A/N - Sigh. It's been a really, really long while, I apologise. To be blunt, something bad had happened in my life and I'm still recovering from it. BUT, I'm feeling MUCH better now, thank you for the kind messages and comments. Thank you for your patience, you guys a freaking amazing x

You guys are so nice, I don't even know what to say. I want to hug all of you, seriously. Just... thank you so much xx

To recap, I'd advise you guys to re-read the last chapter to refresh your memory. 

Please enjoy! xx

{13}

Re-tying the towel on my head, I headed toward Lucio's bedroom as planned. I had a long shower and changed into some comfy clothes, before heading out my room. I stopped in front of his door, sensing his presence and knocked on it. 

The door flung open, revealing a confused looking Lucio. 

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "What's wrong?" 

"Luca called..."

I froze at that, wondering what he had told him. Taking that shower, before explaining, might've been a bad mistake. However, Lucio widened the door, inviting me in as he headed towards the back of the room.

"He's in the hospital, and he's freaking out." He continued sounding concerned, shrugging on a jacket. "Like he's hysterical."

I frowned before rolling my eyes. "I didn't beat him up that hard." 

Lucio's worried golden eyes met mine. "He doesn't remember what had happened since this morning."

Wait.

I had the sudden urge to joke that I beat him so hard, he has amnesia. But the memories of the medical student claiming to have no recollection of going on a killing spree came to mind. We had concluded that his body was controlled by the same demon that had inhabited Lucio's mind.

"What?" I exclaimed in confusion, watching him grab his phone. He hurried to leave the room and began to make his way downstairs. 

"Yeah, I've never heard him freak out like that. I'm going to go visit him, can you come with me?"

"Uh, alright." I agreed hesitantly, taking the head towel off. "But I still need to talk to you."

We headed out the manor and began to walk towards the hospital. He looked down at me with curiosity, wondering what I had to tell him. 

I took a deep breath and said, "During the fight, Luca was inappropriately touching-."  

"WHAT?" He interrupted with an angry yell, halting in his tracks. "WHERE?"

His golden eyes were long gone, replaced with an angry red colour. 

"My inner thighs." I admitted uncomfortably, stiffening from the dark aura emitting from him. 

Silence. 

I looked up to find him struggling to contain his anger, he was resisting the urge to shift out of rage. I reached to touch his arm, in hopes to calm his emotions. After seeing him visibly relax, I let my hand stay there for longer. 

Honestly, he was rightfully furious, but controlling your anger was still important.

"I'm sorry." He apologised suddenly, his eyes still red. 

"For what?"

"For that happening to you." He responded, his expression hardening. "Sorry."

I frowned at him, shaking my head. "It's not your fault, don't apologise on his behalf."

He didn't reply, but rather put an arm around and pulled me closer.  

A nagging feeling kept appearing, I couldn't shake off the thought that Luca may have been possessed by that demon. His situation sounds very similar to the previously possessed people I have interrogated. 

However, it was extremely convenient that he would claim to forget everything after what he did to me. I would call him out, pointing out that he was using the demon case as an excuse to get away with what he had done.

Unfortunately, matters like this were kept strictly confidential, and between leaders only. So there's no way Luca would be able to pull off tricking us, if that was the case. Our meetings were held in a highly secured place, in an extremely sound proof room engineered for werewolf hearing.

"All I have to do is ask him questions, I'll know if he lies." He growled lowly.

I said nothing, but wondered what made him so confident. How would he know? What did he mean?

Lucio was still raging beside me, keeping eerily quiet until we reached the hospital. Visitors and staff alike straightened up in our presence, bowing in respect and acknowledgment. 

Three staff members rushed up to us to ask me, "How may we help you, Alpha?"

"Can you show me how to get to Luca Silvestro's room? He was admitted earlier today."

The ginger haired lady nodded her head. "Of course, Alpha. If you could follow me." She said, leading us upstairs to the VIP section. I recognised the woman from last year, she had been caring after Ella for a short period of time. 

"Amélie?" I said unsurely.

Her face lit up in amazement, surprised that I remembered her. I chuckled a little, why wouldn't I remember? 

"I heard you got married, congratulations." I told her with a smile. "Do I know the lucky person?" 

"I'm not sure, Alpha. But her name is Bella, I'm really happy."

"Congratulations." Lucio added with a smile.

"How long have you been mates?" I asked as we walked down a long corridor. 

"Seven years." 

Luca's scent was becoming more apparent, I was already on edge. Nonetheless, I told her, "I wish your marriage life nothing but happiness." 

Lucio's angry tripled once we were within range to feel Luca's presence, making the lady stiffen with fear. 

She stopped at one of the white doors, her eyes widening with fear at Lucio. 

"This is his room." She announced before scuffling away from us. Clearly, she was desperate to get out of that dark aura emitting from Lucio. 

He opened the door and walked in, with me following closely behind. 

Luca was in the hospital bed, having a cannula inserted into the back of his right hand. Looking scared, tears had formed in his eyes as he watched the nurse attempt to insert the needle into his vein. 

"Oh, for the love of God! Get it over and done with!" He cried in terror, his eyes wide in horror. As though his senses had been clouded with fright, he finally noticed our presence. 

I stood frozen in my spot, unsure of how to feel. The Luca in front of me was completely different to the one I had fought with. His aura and demeanour was totally different, what was going on? Why hadn't I noticed the stark difference when I had fought him earlier?

"Am I glad to see you guys!" He exclaimed with a heavy sigh. His eyes flickered behind us with hope, before he slowly slumped in defeat. 

"Didn't Kyle come with you guys?" He asked quietly. "I called him earlier, but I think he hung up on me."

Lucio said nothing, just stood there and observed his brother. 

Luca shifted in his bed slightly, wearing a confused smile. "Yo, Lucio. Why is your anger emitting towards me? Your eyes are red too..."

I can't trust him.

His red eyes flickered towards me, as he looked increasingly worried. 

I can't trust him, I tried to convince myself.

"Did something happen?" He questioned, ignoring the fact that the needle finally pierced a vein. The nurse quickly patched the cannula up, bowed at us and left the room. 

We stayed silent for a couple more seconds. It was clear that Lucio and I were confused, there was a good possibility that the demon had taken over Luca's body this morning. Maybe it was because I didn't know him very well, but I didn't want to take any chances to pass it off as a demon incident.

I glanced at Lucio, who stood frozen in the same spot. 

I'll have to trust his judgement, since he knew Luca his whole life. 

"You guys are scaring me." Luca broke the silence, frowning at us. "Why did Kyle hang up on me?" 

Lucio took a deep breath and put aside his anger for a moment. He walked up towards his older brother, and sat on the chair beside him. He looked into Luca's eyes and said, "I'm going to ask you a series of questions." 

Luca looked between us, looking confused. Nonetheless, he responded with, "Alright."

I frowned at Lucio, wondering how questioning Luca would prove anything.

The first question was, "What do you remember from today?" 

Luca frowned in thought and answered with, "I was on my phone watching videos, when I got a knock on my door. Kyle had suggested that we go work out together, so I got out of bed to get ready."

Interestingly, my attention was on my mate. He hadn't blinked or moved since Luca spoke, staying very focused on his words. 

"I left my room, met up with Kyle in one of the hallways and chat a little." He continued, being faltering a little. "But...I don't remember anything after that." 

He finished his answer with that, looking at Lucio. 

After a brief moment, Lucio's red eyes slowly changed back to golden. "Interesting." 

Did...he believe that? Why? What had Luca said that made him calm down?

"Do you remember seeing, touching or interacting with Maya Hunter today, before she had come into this room?" He questioned, frowning a little. 

Luca shook his head. "No, I hadn't seen her since she knocked out during the movie. The last I saw her was when you took her upstairs last night." 

Lucio's eyes glimmered a little before he leaned back with a frown. "Hm."

I crossed my arms with impatience, I thought this was a waste of time. However, the expression on Lucio's face kept me quiet. I felt like something was happening, even if I didn't understand it. 

"Lucio, what happened?" Luca asked seriously, looking annoyed. "I'm already freaked out as it is. The thing I remember is talking to Kyle, and then I'm in a damn hospital with both of my arms fucking broken. I call you and Kyle, expecting for some kind of support."

He takes a shaky deep breath in, looking extremely disheartened.

"Kyle hangs up on me, and my own brother is acting so distant. I'm scared as shit, and had kept my shit together for much longer than my sanity approves of!"

"Okay, Luca-." 

"No, nothing is okay!" He interrupted Lucio, glaring at him. "Did you hear what I said? I was talking to Kyle one moment, and now I have broken arms!"

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, okay we heard you." I finally spoke up, stepping forward. 

"What's more frightening is that you guys know what happened, and you aren't telling me." He continued with a frown, looking hurt. 

I gulped, trying to push away the guilt overcoming me. 

"Do you remember fighting with Maya today?" Lucio asked, ignoring Luca's outburst. 

Luca paid no attention to the question, but more to the fact that Lucio was still interrogating him. "Really? Even after what I just said?"

"Answer the question, Luca." He sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Please?"

Luca looked at me before returning his gaze to his brother. "No, I've never fought her. Not today, not ever. I've never even seen her fight." He responded, cooperating with his brother's request. 

Lucio's eyes glimmered once again, making me freeze in my spot. The same thing happened earlier, but I had quickly concluded it was a product of the sun shining through the blinds. 

Interesting coincidence. 

A theory started to form in my mind. 

"Okay, so tell me what happened." Luca requested, looking between me and Lucio. His gaze then rested on his brother, with pleading eyes. "You have to be satisfied with my answers, I responded with nothing but the truth. Your abi-."

He bit his tongue to stop himself from speaking further. His red eyes flickered towards me in worry, worried that I had caught that slip up. 

He was about to say ability. 

That theory of mine may turn out to be real...

It was safe to say that I was dumbfounded by the idea of other werewolves having abilities.

Lucio's figure stiffened a little by Luca's slip up, something I took note of. Luca swiftly proceeded like nothing happened. "So, did something bad happen?"

My mate glanced at me, to see if I was fine with disclosing what had happened. I nodded, but decided to explain everything myself. I started right from the beginning, not missing anything out. Lucio started to pace with frustration, not happy about having to hear it again. 

Luca listened carefully, with an expression filled with a mixture of emotions. Confusion, disbelief, shock and wariness. 

Once I was done explaining, he slowly leaned back with a frown. "So you're telling me that I did that?" 

"Supposedly." I answered carefully.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "What the hell does that mean? It was either me, or it was not!" He yelled, before grimacing in pain. "But I know it wasn't me..."

"But these broken arms..." He trailed off, his confused gaze resting on his casts. "So I was physically there, but I would never..."

Silence. 

He looked at me dead in the eyes, desperate to get to me. "Maya, I would never do anything like that to you. It would never cross my mind, forget even committing that act. I would never touch a female who isn't my mate, especially my brother's mate. That person who you allegedly fought, was consciously not me."

I didn't know if I could believe him. 

But if my theory was on the right lines, then my answer lies within Lucio. I took a look at him, in time to see his eyes glimmer once again. His posture relaxed slightly, and the frown he was wearing had disappeared. 

Alright.

"I believe you." I told him. 

Lucio looked surprised by my response. 

"What?" I said, crossing my arms. "It's not like you disagree." 

"Not to make myself the bad guy again, but something isn't adding up." Luca spoke up, his brow furrowing in thought. "The situation sounds like I was physically there, but clearly had no control over my mind and self. Now, tell me how that's possible. It's not!"

Obviously, he's unaware of the existence of demons.

Unfortunately, until the demon in question is gotten rid of, the issue wont be disclosed to him. Unless someone can convince me otherwise, it's not happening. 

"We just said we believe you, why dig yourself a hole?" Lucio told him, smacking his head. "Idiot."

I honestly forget that Luca is actually the older one.

"Ow! Fuck sake man, you know I can't rub the back of my head?" He yelled in frustration. "I can't believe my arms are broken, how did that even happen? If I had been my actual self earlier, I think I would've beaten her." 

I scoffed at that. "Easy there, I still haven't gotten over disliking you." I warned him. 

His chirpy mood lessoned considerably when he heard that. He stayed quiet for a bit, slightly looking down. "No wonder Kyle hung up on me. I can't blame him, he was there and saw me in the flesh."

"Uh, your left hand is bleeding." Lucio noted.

"Yeah, there was a cannula in there. Once I was aware of my surroundings, I freaked out and pulled it out." Luca admitted sheepishly. "So now, it's in my right hand." 

"Hmm, the nurse should put a plaster on it before she left." I murmured, watching the blood leak. "She was probably flustered by Lucio's anger and wanted to leave, understandably."

Luca nodded slightly, the sadness and confusion clear on his face. "Understandably." He repeated in agreement under his breath. 

The more time I spent in this room, the more I believed that the Luca from this morning was not really him. However, I was now confused about the demon's intentions. 

I'll be keeping an extra close eye on anyone behaving out of their ordinary. I'll have to keep my mother close, ensuring that she is available to exorcise the demon with her ability. 

Ability...

It sounded like Lucio had an ability that allowed him to know whether someone was lying or not. 

It sounded ludicrous, werewolves don't have special abilities like that. Or so, that was the case until my mother activated something called the Light Gene many years ago. I had inherited the gene, along with both of my younger siblings. 

We had special abilities that sets us apart from other werewolves. We had been under the impression that we were the only ones, there weren't any record of anything like the light gene. However, with that being said, it's not a stretch to say that there are others like us. Right? 

My curious gaze seemed to catch his attention as he had mouthed to me, "What's wrong?" 

I shook my head with a small smile, waving it off. Regardless of what his ability is, I'm sure I'll understand more about it in the future. I'm not planning on hiding the fact I inherited the light gene from him for too long.

Lucio glanced at his phone before stiffening when he read what was on his screen. Luca also noticed this, also stiffening from the change in mood from his brother. 

"Father?" Luca asked warily. "What does he want?"

Lucio shook his head dismissively, looking away from the small screen. "He just asked me to do a favour." 

Luca's face hardened, looking at Lucio disapprovingly. "You are the Alpha now, not father." 

Before I could stop myself, I blurted, "Alfonso is still your father, and former Alpha. He still has a considerable amount of authority, you know." 

If only I had minded my own business, because the next thing to come out of Luca's mouth was, "You know very little about my family and its dynamics, Maya. Since you're basically apart of it now, you will soon enough understand why I'm against Lucio behaving like my father's damn lapdog."

Lucio? Alfonso's lapdog?

He finally had enough. "Luca, fuck off. You're annoying me, you shit."

"Fuck you, dumbass." He shot back. 

Silence. 

"So, do you wanna order some food?" Luca asked, looking completely over it. 

Lucio leaned back in his chair, not annoyed anymore. "Yeah, why not? Maya, you down?"

They were literally just cussing each other a moment ago. I give them one long, weirded out look before shaking my head. "No, I've been putting off work all morning. I'll have some food taken to my office instead. You guys can chill in here." 

I said my goodbyes and headed out, leaving the building the same way we came in. I remembered to thank the staff for their constant hard work, and hurried back home. 

I had come here with the intention of confronting Luca about his actions, only to leave with surprising outcomes. 

Why would the demon do that, though? 

How could their actions possibly justify their goal? The more I thought about it, the more confused I felt. As uncomfortable as it was, it looked like I'd have to talk about this incident with the leaders. I'll also keep my parents updated, any information on the demon will benefit them greatly. 

I passed through the gates to my manor, and hurried up to the front door. The door swung open, revealing an excited looking Ivy.

"Guess, fucking, what!" 

"What?" I asked, taking in her dancing figure. I still walked in, closed the door behind me and headed to the office.

"Dylan and Laila are coming over!" 

I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at her with my mouth hung open. "Seriously? I haven't seen them in forever, it feels like forever." 

Dylan was one of my only cousins, and Laila was his mate. I only have one maternal uncle who is called Jayden, who is mates with my father's cousin Emily.

"They say they have BIG news!" Ivy continued, grinning widely. "I think we both know what that means!"

"They're becoming Alpha and Luna!"

"They're getting married!"

We both say our guesses at the same time, with an equal amount of excitement. 

I tilted my head at her. "You think they're getting married?" 

"You think they're inheriting their title now?" 

I shrugged at her. "I mean, why not? Uncle Jay and Emily have been ruling for almost the same period as my parents, and they've handed the title over to me two years ago when I was nineteen. Dylan is twenty now and I heard great things about him."

She nodded, "Yeah, I'm proud of him. But I still think it's an engagement announcement, my gut tells me it is. I guess we'll see." 

She paused before letting out a loud laugh. "Imagine we're both wrong, and Laila is pregnant or something."

I scoffed in amusement before shrugging. "I mean, we'll see!" 

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Sooooo, what do you think? ><

What is your stance on Luca now? Gimmie your opinions, and reasons why! x

New characters have been mentioned!! Dylan (Jay and Emily's eldest son) and Laila his mate. 

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please VOTE and COMMENT <3 

Lots and lots of love, 

Yasmine xx