Page 197 of Knot So Lucky

"Good." Luca's voice is flat, emotionless in a way that's somehow more frightening than the shouting. "Let them thinkwhatever the fuck they want. And if you guys think I don't want the best for her, y'all can fuck off too."

"Then stop showing mixed messages!" Cale explodes. "Actually show that you love her instead of keeping her at arm's length while simultaneously going feral anytime someone looks at her wrong!"

The word 'love' hangs in the air, heavy and complicated.

"You want to know why I keep my distance?" Luca's voice is quiet now, barely audible, and somehow that's more devastating than any amount of shouting. "The last time I got close to an Omega,she fucking died."

The silence that follows is absolute.

I feel like I've been punched in the chest, all the air leaving my lungs at once. Beside me, Roran's hand finds mine, squeezing gently in support.

Luca had an Omega before.

One he clearly cared about deeply.

And she died…

No wonder he's been hot and cold. No wonder he pushes me away while simultaneously being fiercely protective.

He's terrified of history repeating itself.

I'm about to step into the conference room, to confront this revelation directly and demand he talk to me about it, when Roran's hand tightens on mine. He shakes his head firmly—not yet.

"Luca—" Cale starts, his voice gentler now.

"Her name was Sera." Luca cuts him off, each word precise and controlled. "Sera Volkov. We met four years ago, before Thorne Racing really took off. She was brilliant—race strategist with a mind for patterns that made engineers look stupid. We bonded fast. Too fast, probably."

I can hear him moving, pacing maybe, his scent spiking with remembered grief.

"The threats started almost immediately. Anonymous at first, then escalating. Someone didn't like that I had the mere chance to be close with an Omega, or they were targeting me through her, or—fuck, I still don't know the exact motive. But the harassment was constant. Brutal."

My chest aches listening to the pain in his voice.

"I tried to protect her. Hired security, changed our routines, kept her close. But it wasn't enough." His voice cracks slightly. "She was driving to meet me at the track. Just a normal day, familiar route. But someone had tampered with her brakes. She went off a cliff doing ninety miles per hour."

Fuck…

"They never found who did it," Luca continues, his words coming faster now like he needs to get them out before he loses the courage. "The investigation went nowhere. No suspects, no evidence beyond the sabotage itself. And I was left with this pack…us…" his voice softens slightly, “and Elias and Adrian helped me survive losing her."

"But you didn't try to find another Omega or think of the idea of our pack having one," Elias says quietly. "Until Aurora."

"Until Aurora," Luca confirms. "And now the same shit is happening. The kidnapping, these threats, the sabotage that could have seriously injured her. It's like a fucking nightmare on repeat, and I can't—Ican'tgo through that again."

His voice breaks completely on the last word.

"Being distant will keep her alive," he says roughly. "Or at least that's what I tell myself. Because clearly these threats are connected to me somehow. The pattern is too similar. Someone targeted Sera because of me, and now they're targeting Aurora for the same reason."

"You don't know that," Adrian argues gently.

"I know that I'm not going to be calm or tame until whoever is behind this is behind bars or fucking dead." Luca's voicehardens into something cold and final. "So yeah, I'm distant. I'm sending mixed messages. I'm a shitty pack Alpha who can't properly care for his Omega because I'm too busy being terrified she'll end up like Sera."

Footsteps—sharp and angry—signal him leaving.

"Luca, wait—" Cale starts.

"Just let him leave for now" Elias interrupts.

The conference room door slams open, and Roran pulls me deeper into the alcove as Luca storms past. His dark-chocolate-and-gunpowder scent is thick with grief and fury, his expression set in hard lines that discourage any attempt at conversation.