The Banished Shy Luna Chapter 101

The motel was quiet.

Too quiet.

The old neon sign outside blinked through the blinds in slow, tired pulses—VAC NCY… VAC NCY…—like it couldn’t decide if it wanted to keep working. The low hum of the air conditioner filled the silence, soft and constant, and everyone else in the room had long since drifted off into uneasy sleep.

Except for me and Shyanne.

She sat on the floor near the window, her knife balanced between two fingers, flipping it idly as she watched the parking lot. I could tell from the stiffness in her shoulders that she wasn’t just alert—she was thinking.

“Spit it out,” I said quietly.

Shyanne huffed a small laugh. “Am I that obvious?”

“Yes.”

She grinned faintly, but there was still something cautious in her tone. “I was just wondering… what’s it like? Having a twin that turns out not to really be one?”

That question hit like a small punch to the gut.

I leaned back against the wall, pulling one knee up and resting my arms on it. “Honestly? It’s… complicated.”

Shyanne waited, her gaze steady.

“Everyone thought Lyra and I were inseparable,” I continued. “Same birthday, same face—so everyone assumed we shared the same life. But we didn’t. Not even close.”

Her brow furrowed.

“She was the golden one,” I said bitterly. “The perfect daughter. Straight hair, bright smile, never got her hands dirty. Meanwhile, I was the one scrubbing the floors, mending everyone else’s clothes, cooking meals I didn’t get to eat. Every birthday party was hers—mine was just the same day.”

Shyanne’s knife stopped mid-spin.

“And when she messed up,” I added, my voice dropping low, “guess who got punished for it?”

She blinked. “You.”

“Every. Damn. Time.” I let out a humorless laugh. “I don’t think I ever had a single punishment that I deserved. It was always me covering for her or getting blamed because she couldn’t do anything wrong. Mom made sure of that.”

There was a long pause. The air conditioner clicked softly as it changed cycles.

“That’s not being a twin,” Shyanne said finally. “That’s being a scapegoat.”

“Exactly.” I let the word hang heavy between us. “And now finding out that we’re not even real twins? Just half-sisters? That was the final nail. It makes sense, though—why I always felt like the outsider, why she got everything while I got whatever was left. Turns out, I wasn’t really one of them.”

Shyanne leaned back on her hands, her face softer now. “You ever get mad at her for it?”

“Not really,” I said after a moment. “I mean, yeah, I resent her—but it’s not her fault she was born into favor. She just… played her role. It’s my mother I can’t forgive. She knew exactly what she was doing. She raised us to compete—to keep me beneath Lyra, no matter how hard I worked.”

Shyanne sighed. “That’s messed up.”

“Yeah,” I said quietly. “But it taught me how to survive. I had to. I learned how to shut down, how to be useful, how to make myself small enough that they’d forget to hurt me.”

She was silent for a beat, then said softly, “And now look at you. Mated to three Alphas and making half the world afraid to breathe wrong around you.”

That pulled a small smile out of me. “Funny how life works.”

Shyanne grinned. “Still… I get it, kinda. Me and Marianne—we’re real twins, but even that’s its own nightmare. She’s the planner, I’m the trouble. I think if she could label my decisions like grocery lists, she would.”

I laughed quietly. “You’re not wrong.”

She flipped the knife again, letting it thud softly into her palm. “You know, sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to not have her. To just be me. But then I realize… I wouldn’t know who I was without her.”

I met her gaze. “That’s how it used to feel for me and Lyra. Like I didn’t exist unless she did too. Now I know better. Turns out I was never her other half—I was just her shadow.”

Shyanne’s eyes softened. “Not anymore, you’re not.”

Something in her tone made my throat tighten, and I looked away. “You should get some sleep. I’ll wake Marianne.”

She nodded, standing and patting my shoulder as she passed. “You’re a good Luna, you know. Don’t let them make you think otherwise.”

“Go to bed, Shyanne.”

Her quiet laugh followed her across the room.

\---

Marianne was already awake when I approached, as if she’d been waiting.

She sat up instantly, stretching, her hair falling into her face before she pushed it back. “My turn?”

“Yeah,” I whispered.

She rose gracefully, unlike her sister’s half-drunken crawl to bed. “Shyanne talk your ear off?”

I smiled faintly. “A little. She had questions.”

“She always does,” Marianne said, rolling her eyes but with a fondness in her voice. “She feels everything before she thinks. I think everything before I feel.”

“Perfect balance,” I said.

“Exactly,” she replied, pulling a chair to the window. Her gaze swept the dark lot outside, sharp and assessing. “Balance is what keeps us alive.”

We were silent for a bit, the quiet filled only by the low hum of the vent.

Finally, she said, “She told me about your sister. Lyra.”

I tensed slightly. “Of course she did.”

“She meant well,” Marianne added quickly. “But… she processes pain by talking about it. I prefer understanding it.”

I smirked. “You mean analyzing it to death?”

“Same thing,” she said dryly.

That actually made me laugh.

Then she leaned back, eyes still fixed on the shadows outside. “Look, I’m not here to give you some emotional heart-to-heart. I just want to understand how you’re planning to win.”

“Win?”

“This war,” she said simply. “You’re walking into a den of chaos. Three Alphas, one Luna, an ex-Alpha trying to kill you, and a pack that doesn’t fully trust you. Strategy matters more than sentiment right now.”

I sighed, rubbing my temples. “You sound like a general.”

She gave a faint shrug. “I listen when they talk. Comes with being a Beta. So?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “We get back to the estate, regroup, start building alliances. That’s all I’ve got for now.”

Marianne frowned slightly. “That’s not a plan, that’s a prayer.”

“You’re not wrong,” I muttered.

She looked at me for a moment longer, then said, “You’ll figure it out. You always do. But you’re going to need to stop thinking like their equal and start thinking like their Luna.”

That pulled my attention to her.

“You’re the only one who can unite them,” she said. “So start acting like it.”

For a long moment, I couldn’t find my voice. Then I nodded.

“Thanks, Marianne.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said, lips curving faintly. “Wait until we survive this.”