Chapter 94 Luca
Blood touched the snow before my mind registered what had happened. For half a second I stared at it, dark and bright against the pale ground, wondering whose it was. Then the gunshot reached my ears, loud and violent in the stillness of the forest, and pain tore through my shoulder like something had punched straight through bone. The force knocked me sideways and sent me crashing into the frozen earth.
Hunters.
The realization slammed into me as another shot split the night. I rolled across the ground just as a bullet tore through the bark of the tree behind me. Splinters exploded over my back while I forced myself upright, breath ragged and clenching my teeth, shoulder burning where the silver had torn through flesh.
The forest around me had changed in an instant. Flashlights cut through the darkness between the trees, narrow beams sweeping across the undergrowth as figures moved in careful formation. I could hear boots crunching over dead leaves and metal clicking softly as rifles shifted in steady hands.
They were organized. That was the first thing that truly scared me.
Hunters didn’t usually move like this. Most of them were reckless amateurs who wandered too close to pack territory and paid the price for it. These ones were different. They moved like soldiers and I wondered if a family of hunters had come together. Another shot cracked through the forest.
Instinct took over.
My wolf surged forward beneath my skin and the shift ripped through my body in a violent rush. Bones twisted, muscles expanded, and fur burst across my skin as the world sharpened into scent and motion. I hit the ground running on four paws just as another bullet sliced through the air behind me.
The smell of silver burned in my nose. They had come prepared, I realized. Branches snapped somewhere to my left as hunters pushed through the undergrowth. They weren’t chasing wildly but were spreading out, forming a wide arc through the trees that forced me deeper into the forest.
They were steering me. My paws tore across frozen earth as I sprinted between the trunks, but every time I tried to change direction another hunter appeared ahead. Their formation tightened gradually, guiding me toward the open ridge beyond the treeline.
Toward a trap. I realized it too late.
The trees ended abruptly and the forest opened into a wide clearing covered in thin snow. Moonlight spilled across the open ground, turning everything pale and bloody. The moment my paws touched the clearing, rifles lifted from the shadows and the hunters stepped forward from every direction.
I shifted back into human form as my injured leg buckled beneath me, the silver burning through my bloodstream like poison. My shoulder throbbed with every breath as I forced myself up, staring at the circle of hunters surrounding the clearing.
There were too many to count quickly. At least twenty, I guessed. They stood calm and steady, rifles trained on my chest as if they had been waiting for this exact moment. Then one of them stepped forward.
He was older than the rest, his dark coat hanging open against the cold while gray threaded through his beard. His expression carried a fierce cruelty that made my stomach twist.
“Alpha Heir Luca,” he said evenly.
Hearing my name on his tongue made my jaw lock.
“You’ve been difficult to track,” the man continued.
I wiped blood from my lip and straightened despite the pain ripping through my shoulder. “You came all this way just for me?” I taunted.
A faint smile crossed his face. “You should be honored,” he smirked.
The rifles around me shifted slightly.
“You wolves always believe these mountains belong to you,” he continued calmly. “But predators eventually meet hunters who are smarter.”
My wolf stirred restlessly beneath my skin, furious and ready to tear into the circle around us, but the silver wound had slowed my body just enough to make fighting impossible.
They knew that. This whole ambush had been planned around it. The older hunter raised his hand. Several rifles clicked as their safeties slipped free.
“Tonight,” he said quietly, “Silverpine loses its Alpha Heir.”
The forest exploded before he could finish. A massive gray wolf burst through the treeline like a living avalanche, slamming into one of the hunters with brutal force. The man flew across the clearing while gunfire erupted in every direction.
More wolves followed close behind. I counted seven of them. They crashed into the clearing with snarls that shattered the hunters’ careful formation. Some of the men spun toward the new attackers while others tried to regroup, but the sudden chaos had already broken their advantage.
The gray wolf shifted mid-stride, its bones cracking as fur vanished and a tall figure landed beside me.
Damian.
The Alpha Heir of Mooncrest Pack looked exactly the same as the last time I had seen him, except now his hands were already stained with blood that definitely wasn’t his.
“You look terrible,” he said.
I almost laughed despite the pain tearing through my body. “Nice timing.”
Another hunter raised his rifle from the treeline. Damian moved faster than I expected, grabbing the weapon and snapping it in half before the man could fire. His wolf surged forward again a moment later, knocking the hunter flat against the ground.
More wolves poured into the clearing behind him as his pack joined the fight. For a brief moment the hunters actually began to retreat then engines echoed through the forest. The low rumble rolled across the clearing like distant thunder.
Damian froze beside me. “That’s not good,” he muttered.
Headlights appeared through the trees seconds later, beams slicing across the clearing as several trucks rolled onto the forest road. The doors slammed open almost immediately and more hunters poured out.
Dozens of them.
They moved quickly, spreading through the treeline with rifles already raised. The number of attackers doubled within seconds then it tripled.
Damian stared at the growing line of hunters before letting out a slow breath. “Well,” he said quietly.
I followed his gaze, dread settling in my chest as the scale of the attack finally became clear.
This wasn’t an ambush anymore. It was an invasion.
Damian looked at me, his voice suddenly intense. “Luca?”
“Yeah?”
“You might want to start running.”
Because the hunters had just brought an entire army tonight and this fight was only beginning now.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Luca barely survived the first wave of hunters, Damian showed like an absolute legend, and for one moment it looked like the wolves might actually turn the fight around.
But then the trucks arrived.
So here’s the real question. Why would hunters mobilize an entire force just to target Silverpine? And more importantly again who told them exactly where Luca would be tonight? Because coordinated attacks like that don’t happen without information. Someone knew the patrol routes. Someone knew where the future Alpha would be and wanted him dead badly enough to bring an army.
So, who do YOU think is feeding the hunters that kind of information? When the wolves realize someone betrayed them, what do you think Luca will do? 🐺🔥