Free A Wolf's Claim (A BBW Paranormal Christmas Romance): The Holiday Ball by Marie Mason

 
    A WOLF’S CLAIM
    Amber stood in nervous anticipation at the back of the spacious room. The Holiday Ball was in full swing. In another time elegant and demur ladies would have floated across the marble floor, waltzing in the arms of the man they had favored for the evening.
    Instead, the room was filled with half-naked bodies practically having sex on the dance floor. But tonight’s Holiday Ball was just as grand as any that had been held at the turn of the century. It was an annual event thrown by wolf shifters just before Christmas. The alphas in the area took turns playing host, much as she imagined landowners had done in days gone by. The dances were eerily similar in purpose—to bring together eligible males and females. Every type of supernatural was represented. Witches, demons, shifters, vampires, incubi. Even ghosts. And of course, humans. A surprising amount of supernaturals found their mate in the human realm.
    And this year, just like the last nine, Amber was one of those eligible women. A witch. Fate favored witches as mates for wolves, so the alphas made sure to invite all the single witches.
    She clenched her fists, fighting the urge to turn and walk away. Hell, run away. Run away just as fast as her chunky legs would carry her. She’d managed to skip out on the last several years, but this year her grandmother had insisted. She’d pulled the matriarch card and ordered all the single witches of the coven to attend.
    Amber didn’t like being told what to do. Her mother must have sensed her mood from across the room because she quickly excused herself from the group of witches she’d been talking to for the last half hour or so. Her grandmother followed her as she worked her way back to Amber through the decked out partygoers.
    The room was just as beautiful as its occupants. Decorations of blue, silver, and white turned the house into a fairy-tale Christmas wonderland. Even the twenty-foot blue spruce blended-in with the color scheme, its branch turned a wintery white. She knew the lights on the tall fir depended more on fairy magic than electricity.
    Despite her unhappy demeanor, most of the guests were enjoying themselves—and hoping to find their special someone. The yearly party was Match.com on steroids.
    It made sense to hold such a party at Christmas, the most magical time of the year. A time of year when children’s beliefs in the impossible filled the air with positive energy. The party was a feast for the incubi attending. The sexual energy ran high since not all supernaturals were looking for their true-mates. They were just looking for a fast hook-up and giving off enough pheromones to choke a horse.
    She knew she was being a bitchy witch because so far there hadn’t been any sign of a true-mate on her witchy radar. Not so much as a blip. Well, except for the demon who had cornered her early asking for an, um, adjustment to his heat level.
    She started when a low growl sounded behind her. Thinking someone had discovered her oasis in the shadows, she quickly turned and looked over her shoulder. Nope. No one was there. Shaking her head at her nervousness, she turned back to the party, wishing that she’d thought to grab a flute of champagne and maybe an hors d’oeuvres or two before hiding out.
    She studied her mother and grandmother as they neared, wondering for the umpteenth time why she couldn’t have taken after that side of the family. Both of them were tall and slender. She, however, was curvy, a genetic gift from the human women on her father’s side. Her hips and breasts were large, but she had a waist that should have been on a woman smaller than herself. She thought she looked like an overdrawn cartoon character and tried to hide the generous curves whenever she could. The dress she had on tonight complemented her curves, unlike the plain, oversized shirts and sweaters she favored. It drove her mother crazy that she didn’t flaunt her assets in order to attract a man.
    Her