Page 34 of Trolling For Love

As soon as we were at the door it flew open. “I knew you’d be coming by,” Mom said and looked between the two of us. “You’ve found your mate.”

“Yes, Mom, this is Gunnar.”

“You are Stella Davies,” Gunnar said and smiled at her the same way she was smiling at him.

“Is Dad around?”

“Hey, kid, I was just telling your mother you hadn’t stopped by in a while. Well, what are you waiting for? Come in,” Dad said and ushered us all inside. “I’m Dean.”

“I’m Gunnar, Dean Davies. I love your son, he’s my mate.”

Dad grinned and looked at me. “Your mom said you’d meet a special person who would be your mate. That you’d meet him at work, and he’d love trees.”

“I love trees,” Gunnar said.

“Me too,” Dad said, and both of them laughed.

“We were worried you didn’t think we’d approve of Gunnar so we’re glad to see you finally brought him around,” Mom said and set a tray of cookies on the coffee table. “Help yourself, Gunnar.”

“Actually, I was afraid you’d scare him off,” I mumbled.

“I heard that, and I completely understand,” Mom said. “You two needed time to get to know each other before you shared your relationship with the world.”

“No, I really was afraid you’d scare him off,” I said and all three of them laughed.

“I like your parents,” Gunnar said.

“See, he likes us,” Dad said and winked at me.

“Now, Gunnar, I want to hear all about how you ended up here and what it’s like where you’re from,” Mom said and for the next two hours Gunnar answered every question they had—and there were many—and the three of them got to know each other. Ihated to admit but I was happy they all got along and more than happy that Mom and Dad knew we were mated, and neither of them cared.

“Tell me please,” Gunnar said, “what is a psychic?” he directed at my mother, and I forced myself not to roll my eyes.

“I can see what possibilities there are. Sometimes I can see what will happen, but other times I get an impression of what could be,” Mom explained.

“You are a mystic,” Gunnar said his eyes filled with wonder. “You must have known Flynn would find his mate.”

“I had a vision last year about his other half walking into this world and changing his world forever,” she said in the calm but somehow creepy voice she used when she spoke of her visions.

“You were right,” Gunnar whispered.

“She was,” I said and smiled at her. Being raised with a psychic I didn’t always get excited when she’d speak of her predictions. But I clearly remembered her calling to tell me what she’d seen. As usual I’d brushed it off and went to work. “That’s one of my favorite predictions.”

“I know,” she said with a smile, and went back to feeding Gunnar cookies and talking to him about everything they could think of.

Chapter 29

GUNNAR

“Iwant to visit Stella every week,” I said as we drove back to camp. Flynn’s shoulders flinched up and his face pinched in a funny expression.

“How about we start with once a month?” he asked. “I love seeing them, but I can only take so many visions and predictions.”

“I would like that. There’s something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

“You sound serious,” Flynn said and glanced at me from the driver’s seat.

“I would like to help any other monsters that cross the portal and need help adjusting to the human world. You helped me so much. But mostly you helped by not treating me any different than you did anyone on your crew. I appreciated that.” I hadn’trealized how much it meant to me until the other workers started treating me like I was one of them. The harder I worked the more they ignored the fact I was a troll.

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