The Banished Shy Luna Chapter 172

The highway stretched ahead in long, empty lines of gray, the hum of the SUV steady beneath us. Mason and Douglas were going over housing options again while I tried not to fall asleep on Toren’s shoulder. Talon stroked my thigh absently, humming something low, while the twins whispered in the third row about god knows what.

Peace.

Actual peace.

Which meant, of course—

It couldn’t last.

Tyson stiffened first.

One moment he was relaxed, driving with one hand on the wheel…

The next, every muscle in his body snapped tight.

His fingers dug into the steering wheel hard enough for the leather to creak.

His breathing hitched.

Heat radiated off him in waves.

“Talon,” Toren said sharply. “What’s—”

“I don’t know,” Talon whispered, pulling his hand back fast when Tyson’s skin started to glow. “He’s burning hot.”

Tyson swallowed hard and choked out—

“Kira… something’s happening.”

The air inside the SUV shimmered.

The windshield fogged instantly, like we suddenly drove into winter.

His veins pulsed silver.

Actual silver, bright and glowing beneath his skin.

My breath caught. “Tyson…”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I feel something. Something—wrong. I can feel the Council. I can feel their shift. Their power just—rose.”

Mason whipped around in his seat. “What do you mean rose?!”

Tyson shook his head violently. “It’s like—pressure. A pulse. Something massive just changed. Something bad.”

Then the SUV screen flickered.

Once.

Twice.

Then every phone in the vehicle lit up at the exact same time.

Mason’s. Toren’s. The twins’. The emergency satellite phone Talon had tucked into the seat pocket.

Even the dead-zone-secured burner Mason swore was untrackable.

Every screen turned the same blinding white.

A cold chill slid down my spine.

“Toren,” I whispered. “Pull over.”

“We’re in the middle of—”

“PULL. OVER.”

His eyes widened. He grabbed the wheel, helping Tyson guide the SUV onto the shoulder as Tyson’s power surged in another silver ripple.

The moment we stopped, the white light on all devices shifted into a hologram-like image.

Elder Thora’s face.

Projected in the air above the dashboard like she was sitting there with us.

Her expression was cold.

Controlled.

Furious.

“Children of the Council territories,” she began, her voice echoing unnaturally through the SUV. “As of this moment, a new decree has been passed.”

Talon’s jaw clenched. “Oh, that’s not good.”

Elder Thora continued:

“Kira Peir, Shadowborn Luna, is hereby declared a rogue entity of the highest threat level.”

My heart dropped.

“Any wolf, Alpha or otherwise, who aids her…

harbors her…

or protects her…

will face immediate execution.”

The twins gasped in unison. Talon growled. Toren’s hand tightened into a fist.

Tyson didn’t move.

His silver-glowing eyes were locked on the projection.

Elder Thora’s voice deepened, resonant with old enchantments.

“By order of the Council, the Prime Hunt is activated.”

Mason paled. Actually paled.

“Oh, gods,” he whispered. “They didn’t— They wouldn’t—”

Toren snapped, “What the hell is the Prime Hunt?”

Mason swallowed hard. “A ritual used only against the most dangerous criminals in our history. The kind you’re not meant to take alive.”

“So like a manhunt?” Tyson rasped.

“No,” Mason said. “Worse. It lets the Council mark you. Track you. Every Elder uses their full power to hunt the target. No one survives it.”

Tyson’s body shuddered and heat rolled off him again, the SUV shaking slightly as his power reacted.

Elder Thora continued, unbothered by the panic she was causing:

“This Hunt will not end until the rogue Luna is detained.”

Her gaze shifted.

Directly to the camera.

Directly to me.

It felt like her eyes speared through my skull.

“We know where you’re going, Kira.”

Douglas inhaled sharply.

“They can’t possibly—”

“And we will meet you there.”

The projection flared so bright we all flinched.

Then—

EVERY phone in the car cracked.

Actual cracks across the screens. Sparks shot from Mason’s tablet. The SUV’s dashboard screen flickered, glitched, and smoked.

Then the phones…

melted.

Right there in every cupholder, on every lap.

Like Elder Thora reached through the network and burned them from the inside out.

Tyson jolted like someone punched him.

“I felt that,” he panted. “Gods, I felt that.”

“Felt what?” Toren demanded.

Tyson clutched the steering wheel with one shaking hand and reached blindly for mine with the other.

“The moment they activated the Hunt,” he whispered. “It hit me like a blow. Like—like the world twisted.”

His silver-glowing veins pulsed rapidly.

“The power…” he rasped, pupils blown wide. “The power they’re channeling—Kira, it’s directed at you. All of it.”

My stomach plummeted.

Douglas swore loudly. “We have to move. We have to move NOW—”

But Tyson wasn’t done.

He sucked in a breath.

Went rigid.

And whispered—

“They marked you.”

Silence.

Dead, suffocating silence.

“What?” I whispered.

Tyson’s voice cracked like breaking glass.

“They marked you, Moonshine. Like a target. Like they want every Elder, every enforcer, every hunter to be able to track you. They’re coming. Soon.”

His hand trembled violently in mine.

Talon grabbed his arm. “Tyson—breath. Breathe, brother.”

“I can’t,” Tyson rasped. “It’s like—pressure—like something’s pressing on my skull—”

His eyes flashed SILVER so bright the whole SUV illuminated.

Then he choked out:

“They’re not alone.”

Toren’s voice dropped to a whisper. “What does that mean?”

Tyson swallowed thickly.

And whispered:

“They’re bringing something with them.”

Before any of us could ask—

The SUV shook.

A ripple of power burst through the ground.

The neon diner lights flickered behind us.

And Tyson gasped, eyes widening—

“They’re HERE.”

The ground detonated.

Not shook.

Not trembled.

Detonated.

A shockwave slammed into the SUV with the force of a freight train. Metal screamed, glass exploded, and the entire vehicle lifted off the road like a toy kicked upward by a giant foot.

I heard everyone yell—

Talon shouting my name—

Tyson snarling through pain—

Toren cursing as he tried to shield me—

Then—

We hit the ground.

Hard.

The world snapped sideways, then upside down, then sideways again as the SUV rolled. My seatbelt bit into my hips, the roof caved inward, and something sharp sliced across my arm.

When the movement finally stopped, I was hanging sideways, the world too bright, too loud, too wrong.

My ears rang.

My vision blurred.

Something warm dripped down my cheek.

I blinked—slow, heavy—and forced myself upright, fighting against the crumpled metal around me.

Everything hurt.

But I lifted my head anyway.

And that’s when I saw it.

The blood.