Chapter 40 Luca
Third-period hallway traffic should have been normal—loud, chaotic, and stuffed with people who didn’t look where they were walking but everything inside me went still the moment I spotted her.
Sienna.
She stood leaning against a locker like she’d been waiting for this exact moment, one hand sliding into the pocket of her cropped jacket while the ends of her braids brushed against her waist. Her eyes followed the crowd with an unnerving, calculated focus that didn’t match the usual Sienna: confident, smug, and dramatic when she felt like it.
This version of her was quiet, assessing, and controlled.
My wolf pressed forward immediately, hackles rising under my skin.
“Okay,” Mason muttered beside me, lowering his voice. “Why does she look like she’s planning someone’s funeral? Because I’m getting serial killer vibes.”
I didn’t answer, because he wasn’t wrong. Sienna didn’t smirk or toss a sarcastic comment like she normally did when she wanted attention. Instead, she watched people scanning their faces like she was filing each person into a mental list.
Her scent was masked again but there was something else beneath it today. Something earthy and damp, like soil after rain.
Mason exhaled. “Dude. This is weird. Even for her and her normal is already a horror movie.”
I almost kept walking, trying to be normal but my wolf dug in like steel claws. When a group of freshmen passed too close to her, Sienna’s gaze flicked their way before she dismissed them as unimportant.
That wasn’t Sienna. Mason grabbed my arm. “Luca. Stop pretending this is normal.”
“It’s none of our business,” I said, but even I didn’t sound convinced.
“Like hell it’s not,” Mason hissed. “She keeps staring at you like she’s trying to read your soul or something. And I thought you guys broke it off?”
“We did.”
Which was true, but felt like the understatement of the century. Our breakup didn’t explode; it fizzled into silence and disappointment and something uglier that neither of us ever admitted out loud. Sienna finally turned in our direction, and the chill that shot down my spine had nothing to do with the air-conditioning.
She was studying me.
Mason shifted. “Okay. She’s officially creeping me out. Please tell me this is not a you thing.”
“She’s masking her scent,” he added, voice lower now.
“Obviously.”
“That’s not normal behaviour for your human ex,” he said carefully.
“No,” I muttered.
Mason looked from her back to me. “Luca, man, you need to stop pretending this is nothing. She’s your ex, not your responsibility.”
Before I could respond, Sienna pushed off the locker and started toward us, weaving through the crowd with deliberate steps. Her braids swung slightly, and her smirk finally returned, but it wasn’t the playful one I’d seen hundreds of times. This one had an edge to it—a silent dare.
Mason muttered under his breath, “Here we go,” but didn’t move from my side.
Sienna stopped just a foot too close, looking up at me like she’d been craving all morning for this exact conversation. “Morning, Luca,” she said, her voice warm but empty. “Tense much?”
My jaw clenched and Mason scoffed.
She angled her head toward him with a sweet smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Hello, Mason.”
He crossed his arms. “Cut the crap. Who are you trying to fool with the mysterious-act-and-murderer-aura combo?”
Something flickered across her expression—annoyance, interest, I couldn’t tell. “Nobody,” she said lightly. “And why should I be?”
Mason snorted. “Because it’s suspicious as hell?”
She ignored him completely and turned to me again. “You’re watching me like you expect me to do something dramatic.”
“Am I wrong?” I asked.
“No,” she said simply. “But you’re fun when you’re paranoid.”
My wolf growled inside my chest. The hallway continued around us with students laughing and chatting but none of them knew anything about the tension simmering in this tiny bubble of space.
Sienna stepped in closer until Mason tensed beside me. Her fingers lifted and brushed over my chest in a slow glide that made my skin crawl. “You’re different lately,” she murmured. “Distracted.”
I grabbed her wrist and moved her hand away from me. “Stay away from me!”
Her smile widened like I’d given her the answer she wanted. “Everyone’s got secrets, Luca. Even you.”
“Don’t push me,” I said through my teeth.
“Oh, I’m not pushing you.” She leaned in closer. “Yet.”
Then she brought her lips near my ear and whispered, “Tell Aria I said you were always mine.”
My entire body froze. Mason hissed out a curse. Before I could react, she stepped back with a bright innocent smile, turned, and blended into the hallway crowd. One blink, and she was swallowed by the sea of students.
Mason stared after her. “Nope. Nope. Absolutely not. That wasn’t normal ex drama. That girl is plotting something.”
“I know,” I said quietly.
“And you need to tell Lila or your dad,” he insisted.
I stiffened. “I said I’ll handle it.”
“Luca—”
“The fuck, Mason! You heard me the first time!”
He looked frustrated, but he didn’t argue again.
Sienna’s whisper echoed in my head like a cold fingertip dragging down my spine. She was paying too much attention and watching too closely. If she noticed one thing too many…
No.
I wouldn’t let her drag Aria anywhere near this even if it meant walking a tightrope between keeping secrets from my pack and keeping danger away from the girl who had somehow, without me wanting it, become the one thing I couldn’t lose.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
HELLOOO??? Sienna really walked into the hallway like, “Good morning, I’m here to ruin lives and stir supernatural chaos.” And Luca’s wolf said absolutely not. Mason is the only sane one, as usual, wanting answers. And Aria has NO idea she’s standing in the crossfire of teenage drama + supernatural tension.
Also… Sienna whispering Aria’s name?? In Luca’s EAR? The audacity. The villain origin vibes. The petty ex energy. I’m LIVING.
Get your snacks, babes. The drama is boiling, the jealousy is simmering, and Luca is one more hallway encounter away from losing it entirely. Buckle up cause it only gets wilder from here💘🔥💀.