A Wolf's Desire (A BBW Paranormal Romance): The Holiday Ball by Marie Mason Page A

sleep. She’d stayed up late studying for the last test of the semester she’d taken earlier that day. The last semester of school. Finally. It had taken her over six years to complete the courses that should have taken her only four. She now had her degree in accounting and with it, hopefully, a way to provide a better life for her and her younger sister, Lucy.
    Moving forward, she skirted along the wall trying to avoid the couples pretending to dance. They mostly swayed in place and kissed. The room was still packed, despite the late hour and the fact that many of the guests had already left. In pairs. She grinned to herself. It kind of reminded her of the story of the ark, the guests leaving two-by-two to go procreate.
    The ball was being thrown by one of the richest and most powerful men in Calloway County. Both in the human and supernatural world. Hayden Barringer. Rumor had it that he’d just taken over for his father and this was his first official act as the new alpha.
    This holiday ball—mating ball—rotated between the packs every year in order for the single wolves to find their fated mate. Witches were destined to be a wolf’s mate, usually. There were times when a wolf’s mate was another supernatural being such as a pixie or even another type of shifter. Or a human.
    Not that anyone would ever consider her as a potential mate. She was too chunky, too plain. Too poor. Why would fate tie a wolf to someone like her?
    As she walked, she looked down at her shiny black shoes. The job had provided a uniform but not shoes. Even though she regularly worked catering events for another company, she’d never worked for this one. The firm she usually worked for wasn’t as, shall she say, elegant and refined, so the only black shoes she’d had were a scuffed up pair she wore at her fast food job. When she’d reported for work tonight, the catering manager had taken one look at the beat-up footwear and shook her head. Daphne had thought she was getting the boot right then and there. Instead, the woman had waved the tiny silver wand she had in her hand and suddenly Daphne was wearing the shiniest black shoes she had ever seen. And the most comfortable. It was like walking on a cloud. Now that was a nifty power to have she thought. Making the perfect pair of shoes. It was also the main reason she was still standing. She’d been hard at work for over ten hours, what with the set up and helping with the prep work. And she’d be here long after the party ended helping with the cleanup.
    She was pretty sure the catering manager was a fairy godmother but not hers apparently. If she had been, Daphne should have found herself as a mystery guest at the ball, not a member of the cleanup crew.
    Oh, well. That was how the universe worked sometimes. Not all women could be Cinderellas.
    All of a sudden her tray started to tilt as a skinny, blonde headed woman slammed an empty glass down on it. The unexpectedness of the action made Daphne lose her already precarious hold on the tray.
    “Hey!” she cried, trying to right the tray and give the woman a piece of her mind at the same time. As she struggled, she took a step backward and ran right into a solid wall of…muscle?
    A grunt sounded and a large hand appeared from out of nowhere. It steadied the tray just as she thought the contents would come crashing down around her. As she stood there stunned, the tray was lifted away and handed off to a passing waiter.
    Daphne was having difficulty getting air back into her lungs from her unexpected collision. The force alone stunned her. But when she turned around to thank her rescuer…If she thought crashing into someone so solidly built was breathtaking, she was wrong. The man holding her so snugly was…Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.
    Daphne stared up into the dark brown eyes of the stranger as she tried to gather her scatter wits and say something.
    “Damn it.” The man’s gaze held hers for a moment, flashing a bright gold, and then he