Page 5 of Howliday Match

This is going to be a very long night until I finally get my mark on my mate.

Helena.It really is a beautiful name for a goddess. My goddess. My mate.

All I have to do is break it to her that I’m a wolf shifter and that she’s my fated mate and then get my mark on her before anyone else makes a move on her and I have to rip them apart with my bare hands.

That should be easy peasy. Right?

CHAPTER 4

Helena

This place is so damn weird. I swear I keep seeing couples out of the corner of my eyes and they’re always making out and when I look at them…I swear their eyes are glowing! Why the hell would they have glowing eyes? Humans don’t have glowing eyes.

If Cece hadn’t asked me to do this job and begged for help, I’d be out of here right now. These people and the whole circumstances around here are just weird.

I think I even heard something growl when I walked back into the kitchen but before I could turn and find out what was going on, Raphael was right behind me and he was clearing his throat. His hand touched my back and I felt a sizzle all the way down to my bones.

My body feels like it’s on fire, my pussy clenching hard. Raphael’s face tightens and there’s a flash of gold in his eyes so quick that I almost think that I didn’t see it.

But I…I think I did. I-I’m sure I did. But human’s eyes don’t glow. And the more I’m around this guy and the more I see at this ball, the more I think that I’m missing something really big here and it has a lot to do with why this guy is hovering around me like he’s my nana and he’s guarding my chastity.

I’m not sure what exactly all of it means but it does mean something and I can’t wait until I’m done with this favor so that I can go home and forget all of this…including Raphael.

A sharp pang hits my chest and I rub it, muttering, “Heartburn. Gotta be heartburn.”

“Are you alright, mate?” I shouldn’t be surprised that his dark, rough voice is behind me. That’s where he’s been all night. Right behind me. Like my own personal shadow.

“I’m fine, Raphael. As a matter of fact, I’m finally done and I’m going home. And the next time any of my friends ask for a favor I’m going to tell them hell no! This has to be the weirdest job I’ve ever had.”

I walk away and he follows me. “I hate to ask this since you said that…but would you dance with me, Helena?”

I twirl around, my eyes wide, shocked. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am so damn serious it’s not funny, Helena. I want to dance with you. Want to hold you in my arms and just…relax.”

“I don’t that’s a good idea. I’m tired and I’d like to go home.”

He holds his hand out to me and just waits. He doesn’t push, doesn’t beg. But there’s a look in his dark eyes that makes me shiver all the way down to my toes. He just waits and for some reason, I can’t tell him no.

I sigh and hold my hand out for him to grasp, sighing. His warm hand cups mine gently and I close my eyes, a wild hunger rippling through me like the ripple of water after you throw a rock into a river. Expanding, extending and billowing outward until it seems like it’s never-ending.

He pulls me towards the ballroom floor along the very edges where the dark crowds out the light and the shadows swallow our bodies. He holds out his hand and I pause, gulping a swallow when I look up at him from under my lashes.

He’s so big. So dark and forbidding. And yet with his heat surrounding me I feel safer than I have all night long. I hold outa trembling hand and he clasps it gently, warmly. “Thank you for trusting me, little one.”

I nod my head, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. Emotion wells up inside me and I can’t breathe.

Panic slaps wings inside me like a butterfly trying to break free from a glass jar. It pushes up and out until I’m strangling on my own fears and inadequacies.

Why is this guy with me and why does he keep coming back for more even though I keep telling him that I’m not sure what he wants.

“What exactly do you want from me, Raphael? Because it seems to me like you’re going to a lot of trouble to keep an eye on me.”

“I’ve told you why. You’re my mate.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know what that means. Are you trying to say date and you’ve got some strange way of saying it?”

“No. Mate. Fated mate.” He stops spinning me around the floor and hauls me over to the huge glass doors out to the balcony that runs along the whole length of the ballroom. He tugs me outside even though I’m dragging my feet. He barely breaks his stride.

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