“She was about to ask a question and you cut her off. Why?” Ben was leaning forward on his knees, totally focused on me.

“Because it’s a fight we’ve had plenty of times before. She would rather me be a part of her charity work or start a non-profit. Anything other than what I’m doing with my art.”

He frowned. “But Eva is an artist. An actor.”

“Yeah, but that was never her choice. It was a chance thing that happened when we were little. Some guy approached my parents and wanted to use us as models for some clothing thing. Eva was amazing at it, and I wasn’t. She wanted to keep doing it, and they let her. By the time my mom wanted her to pull back, it was already too late. The career ball was rolling.

“It was the same with Eva’s pack. Her courtship happened quickly and publicly, so Mom couldn’t say anything. She’s grown to like them because she’s had to, but she never would have wanted Eva to choose a rock band.” I sighed. “Mom just had very different dreams for her daughters than we ended up having, and I’m the one whose life she can still influence, so she tries. Pretty much done letting her do that, but I still understand it.”

Avery cleared his throat. “What would her ideal life for you look like?”

“She comes from that world,” I said. “From old money, where everything is decided for you before you’re born and that’s the end of it. For her, she always knew she would marry a high-society Alpha and be his right-hand woman. Do charitable work and be one of the benevolent public figures talked about in those circles. She thought we’d be the same. She doesn’t understand why we don’t want it… and it makes me sad.”

The words kept pouring out of me like someone left a faucet—I couldn’t stop them.

“She and my dad. I mean, Mom always knew the kind of Alpha she would marry, but Dad still took her by surprise. He was amazing. They were so in love, and I think Mom was happier than she imagined she would be. So when he died—” I cleared my throat. “She feels like she doesn’t have much left, except for us. I know she wants me to be happy. We just have very different ideas of how to get there.”

Luke smiled and stood, coming over to where Rylan and I sat. “Well, I hope one day we’ll be able to win her over. If she got used to the guys in Mindless Delirium, she’ll get used to us.”

“I hope so.”