Hey guys, sorry if this chapter out of place, I just wanted an excuse to put in the masquerade, anyway enjoy the chapter!

-The next day-

Alice was looking through letters she had forgotten to collect this week and sighed, and it wasn't because she had bills in. As she stared at the dreaded letter in her hand, coming up behind her was Cole. He purred and snuggled into her, Alice sighed heavily as she didn't return any affection, causing Cole to feel a little confused at this sudden tone shift.

"Is everything alright?" Cole asked her as he rubbed her head.

Alice made a face as she presented him with the letter. "My mom is holding another themed birthday party for herself and I can't even begin to make sense of this one. Unfortunately, I haven't told her about you guys yet so I only have one guest invite ticket."

Cole looked at the letter. It seemed to be a Masquerade-themed birthday from what he could tell. That didn't seem too bad, what was all the hassle about? As Cole thought about this conundrum, something she said hit him.

"Your mother? I don't think you've ever mentioned her." He said to her.

Alice sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "We don't exactly have the greatest relationship, so I try to avoid talking about her and seeing her, she's always been about money instead of taking care of me and my sisters. She divorced our dad when we were younger and married for rich and ever since then we've just drifted away from her."

Siblings!? Cole didn't like the fact that he was just finding these things out about her, he thought he knew everything there needed to know about her, but he was finding out that he knew little about her family life…

"You have sisters?" Cole asked her.

Alice blinked and realized she had yet to tell him about them. "Ah. yeah. I have sisters, but we don't talk much because they're always so busy with work." She explained.

Alice took her phone out of her pocket. "I'm just not going to go. I'll tell her I have work." She said as she began to dial her number.

Cole watched her as he thought to himself. An opportunity to see her in a beautiful dress and mask was slipping away from him. Quickly, but also gently he put a hand over Alice's, Alice looked at him confusingly.

"Yes?" She asked.

Cole bit the inside of his cheek, how was he supposed to say he wanted to see her in a dress? For some reason, words were failing him. Alice quirked a brow as she caught on.

"Seriously?" She asked with a fit of giggles. Cole went up to her ear with a seductive grin.

"I think you'd look absolutely ravishing in a dress.." He growled seductively.

Alice turned bright red and squirmed. "N-No! I wouldn't!" She said embarrassingly.

Cole chuckled as he watched her blush and squirm. He thought she was so cute like this.

Alice sighed as she looked at the letter. "Who would I even take with me if I were to go?" She muttered to herself.

Cole growled as he held her close to him, he'll be damned if he let anyone else go but him. Alice giggled. "Cole, it's not fair to the rest if I just decided without talking to the other guys." She said as she stuck her tongue out at him. Cole growled again as he claimed her lips with his. Alice playfully sighed as she returned his kiss.

As they pulled away, Alice began to think to herself. 'Would it be such a bad idea if I asked for more invites?' she thought.

Cole took notice of her thinking face and rubbed her head. "What are you thinking so hard about?" He asked her.

Alice sighed. "If I do go, I'm thinking about asking her for more invites, but if she says no, then I'd have to really think about who to take with me." She explained.

Cole rubbed his cheek against hers with a purr, in a way he was trying to butter her up to get her to take him, since it would be, in his opinion, a huge opportunity to see her all dolled up.

Alice giggled. "Cole please, I can't think like this!" She whined as her face turned red. Cole grinned slightly and gave her little love bites on her neck. Alice's breath hitched as she let out stifled moans.

"C-Cole, c-c'mon!" She stammered.

Cole reluctantly let up and rubbed her head. Alice smiled. "Alright, I'm going to talk to the other guys about this situation." She said as she began to walk away. Cole watched her leave as he bit his lip. He had to convince her to bring him to the party, he just had to. The image of him and her together at a masquerade was too thrilling to ignore.

XXXXXXXX

-Thirty minutes later-

Alice had gathered the guys and explained her conundrum and each of the guys had given her some advice. Volks suggested she don't go if it's such a hassle, Nimh suggested going to try and reconcile with her mother, things like that. It was good advice, but it left her even more stumped on what to do, and when it came to who to bring with her, she had asked them if any of them would want to go, and almost everyone seemed on the fence. Of course, Myx, Dmitri, Anon, Eli, Stirling, Seth, and Cole wanted to go with her, now it was all about choosing who to take if she even decided to go.

Right now she was in the living room, her head on Nimh's lap as she sighed.

"...If I were to go, how would I even try to reconcile with her?" She asked Nimh.

Nimh ran his gentle hands through her hair as he thought about her question, it is true. How would she even try to talk to her?

"Do you think, perhaps you can talk to her in private and work it out? I'm not sure what your mom is like, but she would listen if you asked her to talk by yourselves, right?" Nimh asked.

Alice reached out and put a hand on his cheek and stroked lightly. "I'd like to hope she would. I just don't know.." She admitted.

After a few seconds of silence, Alice sat up and pulled Nimh in for a comforting kiss. Her head was in such a tizzy she couldn't think straight. How the hell was she going to show up for her mother's masquerade like this? And even if she did, how was she supposed to talk to her?!

Alice slid onto Nimh's lap and deepened their kiss, Nimh shivered as Alice ran her hands around his body. Alice and Nimh had yet to actually do it so whenever Alice initiated intimacy, he got nervous. Nimh nervously put his hands on her body and rubbed her up and down.

Alice traced kisses over his neck, Nimh turned red and let out an aroused sigh as Alice continued her affections. However, before they could take things further, they heard a loud growl. Alice quickly slid onto the couch and saw Cole, he was glaring at the innocent bunny boy.

"S-Sorry!" Nimh exclaimed before retreating to his room.

Alice shook her head disapprovingly. "Cole, you know you can't just scare Nimh away like that."

Cole sat next to her and wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close as he purred. Alice sighed and let him do his thing. As the two cuddled, they suddenly heard the doorbell. Alice, confused went to open the door. She was shocked as she saw who it was.

"Mom?!"

In front of her was her mom. She had bobbed black hair and blue eyes, she had freckles on her face and very pale skin, and it was very obvious her youthful appearance was bought rather than natural.

"You haven't returned my calls or told me if you were going to my party, so I had to take matters into my own hands." Her mom said sternly.

Cole, hearing Alice's distress came over and noticed the woman in front of her, the woman noticed Cole and was surprised.

"Oh! Alice, you didn't tell me you had a boy over! Who is this man? What's with the ears and tail? Is he your boyfriend? Are you using protection?!" Her mother interrogated.

Alice turned bright red. "MOM!" She yelled covering her face. Cole rubbed her head, he could tell already she was going to be a handful.

"So! Let me in dear, I've had a long drive and could use a cup of coffee." Her mom said as she tried to come in.

Alice's face went red. All of the guys were home. She didn't know about them, Cole took notice of her face and continued to stroke her head. "A-Alright, come in…" She reluctantly said.

Alice led her mom to the kitchen with Cole following them and started a pot of coffee. She sighed as watched her mom inspect the kitchen.

"What's with all this food?! You're the only one living here right?" She interrogated. "You're not living with this boy without marriage are you?!" She continued pointing at Cole.

As Alice groaned, Poe was coming downstairs, notebook in hand. Her mom took notice of Poe and gasped.

"Another one?! Alice, what is going on here?!" She asked Alice.

Poe noticed the woman and blinked. He noticed how the woman was the spitting image of Alice and was confused for a second, he came into the kitchen and saw Alice by the counter looking extremely frustrated. "Alice? What's going on?" He asked.

"That's my mom. Mom this is Poe, and also that's Cole." She introduced the two who were currently in the kitchen.

There was an awkward silence between the four of them before the coffee machine went off.

Alice poured a cup of coffee for her and passed her the cup. "Mom. I think it's time we talked. Alone." She said looking at the two guys.

Poe began to leave, but Cole hesitated, Alice noticed his discomfort in leaving and sighed.

"Okay, not totally alone, but alone enough." She corrected.

Alice sighed as she tried to think about how to explain her living situation.

"Mom. I'm going to be honest and rip it off like a band-aid." She began. She chewed her lip as she continued. "Mom I know you gave me the money to buy the house because I said I wanted to live in a large house on my own but…I wasn't completely honest… I live here with about thirteen guys and I might be sorta kinda dating them all.." She said quickly to not die from the cringe.

Alice took notice of her mother's silence and swallowed hard as she came up to her. "Mom?" She called out. After a few seconds of silence, her mother shook her head slowly.

"No.." Her mom said.

"No, what?" Alice asked. Alice's mom grabbed her wrist.

"No way am I letting my daughter be in some sort of sick sex harem! Pack your bags, you're coming home with me! Away from..from this!" She yelled.

Cole's breath hitched as he heard what she said. She was threatening to take his Alice away from him! This he couldn't allow…

Alice snatched her wrist back and went into Cole's arms for comfort, which he provided.

"Mom, no! I'm not moving back in with you, I'm happy here! I don't care about what you think of me or my boyfriends, I'm staying!" She exclaimed.

Cole couldn't stop the bubbling purr as she laid her head on Cole's chest and hugged him. "I love them! I can't just part with them now!"

Alice's mom shook her head with disgust. "It's sick Alice! I won't stand here and let you ruin my name with your…your sick harem!"

Alice felt a stab at her heart. After all these years all she still only cared about was herself… Alice took in a deep breath to stop the tears from flowing. "Mom.." She said in a shaky tone. "I don't care about what you think, I don't care if I ruin your name. All I care about is my happiness. Something you seem to have forgotten about!" She said in a stern yet shaky tone. Alice hid her face away in Cole's chest so as to not show her tears, Cole rubbed her head as he purred loudly to comfort her.

Cole could tell this talk was going to take a while, and just held Alice close to him…