The Banished Shy Luna Chapter 116

The moment I reached for Talon’s thread, the world exploded.

White-hot pain ripped through me — not just heat, but electricity. It seared through my chest and down my arms, jolting every nerve in my body like lightning. I screamed before I could stop myself, my back arching violently against the couch.

Shyanne yelled something — her voice distant and echoing — but I couldn’t make out the words. My whole body was shaking, my teeth clenching so hard I tasted blood.

He was hurting. Gods, he was hurting.

“Talon,” I whispered, or maybe just thought it. The bond thrummed under my skin, alive and angry, sparking like a live wire every time I tried to pull closer.

It didn’t feel like he was near — not even close. The connection was stretched thin, faint, like he was miles and miles away. Maybe ten. Maybe more. But he was alive.

“Come on, please,” I gasped through gritted teeth, forcing the bond open wider. The pain got worse, flooding my senses until I couldn’t tell where my body ended and his began.

The twins’ hands were on my shoulders, grounding me, their voices overlapping — “Kira, stop—” “You’re burning up!” “Let go!” — but I couldn’t.

Not yet.

The world flickered once — and then, suddenly, I wasn’t in Toren’s office anymore.

I was in darkness.

The air was cold and wet, the scent of rust and blood thick around me. I could hear breathing — ragged, harsh, pained. The faint silver light of the moon slipped through a small barred window, cutting across stone walls.

And there he was.

Talon.

Naked. Shivering. His hands were tied in front of him, wrists raw and bleeding. His fingers looked wrong — swollen, broken — and his chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven breaths.

My heart shattered at the sight.

He wasn’t fighting. He couldn’t. His body was too broken. But his mind—his mind was reaching for something. Someone.

Me.

His thoughts were weak, fractured, but I could feel them. Kira… brothers… home…

Tears blurred my vision. I tried to speak to him through the bond, tried to push comfort through the pain, but the more I reached, the worse it burned.

Then I saw movement — a shadow shifting in the corner of the room. A voice I couldn’t quite hear. The scent that followed made my stomach twist — faint, familiar, and wrong all at once.

Whoever that was with him… it wasn’t my mate.

I ripped myself free from the bond.

The connection snapped like a whip, throwing me backward into my body. I gasped, choking for air, my lungs seizing like I’d been underwater too long. The room around me spun violently, my vision flashing white.

“Kira!” Shyanne shouted.

The sound of a door slamming. Footsteps pounding. And then Toren’s voice, sharp and furious.

“What the hell were you thinking?!”

He was shouting at the twins — I could hear it in the way his tone broke, more fear than anger.

“Alpha—” Marianne started, but Toren cut her off.

“You let her channel again? After everything—after the burial, after the healing—what were you thinking?!”

I forced myself upright, clutching the arm of the couch. “Toren, stop,” I rasped. My throat burned like fire, every breath scraping raw.

He froze mid-step, eyes wide as he took me in.

Then my legs gave out.

Tyson caught me before I hit the floor, his arms strong and trembling at the same time. “Moon, easy,” he whispered, lowering me carefully back onto the couch. “Don’t talk.”

But I couldn’t stop. I needed to tell them. “It’s not him,” I gasped.

Toren’s brow furrowed. “What?”

I met his gaze, my voice shaking. “Whoever you’re tracking… it’s not Talon.”

The room went dead silent.

Marianne stepped forward, eyes wide. “Not him? What do you mean?”

I pressed a hand to my chest, trying to steady the pain still echoing through me. “I saw him — I saw through his eyes. He’s not near here. He’s in some kind of stone room — cold, dark, and he’s tied up. His hands are broken, his body’s freezing. He’s in pain, Toren. Real pain.”

Toren’s jaw flexed, his gold eyes darkening. “And you’re certain it was him?”

“Yes.” My voice cracked. “I could feel him. His fear, his thoughts. He’s thinking about me. About you. About home. He’s alive, but he’s being held somewhere — and whatever or whoever you’re tracking out there, it’s pretending to be him.”

Tyson cursed under his breath. “You’re saying this thing out there… it’s a copy?”

“Or a possession,” Marianne said grimly. “Maybe both.”

Toren’s nostrils flared. “That explains why his scent felt wrong.”

I nodded weakly. “There was something else, too.”

They all looked at me.

“The moonlight,” I said quietly. “It was coming through a window — high up, like in a cellar or basement. The air smelled like salt, not dirt. And I heard water. Dripping water, close by.”

Toren stilled. “Salt?”

I nodded. “Like the sea.”

For a moment, no one spoke. Then Tyson swore again, running a hand through his hair. “That means he’s near the coast.”

Shyanne’s face went pale. “But the coast is at least thirty miles west.”

“Then that thing we’re tracking isn’t Talon,” Toren said, his voice low and deadly. “It’s a trap.”

He looked at me again, softer this time, though the fury hadn’t left his voice. “You should’ve waited, Starlight.”

“I couldn’t,” I whispered.

He sighed, his expression torn between anger and something else — pride, maybe, or understanding. “You may have just saved us all from walking straight into an ambush.”

I tried to smile, but the room tilted again. The pain surged through my chest, making my vision blur.

“Moon,” Tyson said softly, his arm tightening around me. “You need to rest now. You’ve done enough.”

“Not until we get him back,” I murmured.

My head dropped against Tyson’s shoulder, exhaustion finally pulling me under.

The last thing I heard before the darkness swallowed me again was Toren’s voice — low, furious, and full of resolve.

“Then we hunt the thing that dared to wear my brother’s face and we save my brother.”