Page 3 of Mated to Fenrir
DELIA
Even though I was with my friends and I was only coming to a Jinx event to have a good time, there was a part of me that was nervous about it.Imight have decided I was going to take a break from trying to find my mate, but that didn't mean that other people in the room would understand that.
Or that the wolf within me would play along. Considering all the trouble she'd gotten me into over the years, it was fairly safe to assume that she wouldn't listen at all.
Adelaide and Chelsea chattered away as they approached the entrance to the hotel ballroom, while I trailed behind with Anise.
"Are you sure you're okay not entering with Kuk?" I asked her.
"Of course. I'm going to spend some time with you, and then I'm going to try to find him."
"Seems like a risky game when everyone is wearing a mask," I murmured.
"That's part of the fun." She grinned in a way that made me think that she was telling the truth.
"I'll take your word on it," I responded.
The bouncer at the door talked to Adelaide, and the barrier was lifted for us. I had to admit that there was a part of me that thought we'd be turned away. Jinx's clientele was mostly powerful gods and paranormals who weresomeone. And while I thought my friends were pretty great, there was no doubt that the four of us could be considered somewhat ordinary in comparison to the rest of the guest list. The only thing that made us interesting was the fact that the other three were dating gods.
Music filled the room, upbeat and modern, while maintaining a classiness I'd come to associate with the Jinx Dating Agency. It wasn't precisely what I thought of when I considered what a masquerade would be, but this was nice.
Everywhere I looked, people were dressed in their best, with masks hiding their faces. Some of them were simple, and some were more extravagant. I touched my own mask, making sure that it was in place. It wasn't as fancy as some of the others I could see around me, but I didn't think that mattered.
I checked around me, only to find that my friends had managed to get further ahead than I'd expected them to, and were almost at the bar already. I hurried after them, not paying enough attention as I did and walking straight into someone.
He reached out to steady me, his hand touching the bare skin of my arm. The world around me faded, and I was only able to think of the feel of the hand on my arm, and the scent that reached my nose. I wasn't entirely sure if it was his aftershave, or if it was something more than that.
My wolf stirred within me, her interest piqued by something she was sensing.
I froze on the spot, unable to look away from troubled blue eyes that felt like they were staring into my soul from behind a dark grey mask.
The man's expression barely changed as he looked at me, save for a brief flicker of surprise. I wasn't sure how I knew thatwas what it was, but there was something deep within me that was sure of it.
"Excuse me," he said in a slightly accented voice, though he didn't say enough for me to recognise where it might be from.
He was already walking away when I realised that I was still staring at him, and I didn't exactly know why.
My wolf whispered the wordmatewithin me. I closed my eyes and groaned. No doubt she was going to be unsufferable until I managed to get the man out of my mind. Which was going to be easier said than done when I could feel the urge coming from her to follow him, but I resisted.
Finding my mate wasn't as simple as that. It would take more than just running into someone to be sure that I'd found the person who was supposed to match me. Someone might be my mate, but that didn't mean that I had to accept them. I could say no.
I shook my head and counted to ten, hoping that it would give me a chance to collect my thoughts and ignore the wolf within me. Hopefully, I wouldn't run into him again, which would mean that it wasn't a problem.
Anise appeared in front of me, a worried expression on what I could see of her face. "You okay?"
I nodded. "Just got distracted," I murmured, though she probably couldn't hear me over the music.
"Okay. Well, Chelsea got us a bottle of champagne, so you should come and join us," she said, gesturing to a section of the ball that seemed to have tables.
I followed her over, almost feeling like I was in some kind of trance. No doubt it was my stupid wolf. She was all in a tizzy thanks to the man we'd run into, and there was no convincing her that she needed to relax. Hopefully, a couple of drinks would do that for her. It hadn't worked before, but there was always a chance that it could work for the first time ever.
A wolf shifter could dream.
"Delia!" Chelsea called as I reached them. "I wondered where you got to."
"I got a bit turned around," I said as I took a glass of champagne from Adelaide. I smiled at the other blonde. I didn't know her as well as I knew Anise and Chelsea, mostly because she only moved here for her job at the Horus Sanctuary, and she still spent most of her time there. It was even mostly to do with the animals and not the fact she was dating Horus. Though I was sure the Egyptian god hadsomethingto do with the amount of time she spent at work.
"It's all the masks," Anise said. "They make it hard to tell who is who."
