Ashen Luca Novels & Stories

Tears streamed down my face, dripping into my father's ashes and staining them dark. I did not wipe my face. I did not respond to Stella. I did not look at Hudson, who stood beside her with an undisguised smirk. I reached out with trembling hands, gathering the ashes little by little, trying to put them back into the urn. "I'm sorry, Dad... I'm so sorry... this is my fault..." Hudson had his arm around Stella's waist. He let out a theatrical sigh. "Damon, don't take it too hard. The man is already dead. Besides, this was your own carelessness..."

Like he was never looking in the first place. Luca notices my uneasiness. He follows my line of sight—And then snorts quietly. "Oh." Luca huffs with an eye roll. Seyla glances over. Then stills. Just slightly. "That's Callan Viremont," Luca says quietly, like it's nothing. The name hits before the meaning does. Viremont. My thoughts stutter. Slow. Then crash. Viremont. As in— Seyla shifts in her seat. "Luca—"

We walked in silence to the the pool. “Seat down.” He said. We sat on the lounge chair and he poured us some whiskey. I took a sip of the bitter, awful-tasting drink and felt my throat burn. I had never drunk anything like it or alcoholic before, so this was a first. I looked up at the moon, the night was beautiful. When I looked back at Luca, he was staring at me. I believe he was already a little drunk by the look in his eyes. But he was a very handsome man, drunk or not.

“Why? Williams, you’re a firefighter. Don’t you know how toxic smoke is? “I told you that I was pregnant, but you gave the mask to Leia. Now, you’re asking me why I had an abortion? Are you pretending to be clueless?” I did not want to look at him any longer. I was afraid that I might feel disgusted if I did. Williams trembled and tried to hug me. However, Leia suddenly held her forehead and started falling to the side. Coincidentally, she fell right onto Williams. He withdrew his hands and quickly supported her instead.

“We just killed her right?” Kira grimaced and sent the image back to the director’s terminal. “Yeah, we did. Something’s not right with your intel.” “You sure about that?” Rodrigo asked flatly. “Her name was Lilia Baudin. I watched her head explode in my scope two years ago in Prague. Yeah, I’m pretty damn sure.” “A highly possibility that she's an Awakaned too?” Knight asked in the tense silence that followed. Kira managed to contain his flinch, but just barely.

He stands behind me, arms crossed, a shadow refusing to be drawn in. The old rogue begins to speak. “She came in the season between the moons. The one with no name. The one where wolves forgot their howls. She wore no crown. No mate-mark. No Alpha’s scent.” The hum continues beneath her voice, like breath rising from old earth. “She walked alone into the Bone Lands, where no pack claimed the soil. Her hands bled spiral. Her eyes burned red. Her name was ash. Her tether already severed.” A shiver ripples through the pack. No one looks at me.

“What happened?” Alessa swallowed. “It’s about Vittorio. And my mother.” Luca listened without interrupting once—not even when his jaw tightened, not even when his fist curled in anger at Vittorio’s words. When Alessa said Gloria could wipe out Italy, his entire body went still. “And the documents,” Luca said slowly, voice edged with steel. “Your inheritance… she has it?” Alessa nodded. “Yes. And she sabotaged the gala because she didn’t want you to have the trillion. She didn’t want you to be her equal.”

His gaze was sharp, his stance unshaken. “Let her go, Jace.” His voice was firm, almost condescending. “I don’t want to hurt you. You are, after all, Luca and Elena’s son. We want the same thing.” Jace’s jaw clenched. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His voice was low, steady, but the way he emphasized our and my left no doubt about his claim. “Ashley grew up in our pack. She has always been my mate.”

I would rise from the ashes of this betrayal—even if it meant shattering the empire Luca had built. But as I sat there, the tears falling silently, a part of me still trembled at the thought of what lay ahead. The path I now faced was dark and uncertain, lined with the bones of those who had sacrificed themselves for revenge. And Luca… he was still out there, cold and unyielding, ready to continue his relentless crusade.