Chapter 76 Luca
I’d had a bad feeling simmering under my skin all week. Every time I thought we were one step ahead of the hunter, something new showed up. A symbol carved into a pine tree. A silver nail hammered into the Donovan family shed like a warning.
Tonight’s discovery was worse.
As Mason, Rafe, and I circled back toward the old milling road, my stomach twisted at the sight of the small metal canister lying in the dirt. It was the kind of thing hunters used when they wanted wolves cornered. There were smoke bombs laced with silver residue enough to weaken us and even kill us if we were stupid.
Rafe nudged it with the toe of his boot. “This wasn’t here yesterday.”
“Nope,” I muttered. “And it wasn’t dropped by accident.”
Mason squinted toward the dark tree line. “So either the hunter came back or someone’s helping him.”
I’d already been thinking it, but hearing Mason say it out loud made my skin tighten.
“Inside help,” Rafe murmured. “Has to be.”
I exhaled slowly, forcing my wolf back down to stay human enough to think. “We need to bring this to Greta.”
Rafe gave me a look. “Greta? Really?”
“She’s the elder,” I said. “And she knows hunter tactics better than anyone.”
“Plus,” Mason added, “she scares you.”
“She scares everyone,” I shot back, but it didn’t change the truth.
So we headed to Greta's cottage. Her place sat near the far edge of Silverpine tucked behind a wall of dense spruce trees. I know she could always tell who approached by the weight of their footsteps. Well, that was the best part about being a werewolf.
Greta stood in the doorway like she’d been expecting us, wrapped in her worn maroon shawl, gray hair wild and curling around her shoulders. Her eyes were unsettlingly like she could see the wolf underneath my skin without even trying.
“You look like you found something ugly,” she said. “Come in.”
Her voice was rough but not unkind. We stepped inside. The air smelled like pine resin and old books. A kettle hissed softly on the stove. Greta never drank tea before midnight. She said it helped her “listen better.”
I set the metal canister on the table.
Her expression shifted. “Where?”
“Old milling road,” I said.
She lifted it carefully, turning it in her hands. “Fresh. No rust.” Her eyes flicked to me. “This is used by advanced hunters not novices.”
Rafe crossed his arms. “We think someone in town’s helping.”
Greta set the canister down and pressed her palm to her forehead, exhaling slowly. “The hunter isn’t working alone. I suspected as much.”
I tensed. “You did?”
“Of course.” She lowered herself into her chair, bones cracking softly. “Hunters rarely enter wolf towns blindly. Someone always feeds them information from inside knowingly or not.”
Mason swapped a nervous glance with Rafe. “Knowingly or not,” he repeated. “So maybe they don’t even realize what they’re doing?”
Greta nodded. “Some are manipulated. Others? Not so innocent.”
Her pointed gaze slid to mine. “The hunter knows too much about your routes, Luca. And too much about your pack movements.”
My chest tightened. “So you’re saying—”
“There’s a leak,” she stated. “A human in town. Maybe more than one.”
The cottage felt suddenly smaller. My thoughts whirled—Sienna, Avery, Quinn, Tyler, anyone who might’ve seen the wrong thing at the wrong time.
“Do you have suspects?” Rafe asked.
Greta shook her head. “Not yet. But the hunter’s movements are too precise to be coincidence. You need to be cautious.”
I swallowed hard. “We’ve been cautious.”
“No,” she said, her voice slicing through the air. “You’ve been reactive. Not cautious.”
Mason muttered under his breath. “Here we go.”
Greta ignored him. Her eyes stayed locked on me. “A future Alpha doesn’t chase danger, he anticipates it. Your father understood that.”
I stiffened. Somehow every conversation circled back to my dad. Somehow every expectation, every pressure and reminder of the role waiting on my shoulders came wrapped in his shadow.
Greta watched me closely. “Your father learned early that the worst danger comes from those who smile at you.”
I didn’t respond. After a moment, Greta leaned back in her chair. “You said you found this after sunset?”
“Yeah,” I replied. “We double-checked the whole stretch. There were no footprints or scent trail. They masked it.”
“Neem” she said. “Difficult to track.”
Rafe frowned. “So what do we do?”
Greta rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Discretion.”
Mason blinked. “Uh… meaning?”
“Meaning,” she said, “you keep your heads down. You lower your visibility, move quietly and watch the town without letting the town know you’re watching.”
I nodded slowly. “So basically spy mode.”
“Call it what you like.” Greta reached for the kettle, pouring dark tea into a cracked mug. “Just don’t be obvious.”
That was the problem. Nothing about my team was subtle. Mason was a walking energy drink. Rafe’s glare could curdle milk. And I well, according to Aria, I had the subtlety of a storm cloud lately.
Greta tapped her fingers against the table. “The hunter is emboldened. They will escalate. That is what they do when they feel cornered.”
“And you think we’ve cornered them?” Rafe asked.
A faint smile crossed her face. “You don’t realize how threatening you are, boys.”
Mason grinned. “I mean I work out.”
Greta gave him a look that instantly smothered the joke.
Rafe cleared his throat. “So who do we start with? Town council? Teachers? Parents?”
“No public targets yet,” Greta said. “Suspicion creates panic. Panic creates mistakes. Mistakes create casualties.”
My stomach tightened again. “Meaning us.”
“Meaning everyone,” Greta corrected. “Don’t make this bigger than it already is.”
Easy for her to say. She wasn’t the one running night patrols, dodging silver, or trying to keep her friends from walking straight into danger.
“And you should not let your fondness for the human girl distract you.”
How on earth... Does everyone know about Aria now? “It’s not—”
“It is,” Greta said simply.
Her bluntness made me bite my tongue. Mason looked away and Rafe looked like he was trying not to grin.
Greta lifted her mug. “Luca, listen carefully. Humans are part of this town. Some good, some not. Protect them, yes but trust them slowly.”
I nodded more out of respect than agreement.
She pushed the canister back toward me. “Hide it and do not let your guard down. The hunter is watching.”
We thanked her and stepped outside the door shutting behind us with a soft thud.
Mason exhaled loudly. “Well. That sucked.”
Rafe gave him a shove. “You suck.”
“You suck more.”
I ignored them, staring at the path that led back into the woods. Someone right here in Silverpine was feeding information to the hunter.
And we had no idea who but Greta was right.
Danger was already here and it was closer than any of us realized.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Okay LOVELIES♥️,
Who do YOU think the inside help is? A student? Someone in the town? Drop your thoughts because I love seeing y’all turn into detectives every time things get shady in Silverpine.