The Banished Shy Luna Chapter 171

The car was quiet for several long seconds—no one really wanting to breathe first.

Then the thought hit me, sharp and sudden.

“…Or,” I said slowly, lifting my head from the window, “this could be a good chance to attack.”

All three of my mates turned toward me at the same time.

Toren blinked. “Attack? As in… walk into the Council Chambers and break shit?”

Tyson choked on spit. “I mean—I’m not against it, but—what?”

I sat up straighter, pulse thudding. “Think about it. They won’t see it coming if we go in with Mason. He has access. They trust him. They don’t know he’s with me. It gives us an opening they’d never expect.”

Talon didn’t speak—just stared at me, eyes narrowed, processing.

Mason, however, let out a humorless laugh.

“You want to attack the Council?” he asked, turning around in his seat to look at me like I’d just declared the moon was made of cheese. “Kid, the compound where the Chambers are hidden is guarded. Heavily.”

Toren wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Guarded how? Like actual guards, or those creepy sentinel things?”

“Both,” Mason said flatly. “Wards. Shielding spells. Two dozen armed enforcers. And those sentinel constructs aren’t exactly fragile.”

“Okay,” I said, lifting a hand. “So we don’t go in guns blazing—we plan. We find a way around the defenses. Or through them.”

Tyson leaned forward from the driver’s seat. “She’s right. They won’t be expecting all of us. Especially not her.”

His eyes flicked to me in the mirror. “Kira can slip through shields. We’ve all seen it.”

Talon finally spoke, voice low and thoughtful. “If Kira gets inside, she could disable the Aura Seeker entirely. Or overload it.”

Mason snapped his head toward him. “Do not overload it. That damn thing reacts to power. She’d blow the building up.”

Tyson shrugged. “Not the worst outcome.”

Mason shot him a look. “I’m trying to keep her alive, thanks.”

I leaned forward between the seats. “What if we don’t go through the front entrance? Is there a back way in? A delivery entrance? Maintenance tunnels? Anything?”

Mason sighed. “There’s a service access door on the north side of the compound, but it’s warded. And the guards rotate every five minutes.”

“That’s doable,” Toren said immediately. “We’ve taken on worse time windows.”

Tyson nodded. “If we time it right, we can knock out the guards quietly. Drag them behind the wall.”

Talon’s jaw tightened. “No killing unless necessary.”

“Agreed,” Tyson said. “Just unconscious. Maybe a little traumatized.”

Mason grumbled. “The Council’s going to know something is wrong the minute I walk in with a squad of well-armed, overprotective about-to-murder-someone men.”

I smirked. “You’re not walking in with them—you’re walking in with me.”

Toren’s eyes widened. “Whoa—hold up. You want to walk into the front entrance with Mason? Alone?”

“She won’t be alone,” Talon said before I could answer. “We’d shadow her. Stay hidden. If anything goes south, we strike.”

Mason scrubbed both hands down his face. “You three are going to be the end of me.”

Tyson raised an eyebrow. “We haven’t even started yet.”

Toren leaned forward, fingers tapping his knee. “Okay, listen. If she and Mason walk through the main doors, Talon can slip in behind the guards. He’s quiet as hell when he wants to be.”

“He is,” I said softly.

A tiny smirk tugged at Talon’s mouth.

Toren continued, warming up to the plan. “Tyson and I can take the north service door. If Mason disables the external warding for 20 seconds—”

“I can manage fifteen,” Mason corrected.

“Fifteen is enough,” Tyson said. “We get inside. Hide in the shadows. Wait for your signal.”

“My signal?” Mason asked.

I pointed at him. “You’re our inside man.”

“Oh great,” Mason muttered. “I love being volunteered.”

Talon looked at me directly. “Kira. If you go inside, you listen to me. If anything feels wrong, you pull back immediately.”

“Agreed,” Mason said. “Don’t hesitate. They will not hold back if they figure out who you are.”

“I won’t hesitate,” I said quietly. “But we need this. We need an advantage.”

The car fell quiet again, but this time the silence was thick—not fearful, but determined.

Then Toren cracked his knuckles.

Toren leaned back in his seat, one arm draped across it as he looked at me with a grin that was far too soft for the situation. “Just so we’re clear, sweetheart… you’re not walking into that compound alone, even if it looks like you are.”

Tyson snorted. “Yeah. The last time we let you go anywhere without one of us, you ended up almost getting kidnapped by a feral half-wolf accountant.”

Toren pointed. “Exactly. Never again.”

My face flushed. “That wasn’t my fault.”

Tyson smirked. “Sure. We blame the tax forms.”

Talon ignored them entirely, his focus razor-sharp on me. “If you walk through those doors, I will be less than one breath behind you. If anyone even looks at you wrong…”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

He didn’t need to.

The cold promise in his voice said enough.

Toren let out a low whistle. “Damn, Talon. Save some of the murder-y monologuing for the rest of us.”

Tyson lifted a brow. “Who said he gets the first kill?”

“I’m not debating kills right now,” I said, though I couldn’t stop the flutter in my stomach at how fiercely they cared. “We just need to be smart.”

Mason turned around and gave me a deadpan stare. “Thank you. The one sane person here.”

Tyson leaned forward and stage-whispered, “Let him have his moment. Old age is rough.”

Mason glared. “I heard that.”

Tyson grinned. “Good. I wasn’t whispering.”

Talon cut in, voice low but gentle as he took my hand again. “If something happens in there, Kira… call my name. I don’t care who’s around. I’ll come for you.”

Heat curled low in my chest.

Toren nodded, less dramatic but no less sincere. “All jokes aside, we’re not letting them touch you. Not after everything.”

“And if they try?” Tyson added with a sharp grin. “We burn the building down. Mason can build them a new one later.”