I scratch the side of my head and sigh as my mother continues ranting about having Mercy here. We’ve been here for almost two weeks, and it’s been quiet. Except for the part where my mom’s constantly bitching about having Mercy in her house.

“Mom,” I start, interrupting her mid-rant, “seriously, this is getting tedious. Mercy isn’t going anywhere until we all leave.”

My mom turns and glares at me, her eyes glowing red. “I don’t want her here, Parker. Couldn’t you have chosen someone less . . .,” she waves her hand in the air as she searches for the right word, “common?”

I groan. “I’m not having this conversation with you again, mother. I never even said that I was with Mercy.”

“But you want to be,” she snaps. “I saw the way you looked at her. You’re infatuated with her. You want her,” she sneers.

I blink at her, not responding, since if I were to deny it I’d only be lying. To her and to myself.

“Are you done?” I finally ask once her eyes go back to their natural silver shade, indicating she’s not as pissed as she was a minute ago.

She grinds her teeth so hard that I can hear it from across the room. “I’m done. For now.” A sly smile spreads across her lips and I narrow my eyes at my mom. The woman can be cunning when she wants to be. “How about I make you a deal?”

“A deal?” I repeat, slowly.

“A deal. I planned on hosting a little get together while you and your team were here, to celebrate having you home, even if it’s only for a short period of time. Your father said no, but if you agree with it, he won’t have a choice but to go through with it.”

“So what’s this deal exactly?”

“I’ll shut up about Mercy, in exchange for you agreeing to the masquerade and hopefully you’ll find a good vamp woman to replace your feelings for this Mercy girl.”

I roll my eyes. “Mom, you’ve been trying to do these stupid parties almost everytime I come home, what’s going to be so different about this one?”

“It’s a masq, Parker,” she says like that’s explanation enough. “Plus, it’ll be fancy enough that your little pet won’t want to come. It’s a win-win.”

I give her an icy glare, and she pales slightly. “First, Mercy isn’t a pet. Second, if she wants to go, she’s more than welcome to, and you will not interfere with that. Third, I’ll agree to this, but I will not agree to looking for anyone else. Mercy’s the only one I’m interested in, and you won’t be able to manipulate me away from her like I know you want to.”

She hisses. “Fine. Agreed. I’ll let your father know. We’ll have preparations started, and everything will be ready for the weekend.”

“No interfering, mother,” I warn her. “I mean it.”

“I swear, there will be no interference with Mercy being there,” she says reluctantly.

I stand up from my chair and make my way to the door. “I’ll be holding you to that.”

I leave without waiting for her to say anything else.

“Hunter, where is everyone?” I ask, my mind brushing against his.

“Everyone’s kind of spread out. Mercy’s with your sister and her guards in the library, last I heard.” I sigh at that. I really wasn’t expecting for Mercy and my sister to get along so well. Though, I guess I shouldn’t be shocked, since they’re so alike in many ways. “Talon should also be with them, the rest of us are all scattered throughout. Why?”

“I have news, figured I’d just tell you all at once.”

“Alright, I’ll let the others know, we’ll all meet in your room then?”

“Sounds good. I’m near the library, so I’ll get Mercy and Talon.”

I turn the corner to the hallway leading to the library, hoping that Mercy, Talon, and my sister are all still there.

I pause at the library entrance, nodding my head to Talon and the other guards in greeting but freeze when I hear my sister talk to Mercy from a corner in the room with their backs to me.

“Mercy? What’s it like to be able to go places?” Farrah asks.

“Um,” Mercy starts, sounding a little shell-shocked. “I don’t know, if I’m being completely honest.” A pause. “What I mean is, I don’t really get to go anywhere, just to, you know, go there. I’ve moved around a lot for a few years, but that wasn’t by choice. Is this about the fact that you’re kinda trapped here?”

“Yeah. I mean, I understand to an extent. I’d like to be able to be a normal person who can leave their house to go to a movie or something.”

Talon gives me a weak smile when I meet his eyes, and I puff out a breath.

Mercy chuckles. “Being normal is overrated. It’s more fun being weird, or awkward, or just a pain in everyone’s ass.”

Farrah laughs. “I suppose you have a point, but you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I know. Parker walked in a few minutes ago,” Mercy says, shocking the hell out of me. I didn’t know she had heard me or sensed me. “Maybe he can convince your parents to let us all steal you for a night and go out?”

“I doubt it,” Farrah mutters, barely loud enough for me to hear.

I exchange a look with Talon. When he shrugs, I know he’s thinking the same thing I am. “Let’s just go discuss it with the rest of the team, so we’ll see, Farrah. It’s not a no, it’s a maybe,” I quickly add before Farrah starts yelling at me. “I need all of you guys to come to my room anyway, so we can talk. I don’t want to have to repeat myself more than once.”

Mercy stands and faces me, arms crossed. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, well, depends on your view of things, but it’s not bad.”

Mercy looks at Talon then at Farrah before letting out a sigh. “Alright, fine. Stay cryptic. Hopefully, everyone else is already there, so we won’t have to wait to hear what the hell’s going on.”

* * *

“Spill,” Mercy demands once we’re all standing in my room. “I don’t like being held in suspense,” she defends when nearly everyone raises a brow at her or snickers.

Hunter chuckles and shakes his head. "What'd you have to talk to us about, Park?"

"My mother," I start, pausing only when Mercy groans, rolling her eyes and Farrah laughs at her reaction. Giving them a look that shuts them up, I try again. "My mother decided she wants to throw a little party to celebrate me being home."

"This again?" Farrah groans. "What's going to be so different about this one than the others?"

"It's a masquerade party, ball, whatever."

"She trying to hook you up with girls again?" Farrah snickers.

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, that's her main goal. I agreed to this stupid ball because she said she'd stop bitching about Mercy. I'm getting really fucking sick of her bitching at me every time I see her."

Mercy's brow furrows, and her fists clench at her sides. Other than those two things, she doesn’t show any other reaction to my sister mentioning my mom trying to get me to be with girls that aren’t Mercy. "Why is she so against me being here anyway? I don't get it. This isn't like Talon's distrust and dislike of half-demons," she holds up her hand, stopping Talon from interrupting. "I know you don't feel that way toward me anymore, Talon. I'm just saying. This is blinding hatred."

My sister and I exchange glances, and she gives me the look that says that if I don't tell Mercy, she will. I exhale a heavy breath. "My dad hasn't exactly been faithful to my mom. Long story short, my dad has a thing for half-demons." Farrah's guards’ noses scrunch up in distaste, even though they already know all about it, they don't support it. "He had a long-lasting affair with a half-demon before she turned rogue.

"After mom discovered his first affair with a half-demon, she killed her, and told my dad that if he kept it up no half-demons would be welcome around our people, and that she'd kill any that stepped foot on our territory."

"So, it's not that she hates my kind, it's that she's bitter and unhappy," Mercy says, matter-of-factly.

"That's pretty much it. The half-demon that dad had a long-term affair with lasted as long as she did because my mom didn't know about her, but she did know that he was with other half-demons," Farrah explains.

"Your dad sounds like a peach," Mercy drawls then shrugs. "I guess I can sort of understand what her problem is with my kind, but it's not really our fault. It's his."

"In her eyes, it's their fault. They lured him away from her. That's not to say that mom doesn't have her fair share of affairs, too, it's just that she's more subtle about it than dad is. He parades his side pieces around. Mom doesn't like the fact that he makes it so well-known that she isn't enough to keep him in her bed."

"Your parents suck, Parker," Mercy says bluntly, drawing chuckles out of everyone in the room. "Am I to assume that all of you guys are welcome to go, but the dreaded half-demon has to stay in her room like a bad little girl?"

Hunter, War, and Talon all snort a laugh, while Kai coughs to hide his chuckle.

I smile at her. "Nope. You're allowed to come, too. It was one of my conditions that if you wanted to go you could go without her trying to stop you."

Mercy scratches her head. "Yeah, I don't know. I don't really do fancy."

"But you know how to dance, right?" Farrah asks.

"Not fancy ballroom dancing," Mercy says at the same time that Kai says, "She can dance."

Mercy shoots Kai an annoyed look, though there's heat in her gaze, saying she's remembering when they were dancing together at the club not so long ago. The guys and I all stood at the window and watched them dance, while we talked. I can't deny that it's seriously hot as hell watching her move, so I'm really hoping that she agrees to go to this stupid thing.