A Wolf's Fate (A BBW Shapeshifter Romance): The Holiday Ball by Marie Mason Page B

peace fluttering around him. Maybe, just maybe, he was on his was to healing.
    The brothers stood in silence watching the dancers until a group of younger wolves walked up, asking Lucas to join them.
    Lucas hesitated before leaving. “That okay with you, Gunner?” He wasn’t asking permission, but letting Gunner know he’d stay if his brother needed him.
    Gunner could tell this was the first time most of the male wolves had attended the ball. He remembered the first one he’d attended—and the lecture he’d received from both his father and Hayden. Thanks to all the sex demons and pixies attending, pheromones were thick in the air. It didn’t take much to make a wolf lose control. “Yeah. Just make sure you stay out of trouble.”
    Lucas rolled his eyes, but promised to stay safe.
    Gunner smiled at the memories of the holiday balls he’d attended as a young wolf. Fighting and fucking were two of the best things to happen. Because he’d never found his mate. But then, he hadn’t been looking for one, wouldn’t have known what do to with her if he had found her. Wolves were not easy mates. They were intense, relentless. Hunters of the wild. He fingered the scar on his face again. With the demons still riding his back, Gunner would make an even more hellicous mate now. But, he knew deep in his soul, if he ever found his mate, he would never let her go.
    Damn it, what was in the air tonight? That was the second time he’d sounded like a lovesick pup.
    Love is in the air, wolf, and it’s time you experienced it for yourself.
    Gunner blinked and could have sworn he saw more red twinkles of light out of the corner of his eye before his vision cleared. Suddenly, a sharp pain ripped through his chest. Something broke free and for the first time in months, he felt his wolf.
    “Hey man, you okay?”
    Gunner felt himself sway and Lucas’ voice sounded far away, as if it was coming from inside a long tunnel.
    “Bro.” Lucas caught him as he started to fall.
    A rage of need, so unexpected, so strong that it made him forget everything else jolted through him. Gunner inhaled slowly, his fists clenching and unclenching. Nothing in his life prepared him for this moment.
    Mate, his wolf growled from inside him. Mate here.
     
    “Well, look who showed up this year.”
    Autumn Covington rolled her eyes at the snippy remark made by the blonde headed pixie standing by mahogany bar tucked away in the corner of the large room. Her cousin Trixie. She was flanked by two other pixies of the same small statue and blonde tinted hair.
    Autumn picked up a flute of champagne from the display on the bar more for something to do with her hands than wanting to taste the bubbly liquid. Of course, what she really wanted to do was wave her hand and see if she could make Trixie disappear.
    Her cousin didn’t like her very much because Autumn wasn’t a pure pixie. Her mother had fallen head over heels in love with a human man when she’d gone away to college. Thanks to that union, Autumn was a mix of pixie, human, and much diluted witch. Hence, her doubt if she could actually make anyone disappear. The witch was courtesy of her father’s father’s mother. Autumn was just a whirlpool of supernatural DNA and pixies were somewhat prejudice. Plus, Autumn looked nothing like a pixie should—she was taller than the average pixie and had inherited the curvy gene from her father’s human side of the family.
    “I thought you were too good for these parties.” Trixie cast her a snooty glance before continuing. “Didn’t you call them a meat market for bimbos?”
    Autumn refused to be drawn into an argument. She’d never tried to hide her disdain for the annual event. The Holiday Ball was simply an excuse for supernaturals to go wild and succumb to their baser instincts.
    Women—mostly witches—were put on display by their covens in front of a bunch of horny wolves in the hopes of making a fated match. It was a little less obvious than from