Amber eyes twinkled as Igorian groaned and turned away. Pan knew exactly what he was thinking. Igorian just knew it. The man had some sort of unnatural hold over him and damned if Igorian could figure out how to stop it. He had even considered going to Glitter Glow Park and asking the fae to break whatever spell Pan had placed on him.

He just hadn’t been able to go through with it.

Igorian snagged another champagne flute from a passing waiter and replaced it with his empty one. He swallowed down the entire contents of the glass in one long swallow then quickly grabbed another one before the server could move away.

He’d grab the entire tray if he thought he could get away with it. Crimson Cristal was some of the best blood he had ever tasted. Too bad the damn stuff was so pricey. At fifty thousand dollars per crate—with a crate only holding six bottles—the champagne was too expensive to waste. 

Igorian groaned when his friend Cass A. Nova slid up next to him and bumped shoulders. “Hey, Cass.” He glanced to the other side of the man, the empty side. “No date?”

Cass shrugged. “I know everyone here.”

“And?”

Cass face flushed. “No and. I just know everyone here. I’m more interested in finding someone new.”

You mean someone that hasn’t heard your lame pickup lines. Igorian almost said his thoughts out loud. Only good manners, an abhorrence of making his friend feel bad, and not enough alcohol kept his mouth shut.

“Well, good luck with that.”

“Who needs luck?” Cass flashed a big smile. “I have charm.”

No he didn’t, but so far, no one had been brave enough to tell the vampire that his pickup lines sucked. Cass was a pretty big dude, much bigger than Igorian. Telling him he had a better chance of scoring some ass if he kept his big trap shut just didn’t seem to be in Igorian’s best interests. He preferred his head to be attached to his shoulders.

Of course, if his ass just stood there with his mouth shut, he’d get enough guys crawling all over him to keep him knee deep in cuties for a month. He was a stunning man…right up until he opened his mouth.

Igorian started looking around for another waiter. He was too sober for this shit. “I need more champagne.”

“Right,” Cass snorted, “because the last time you got rip roaring drunk worked out so well for you.”

“Shut up!” Igorian snarled, his skin flushing deep red, which wasn’t too hard to do considering how pale his skin naturally was. He passed for undead with the best of them. “I thought we agreed never to talk about that again.”

The one person he had to pour his heart out to about that night had to be the one with the biggest mouth in the entire coven. What kind of idiot was he?

“No.” Cass nudged his champagne flute toward Igorian. “You agreed to never talk about it again. I agreed not to tell you what an idiot you were.”

Igorian frowned. “Gee, thanks.”

“Yeah hey, no problem.”

Igorian glowered at Cass. “Why are we friends again?”

Cass’s rich laughter circled around them, drawing more than one glance from those in hearing distance. “Because you adore me.”

“No, I don’t.”

Cass’s red eyes twinkled as he bent his head down and rested it on Igorian’s slim shoulder, fluttering his eyelashes wildly. “Yes, you do.”

Blink, blink.

Igorian rolled his eyes as he turned his head, the smile threatening to curve up his lips pissing him off almost as much as the laughter that was trying to fight its way free. “You’re incorrigible.”

Cass’s long eyelashes fluttered again. “But I’m cute.”

Igorian snickered because he just couldn’t not laugh at the simpering puppy dog look on Cass’s face. How a man of his muscular stature could make himself look so unthreatening was beyond Igorian. Or maybe it was just him. Cass was his best bud. Igorian was more afraid of spiders… ‘cause they were really gross and stuff.

“Oh, he’s cuter than me.” Cass was standing up straight and taking off before Igorian could even figure out who the vampire was talking about.

Igorian just stood there and watched Cass work his magic, and the watched the little cutie he had honed in on roll his eyes and walk away. And that would be Cass A. Nova’s magic. It got him every damn time.

“He’ll never be able to satisfy you like I can.”

Igorian’s throat thickened on one breath as rough words were purred into his ear. How Pan had snuck up behind him he would never know. He had been hyper aware of the panther since he arrived at the party.

“Go away,” Igorian growled under his breath as he tried to see if anyone was looking in his direction. He didn’t want anyone knowing he even knew Pan Thyr, let alone that he had slept with the guy.

“Kiss me first.”

“No!”

Warm breath blew across the side of his neck. There was a slight tug on a strand on his long ink black hair. A warm body pressed up so close behind him that Igorian could feel Pan’s hard erection pressing against his butt.

He almost melted into the floor as desire swept over him.

“I am not going to kiss you.”

“You want to, beautiful. You know you do.”

Gods, yes, he wanted to. He would just never admit that to Pan or anyone else. He didn’t even like admitting it to himself. But he tried really hard not to lie to himself when he could help it. He wanted Pan. He wanted him so damn much he wouldn’t care if the man stripped him down naked and fucked him right there on the ballroom floor.

He just couldn’t give into his desires. Once had been enough.

“Go away!” Igorian hissed again.

“You want me gone…then give me a kiss.”

Igorian didn’t trust Pan. Hell, he didn’t trust himself. He jumped forward and hurried away as fast as he could while trying to look like he wasn’t hurrying away. It wasn’t an easy feat. It didn’t help that Pan’s deep laughter followed his every step. The damn panther knew he was running.

He hated panthers.

Really.