“Mom.” Eva’s voice was sharp as a slap. “If the next words out of your mouth aren’t ‘your father would be incredibly proud of and happy for you,’ then I don’t even know what to say.”

Another sip of wine, and Mom sighed. “You know very well they weren’t.”

“I don’t see why not. This is hypocritical, even for you. I love you, but how do you not see what’s happening here?”

I stared down at the plate in front of me, frustrated that any strength I had was gone. The force and simple logic of her words made sense.

Of course they did, since it was the thought process fed to me my entire life. Why was it so hard to break away from something I knew I didn’t want when it was laid out in front of me like this? And why couldn’t I seem to open my mouth and defend myself after I’d been the one to start this?

“Do enlighten me on my hypocrisy.”

Eva huffed out a breath and tossed her napkin on her plate. “I’m mated to a rock band. Not exactly the high end of society by your standards, and trust me when I say every member of my pack did a lot of shit you wouldn’t approve of before we met. Certainly more than Esme’s pack of tattoo artists. Who, as she said, are world-renowned artists. Just because their art doesn’t hang in galleries doesn’t mean the quality is any less, and I can prove it in about ten seconds. You didn’t bat an eye when I met my pack. You were over the moon, and weren’t worried about the appearance of it. So why is this different?”

“You couldn’t help yourself,” my mother said. “You were clearly scent-sympathetic. It would have done nothing but brought you pain if I disapproved. And the story played well.”

“What, the story of the wholesome ingenue swept away by the reformed rockers who changed their ways, charmed by my innocence?”

I looked up at Eva and found her eyes burning with anger on my behalf. I was grateful for her silence earlier. Now I was grateful for her ability to speak.

“And what exactly do you think is happening here with Esme? She told you in the gentlest of terms she was scent-sympathetic with Ben at the party, but I promise you, there was nothing gentle about that connection. I was there. It was exactly the same as me, except my career and what Esme has had to deal with because of it made her doubt it was real.