Page 23 of Eclipse Sector

A snort escaped me at those last two items sprawling across the screen, causing Quinn to glance at me. “Interested or not interested?”

“He’s an Alpha Prince.” I shrugged. “I think that means every Omega is interested by default.”

“I’m not asking about every Omega; I’m asking about you.”

“I’m not going to judge an Alpha by his profile or a little quiz he was given upon entering the dating pool,” I informed her. “Courtship is too personal for that.”

She nodded. “True. So should I stop showing you all these interviews, then?”

I studied the photo of Prince Cael on the screen, noting the devilish twinkle in his blue-green eyes.

The other Omegas were reviewing the same slides today, only they were looking at them in Night Sector with Kyra. Quinn had volunteered to show me the Alpha candidates here in Blood Sector, probably because she wanted to see if I reacted favorably to any of the potential mates.

Or maybe because she was just being a good friend.

The beginning of our relationship had been rather rocky since I’d despised the former princess on sight. She’d abandoned her people, something I had little respect for. But then Quinn showed me the claws beneath her gentle veneer, thus changing my mind about her almost immediately.

And now that I knew the truth about her supposed abandonment, I liked her even more.

“Ivana?” she prompted me, her near-black eyebrow arching as she held her pointer over an icon that readExit.

“No, I want to see the slides.” I cleared my throat. “It’ll help me remember all the names for the commencement dinner tomorrow.”

Thirteen Omegas.

Over thirty Alphas.

The odds were… intense. But not all that surprising. Alphas outnumbered Omegas in general, making it expected that there would be more Alpha candidates than Omega candidates.

What if none of them find me worthy enough, though?I wondered.Would they all see me as Cillian does?

I winced, that name one I’d told myself to stop thinking about. Yet I couldn’t help it. Being here, in Quinn’s private quarters, reminded me of King Kieran. And when I thought of King Kieran, I thought of his Elites.

My jaw clenched, my eyes scanning the screen before me. Only, I wasn’t actually reading a word of it. Which entirely defeated the purpose of this exercise. “Can you go back a slide?” I asked, frustrated with myself for my inability to focus.

Quinn flipped back to Alpha Hawk, his almond-shaped eyes highlighted by thick, dark lashes that matched his head of black hair.

“He’s Prince Tadhg’s second-in-command,” Quinn informed me softly. “I’ve met him a few times. He’s quiet but seems kind.”

“I assume Prince Tadhg won’t be joining the program?” I guessed.

Quinn snorted. “No. He has no interest in taking a mate.”

“Really?” I asked, surprised by that.

“He told Kieran, and I quote, ‘I’m not interested in tying my knot anytime soon.’?”

I scoffed at that. “Charming.”

“Indeed,” she muttered. “He’s polite, but there’s something about him that’s never sat right with me.” She shrugged. “Anyway, Alpha Hawk seems lovely, though. He’ll be a good addition to the program.”

I wasn’t sure what to say to that, so I just nodded, then scanned the facts about him and committed them to memory. Or tried to, anyway. The mention of him being the second-in-command naturally had me thinking of another second-in-command.

A sigh nearly escaped me, but I swallowed it.

And forced myself to read the next slide.

Quinn shared several more, then paused as Alpha Grey appeared. His glacial eyes captured mine, the intensity of them stealing the breath from my lungs.