Chapter 44 Luca
The woods behind Silverpine High were quieter than usual and didn’t feel peaceful. It felt watchful even the wind seemed to hesitate before pushing through the branches overhead. I moved slowly, careful with each step keeping my senses wide open the way my father always drilled into me. With rogue activity creeping closer to town and Sienna acting strange enough to set every instinct on edge, today wasn’t the day to get sloppy.
Mason had peeled off a few minutes earlier to check the old service trail. I’d gone deeper following a set of tracks that weren’t exactly human and weren’t exactly wolf either. That alone put every nerve in my body on alert.
I hadn’t expected to hear voices. They were faint at first, drifting between the trees, but distinct when I pushed closer. I recognized one of them, the tone was impatient. Sienna. The person she spoke to remained mostly quiet but their footsteps gave away enough.
I crouched low behind a fallen log adjusting to the direction of the sound. Sienna stood near a cluster of pines, her jacket hood pulled low and her stance rigid in a way I rarely saw. She was listening intently and responding in clipped practiced sentences that didn’t fit the carefree image she let the world see.
“No, I’m not losing focus,” she said, voice edged with annoyance. “I told you I can handle myself. I don’t need constant reminders.”
There was a pause, a muttered reply I couldn’t make out.
Sienna rolled her eyes. “I’ve been training since I was twelve. You think I’m suddenly going to forget everything because of him?”
Training? I leaned closer without shifting the log. My mind raced through possibilities few of them weren’t good. Training for what? And why mention me as if I was somehow related to her preparations? The older voice said something else—too low and rough to decipher—but Sienna reacted instantly. Her shoulders tightened and she crossed her arms defensively.
“I said I’m not compromised. I don’t care what you think you saw.”
Her tone wasn’t just irritated. It was defensive and almost guilty. The wind shifted and carried their scents toward me. The older one smelled faintly of metal not enough to be full silver but enough that my wolf bristled. Sienna’s scent was layered differently than earlier in the hallway. Masked beneath a clean human facade was something damp and earthy, almost like the residue hunters carried when they spent too much time tracking things they didn’t understand.
But she wasn’t a hunter. She couldn’t be.
My pulse kicked, anger tightening around my ribs. I wanted answers and to storm out there and drag the truth out of her. But that would blow everything up—my cover, the pack’s presence in the school, and whatever this secret meeting was. So I stayed hidden, my jaw working furiously.
Sienna stepped forward, closing the distance between herself and the older figure. “I said I know what I’m doing. If I get close, it’s because I’m choosing to not because I’m being swayed.”
My stomach dropped at the implication. Close to who? Me? Or someone else? I barely had time to consider the possibilities before she glanced over her shoulder, scanning the trees. I went still, my breath shallow and muscles coiled. Her gaze swept the forest once but didn’t land on me. She muttered something under her breath, and the other person stepped back into the thick brush, disappearing completely. Sienna lingered another moment then turned and headed toward the school as if she hadn’t just held a clandestine meeting in the middle of wolf territory.
When I was sure she was gone, I stood. My mind worked faster than my body could follow. There were too many questions and not enough answers but one thing was certain—this wasn’t coincidence. I didn’t wait for Mason to return as I headed straight for the Hale mansion, moving fast through the trees until the forest opened into the familiar path that led to the den entrance. Elder Greta was already outside gathering herbs when she saw me approach.
“You’re walking like you’ve been chased,” she said, looking up with her steady knowing eyes.
“I need to talk to you,” I said without preamble.
Greta straightened slowly, her gaze sharpening. “What did you find?”
I told her everything—the voice I’d overheard, the mention of training, the way Sienna’s reactions didn’t match her usual behaviour, and the metallic scent that wasn’t quite silver but close enough to trigger instinct.
Greta’s expression shifted from calm curiosity to a tension I hadn’t seen in years. “You’re certain you heard the word ‘training’? And that she said she had been doing it since childhood?”
“Positive,” I said.
She let out a slow breath, the kind that carried old memories. “There have been infiltrations before,” she murmured. “Humans with unusual knowledge. Sometimes they learn too young or they’re guided by people who believe our kind shouldn’t exist.”
I frowned. “You’re saying this has happened in Silverpine?”
“Not in decades,” Greta answered. “But it isn’t impossible that someone new has taken interest. Hunters come in many forms, Luca. Not all of them wear badges or carry silver openly. Some are taught slowly and woven into normal life until they appear harmless.”
I stiffened. “You think Sienna is one of them?”
She shook her head thoughtfully. “I think she is something and I think whatever that something is, it is not simple.”
Although her words didn’t confirm anything, they also didn’t give me the reassurance I desperately wanted. Greta placed a hand on my shoulder, grounding.
“Watch her,” she said gently. “Observe but don’t confront, yet. We need understanding not assumptions.”
I nodded, though tension still crawled beneath my skin because no matter how many warnings Greta gave me, my instincts were louder. Something was coming and it was big with Sienna was standing right at the center of it.
I needed to find out what she was before she made her next move.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
HELLO?? Did Luca just walk in on Sienna acting like she’s on payroll for a top-secret organization??
Because the girl said “stick to the plan” and suddenly the whole book turned into a Netflix thriller.
Elder Greta casually dropping ancient infiltrator lore? Luca’s wolf on HIGH ALERT??
Aria caught in the middle without knowing a single thing???
We are officially in the “wtf is happening and why am I loving the chaos” phase of the story.
Buckle up, babes. Silverpine is NOT done with us🌙🔥.