. Which was about a week before the Eternal Night."

She counts some things off in her head. "Five months, I'm going to be feeling this in the morning."

"Earth to weirdos," Maggies says. "What about the what?"

"In a minute, we've gotta get up to our cave fist," I say. We reach the bottom and she pulls the jacket on, pulling the strings on the hood tight. "K, don't say anything until we're there."

Maggie nods and we walk swiftly through Trollmarket. Up the stairs and into our cave. She looks around in wonder all the while.

I set Claire down who spreads her arms wide and says. "Welcome, to our home. Stay out of that room," She points to our bedroom. "Bathroom is over there, and there's food in the fridge, just don't touch the bottom drawer."

"Ok, so we just walked through a city of trolls, and Jim's a troll, and you have this… cave. And this is where you live. And… this is a lot." She shrugs off my jacket and drapes it over the couch.

"Pretty much," I say. I take off my shirt and toss it on top of my trunk. Than go into my bedroom and change my pants back to regular cargos.

"Jim, go wash your scruff. You still have some goblin in it," Claire says.

"Then you'll need a shower more."

"I will, and you can cook something up for Maggie and I. Plus Blinkey, Arrrggg, and NotEnrique are coming up around midnight to talk about the goblins. I think NotEnrique might show up sooner, so get him something out to eat too."

"I'm hungry too, but I kinda wanna…" I glance over to Maggie who's staring at my abdomen and chest intently. "Maggie, go sit on the couch," I command. She rolls her eyes but compiles. I return to my conversation with Claire in a whisper. "I was hoping to give you a bath. But I can't if she's here. I also… new instinct, I need to clean your cuts."

"Oh… well. If you're ok with her being here, I'm ok with it. I'll let you clean my cuts after I have a shower."

I smile and nuzzle her nose, "You're the best mate I could've asked for." I flick the corner of her mouth and dash into the shower. Only sticking my head under the shower head and shaking off once out of the bathroom.

"You got a favorite food Mags?" I ask.

"Uhh, grilled chicken? Something zesty for the sauce?"

"I can do that."

"So, can I start asking questions yet?"

I shake my head as I start pulling out ingredients and put some water on to boil. "No, I'd rather Claire be here for that. She keeps me in check."

"Can I ask one?"

I sigh. "Sure."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner, that Claire's your mate. For me to be infringing on something that personal had to be hard, and really annoying."

"Well, if you knew about that, you'd have to know about me not being human. And if you know I'm a troll, then you'd know about the other trolls. And It's my job to protect them, and keep them a secret. So, I just couldn't tell you. It's really a matter of trust when it comes to who I tell my secret. Because it's not just my secret."

"I guess that makes sense," she's kneeling on the couch and resting her head and arms on the back of the sofa. "Also, sorry for flirting with you even after I found out Claire was your 'girlfriend'."

I scoff as I put rice in the boiling water. "I mean, it's not like you would have gotten far. Like Claire said, trolls mate for life. But thank you for apologizing."

We fall into a comfortable silence, well, it's comfortable for me. Maggie is fidgeting and glancing around, the silence is anything but comfortable for her.

I hear NotEnrique coming up the steps and am about to warn Maggie too late when he comes in.

"Eh, Jim, I wanted to…" NotEnrique gets cut off.

She screams and pulls out one of her swords, then runs at him.

On instinct, I drop everything I'm doing and stand on my hands and feet over my cowering packmate. I block her poor attempt of a swing with my horns, and growl. Too on edge to speak, I continue to growl and snarl at her.

"Jim, what's going on?" She asks. Though she's still holding the sword firmly in her grasp. The tip pointed down at NotEnrique through me.

She's not dropping her defensive position, and I'm unable to stop myself from crawling forward, snarling at her.

"Jim?" She asks, confused but not afraid.

NotEnrique crawls slightly out from under me and tries to stop me, but the little changeling has no effect with words or otherwise, I couldn't even register what he said. He yells something, and I continue to crawl forward. I didn't see her come in, but Claire ends up between Maggie and I.

"Maggie, you need to put the sword down." Claire's dripping wet, and so are the clothes she'd thrown on. She says other things to her, but I can't register them either.

In my head the only thing is this. Maggie attacked a member of my pack unprovoked, and I need to defend him.

Than the sword drops to the ground with a clang and she looks away from me.

I'm finally able to shake myself and stop growling, NotEnrique crawls out from under me and puts a small hand on my arm. "You okay?"

I take a deep breath and see my mate coming slowly toward me. I give a half smile half glare up to Maggie. "Don't do that."

"What did I do?!" she waves her arms frantically.

Claire looks to me for answers. I shake myself again and stand. "She attacked NotEnrique," I look down at him, he's still slightly shaken. But probably more so that I protected him and didn't back off of Maggie.

Claire's lips form a silent 'oh', before she turns to Maggie. "Mags, look. Jim's protective instincts are crazy nuts, and you got on the wrong side of them."

"That doesn't make sense," she says.

I fall back and sit cross legged. "I have my pack, Claire is my mate. NotEnrique is like a brother. You attacked him, and I protected him. I can't stop myself when it comes to things like that," I explain. "So, Don't. Do. That."

"Give me your swords," Claire says holding out her hands. "I can't have you attacking random members of our pack whenever they come in."

She looks like she might protest but hands them over with a long sigh. Claire returns to the bathroom to shower and Maggie sits on the couch with a loud humph.

"Eh, Lake?"

"Yeah?" I look down to NotEnrique.

"Thanks for, uh, keep'en me safe."

I bend down and nuzzle his shoulder. "There's no way I'd let you get hurt," I smile and shake my head. "Even if I have to go through a fleshbag to do it." I say louder than necessary with a wide grin.

Maggie glares at me before shaking he head and laughing a little. I hear her mutter 'fleshbag' under her breath before she lays horizontally on the couch and puts her feet up on the arm. "What kind of an insult is that?"

"It insults your vulnerability and soft and squishy exterior."

She barks a laugh and I go back to the kitchen to pull out some steak for NotEnrique before going back to work on Claire's and Maggie's dinner.

So she knows...

What questions do you want her to ask? I'm open to suggestions.

Please Review!