“Well, well, it is little wonder my son is so taken with you,” a male voice says from behind me.

I turn and see an almost exact copy of Parker, just slightly older-looking, and he’s not wearing a mask for whatever reason. I glance around the room and see that the guys are all spread out around the ballroom, but I’m short enough that they probably can’t see me where I’m at by the drinks. Instead of answering the man in front of me, I just stare at him, waiting for him to get on with it.

He chuckles darkly. “Ah, well, I suppose I should introduce myself, hmm? I’m Ethan, Parker’s father.”

“I gathered that much.” I narrow my eyes at him. “What exactly is the point of this?”

He grins as his eyes wander down my body appreciatively. I stiffen, wishing like hell I had hidden a weapon on me. “You are a gorgeous little thing, aren’t you?”

He takes a step closer. I step back, bumping into the table behind me. “What do you want?”

His hand raises, and he runs a finger down my arm, making me tense even more.

“Get your damn hands off me,” I growl.

“Now, why would I do that?” He asks, a sick smile still painted on his face. “My son seems to have no problems with sharing you, so why don’t you and I go have some fun?”

My jaw drops. “You’re actually serious, aren’t you? What the hell is wrong with you?”

His finger trails back up my arm and moves to my chest. Before he has a chance to get a good feel, I grab his hand in a tight grip and bend it backwards.

“I will break your fucking hand if you try to touch me again,” I hiss. “I don’t give a fuck who you are.”

His chuckle is cut off by Parker’s voice coming from behind him. “Everything okay here?”

I push his dad’s hand away from me and meet his eyes. “Fucking peachy.” Parker’s eyes narrow, and I know he doesn’t believe me.

Which, yeah, okay, technically it isn’t. I just don’t feel like ruining tonight since it’s been a decent night.

“Dad,” Parker clips. “What’s going on?”

His dad turns and shrugs innocently. “I was just saying hello to your little half-demon here. She’s not very friendly.”

“Only when she has reason not to be,” Parker says, voice hard.

I frown. “Uh, I’m not friendly even when I have reason to be.”

Parker shoots me a pointed look. “You’re sarcastic, your words have bite to them, but that doesn’t make you unfriendly, Mercy.”

Ethan laughs. “Of course, your mother told me you were sniffing around the girl that the supernatural world is in an uproar about now.” Ethan eyes me, making my blood run cold. “I heard you can control the hounds of hell. Fascinating. I’d really like to see this in person.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Parker bites out.

Ethan raises a brow. “Really?” He drawls. “You dare to tell me what to do in my own kingdom? My own home?”

“When it comes to protecting Mercy, yes.”

Ethan smirks. “Ah, something finally gets a reaction out of you other than your sister. I was just making a suggestion, son. Calm down.” His expression transforms from teasing to downright mean, his eyes red and his fangs exposed. “You will do well to remember that you do not rule here. Not yet.”

Parker narrows his eyes at his dad. “Whether I rule or not has nothing to do with this.”

Ethan steps closer to me, getting right in my space, and makes a show of inhaling my scent. “When you have this delicious morsel here, it definitely does.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Parker asks.

“Just one bite,” Ethan says, his mouth curved. “I promise I’ll leave her alone after that.” His fangs elongate as he moves closer to me.

“No!” Parker snaps at the same time my hand wraps around his father’s throat before he can get any closer. “Mercy is not a fucking snack, dad.”

Ethan chuckles, an odd sound while I’ve got my hand around his throat.

“If you ever come near me with those fangs again, I swear to everything I hold dear,” I start, moving his dad directly in front of me, so we’re looking eye to eye, “I will kill you. Being Parker’s father will not save you from me.”

Parker doesn’t say anything to defend his dad, just stands back, letting me deal with it, but staying close enough to show that he’ll help me if he needs to.

Ethan’s eyes glow, and he speaks in a soft, compelling voice. “You will let go of me.”

I snort, and his eyes widen in shock. “Yeah, maybe in your goddamn dreams.”

“Our compulsion doesn’t work on you?” He asks, appalled.

I smirk. “Nope. It never has. Even those that can go one step further than you and control minds for long periods of time can’t control me.” I found out that interesting detail when I was being held with Payne, Jerome, and Torn.

“Impossible,” he spits.

I grin. “Nah, that’s just me and my own personal brand of freak. Now, if I let you go, are you going to do the smart thing and walk the fuck away from me?”

Ethan glares at me for the longest minute before he finally nods. “I’ll leave you be. You’re much stronger than I gave you credit for.”

“Yeah, that happens a lot,” I say, letting go of his throat with a shove. He manages not to stumble, which is quite disappointing to say the least.

Parker wraps his arms around me when his dad is finally out of sight and breathes in deeply. “I’m sorry. I should have known he would pounce on you when he had the chance. I was hoping that since I, essentially, laid my own claim on you to my mother and father when we originally talked about coming here that he’d actually stay away.” He sighs. “It was apparently too much to hope for.”

I look up at him and rub his chest with my hands in soothing strokes. “Hey, I don’t blame you. That was not your fault. That was your dad’s fault for being a creep.”

He nods and kisses me gently. When he pulls away there’s an odd expression on his face.

“What?”

“Why didn’t you ever tell us that you weren’t susceptible to mind control or compulsions?”

I shrug. “It didn’t seem like it was important.” I smirk. “Plus, it’s really fun shocking you guys.” I plant a kiss on his lips and laugh.

“You’re trouble, Sunshine,” he mutters. “The guys are sick of being propositioned by women, so they’re all going to their rooms for the night.”

I frown and look at the time on the small clock placed on the table. “We’ve been here a lot longer than I thought.”

“You ready to head out, too?” He asks.

“Yeah, your dad kind of ruined my party mood.”

His mouth kicks up. “You have a party mood?”

I smack his chest as a laugh bubbles up in me. “Shut up. You know what I mean.”

He grabs my hand and brings it up to his mouth. “I do. Let’s go.”

* * *

The second the door slams shut behind us, Parker pulls me into his arms and slants his mouth over mine, kissing me slowly.

Pulling away from him, I bring my hands up and take his mask off his face. He reaches behind me and unties my mask, letting it fall to the floor between us.

“As gorgeous as your eyes are, I miss looking at your entire face,” he says softly, one hand sliding through my hair while the other drifts down my back slowly sliding the zipper of my dress down, making me shiver as the cold air touches my skin.

I make quick work of the buttons on his shirt and open it up, giving myself access to his incredible body. I run my hands across his chest and abs, relishing in the feel of his skin on mine.

I push his jacket and shirt off his shoulders, and he lets them flitter to the floor. Sweeping his hands across my shoulders, he pushes the straps of my dress over my shoulders, and it falls into a pool around my feet.

I press a soft kiss to his chest, right above his heart as I undo the buckle to his pants. Parker grips a handful of my hair, tilting my head back, and thrusts his tongue in my mouth, devouring me. My tongue brushes against the tips of his fangs, and a shiver rolls down my spine. Not a bad shiver, either. A shiver of excitement.

Slipping my hand into his pants I grip his cock and stroke it a few times, loving the groan that slips from his throat. Letting go of his cock, I push his pants and boxers down. Before Parker can protest me breaking our kiss, I get on my knees in front of him.

His hands tangle in my hair, his breathing heavy. “Mercy, you don’t have to–”

I lick his cock from base to tip in one languid stroke, cutting him off and meeting his eyes, which are blazing red. I didn’t know that vampires’ eyes turned red when they were turned on, too.

“I want to taste you,” I mutter a second before gripping him and taking his cock into my mouth, too impatient to tease him.

Parker groans above me as I suck him as deep as I can, my tongue twirling and swirling around his cock. It doesn’t take long for Parker to lose all restraint and completely take over and start fucking my mouth, using the hand in my hair to keep me still.

His cock touches the back of my throat, and I relax my jaw, sucking him in deeper, drawing a loud moan out of him. Just before he comes in my mouth, he pulls out and pulls me up. “I don’t want to come in your mouth right now,” he growls, kissing me hard. “I want to be inside you when I come.” I moan as he moves my panties to the side and thrusts a finger inside my aching pussy. “God, you’re soaked. You liked sucking my cock, huh?”

“Uh huh,” I say with a nod and a dazed smile across my face as I look in his eyes. Another finger enters me, and his thumb tweaks my clit. My climax hits me hard, damn near making me see stars. “Inside me,” I moan. “I want you inside me.”

“With pleasure,” he growls. After stripping me of my panties and bra–thank fuck he didn’t rip them off of me–he grips my hips and tosses me on the bed. I chuckle as I bounce a couple of times. My laugh dies quickly, and I bite my lip as I take in the sight of Parker completely naked. Just for me.

He climbs on top of me and pauses just long enough to lick my pussy in one long teasing stroke, then moves up my body. “We have all night for me to have my fill of your taste,” he mutters against my neck. Moving his lips across my cheek he says, “Though I’m fairly certain I’ll never have enough of you or your taste.” As soon as he’s done speaking, his cock pushes inside me.

I gasp, my back arching as I grip his shoulders tightly, digging my nails into his skin. He powers in and out of me with his cock, hitting the right spot every time, and I can quickly feel my release building again.

He brings his mouth to my neck, kissing and sucking it enough that I know I will have hickeys tomorrow. When his fangs scrape against my skin gently, he places a kiss there.

“God, Mercy, you have no idea how badly I want to fucking bite you right now. Your scent is driving me crazy,” he groans into my ear.

Not even thinking it through, I gasp out as his hand cups my breast and tweaks my nipple, “Do it.”

He moans and licks my neck, still thrusting hard inside me, drawing my orgasm closer and closer with every thrust. “Are you sure?”

“Fuck, yes,” I moan breathlessly.

He doesn’t need to be told again, and the second his fangs pierce my flesh, I come hard around him, screaming his name. His orgasm crashes into him before mine’s even finished, and when he pulls his fangs out of my neck, he licks the puncture marks, sealing them, so they don’t bleed.

“You’re a fucking addiction,” he rumbles. Before I can say anything, his mouth is on mine again.