The Banished Shy Luna Chapter 181

Douglas wiped blood from his cheek and gave a low whistle.

“Well. The Council is officially dead.”

He met my eyes. “And you did it.”

My chest tightened.

Not with regret.

With realization.

Because if the Council was gone…

that meant something worse was coming.

I looked at Mason.

He had pulled himself onto a cracked piece of the dais, elbows on his knees, staring at the black X’s where Elder Nyx and Elder Varrick used to sit.

He didn’t look relieved.

He looked haunted.

“Mason,” I said quietly. “What’s next?”

His eyes flicked up to mine—tired, grim, too-knowing.

“That,” he said, “is the hardest question you’ve ever asked.”

I stepped closer. “Someone has to take over. Right?”

A harsh laugh escaped him.

“Not someone, kid. Everyone.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

He motioned around the room.

“The Council was corrupt as hell, but they held the packs in check. They were the glue—twisted, horrible glue, but glue. Now?”

He pointed upward.

“Every power-hungry Alpha, every unhinged Beta, every old bloodline that’s been waiting for a chance to rise—they’re going to feel this shift.”

Talon growled softly. “Meaning they’ll try to claim the empty throne.”

“Thrones,” Mason corrected. “Plural. Every Elder seat is now vacant. That’s seven power vacuums. Seven.”

Tyson swore under his breath. “Great. So a global shitstorm.”

Douglas leaned against a broken pillar. “And here we are. Standing in ground zero.”

The twins exchanged a terrified look.

Shyanne whispered, “Won’t packs blame us? For killing the Elders?”

Mason barked a humorless laugh. “Blame? They’ll kneel, or they’ll attack. Depends on how stupid their leaders are.”

That didn’t make me feel better.

I crossed my arms tightly. “Mason. Seriously. What happens next?”

He sighed and stood, cracking his back like this was just another Tuesday.

“What happens next is this: Power shifts. Fast. All over the damn world. And wolves everywhere will be scrambling to fill the vacuum.”

Toren’s voice dropped. “And how many of them will come for Kira?”

Mason didn’t sugarcoat it. “All of them.”

A sharp cold slid down my spine.

“All?” I echoed.

He nodded once.

“You killed two Elders, Kira. And your little death-demon killed the rest. Wolves will feel that. They’ll know someone powerful caused it.”

Talon stepped closer, positioning himself slightly in front of me. “She didn’t kill them alone.”

Tyson nodded. “We stand with her. They know that too.”

Mason shrugged. “Maybe. But power like hers? It screams. And wolves follow the scream.”

I took a shaky breath.

“So packs will come to challenge me?”

Douglas snorted. “If they’re smart, they’ll come to beg for your allegiance.”

Toren’s hand found mine. “And if they’re not smart…”

Talon bared his teeth. “We’ll kill them.”

The twins nodded a little too eagerly.

Mason rubbed his temples. “This is going to be hell.”

I stepped toward him.

“Mason… what do you think we should do?”

He stared at me for a long moment, weighed down by decades of secrets, betrayals, duty, and exhaustion.

Then he said:

“We need to leave here immediately. Wolves will come investigating. The magical shockwave will draw them in like vultures to a carcass.”

Toren nodded. “Agreed.”

Tyson tightened the makeshift sling on his arm. “Where do we go? Back to the dead zone?”

“No,” Mason said sharply. “Dead zone is compromised. Between the Council’s new hunt decree and that damn necklace tracker? They’ll find it eventually.”

My stomach twisted.

“So where?” I whispered.

Mason took a slow breath.

Then he looked at me with eyes like cracked stone.

“We finish what we started,” he said. “We go to the one place the Elders feared most.”

I stared at him. “Where is that?”

He looked up at the ruined ceiling.

“The birthplace of every Elder power line. The origin point of wolf law. The place the Council rose from.”

His voice dropped to a grave whisper.

“The Temple of Origin.”

A shiver rippled through everyone.

Douglas cursed.

Talon exhaled sharply.

Tyson muttered, “You’ve gotta be kidding me—”

The twins blanched like ghosts.

Toren squeezed my hand.

And Mason said:

“Because whoever controls the Origin Temple controls the future of every pack.”

My heartbeat thundered.

“And you,” Mason added, “are the only one with the power to claim it.”

We were barely ten steps out of the ruined Chamber when something dropped inside my stomach.

Not like a kick.

Not like nausea.

Not like hunger.

This was deeper—lower—like gravity suddenly remembered I existed and yanked me downward by my womb.

I stopped so fast Toren walked right into my back.

“Starlight?”

I grabbed the nearest broken pillar, bracing myself.

“I… hang on. Something just—shifted.”

Talon was at my other side in seconds, hand warm on my lower back.

“Firefly, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

Tyson spun around from the front. “Moonshine?”

Before I could answer, I heard a tiny gasp.

Then Shyanne squeaked:

“Um… Kira?”

I blinked at her. “What?”

She stared at my stomach.

Like—stared.

“Have you… always been… this big?”

My head snapped down.

My breath left me.

“…what.”

It wasn’t huge.

Not like full-pregnancy huge.

But—visibly rounder.

The waistband of my sweats was tighter than it had been an hour ago.

I pressed both hands against my belly.

It felt firmer.

Heavier.

Like the triplets had just gone through a growth spurt in the last ten minutes.

“Starlight,” Toren whispered, voice tight, “you weren’t showing like this before.”

My pulse spiked.

Talon swore under his breath, crouching in front of me to get level with my stomach.

“Baby, that wasn’t there when we walked in here.”

Tyson’s eyes were wide as hell. “Holy shit… they’re growing fast.”

Shyanne threw her hands up. “Fast?! FAST? Try supercharged! Mutant! Turbo wolves!”

Marianne elbowed her. “Not helping!”

Douglas came limping over, rubbing his ribs. “Okay, before everyone freaks out—”

Shyanne cut him off.

“Oh my god she’s expanding in real time—”

“I AM NOT EXPANDING IN REAL TIME,” I snapped, though I wasn’t entirely sure anymore.

Mason jogged back from where he was scanning the stairwell, took one look at me, and froze.

He blinked.

Then blinked again.

“…Kid.”

“Mason,” I said through clenched teeth, “do not finish that sentence.”

He lifted a hand defensively.

“I was just going to say you look… uh… further along.”