The Banished Shy Luna Chapter 157

His words hung in the air like poison.

“I’m taking her. Kira is MINE. She ALWAYS was. And that’s FINAL.”

The forest didn’t breathe.

Nobody moved.

But the mate bonds did.

They exploded.

Toren’s power slammed into me first — a surge of rage so fierce it made my vision blur. Tyson’s followed, hot and volcanic, vibrating through the clearing even from where he hung half-unconscious in the shackles.

Then—

CRACK.

Both of them began breaking out of their bindings at the exact same time.

Metal screeched.

Roots tore from the earth.

The air itself trembled.

Tyson’s voice burst through the clearing first — a roar of pure, feral fury:

“THE HELL SHE IS!”

Toren’s followed a heartbeat later, darker and colder:

“Over my dead body — and yours.”

Lyra whipped around, panicked. “Lucas—! Lucas, what are you talking about?! You said we were killing her so you and I could—”

“Oh shut up, Lyra,” Lucas snapped. “There was never a ‘we.’ There was ME. And there was HER.”

He pointed at me again — the gesture so possessive, so delusional, so wrong that my stomach heaved.

“I’ve wanted her from the moment I realized what she was. What she could be. What she could do for me.”

My skin crawled.

Mason reeled back like he’d been punched.

Douglas looked physically nauseated.

Talon growled with so much hatred the ground cracked beneath his feet.

Lyra’s face twisted in betrayal and outrage. “YOU SAID I WAS YOUR MATE!”

Lucas laughed. “You? My mate? Please. You’re pathetic. You think I wanted YOU? I was using you to get to HER.”

Lyra screamed — an ear-splitting, rage-filled shriek — and launched herself at him, claws out.

Lucas backhanded her so hard she flew across the clearing and hit a tree.

My lip curled.

“You’re disgusting,” I spat. “And delusional. We’re half siblings, Lucas. What the hell is wrong with you?”

His head snapped toward me.

A sick, delighted smile stretched across his face.

“Exactly,” he said. “We share ancient blood. Strong blood. Blood that should never have been separated.”

I gagged. “You’re insane.”

He stepped toward me again, eyes burning with something twisted and feral.

“We should have been a pair from the beginning. The perfect Alpha and Luna. Not YOU and them.” He sneered at Talon. “Not you and the triplets you call mates.”

Tyson tore another chain free with a snarl. “Get away from her.”

Toren’s voice dropped to a lethal warning. “If you take one more step—”

“Oh hush,” Lucas hissed. “You’re nothing. Both of you. She was meant for ME.”

“You’re sick,” I snapped. “You want to claim me while you torture me? While you kill people? While you destroy packs? That’s not love, Lucas, that’s obsession.”

His grin widened, eyes gleaming with madness.

“It’s destiny.”

“DESTINY?!”

That was Talon — who finally snapped.

He lunged, teeth bared.

The shapeshifter hurled itself into his path again, morphing from Talon’s face to Tyson’s to Toren’s and back to Talon — like it was taunting us. Talon slammed into it, claws shredding whatever flesh it was currently wearing.

Douglas stepped in front of me again, Mason flanking my other side, both growling deep and ancient.

Mason’s voice shook with disgust and rage. “I should have been there. I should have stopped this years ago.”

Lucas smirked. “Too late, Father. You should have thought about that before you walked away from us.”

Mason snarled, “I didn’t walk away. I was barred by the Council. Lied to. Manipulated. And YOU chose to become this monster.”

“Monster?” he said softly. “No. I’m becoming who I always should have been.”

And then—

He lifted his hand.

And the entire world shifted.

Wind exploded outward.

Leaves spiraled in a vortex.

The air condensed so violently I staggered.

It crushed down on me like invisible stone.

My breath caught.

This wasn’t compulsion.

Compulsion tugged.

Compulsion whispered.

Compulsion nudged your mind.

This felt like the earth was being commanded to kneel.

I gasped. “Lucas—what... what IS that? That’s not compulsion—”

He smiled slowly.

“Oh, Kira…”

His voice dropped into a purr of madness.

“You really thought compulsion was all I had?”

He flicked his hand.

WHAM.

Tyson slammed into the dirt so hard it cracked.

“TY—!”

Before I finished, Lucas crushed Toren the same way — forcing him to the ground with a power that didn’t belong to any normal wolf.

Mason’s voice broke. “Oh gods… Lucas, what did you DO?”

Douglas whispered, horror-stricken, “That’s not compulsion. That’s something else. Something older.”

Older.

Older like—

Ancient bloodline.

The thought sliced through me.

Lucas stepped toward me again.

“No one can protect you from me now.”

Douglas and Mason moved closer, blocking me.

But Lucas only smiled.

“You’re all wasting time,” he crooned. “She was always mine.”

“No,” I whispered. “I was never yours. And I never will be.”

He tilted his head. “Oh? Then who do you belong to?”

And behind him—

Talon rose.

Bloody.

Shaking.

Barely standing.

But standing.

His voice tore the clearing open:

“She belongs to US.”

Not Lucas.

Not corruption.

Not ancient madness.

Us.

Lucas’s smile died.

And the forest erupted into chaos.

Everything happened in a single, collapsing heartbeat.

Lucas lunged for me.

Tyson ripped free—

Toren roared—

The shapeshifter shrieked—

The ground cracked beneath us—

And then the world detonated.

Talon moved first.

Not toward Lucas.

Not toward me.

Toward Tyson.

Because Lucas saw Tyson stand—

And Lucas’s hand snapped upward—

Power gathering like a black sun.

I felt it before it happened.

A surge.

A pull.

A twisting of the bond—

like the universe inhaling.

Lucas aimed that killing blow straight at Tyson’s heart.

Tyson didn’t see it.

I did.

Talon did.

“TYSON!” I screamed through the bond—

But Talon was already there.

Already leaping.

Already shoving Tyson out of the way—

And Lucas’s power hit Talon full force.

It wasn’t a blast.

It wasn’t a shove.

It was like reality itself folded inward—

And crushed him.

B O O M

The sound wasn’t thunder.

It was bones.

Stone.

Air imploding.

Talon flew backwards like a ragdoll, hitting the ground so hard the earth caved beneath his body.

His wolf didn’t cry out.

He didn’t even gasp.

He just—

fell.

And didn’t move.

Tyson scrambled up, wild-eyed. “TALON! TALON—NO—NO—NO—TALON!”

Toren’s scream ripped out of him so violently it shredded his throat.

My vision blurred—

spots of white—

like the world was breaking apart.

“TALON!” I staggered forward, my legs refusing to obey, my lungs locking.

No answer.

Lucas paused—

as if even he hadn’t expected the hit to be that lethal.

The shapeshifter shifted nervously behind him.

Mason shouted something.

Douglas cursed.

Lyra screamed Talon’s name, shock and horror mixing.

But none of it mattered.

Because—

The bond.

Our bond.

That warm golden thread tied to my heart—

It flickered.

Shuddered.

Then—

SNAPPED.