Chapter 1 - Ava
Ava’s POV
“Ava, are you nearly ready? We must leave now, or we will be late to open the store!”
I choose to ignore my mom for the third time in a row.
I stare at my reflection in my bedroom mirror, wondering who I p****d off in a past life to end up with this one.
To most people, I would appear to have a great life; two parents who love me dearly and brothers who, although they drive me crazy, I know would do anything for me. I’m physically what people would describe as pretty, with bright green eyes and long black hair that reaches the middle of my back. But at 24, I still live with my parents in my childhood home, with no mate and no wolf.
Okay, technically, that last part isn’t true. I do have a wolf, her name is Antares, and she is a beast! In a good way, but she is powerful, stubborn and far too opinionated for my liking.
Take off the ring!
I roll my eyes, “Good morning to you, too”
You know I hate that thing.
My thumb brushes over the silver ring. Hidden within it is an amulet powerful enough to keep Antares suppressed.
Most wolves would lose their minds if they were trapped for eight years.
Antares preferred to make my life miserable.
I could be training.
“You could also get us both killed”
She growls but falls silent
So at 24 years old, I have never shifted. Most Omegas here at the Black River pack are not allowed to shift unless given express permission from our Alpha.
This might sound like an unfair rule, and some omegas would agree; however, they do not know that the Alpha is protecting my family.
“Avalyn Mathison! I am giving you until the count of 10 to get your butt down here, or I am leaving without you.”
I can hear in my mom’s voice that she means it, and it’s a long walk to the store where we work, so I take one final glance at myself and grab my bag before slamming my door shut behind me.
As I walk down the stairs, I can see my mum at the front door with her keys in one hand and her coffee in the other. It’s likely her 3rd or 4th of the day so far.
“Where’s mine?” I ask as she takes a drink
“I drank it while waiting for you; if you had come down when I called you the first time, then you could have drunk it yourself; oh well, more for me.”
I scowl at her as she gives me a smirk and ushers me past her, out the door, and to the car.
The store is only a 15-minute drive away, and Mom explains the day’s plan on the way.
Mom owns an antique store and works as an interior designer for the pack. Like my brothers before me, I practically grew up among dusty furniture and overpriced decorations.
Unlike them, I never left.
At twenty-four, I was still working beside my mother every day.
“Were you even listening, Ava? This is important.”
“Yes, of course, I was…… There is a big event, and you need my help with stuff…….”
I hadn’t been listening, so this was my best guess at a correct answer. Instead, I was staring out of the window at the training grounds.
Warriors sparred in pairs, dodging and striking across the packed earth.
My brothers were out there somewhere.
Every day we drove past those grounds. Every day, I imagined myself stepping onto them.
You could beat half of them.
I ignored Antares. The annoying part was that she was probably right. I wasn’t jealous of their rank.
I was jealous of their freedom.
Both my brothers had worked their way up to Warrior status, an impressive feat for Omega’s.
However, our family had a secret. We weren’t Omegas, not even close.
My parents hadn’t even been born into the Black River Pack; they had arrived here over twenty-five years ago after something happened to their pack. Something so bad that they abandoned their names, their ranks, and their entire lives.
The full story was one my parents rarely spoke about. All I knew was that my mother had once been hunted, and that hiding had kept us alive ever since.
Unfortunately, hiding wasn’t just about protecting my mother. It was about protecting me.
“You know why you can’t train, Ava. It’s not safe.”
I hated hearing those words. Because deep down, I was starting to wonder if hiding was really living at all.
The problem was that my mother wasn’t an ordinary wolf.
She was a Zodiac Wolf.
All female children born to a Zodiac Wolf will inherit the bloodline, although nobody knows which Zodiac they will become until their sixteenth birthday. Each sign possesses different abilities, different strengths and a unique wolf.
Until my awakening, I lived a perfectly normal life. Well, as normal as any Omega child could.
Then my sixteenth birthday arrived, and everything changed.
The life I thought I was going to have disappeared overnight.
What makes it harder is that because I have only brothers, they don’t share the gene that will make their lives infinitely more difficult; they get to be normal wolves, and I get to watch it happen.
We pull up in front of the store and begin our usual morning routine. Mom unlocks the front door while I carry in a box of new stock.
“I know, but it doesn’t make me feel better,” I mutter as I follow her inside. “I spend every day pretending to be someone I’m not”
Mom pauses beside the counter. For a moment, she looks older than her fifty years.
“I know, darling”
“No, you don’t.” The words slip out before I can stop them.
Mom flinches.
Guilt immediately twists in my stomach. She had sacrificed everything to keep me safe. That didn’t mean that I wasn’t angry.
Angry at the lies.
Angry at the hiding.
Angry that my brothers got to be normal wolves while I spent every day wearing a prison on my thumb.
My fingers close around the silver ring. Antares stirred beneath the magic holding her back.
We’re meant for more than this.
Maybe she was right.
Maybe she wasn’t.
Either way, neither of us had a choice.
Because somewhere out there, someone had once destroyed an entire pack trying to find a Zodiac Wolf.
And if they ever discovered where my family was hiding…. They would come back.
This time, they would find me.
Antares stirred beneath the magic.
Let them come.
