The Banished Shy Luna Chapter 120

For a heartbeat, the world forgot how to move.

Lightning split the sky, and in that flash, I saw him clearly.

Alpha Douglas.

The bastard himself.

My pulse stuttered. I hadn’t seen that face in years, but the nightmares never forgot. He looked the same—broad, brutal, and calm in that way only killers could manage. The kind of calm that came from knowing no one alive could stop you.

My lips parted before the words tore out, raw and sharp.

“Douglas.”

Toren stiffened beside me, his hand flexing near my waist as if he could shield me from the name alone.

“Kira?” he asked quietly, voice low, cautious—like he was speaking to a live grenade.

I didn’t answer. Couldn’t. My eyes were locked on the man who’d just walked out of my past and into my storm.

I should’ve known. Of course he had a shapeshifter in his pack.

A mimic—rare as hell, nearly extinct, but Douglas always did like collecting monsters to do his dirty work.

They could take on anyone’s form after a single encounter, after a breath of shared air.

A perfect assassin.

The fake Talon had been one of his pets.

“Take him,” I hissed to Toren, never looking away from the fence line. “Get Talon out of here.”

Toren’s growl rumbled, low and dangerous. “Not happening.”

“Douglas isn’t here for you,” I snapped. “He’s after me. Take him and go—”

He cut me off, golden eyes blazing. “I will not leave my mate behind.”

There was no hesitation, no weakness—just Alpha command and raw devotion.

“I don’t care if it’s the gods themselves, Starlight. If they want you, they’ll have to go through me.”

I swallowed hard, my pulse hammering. “You idiot,” I whispered. “That’s not romantic—it’s suicidal.”

He smirked faintly. “Then I’ll die a romantic fool.”

Behind us, Talon stirred weakly on Toren’s back, voice a rasping ghost. “If he dies, he’s taking me with him. I’ll die a thousand deaths before I let them touch her again.”

That broke something inside me—shattered the last fragile piece holding me together. Their loyalty wasn’t armor; it was fire. It burned in my veins, wild and consuming.

The rain came harder. Sheets of silver poured from the heavens, as if even the sky couldn’t bear to watch.

Douglas stepped forward, boots sinking into the mud, and the mimic followed like a shadow wearing my lover’s stolen face. Behind them came others—dark shapes fanning out across the graveyard, forming a half-circle.

I froze.

My sister.

Lucas.

And my mother.

My stomach dropped.

My mother’s expression was as I remembered it—disgust painted across her face like permanent ink. My sister’s smile was the kind people wore when they thought the knife in their hand made them powerful.

I ignored them. I turned my attention to the one behind it all.

Lucas.

Douglas was the weapon. But Lucas—Lucas was the disease.

The last time I saw Douglas, he was standing over a pile of bodies—an entire northern pack torn apart because they had dared to cross his brother’s border. His claws had been drenched in blood, his grin razor-sharp.

He’d kill an army for his brother.

And now he’d kill me for betraying him.

Lucas’s voice cut through the rain, smooth and venomous. “Hand her over, Toren,” he called. “Do that, and I’ll spare your pack. You and your brothers can live.”

Toren growled, low and lethal. “You’d have to cut my heart out first.”

“Tempting offer,” Lucas said lightly, his eyes glinting. “But unnecessary.”

Talon’s head lifted from Toren’s shoulder, his voice a rasp but filled with steel. “You want her, you go through me.”

I stepped forward, the mud sucking at my bare feet, the coat sliding off my shoulders. “You don’t get to use me as a bargaining chip,” I said, voice trembling with fury. “Not again.”

Douglas’s eyes flicked toward his brother, but he said nothing—just watched, cold and unreadable, like a predator waiting to see who made the first move.

Lucas tilted his head at me, his tone almost teasing. “Why fight it, Kira? You were such a good girl once. What changed?”

That broke something loose.

“Good girl?” I spat. “You let them starve me! You let them beat me and call it obedience. You let your Beta—your precious Darin—touch me in exchange for food. And when I fought back, you threw me in the cells like I was nothing!”

Lucas’s smirk faltered, but I didn’t stop.

“You let my sister torture me because it made her feel powerful. You let my parents use me as their personal punching bag. And you—” My voice shook with rage and heartbreak. “You didn’t just allow it. You enjoyed it.”

I took another step forward, lightning flashing across my face.

“I may have obeyed, Lucas. I may have been quiet. But not because I was loyal—because you never gave me a choice. You built a world where I only survived by breaking myself into pieces small enough to fit in your shadow.”

Rain ran down my face, mixing with tears I didn’t bother to hide.

“My mother made her choice the day she cheated on her mate and got me instead of the perfect daughter she wanted. I was her punishment. Her mistake. But you—” My voice cracked, trembling with exhaustion and rage. “You made me a weapon and then hated me for learning how to aim.”

The silence that followed was heavy enough to drown in.

Toren’s growl rolled through my spine. Talon’s breathing hitched behind him, pain and pride radiating through the bond.

And then—Douglas smiled. Slow. Cold.

He raised one gloved hand.

The soldiers and pack members around him shifted instantly, weapons half-drawn, ready.

I braced, magic clawing beneath my skin, heart hammering so loud I could taste blood.

Then Douglas spoke.

“Stand down.”

The command rolled through the storm like thunder.

Every soldier froze.

He stepped closer, his gaze locked on me, voice quiet but dangerous.

“We do this my way,” he said. “I want her alive.”

Lightning flashed again, catching the faint curl of his mouth.

“But the rest of them?” His eyes slid toward Toren and Talon, glinting with threat. “They’re negotiable.”