Chapter 98 Luca
“I trusted her.”
The words slipped out before I even realized I’d said them. Lila stood a few steps behind me on the edge of the quarry, arms folded, watching me with that quiet patience she’d always had. It used to annoy me when we were younger, the way she would wait instead of pushing, like she knew I’d talk eventually.
I stared out at the dark water below. “I let her in, Li. I let her walk around like she was one of us and even loved her at some point.”
“You didn’t know,” she said softly.
“That doesn’t make it better.”
It actually made it worse because I was supposed to know. That was the whole point. I was supposed to be one step ahead not the idiot who let a hunter get close enough to map out our lives like we were nothing.
The pack would still be talking and arguing, deciding what to do next. Without me.
“I figured you’d be there,” Lila said after a moment. “Council’s already turning this into something bigger than it needs to be.”
I let out a humorless breath. “Of course they are.”
“They’re scared.”
“They should be,” I muttered. “We’ve got hunters walking into our territory like they own it.”
“And one of them almost took you out.”
“I’m still here.”
“Barely,” she shot back. “If Damian hadn’t shown up when he did—”
“I didn’t ask for backup.”
“No, you didn’t,” she agreed. “Which is exactly the problem.”
I finally turned to face her, frustration snapping in my chest. “What do you want me to say, Lila? That I messed up? Fine. I messed up. Happy?”
“This isn’t about being right,” she said quietly. “It’s about you acting like you have to carry everything alone.”
“I don’t have a choice.”
“You always have a choice.”
I shook my head, looking away again. “Not this time.”
Because this time, it wasn’t just about the pack. This time, it was too personal. Sienna hadn’t just been another face in town. She had been around us. Around me and I had let it happen.
“I keep replaying it,” I admitted, my voice lower now. “Every moment she was around. Trying to figure out where I missed it.”
“You didn’t miss anything,” Lila said. “She was trained to hide it.”
“Still,” I muttered. “There had to be something.”
“Luca.” Her tone was firmer now. “You are not responsible for someone else’s lies.”
I didn’t answer.
“That’s really what this is about, isn’t it?” she said.
I frowned slightly. “What?”
“You’re not just upset about Sienna,” she said. “You’re worried about Aria.”
I exhaled slowly, tension settling deeper into my chest. “She’s involved now.”
“She chose to be.”
“She didn’t choose this,” I snapped, gesturing vaguely toward the woods, the town, and everything. “She didn’t choose hunters showing up, or being dragged into pack business, or—”
“Or you,” Lila finished.
The word hung there. I didn’t deny it.
“That doesn’t make you a problem,” she added.
“It kind of does,” I said.
“Only if you keep deciding that for her.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “I’m trying to keep her safe.”
“And your plan is to disappear?”
“It’s better than pulling her deeper into this.”
Lila let out a quiet breath. “You really think cutting her off is going to protect her?”
“It keeps her away from me.”
“And you think that’s enough?”
I gave no response.
“She’s already in this, Luca,” Lila continued. “You can’t undo that.”
“I can limit the damage.”
“Or you can make it worse.”
I looked at her, irritation flashing again. “You always this optimistic?”
“Someone has to be,” she said, a small smile tugging at her lips. “You don’t get to shut down every time things get hard.”
“I’m not shutting down.”
“You ran off to a quarry in the middle of the night,” she pointed out. “That’s pretty close.”
I huffed under my breath. “Needed space.”
“From what?”
I hesitated. From everything. From the pack expecting answers I didn’t have and the shame of facing my father. From the weight of knowing I had been the reason a hunter got as close as she did.
“I just needed to think,” I said finally.
“And did you?” Lila asked.
I looked back out at the water. “Not really.”
“Then maybe you’re thinking about the wrong things,” she said.
“Like what?”
“Like what you’re going to do next.”
That pulled my focus back. “We prepare,” I said automatically. “We tighten patrols and figure out how many hunters are actually out there.”
“And Aria?”
There it was again. I clenched my jaw. “She stays out of it.”
“You really believe that’s going to happen?”
“She has to.”
Lila shook her head. “You’re underestimating her.”
“I’m trying to protect her.”
“And she’s trying to stand beside you,” she shrugged. “There’s a difference.”
Aria wasn’t the type to sit back and pretend none of this was happening. She never had been. Which meant she was already closer to this than I wanted.
“You care about her?”
I let out a breath. “Yeah.”
“Then stop pushing her away like she’s the problem.”
“I’m the problem,” I said quietly.
Lila changed the subject. “The council’s not going to wait, you know.”
“I know.”
“They’re already talking about what to do with Sienna.”
My gaze sharpened. “What do you mean?”
“They want her dead now, Luca. For real.”
I straightened slightly. “She’s not even here again.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Lila said. “To them, she’s still a threat.”
I clenched my fists at my sides. “And they think killing her fixes that?”
“They think it sends a message.”
I let out a bitter laugh. “Yeah. Because that always works.”
“Luca…”
“No,” I cut in, shaking my head. “This isn’t going to fix anything. It’s just going to make everything worse.”
“Maybe,” she said. “But you’re not the only one making decisions anymore.”
“Then I’ll talk to them,” I said.
Lila studied me. “And say what?”
I opened my mouth, then paused because I didn’t have a clear answer. The truth sitting in the back of my mind wasn’t something I could just throw into a council meeting not without consequences.
Lila noticed. “What aren’t you telling me, Lu?”
I looked at her. At my sister. The one person I trusted more than anyone and still, I hesitated.
The bond wasn’t just a feeling anymore. It was real and if the pack found out—
“I need to handle this my way,” I said instead.
I could tell she wasn’t convinced. “You don’t have to do this alone.”
“I know.”
But I was going to anyway because some things were too dangerous to share. And as I stood there, staring out at the water with my sister watching me, one thought settled in my chest. I wasn’t the only one keeping secrets anymore and when those secrets finally came out…
I had a feeling the pack wouldn’t be the only thing that would be shattered.