Odelia’s POV
The Hawaiian sun blazed overhead as I stretched out on my beach chair, trying to enjoy the gentle ocean breeze and the sound of crashing waves. I should have been relaxed, but tension coiled inside me like a spring. I still couldn’t believe my own mother and wolf had conspired to drag me halfway across the Pacific.
Suddenly, a sharp jolt of energy shot through my body. I sat bolt upright, nearly spilling the cocktail in my hand. The sensation was unmistakable—someone had broken through my magical barriers at my house.
"Odelia? What is it?" My mother Hilary looked over at me from her lounger, oversized sunglasses perched on her nose.
"Ava," I whispered, my throat tight. "She’s broken into my workshop."
A smile spread across my mother’s face, her eyes twinkling with pride. "Really? Your prohibition spell was quite impressive. Not just anyone could break through that."
"This isn’t funny, Mother," I snapped, standing up and gathering my things. "I need to get back immediately."
"Why the rush? Hawaii is beautiful this time of year." She sipped her coconut drink with infuriating casualness.
"You know exactly why." I glared at her, feeling my magic prickle at my fingertips. "Ava has no idea what she’s messing with. She could hurt herself."
Hilary waved her hand dismissively. "Oh please. She has the same power in her blood that you do. That I do. Give the girl some credit."
"I’m calling the airport." I reached for my phone, but it wasn’t in my beach bag. "Where’s my phone?"
Hilary shrugged innocently. "Perhaps you left it in the room."
I stormed off toward our beachfront suite, my feet kicking up sand. Inside our luxury room, I tore through my belongings but found no phone.
"Looking for this?" Hilary stood in the doorway, holding my phone between her fingers.
"Give it to me, Mother. Now." I extended my hand.
"Not until you calm down and listen to me." She set the phone on a high shelf and cast a quick protection spell around it. "Ava is twenty-three years old, Odelia. You can’t keep controlling her life forever."
"I’m not controlling her! I’m protecting her!" I threw my hands up in frustration. "You think I dragged her all over the country for two decades for fun? Everything I’ve done has been to keep her safe!"
"Safe from what? Her power? Her destiny?" Hilary’s voice hardened. "Or just safe from her father?"
I flinched at the mention of my ex-mate. "He abandoned us. He chose his so-called fated mate over his pregnant wife."
"And you’ve punished Ava for it ever since by hiding who she truly is."
"That’s not fair," I whispered, sinking onto the bed.
Hilary sat beside me, her expression softening. "Life rarely is, dear."
We sat in silence for several moments before I spoke again. "I need to go back. Ava is in danger, especially if she’s experimenting with magic."
"She’s more in danger from not knowing who she is," Hilary said firmly. "Do you know why I really brought you here?"
I looked at her. "To annoy me to death?"
A smile quirked at the corner of her mouth. "I read the signs, Odelia. I performed a divination."
My blood went cold. My mother’s predictions were rarely wrong. "What did you see?"
Hilary stood and walked to the balcony. Palm trees swayed in the gentle breeze as she spoke.
"I saw that our past has caught up with us. The cycle of fate is coming to completion. Only Ava can end it."
My face drained of color. "That’s impossible. I’ve been so careful. I sealed her wolf completely. I was actually planning to ask you to help me strengthen the seal."
Hilary turned to me. "I will do no such thing again. I helped you seal her wolf the first time because she was too young to handle that power. But I won’t help you deny her birthright any longer."
"You don’t understand what will happen if—"
"If what? If she discovers she’s not just a wolfless Omega but a witch with a sealed Alpha wolf? If she learns her father is one of the most powerful Alphas in the country? Or if Kenneth Flynn finds her?"
I sank back onto the bed in defeat. "At least let me text her, tell her where we are."
Hilary smiled, tossing me my phone. "She already knows. That tracking spell she cast worked perfectly."
My eyes widened. "She cast a tracking spell? Successfully?" Despite my anger, I couldn’t help the flicker of pride.
"Like grandmother, like mother, like daughter," Hilary said smugly.
"What if she’s in danger? What if Kenneth finds her before we get back?"
"She has more protection than you think," Hilary said cryptically. "And she has Joseph."
I rolled my eyes. "I don’t trust that man. He’s hurt her once already."
Hilary’s eyes took on that distant look she got when seeing beyond the present. "They’ll face challenges, but they’re destined for each other. Their bond will withstand much more than you can imagine."
I stared at her in disbelief. "You’ve seen that too?"
Her lips quirked in amusement as she winked at me. "I read tea leaves for a living, dear. "
I groaned, falling back onto the bed. "I hate it when you go all mystical fortune-teller on me."
"And I hate it when you try to control everything," she countered. "Now put on something nice. We’re having dinner with some very handsome tourists from Australia, and I’ve already told them all about my beautiful single daughter."
"Mother!" I protested, but Fab was already laughing in my mind.
"A little flirtation might be good for you," my wolf teased.
As I reluctantly began to change clothes, I couldn’t shake the dread settling in my stomach.
Whatever Hilary had seen in her divination, whatever was coming for Ava—I just hoped she was strong enough to face it. And I prayed that I hadn’t made the biggest mistake of my life by keeping her in the dark all these years.

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