Chapter 8 Luca
CHAPTER 8: LUCA
“Need me to go put on a polo neck?” Cal teased, not quite hiding his grin.
Luca shook his head in annoyance and flipped him his middle finger. “Weren’t we supposed to be going somewhere?”
Cal checked his watch. “We’ve still got ten minutes. And we both need to calm down before we go.”
“Huh?” Luca asked.
Cal raised an eyebrow and gestured vaguely in the direction of the noticeable bulge he was sporting. “We’ll have company, and not the kind we can look like this in front of.”
Luca blushed. Fucking blushed . And turned away to rearrange himself and think about unsexy things until he could face the witch again without getting … excited. Which, at the current rate he was going, would probably be around never.
Five minutes and an untucked shirt later just in case, he followed Cal down the stairs and around to the rooms behind the club. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t five teenagers and? —
“Luca? What are you doing here?” Portia called out with a smile as they came over to clasp hands with him in greeting.
Luca hid a sigh. What were the chances he and Cal both had a relationship with the same youth shelter? Cal knew enough of his deepest secrets already without this one coming out as well. Dammit.
“Wait, you two know each other?” Cal asked, brow furrowed in confusion.
“Luca’s one of my longest-serving—” Portia started to say.
“Friends,” Luca jumped in.
Cal shook his head at him, not convinced by the flimsy half-truth, and Portia winced as they realised they should’ve been a bit more discreet. In their defence, he’d somehow ended up with Cal’s hand on the small of his back as they entered and they’d probably assumed both that he was here because of the shelter’s visit and that he trusted the water witch. Portia clearly did.
“Portia brings whoever’s interested over twice a week for self-defence lessons,” Cal explained.
That was … kind of awesome, actually. He’d always hated that he couldn’t be more involved with the kids.
“Magic or mundane?” Luca asked. It made sense that Portia would find a friendly witch not associated with the MC to help teach the kids, especially those of witch heritage. As a shifter, Portia wouldn’t be able to show them how to use their magic.
“Both, but we start with the basics of mundane because there will always be someone with more power than you, but everyone will react to a thumb in their eye,” Cal said, his words aimed toward the teens watching with interest.
They took the invitation to come closer and say hello, although most of them were understandably wary of the strange wolf shifter in their midst. The Lunetti Pack had a reputation after all and Luca’s work for the shelter was all remote. He’d never met the people he helped and Portia had signed an iron-clad NDA when they started working together.
“It’s awesome to finally meet you all. Portia was just telling me they’ve never had such a close-knit, helpful group of residents,” Luca said, putting his hands in his pockets to make himself less of a threat and smiling at the gathered teens.
A shifter boy, who must’ve been about sixteen or seventeen, flicked his eyes between Luca and Portia as if he was trying to figure out whether he could trust Luca. The boy’s instincts were probably telling him to submit to the more dominant shifter in the room, despite the fact the kid wasn’t a wolf. He smelled like a feline, a bobcat maybe.
The rest of the group were a vampire and three witches who wouldn’t have noticed the pheromones as much. Although the vampire looked like he might jump Luca if he became a threat to the other boy.
Cal’s hand slipped up his back and returned to his nape. It took everything in him not to snap his teeth at the arrogant witch for showing his dominance so publicly, but one look at the way the teens relaxed when they saw the man they trusted to teach them was still in charge had him swallowing it all down. Luca was the visitor here. They deserved to feel safe. He could hide his anger for them as long as Cal didn’t try and call him a good boy in front of a group of fucking teenagers.
“You’ve all been doing so well I thought you could use a new challenge. Luca’s going to help me out today and let you try your moves against someone new,” Cal said.
Portia raised an eyebrow at Luca in silent question as Cal launched into an explanation for the teens of what they’d be working on. The head of the shelter had known him long enough to understand exactly how bizarre this situation was. Luca just shrugged and turned back to pay attention to what Cal was saying so he could figure out exactly what he was in for.
“So, hip throw escapes from a bearhug. Luca and I will demonstrate a few examples first,” Cal said, before leaning down to his ear and pretending to whisper, “Think you can manage throwing someone my size for them?”
Luca snorted and rolled his eyes as the teens before them snickered. “I’m more worried about injuring your delicate human body.”
Despite the fighting words, Luca was careful to keep things slow and measured as they worked their way through a few examples of how someone smaller could get the best leverage to throw off an attacker coming at them from behind. He might not train regularly to fight like his sister or the enforcers in his pack, but this kind of self-defence was as familiar to him as breathing.
What was less familiar was the tingling awareness of his partner as Cal’s body pushed up to his back, the rush of excitement when Cal’s forearm closed over his neck and blocked his airway before he got free, the hard ridge of Cal’s erection nestled into his ass as he pushed back to pop him over his hip and throw him across the room.
Shaking off the unwelcome sensations, Luca moved away from Cal to circle the room and give suggestions to the teens as they practised, letting them try their skills against him. Every time Cal tried to brush past him, Luca stepped clear so they wouldn’t touch. Cal’s closeness couldn’t have been an accident with how often he was having to avoid him. He refused to even look at the man because the damn hickey on his neck was like a siren’s call. He thought he’d been doing pretty well at ignoring him, but then Cal’s firm voice filled the room again .
“Great work, team. Next up, we’re going to practice what to do if someone takes you down to the floor. Luca, come demonstrate with me again,” Cal said.
Shit. He really didn’t want to do anything that involved rolling around on the floor with Cal, especially with an audience. Luca looked over at the witch and frowned, doing his best to convey his feelings with his expression alone so the teens wouldn’t guess what was up.
“Why don’t you demonstrate with Ty? He’s been doing really well,” he tried, careful to keep his voice upbeat.
“Get over here, Luca,” Cal growled.
“Ooooo, Luca’s in trouble,” Candy, one of the witch teens, sang, setting the rest of them off in giggles.
Luca flashed them all a smile as he stalked over to where the witch was waiting. He had to be careful to keep his back to them so they didn’t see exactly what effect Cal’s order had on him below the waist.
“I’m only doing this for them,” Luca said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder to gesture at the teens and setting off another round of laughter.
He couldn’t bring himself to be upset about their reaction. The kids deserved all the joy they could get wherever they found it. Cal, on the other hand, deserved a swift kick up the ass.
Cal’s response was so quiet even Ty and Portia’s shifter hearing wouldn’t have been able to pick it up. “I won’t have you ignoring me, baby. Now be a good boy and let me get you on the floor.”
Luca would’ve glared at the witch, but he was too busy squeezing his eyes shut and thinking about the grossest things he could imagine to get his errant body back under control. He was genuinely caught by surprise when Cal’s body wrapped around him and he ended up flat on his back with the big man’s weight crushing him into the carpet and both his wrists contained above his head in one of Cal’s huge hands. The bastard hadn’t waited for him to be ready and the air in his lungs whooshed out under the pressure as he fought to keep his fingertips from shifting to claws.
“Now, what would you do if you were in Luca’s position?” Cal asked the gathered teens as if this was perfectly normal.
Luca barely heard the suggestions the teens called out because sparks were drifting across his blurred vision and his chest had forgotten how to inhale. He’d been in this position for real once before. Back then. Only he hadn’t been able to do anything except lie still and take it because he’d just had a mating bond forced on him and his wolf had been all dazed and confused—unable to process the conflicting instincts of kill attacker and protect mate .
His wolf had failed him when he needed it most.
He was so out of it he didn’t even hear the low whine that slipped free from him, but Cal did because he was off him in a split second and Luca could finally draw in a deep shuddering breath and prise his eyes open to stare up at the ceiling.
“Luca, baby. Talk to me,” Cal said, low and urgent.
He could hear the worry in his voice and he wished Cal hadn’t moved quite so far away because his touch had been the only thing keeping him stable despite the fact it was also what had caused the problem. Fuck that. He was stronger than this. Mentally grabbing himself by the scruff, he forced himself to sit up and glanced over at the gathered teens, who looked heartbreakingly understanding. As if they knew exactly what he was feeling.
“So, this is why you have to practice over and over again until it’s instinct. Because the worst thing you can do in that situation is nothing, which is what will happen if your body shuts down on you,” Luca said, ignoring Cal’s fear for him and forcing himself to use his panic attack as just another teaching tool.
“Have you been attacked like that before?” one of the girls asked.
“Sal, don’t pry,” Portia chided gently from their position watching on.
Luca met the girl’s worried gaze and saw the fear there. He never spoke about what happened to him, but what use was giving these kids a new life if he wasn’t willing to be part of what healed them?
“Yeah, Sal. I have. I was a little older than you. And I couldn’t fight back.”
“Me neither,” she whispered.
Luca nodded. “That’s not your fault. You’re fighting back now. Every day you don’t let the fear stop you from living.”
Did he believe his own words? Not really. But he could see the effect hearing them had on her and it was enough. She straightened where she was standing.
“Next time, I’ll fight back for real,” she said.
“I know you would if you had to, but the reason I give you those new identities is so no one can find you,” Luca said, wincing as he realised a second too late what his still-addled brain had given away. “Fuck. Forget I said that.”
“ You’re the one who makes our new IDs? And wipes our records? And gets us accepted into school?” Sal said.
Luca sighed and nodded. “You can’t tell anyone.”
“Never,” Sal swore, and every other teen there echoed her words.
“All right. That’s enough for today,” Cal said, still watching Luca with concern.
Portia took the hint and shepherded the teens toward the exit with a wave of farewell. “See you next week, Cal. And I hope we see you again, too, Luca.”
Rolling up to his feet, Luca hesitated for a moment as the sound of retreating steps faded. Was he really going to do this? Ah, fuck it. It’s not like the morning could get any more embarrassing than it already had. Stepping closer to Cal, he wrapped his arms around the witch’s waist.
“I’m fine. You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said, speaking into Cal’s chest.
Cal’s hands settled on his hips, but so much softer than he ever had before. Too soft. He wanted to feel Cal’s strength, not his fear for him.
“Fuck’s sake, Cal. I’m not delicate. You won’t break me any more than I already am,” Luca said.
Cal buried his face in Luca’s hair and wrapped his arms more tightly around him until, finally, he was giving Luca what he needed.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Cal asked.
Luca drew in a deep breath of Cal’s ocean scent and shuddered. “Not really.”
He didn’t think Cal was going to let him get away with that, but any further questions were cut off by a loud shriek from the direction the teens had disappeared. They both ran in the direction of the side exit they’d used, emerging into one of the alleyways bordering the club. Every sense on alert, Luca searched the alley and surrounding brick walls for any sign of a threat. Most of the kids were gathered against the opposite side from the door. Portia had Ty buried in their arms a couple of steps away from the dumpster, just to his right. Someone had lifted the lid open and left it ajar.
One breath was all it took for him to realise what had scared them all—the scent of sharp iron and sickly sweet decay drifted on the warm air. Striding over to the dumpster, Luca peered over the edge and saw the crumpled remains of the human he’d been watching on the security feed earlier that morning. The one who’d poisoned him. No wonder he hadn’t been able to catch him leaving the club. He hadn’t made it further than this alleyway.
“What happened?” Cal asked Portia, stepping up beside Luca and scanning his gaze over the dead body.
“Candy noticed a weird magic while we were leaving and pulled the spell-work apart before I could tell her not to. It must’ve been hiding the body, because we scented it as soon as she’d done her thing,” Portia said.
“You understand how dangerous that was?” Cal asked the young witch, who was looking decidedly sheepish.
She just shrugged in response.
“The magic resonated with you because you’re an earth witch, just like the caster was. Whoever they are is working with a terrorist group and they’re not afraid to use forbidden magic—death spells and worse. You can’t go poking at strange castings like that or you’ll end up dead.” Cal’s words were harsh, but his voice was firm and calm.
Luca approved. She needed to understand the risk she’d put herself in.
“I’m sorry,” Candy said, looking miserable.
“You didn’t know. Now you do and you won’t make the same mistake again,” Luca said, voice similarly firm.
Candy nodded. “I won’t. I promise.”
Ty extracted himself from Portia’s hold and went to put an arm around Candy while Portia came over to talk to them privately.
“You okay to get the kids home safe? We need to see if we can get a trace on this body before it decays any more. The screening spell might’ve kept evidence intact,” Cal said.
Portia nodded. “The car’s just around the corner. We’ll be fine. Happy hunting. I hope you find the bastards,” they said.
Luca’s mouth stretched in a smile that was all sharp teeth. Usually, he hated when his wolf came to the fore, but in this case, it was just what they needed—a hunter. As Cal escorted Portia and the teens to the car, he leaned down into the dumpster and lifted the dead human out onto the warm concrete. A search of his pockets revealed nothing of any import, but there was a hint of something in the air, tantalisingly just out of reach of his scent receptors in this form.
“Dammit,” he growled under his breath.
“What is it?” Cal asked.
Luca swallowed hard, not looking away from the body. “I need to shift before the scent fades. I think the magical residue of whatever killed him is still strong enough to trace.”
“You can scent magic like that?” Cal asked.
Luca winced. Most shifters couldn’t, because they’d never gone deep enough into the magic of their animals. The only reason he could was that he’d drowned in that magic when the simultaneous deaths of both his brother and the mate who’d forced a bond on him had traumatised him enough to keep him stuck in wolf form for weeks until his uncle pulled him back to his humanity, saving him from going feral. Nothing would ever make him forget that time when he’d been trapped in wolf form—too broken to change back and wishing his humanity away because all it contained was pain.
“Yeah. Just let me text Marco and then I’ll shift,” Luca said, already pulling out his phone.
Luca
Got a lead on my poisoner. Going hunting with Cal. He’ll have my phone to trace me.
He didn’t wait for a reply. Couldn’t wait for a reply because if he stalled a moment longer, he wouldn’t have the strength to face shifting. It had been over a year since he last shifted, and that had only been for ten minutes or so at a pack run when he couldn’t dodge Marco’s concern for him any longer.
“What do you need?” Cal asked, pulling Luca from his spiralling memories.
Luca passed him his phone and started methodically stripping off his clothes. “Stay with me?” he asked, hating the tremble in his voice.
“Of course. And I’ll cast a glamour on you so no one notices.”
Luca swallowed hard and bit the bullet. Cal had already seen the weakest parts of him and at least this secret was one all his family knew already, even if they would’ve intervened if they’d realised just how much he avoided shifting.
“Sometimes I find it hard to shift back,” he admitted.
“I’ll call you home if you get lost,” Cal promised, and Luca believed him. His wolf would listen to Cal. That was part of the problem. Part of why the man terrified him.
There was no more time to waste. Letting go of the iron control he held over himself every second of every day, he let his shift wash over him, barely noticing the buzz of pain as every bone and muscle in his body transformed. Marco and the others thought he found it hard to shift since his uncle brought him back. The truth was, he found it hard not to. Before he could start panicking at that thought, a warm hand settled on his ruff, sinking deep into his fur and gripping the skin there tight.
“So brave, baby. My good boy. I’ll keep you safe.”
Before he could get control of his instincts, he’d tilted his head up and licked his long rough tongue from Cal’s chin up to his temple.
Mine. Mate, his wolf howled in his mind.
Fucking hell. With his instincts riding him so hard in this form, he couldn’t even feel his usual fear at that word.
With a low whine, he pulled free from the comfort of Cal’s hold and dipped his nose to the dead body in front of him. The smell of death was overwhelming now he’d shifted and his senses were so much sharper, but his wolf didn’t find it as disturbing as a human would. Death was just a part of life. Something he doled out to his prey .
Separating out the strands of scent took a few minutes with how out of practice he was, but once he’d pushed aside the temptation of Cal’s rich scent, the reek of garbage, and the myriad of other traces carried on the breezes of the city, he was left with the fading smell of dead human and the sharp mineral tang of earth magic.
Ears pricked forward, tail stiff and horizontal, he took a few careful steps toward the entrance of the alley, following that mineral scent. Yes. That was it. He had it. It left an acrid taste in the back of his mouth that only the sweet ocean scent of Cal’s magic made bearable.
Trusting Cal to keep up and keep him hidden, he trotted out onto the street. Rightness settled in his bones. This was what he was made for—hunting. With his witch by his side.