“I just passed Esme and could barely get her to stop for three words in a row. What happened?”

“What do you think?” Katarina snapped. “What always happens. Your sister is so resistant to finding a pack she looks for reasons to turn them down.”

“That was uncalled for,” my mother said. “And not your place. If you can’t discuss this civilly, you’re free to leave.”

I didn’t hear footsteps, so she must have decided the commission she was getting was worth the frustration I was putting her through.

“The men seemed…” Mom paused, and I could almost picture her face trying to find a way to make it more palatable. Finally, she just sighed. “There’s no point in sugarcoating it. It was the same as always. Esme quickly and brutally exposed that they weren’t really here for her. They were here for you. Or a version of you.”

Eva let out a string of curses so long and so loud I wondered if Katarina had passed out from shock, but I smiled. One of the many reasons I loved my sister as much as I hated living in her shadow.

“I’m glad then. These assholes need to realize I am off the market. It’s not fair to her.”

“She doesn’t exactly make it easy, Eva. It could be these men are nervous, and you’re more well known so they fall back on what they know. Esme at least could be a little nicer to them. No man, let alone an Alpha, wants an Omega who’s going to pick him apart like that.”

“I doubt that’s true.”

“Oh, it is true,” Katarina said. “And I’m running out of options for her to meet. If Esme actually wants a pack, she’s going to have to settle for one who might not know her middle name after reading a file once. She’s getting a reputation. My staff and I are keeping on top of the rumors, but they’re still slipping out. That, on top of the footage of her from your bonding ceremony? Esme is practically unmatchable.”

Her statement shouldn’t have hit me in the chest the way it did. It wasn’t like I didn’t already know, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t had the exact same thoughts not even twenty minutes ago. But to hear it laid out like that by the person who—theoretically—was supposed to be helping me find a pack, still stung.

“Esme is smart, beautiful, and talented,” Eva said, frustration coloring her tone. “And Jack knew almost everything about me the night after we met. Not because he had a fucking file, but because he cared enough to ask. They all did. They didn’t need an incentive to get to know me because when we met, they felt like they already did. It was that natural and that fast. Esme deserves that, too.”