Soul-Extraction: Reborn as the Luna Queen Chapter 04

Soul-Extraction: Reborn as the Luna Queen Chapter 04

Back at the Blackwood estate, Mira woke up screaming.

“Ah… oh God, it hurts!”

“My legs… my legs!”

The ancient moon wards at the keep had left her knees raw with frostbite. They were swollen and

angry, the skin stretched tight and red.

The smallest shift sent pain ripping through her.

Adrian gripped her hand, his eyes rimmed red.

“Mira, hey. Look at me. You’re okay.”

“The healer already treated your knees.”

“That heartless bitch. Selene didn’t even shield the body with her wolf aura. She let this happen to

you on purpose.”

Mira sobbed, pretty even in her misery, all wet lashes and trembling lips.

Out of habit, she reached for me inside her head.

“Selene!”

“Get out here. Now!”

“You don’t get to make me feel this!”

Nothing. Dead silence where my voice used to be. No cold reply, no familiar power rushing in to kill the pain.

Mira went still. Real panic, the kind she’d never felt before, clawed its way up her throat.

“Adrian…”

“Selene is gone.”

She grabbed Adrian’s sleeve and held on like she’d drown without it.

“I can’t feel her anymore!”

“Her soul… it’s just gone!”

Adrian blinked. Then his whole face lit up with relief.

“Really?”

“That’s… Mira, that’s amazing!”

He pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead.

“Mira, this body is yours now. Completely yours.”

“You never have to share it with that cold-blooded woman again.”

My mom and dad pushed through the door.

When they heard, they cried, actually cried, with relief.

“The Moon Goddess has finally shown us mercy!”

“My baby girl is finally whole!”

My mom pressed her hands together and murmured a prayer toward the moonlit sky, thanking the goddess over and over.

My dad rubbed his hands together, beaming.

“Selene’s gone? Good riddance.”

“All she ever did was walk around with that miserable look on her face, bossing everyone around.

She was useless.”

“Mira, tomorrow I’ll make the announcement. You’re taking over Blackwood Industries.”

“And it’s time we started planning your mating ceremony with Adrian.”

Every word melted on Mira’s tongue like sugar. The panic dissolved, replaced by pure, unadulterated greed.

Yes. Selene was gone.

This body, this family, Adrian. All hers now. Every last piece.

No more tiptoeing around Selene’s moods. No more hiding like a parasite crawling out after dark.

“Thank you, Mom and Dad!”

“Thank you, Adrian!”

Mira’s smile was all sweetness and gratitude, the picture of innocence. But something sharper

glinted behind her eyes.

They celebrated too soon.

That same night, Mira found out what hell actually felt like.

Midnight.

Mira was sprawled across the bed, video-calling Adrian, gushing about the mating ceremony.

The lights flickered.

A thin, sharp hiss cut through the air, and a freezing wind sliced in through the crack in the window

The curtains whipped sideways like something alive.

Mira shivered and whined into the phone.

“Adrian, I think the heater’s broken.”

“It’s freezing.”

On-screen, Adrian frowned.

“Mira, why are you so pale?”

“Behind your shoulder…”

“What the hell is that?!”

Mira turned her head slowly, mechanically, and caught the mirror. Something crouched on her

shoulder: a curse wraith wreathed in black mist, its face a ruin of teeth and rage.

It was feeding on her, dragging the energy straight out of her skin.

Mira’s scream tore through the room.

She thrashed off the bed and hit the floor.

The wraith followed, boneless and inevitable. Its frozen hand locked around her throat.

“Pay the debt…”

“The soul debt the Blackwood pack owes…”

“Comes due tonight…”

Years ago, the Blackwood pack had wiped out a smaller pack to take its border territory. This was what they’d left behind: à vengeful blood-curse with a long memory.

I’d kept it pinned down in the basement for years with mooncraft wards. Without me, those wards/

were dead.

Every curse wraith I’d been holding back was loose.

“Help!”

“Dad! Mom!”

“Save me!”

Mira writhed on the floor, clawing at her own throat. Her nails found nothing but skin. The wraith’s

grip wasn’t something she could touch.

My mom and dad burst through the door. They couldn’t see a thing.

All they saw was their daughter convulsing on the floor, fighting something invisible.

“Mira!”

“What happened to you?”

My mom’s legs gave out. She dropped to the floor.

“Quick!”

“Find Selene’s protection runes. Now!”

My dad was drenched in sweat, tearing through the room.

They tore the room apart. But the protective moon charms I’d drawn? Mira had trashed them days ago. Called them “ugly and tacky.”

Without a single ward left to shield her, Mira spent the rest of the night at the mercy of the curse.