I hold the red and gold mask that Farrah gave me earlier in my hands and groan. I really don’t want to wear this thing.

Is it really necessary to wear mask?

A knock at the door pulls me away from my whining thoughts. I look up as the door

opens, and Kai steps in the room dressed in what looks like a tailor-made suit.

He stops in his tracks when his eyes land on me, standing in the corner.

"Holy shit," he breathes.

I smile, feeling my cheeks start to burn. "Holy shit, yourself."

He snaps out of his daze and moves closer to me. "You look gorgeous," he

says quietly.

"Thank you," I mutter in response. The dress Farrah picked out for me to wear

tonight is a floor length, blood-red, deep v-neck dress with a slit on one side

that goes high up on my thigh. "You don't look half bad yourself," I

tease, reaching out to smooth his tie down. I don't know what the hell his

clothes are made of, but they're seriously soft.

He clears his throat. "I came to let you know that we're all, except for

Parker, ready and waiting in Hunter's room."

I grin. "Sounds good."

He tilts his chin in the direction of my mask. "Do you need help with that?"

I sigh. "I guess so. I don't really want to wear it anyway, but it'll look

funny if I tie it myself."

He chuckles and slips the mask out of my hands. Placing it against my face he

reaches around me and ties it quickly. His hands slide to my shoulders and

slowly glide down my arms. His eyes drop to my mouth and I bite my lower lip,

suddenly nervous. Even though the heat has been building between us since the

night we rescued Xena, we haven't kissed yet, and suddenly, that's all I want to

do.

I raise my hand to the back of his neck and pull him down, so I can reach his

mouth. He stills for just a second then responds to my kiss. Kissing me back

just as hungrily and eagerly as I am, he wraps me in his arms and presses my

body tight against his while his tongue conquers my mouth, tangling with my

own.

A throat clearing pulls us apart, and I look behind Kai to see Talon standing

there with an amused expression and heated eyes that make me shiver slightly.

"Yeah?" I ask, shooting for a breezy tone but missing by a mile because I'm still out of

breath from Kai's kiss.

"Came to see what was taking Kai so long to come back with you. Now I know why, and

I'm getting the feeling I would have had a show if I had come in later or not

announced my presence at all," he adds with a smirk.

I blush and stick my tongue out. "Maybe later, big guy. Let's get the hell

out of here and get this thing over with. This mask is annoying."

Talon and Kai chuckle. Kai offers me his arm, and I take it, allowing him to lead me

out of the room.

After we meet up with Hunter and War, Parker joins us and we all follow him to the ballroom where the masquerade is being held.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this place has a damn ballroom. Though, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. This place is fucking huge.

As soon as we enter the large ballroom, it takes considerable effort to stop myself from standing with my mouth wide open. This . . . it just takes grand and elegant to an all new level.

The only things that aren’t very elegant are the humans that are kind of corralled into a corner of the ballroom who are clearly there as a snack for any peckish vampires. I guess I don’t have a problem with it if they’re there willingly, but I wouldn’t put it past most vampires to have compelled them into agreeing to come. Free will gets in the way of their food too much, I guess.

Parker’s mom, at least I think it’s her, rushes over to us, and her eyes flare red for the briefest second when she sees me before going back to their normal silver color. “I’m so happy you all came,” she says, ever the gracious host as she looks at everyone in our group. Her eyes come back to me, and I can tell she has something she wants to say that isn’t all that nice, but she settles for, “Mercy, don’t you look pretty? So different than usual.”

I bite my lip to stop the snicker that wants to escape. “Thank you, Bianca,” I say politely. Yes, thank you so much for the backhanded compliment.

“I hope you all have fun,” she says to us, before turning to Parker. “Parker, there’s someone here who I want you to meet.” She holds her hand out to him.

Parker shoots his mother a dark look that I’ve never seen on his face before, and it causes a chill to run down my spine. They don’t speak out loud, but from the way Bianca blanches I can guess that he’s giving her an ear-full telepathically. Mind-full? Whatever.

Bianca’s eyes narrow on me for a fraction of a second before she pales and murmurs, “Excuse me,” before turning and walking away.

“What the hell was that about?” I ask Parker.

“Nothing, Sunshine,” he mutters.

“‘Sunshine’?” I tease, hoping to lighten the mood. “Why ‘Sunshine’? It can’t be because I’m a ray of Sunshine.”

He chuckles and moves to wrap his arm around me, pulling me into him and kissing the top of my head. “You are to me,” he murmurs against my hair.

I bite my lip, not exactly knowing how to respond to that. Parker brings his thumb up and pulls my lip from my teeth, a smile playing at his lips.

“Would you like to dance?” He asks, shocking the hell out of me. He’s never wanted to dance before, even at the club last night he didn’t dance with me, which reminded me of what Kai had said before about his hatred of dancing.

I smile up at him. “Are you sure you want to?”

“With you? Hell, yes. With any other girl that my mom brought here tonight to try to pull me away from you? Fuck, no.” My heart skips a beat when I realize what he’s saying - he only wants to dance with me and his mother is attempting to set him up with other girls in order to get him away from me.

My stomach churns with jealousy, and I really don’t like the feeling of it. “Is that what your mom was trying to do earlier? Bring you to someone else and have you dance with her?”

He looks me in the eye as he nods. “But, I don’t want anybody but you, Mercy. If that means sharing you with my team, my brothers, I’ll do it.”

He looks at the guys. “We’ll be back.” I chuckle when I see them all smiling or smirking with amusement as Parker pulls me away from the group.

As Parker puts my hands on his shoulders and his hands on my waist, I let my eyes wander around the room, and I can’t stop the snicker from escaping my lips.

“What?” Parker asks with a smile on his face.

“If looks could kill, I’d be dead like a billion times over already,” I say quietly, my smile firmly planted on my face. Is it a bad thing that I find it funny that my being close to Parker is pissing off so many females?

Probably.

Parker glances around and chuckles. “I see your point.”

“So, do you think they’re pissed that you’re dancing with me, or that I’m even here?” I ask, completely serious.

He shrugs. “Don’t know. I also don’t care. I’m not dancing with anyone but you tonight, just as I’m sure the guys won’t either.” He must see the confusion on my face because he tilts his head towards the guys and there are a few females over there, flirting, and trying to get them to dance with them. I laugh when Talon scowls at the girl trying to grab his hand, and he bites out something that makes her step back.

“Is it bad that I’m glad?” I ask quietly. “I mean, I don’t see how this is fair to you guys, sharing me, but you guys don’t have any other–”

Parker cuts me off with a blistering kiss, taking my breath away. Pulling back slightly, he rubs his thumb on my cheek, just underneath the mask. “None of us want anyone else, Mercy. They all pale in comparison to you anyway.” He presses his lips against mine again. “So, no, it’s not bad that you’re glad we’re not interested in anyone else. I think the only reason it works with our group is because we’re all so close to begin with.”

“Parker,” I murmur. “I don’t know how it happened or even when it started, but I think I’m falling for all of you.”

He grins and his grip tightens on my hip. “Good, because it’s the same for me, and I’m sure if you ask the guys it’ll be the same for them.”