“Areyousure about that?” She asked as she pointed to something behind him.
“I didn’t even know this many were left.” Wadim breathed out. Instead of fear, there was simply confusion on his face and in his voice. “I have no records that indicate the troll realm was actually still inhabited. It was believed they’d all come to the human realm, like the warlocks did because of the fading magic. I figured this was sort of a crapshoot for Fane.”
“Nice history lesson.” A deeper voice from behind caused Nick to turn back around. He immediately crouched down as his beast snarled.
Standing roughly twenty feet away was a line of trolls that stretched out on either side of the group, creating a half circle. Nick took a deep breath and finally—now that he was paying attention to something more than his worry for Kara, his pregnant mate, who suddenly didn’t seem to have a filter—smelled their surroundings. An earthy smell, mixed with skunk and mold, filled his nose. His beast snarled. How many trolls were there? A smell that strong was not just the twenty-five trolls in front of them. Nick imagined they most likely surrounded them, but he wasn’t going to turn around to see if there were more behind him.
“I got it,” Gavril rumbled as if reading his mind. He and Rachel both shifted to watch behind them.
“Shockingly, J.K. Rowling came pretty close,” Kara said as she walked right past Nick, much to his horror.
“She sure did,” Zara agreed.
“Dammit, female,” Nick lunged for Kara.
“This is incredible,” Wadim’s awed voice came from beside Nick. Apparently, the historian’s natural inclination for all things history was overriding his protective wolf instincts.
“Is it going to be incredible when we have to explain to Fane why we become troll slaves?” Nick barked as he wrapped his hand around Kara’s arm and pulled her back away from the supernatural creatures staring at them as if they were the anomaly.
“Right.” Wadim became serious again and quickly pulled his own mate, who had taken a couple steps forward, back. “Protect first, curiosity second.”
“No.” Kara tapped her chin. “I think curiosity should definitely come first in this situation.”
“I second that motion,” Zara added.
“Ladies.” Rachel’s calm voice joined the mix. “Perhaps we should let the males focus? We can discuss the more interesting aspects of this adventure a little later.”
“Totally killing my fun here, Rach,” Kara said dryly.
“Do they always talk so much?” a gravelly voice grumbled from Nick's left. He turned in the direction of the voice to see a troll standing a little in front of the group. The troll was roughly four feet tall with a strip of black hair that jutted up the center of his head like a faux hawk. He had dark skin that looked like aged leather. The creature's face was a fascinating blend of features: a broad, semi-flat nose and large, obsidian eyes devoid of any whites, giving him an unsettling, almost hypnotic stare. When he spoke, his thin, pale lips parted to reveal rows of sharp teeth, glinting in the dim light.
Oddly enough, Nick noted, some of the other trolls around him appeared less peculiar and others much, much more so. Their features ranged from not far removed from those of humans to those of creatures in the books Kara mentioned, though each of them shared the same strikingly black eyes. It was a jarring contrast that made Nick wonder what lay beneath the surface of these aloof beings.
“Even ifs they talks a lot, they don’t says much,” said the troll standing to the right and a step behind the first one that had spoken. This was the troll who’d spoken first with the higher pitched voice. It was a smaller troll, just over three feet tall. His skin was a pale shade of blue, almost translucent, and his features were sharp and angular. His hair was a wild tangle of bright orange, sticking up in every direction. He had a pointed chin and a sly smile that revealed slightly elongated canines.
“I guess now wouldn’t be a good time to point out thatthatone actually looks like a troll from Trolls?” Kara whispered, sounding way too delighted for the current situation.
“Definitely not a good time,” Wadim agreed. “But I will make a note to put it in the archives.”
Nick wanted to roll his eyes. He neededfighterWadim, notlet’s be sure and document this correctlyWadim.
“Make sure you note just how varied their appearances are,” Zara instructed, seeming just as oblivious as Kara as to the danger they were in. “I mean, some of them practically look human, like that one.” She pointed. “And then some look like they could have their butts stuck on the end of your pencil, complete with naked, round bellies and tall, colorful hair.”
“I have to agree with the trolls.” Aphid spoke up. “They do seem to talk a bit much.”
“Zara,”
“Yeah, Kara,”
“Make a note to have Wadim document this entire moment with the males cowering behind us while we protected them.”
Zara and Rachel both snort laughed.
“Consider it done,” Zara promised.
Nick kept his eyes focused on the threat in front of him, even though he did want to turn and glare at his unhelpful comrades. Movement caught his eye, and he shifted his head to the left.
Another troll stepped out of the forest from the shadows. Compared to many of the others he was a hulking figure, standing at over five feet tall, with a stocky build that suggested he was no stranger to hard labor. His skin was a deep, muddy brown, rough and cracked like the earth after a drought. A thick, bushy beard framed his wide, frowning mouth, and his hair was a tangled mess of dark green strands that hung limply over his forehead.
