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“I’ll be quick. I need to take a shower, then I’ll join her. How about the crew? Are they in place? Do they seem to have it together?”
    “Oh, yes. Most of them are the same from last year. They’re all in uniform. All with their masks on, ready to serve and entertain.”
    “Thanks, Annabelle.”
    He slipped by her and ran for his wing of the house. He took the steps two at a time and sprinted the last bit of the hallway, skidding to a stop in front of his door.
    “Lézare!”
    Alexa’s voice.
    “I’ll be there in five, I swear.” He turned to face his little sister, feeling guilty about having left her to handle all this, though he’d thought he had it pretty well lined up with the staffing agency and the catering.
    “Evie’s making me crazy.” Alexa had dark circles under her eyes that matched his own.
    Thank God we’re wearing masks tonight.
    “I’ll talk to her.”
    “There’s no talking to her. She’s locked herself up in her room. She’s refusing to come out. She said as long as Mason Martinez is under the same roof, she’s not going to the ball.”
    “That takes care of that problem. I see nothing that needs dealing with, then.” He grabbed the door handle and turned it.
    Alexa sighed. “And Valencia isn’t here yet.”
    “What the fuck,” he murmured under his breath. “Did she call?”
    “Yes. Said she got tied up, and won’t be here until somewhere around six tomorrow morning.”
    “She’s okay?”
    “Sounded like it.”
    “Attendance at the masquerade ball isn’t compulsory.”
    “That’s not what you told me six years ago when I said I didn’t want to come home from college.”
    “I’m getting more lenient in my old age.” He gave her a charming smile, hoping that would buy him a pass.
    He hadn’t been able to manage all of his sisters when they were younger. He’d needed someone to step in line, and he’d used any means he could with Alexa. He had to play parent to his sisters, but he couldn’t handle three of them at once. He didn’t feel guilty for putting pressure on Alexa.
    She shook her head at him and waved him off. “Hurry up. I’d like to have some fun tonight.”
    “Catch me up on what I missed when I’m done. Meet you downstairs in five.”

Chapter 8
    I t was Saturday afternoon . Plenty of time for Natalya to still make it to the ball.
    She pulled into the driveway of magnificent, stately Arceneaux Point, where Spanish moss adorned every other live oak tree, beautiful but deadly and thought of the last time she’d been here, months and months ago, when she’d exchanged cross words with the man she couldn’t forget now.
    Natalya took a deep breath and held it in, examining the scents. The area was teeming with shifters. She could scent them. She needed to find a place to hide. Somewhere to put her mask on.
    She had no intention of being discovered. She’d be booted out like the trespasser she was.
    Minutes later, she took the car to the end of the driveway, drove around the fountain, and waved the valet away. There was no way she was parking this close to the house; someone would see her before she was hidden behind her mask.
    She’d passed a dirt road turnoff halfway down the driveway. Natalya turned the car around and headed toward it and nosed the car into the hidden lane, pine trees rising on each side like sentinels. The road ended just shy of a lone cabin.
    Natalya killed the engine and listened for any sounds of life, but heard nothing. The desolate cabin was vacant of both humans and shifters. After she’d grabbed her bag, the dress she’d picked up, her high heels, and the mask she couldn’t put in a bag for fear of crushing it, she made her way down a narrow path to the cabin’s front door, cobwebbed and covered with untouched pollen and dust.
    Praying the door wasn’t locked, she turned the handle. With a squeaky protest and a groan, the hinges gave way.
    Success.
    A bead of sweat tickled her temple. It wasn’t that warm