"Ace William Lander, are you rebelling? Is this about you wanting a car? Is that it? How many tis do I have to tell you—you are too young to be driving that deathtrap!" Mary's voice blasted through the phone.
Ace's face turned beet red. The call wasn't even on speaker, but that didn't matter. He was surrounded by high-tier curse masters—people with supernatural senses who could hear every word of his unreasonable mother loud and clear. Embarrassnt washed over him. Even Delores, who had been sitting beside him on the couch, quietly slipped away. She didn't want to invade his privacy, but he could tell from the pink tinge on her cheeks that she felt second-hand embarrassnt for him.
"Mom, listen to —yes, it's about the car. I'm not coming ho until you get one."
Midway through his sentence, Ace decided to lean into it. His mother had just unwittingly given him the perfect excuse to extend his absence while he sorted things out with C.I.B. He was banking on Janice to handle Mrs. Martins so he could return to his normal life sooner.
"I knew it!" Mary exclaid, triumph in her voice. "Tell exactly where you are so I can send your father to co get you or else your uncle will have to tag along."
"Does that an you are getting a car?" Ace asked, hopeful that his mother had finally co around.
But to his dismay, she snapped, "Over my dead body! You're at the Martins' ranch, aren't you? I'm sending your father and uncle over right now. And here I thought you didn't like Ava—was that all an act to trick ? You don't have to do that, you know. I actually like that girl. I think she will fit right in our family—"
"Mom, bye."
Ace imdiately hung up, feeling Mrs. Martins' gaze settle on him. He forced a polite smile as he powered down his phone, only to hear her say, "So, you're the boy Layla was talking about. Well, it's comforting to know Ava's taste in n hasn't changed."
Mrs. Martins took a slow breath, as if reassuring herself. If Ava's taste in n hadn't changed, then maybe Ava herself hadn't changed either. And that made it easier to believe she could still connect with her daughter when they t again. The worst nightmare for any parent wasn't just losing touch—it was realizing they no longer knew their own child.
Ava had too many crushes in her short life to count, so when Layla casually ntioned her latest one, it barely registered as news. She wouldn't have even bothered to bring it up—if not for the part where Ava threatened the sheriff for Ace. Therefore, Matthews did not know that Ace was the boy her daughter had taken fancy to in her new school.
Ace cleared his throat, shifting uneasily. "Mrs. Martins, I'm pretty sure my mom is sending my dad and uncle to your family's ranch. You might want to do sothing about that."
She waved a dismissive hand, completely unfazed. "Don't worry, I have things covered."
Matthews knew exactly how overprotective parents could be. She had already made arrangents, just in case Ace's family decided to show up at her in-laws ranch to check on their son. She hadn't been around for Ava much, but she'd hosted enough sleepovers back in the day to know how these things played out.
Then, out of nowhere, she turned to Ace with a sharp look, "Why did you reject my baby girl? Is she not good enough for you?"
Ace blinked, taken aback, "Wait, what?"
His brain scrambled to keep up. "Are you saying you want to date your daughter?"
Mrs. Martins tilted her head, considering. "No, not really. But I don't like that you rejected her. We need to change that."
Her gaze sharpened, and Ace suddenly felt like prey under a predator's watchful eye. She loved her daughter fiercely—there was no question about that. And since she hadn't been around much, she made up for it by giving Ava whatever she wanted. Now, she was debating whether she should go one step further.
Sure, slavery had been abolished centuries ago, but as a high-ranking official at C.I.B., she had authority and influence. Enough to bend things in her daughter's favor.
Ace swallowed hard and yelled in his mind, 'Oh, hell no.' Coming to a harsh realization—it wasn't just his mother. All won were unreasonable.
Instinctively, he turned to Delores for support, only to be t with disappointnt. She smirked and shrugged. "Being a heartbreaker was bound to catch up to you. Don't resist—just make it easier on yourself."
Ace groaned, running a hand through his hair before shaking his head. Nope. He was not going down this rabbit hole. Ti for a subject change, "Does Janice know you're a witch?"
Delores blinked, caught off guard. For a mont, she just stared at him, trying to figure out if he was being serious. Then, hearing Matthews struggling to hold back laughter, she put the pieces together. Ace had done that on purpose. After all, she heard the latter correct Ace that it wasn't witches but curse masters.
"Keep it up, and you will lose the only thing you've got going for you—your pretty face," Delores threatened, her eyes narrowing dangerously. 'Oh, he was so going to pay for that.'
Ace swallowed hard. 'Nope, not worth it.' Deciding to remove himself from the situation, he got to his feet. "I'm going for a walk," he announced, hoping to clear his head until Janice was free. Mrs. Martins gave him a nod. "Don't go too far."
But just as Ace was about to step out, the wall exploded. A blazing figure crashed through, slamming into the floor with a heavy thud. It was Sonia—in her Werefur fusion form. For so reason, her entire body was engulfed in flas.
Ace stared at her, then slowly pointed. "Hey, look. A burning werewolf."
His face was a masterclass in fake shock, so blatantly exaggerated that Delores and Mrs. Martins exchanged a glance, wondering the sa thing—Was he being sarcastic? Or had he actually lost his mind from fear?
Soon, a fluffy, humanoid T-Rex plush strolled into the room through the gaping hole in the wall. Completely ignoring the still-burning Sonia, the bizarre creature made a beeline for Ace.
It circled him slowly, sniffing him like a curious predator assessing its prey. Then, without warning, it extended its large, slimy tongue and licked his face—coating it entirely in a thick layer of saliva with a single, disgusting swipe.
Ace stood there, stunned. 'What the actual hell?'
anwhile, Sonia—still ablaze—rose to her feet. The brilliant flas had seemingly replaced her fur, flickering wildly around her body like an endless bonfire. Despite being engulfed in flas, she showed no signs of pain.
Without hesitation, Sonia lunged at the humanoid T-Rex plush. The creature, however, barely reacted, casually swiping at her with its thick tail—its massive plush face still pressed against Ace's.
To its surprise, Sonia caught the tail mid-air, her grip firm. It was a clear display of how much stronger she had grown from a couple of seconds ago.
Ace, anwhile, made a point of ignoring the T-Rex's oversized head breathing down on him. Instead, he muttered dryly, "Maybe try sticking a stake through its chest… or using silver might do the trick."
The plush T-Rex let out an exaggerated snort as if to say, 'Don't be ridiculous.'
Ace wiped his face with one hand, grimacing at the sli. "That's what they do in the movies. It wouldn't hurt to try—"
Before he could finish, Sonia yanked hard on the T-Rex's tail, flinging it across the room. It crashed into the opposite wall with a heavy thud, and before it could recover, Sonia was already on top of it, clawing wildly at its thick fabric-type skin.
But despite her relentless assault, her claws couldn't pierce its ridiculously fluffy exterior. Ace sighed, rubbing his temples. 'This was going to be a long evening,' he thought. Turning to Mrs. Martins and Delores, Ace raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to stop them?"
Mrs. Martins smirked. "Maybe call the church. That's what they do in the movies." She threw his own joke back at him.
Delores played along, nodding. "Yeah, they probably have a secret society for dealing with these kinds of monsters."
Ace exhaled through his nose. "Sure. I'll get right on that."
With that, he turned and stepped out of the hall, heading toward the lake—only to pause by the big, fancy curtain. Without hesitation, he wiped his face against it, ridding himself of the T-Rex's disgusting slobber.
Clearly, Delores didn't care what happened to the luxurious decor. But just as he was about to continue on his way, he felt it—
A threatening gaze burning into the back of his head.
Slowly, he turned.
Janice.
Her arms were crossed, her expression unreadable, but her eyes? Pure murder. "Ace, are you wiping your snot on my curtains?"
Yep. She was definitely in a bad mood. Maybe because the flaming werewolf and wannabe T-Rex wrecking her villa had interrupted her curse crafting.
Ace blinked, completely deadpan. "No, I was just cleaning your curtains with my face."
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