I scoffed and looked at the Alpha now smirking at me. “Ah, yes. Aaron Gardelli, the Alpha who took me on a date and told me I was nothing in comparison to Eva and I should own being the slutty, knock-off twin before trying to feel me up under the table.” My gaze snapped back to my mother’s. “Is that what you mean by knowing one of them?”

To her credit, shock and horror showed on her face. Of course I hadn’t told her. What difference would it have made?

Then her face changed, and my stomach dropped. The woman looking at me wasn’t my mother. It was someone filled with rage and pain, and she was no longer interested in what I had to say.

“The pack courting you is the same, Esme. They’re artists trying to get to the top. You don’t think they’re courting you because they want the connection to Eva? You told me yourself she’s helping them get on television.”

“That’s not true.” I glanced at the others in the room. Everyone except Aaron looked embarrassed. Even Katarina, though it wasn’t nearly enough to make me like her.

“Isn’t it?” She asked. “Go ahead. Tell them you want to spend your life with them and see what they say. They won’t bond you. They’ll make excuses and string you along until all the contracts are signed and then leave you.”

Panic built up under my skin. She knew it was the thing I feared most, and I never thought she would use it against me, but she was, and it was working.

The room blurred, and I blinked quickly to push the tears away. “What happened to you?” I asked her.

“Nothing happened,” she said. “This is who I’ve always been, and whether or not you believe it, I want what’s best for you.”

I nodded slowly. “Then, despite being my mother for twenty-eight years, you haven’t known or understood me for a single day. It doesn’t take much to look and see that what I want and what you want are different, mom. And I do love you. But I’m done.”

She took a step toward me and I took one back. “Esme, be reasonable.”

“You know what’s fucking reasonable? Talking to people. Not ambushing them with Alphas who tried to assault them.” My heart cracked into pieces, but I had to do this. Otherwise it wouldn’t stop. “Don’t text me. Don’t call me. Until you realize what it is you’ve done and are ready to apologize, I’m not speaking to you.”

Her whole body went slack with shock, and I turned to the pack and Katarina. “I assume you already signed the NDAs?”

“They did,” Katarina answered for them.