Soul-Extraction: Reborn as the Luna Queen Chapter 08

Soul-Extraction: Reborn as the Luna Queen Chapter 08

It didn’t take long. Within hours, the capital’s news feeds blew up.

My mom and dad had stumbled through the streets, raving to anyone who would listen, confessing that they’d murdered their own daughter, that the Moon Goddess had cursed them for it.

The pack enforcers launched an investigation and found all of it buried in the basement of the

Blackwood estate, exactly where I’d left it. The soul-binding altar, built by the forbidden witch

Morwen.

The evidence was undeniable. My mom and dad were arrested on the spot and charged with

murdering their own daughter and using forbidden witchcraft that had put the entire pack at risk

Without my mom and dad there to protect her, Mira had nothing left. The curse wraiths devoured

what was left of her mind.

On a night when thunder split the sky, she threw herself from the third floor of the pack hospital.

She shattered both legs. She didn’t die. She’d spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair, vacant-eyed, drooling, gone.

The Blackwood pack was wiped out. As if they’d never existed.

Once the last of it had been settled, Lucien called.

“Nova, the score has been settled. Don’t you think that deserves a celebration?”

His voice was lazy as always, but underneath it, something that didn’t sound like a request.

“And what kind of celebration do you have in mind, my King?”

I drifted to the window. The city pulsed below, headlights threading through the dark.

“Eight tonight.”

“I’ll be waiting at the keep.”

I arrived at the keep at exactly eight.

The ancient moon wards were dormant, the curse energy quiet. Tonight, the keep glowed with warm light and understated elegance.

Lucien was in the courtyard, dressed simply in black, pouring from a crystal decanter at a low table.

When I walked in, he poured a glass without being asked.

“Try this.”

“Moon-aged bourbon. The best there is.”

I picked up the glass but didn’t drink. I looked at him instead, straight on, with no pretense.

“You didn’t invite me here for drinks.”

Lucien smiled and put down the decanter.

“Selene.”

“I have to admit, you’re brilliant. And absolutely ruthless.”

“You used my own moon wards to power your soul-extraction seal.”

“Used my keep to break the shared-body curse.”

“Then you turned the Blackwood pack’s own soul debt into the weapon that destroyed them.”

“So tell me,

how do I settle my debt to you for all of that?”

I arched a brow and held his gaze without flinching.

“If you’d wanted to expose me, you would’ve done it already.”

“Which means I have something you want.”

“Go on.”

“Name your terms.”

Something shifted in Lucien’s expression, approval, maybe. Or hunger.

He leaned in. Close enough that I caught his scent, cold cedar, faint and sharp.

“My soul-sealing relic is shattered.”

“The ancient wolf curse inside me has no one to hold it back.”

“I want you, and only you, as my curse suppressor.”

His fingers brushed my jaw, slow and deliberate. Those dark eyes tugged at something behind my

ribs.

“In return, you get my full protection.”

“No one in this capital touches you. No one.”

I looked at him. And smiled.

“My King, I think you’ve misunderstood something.”

I caught his wrist and pushed it away. Then I stood and looked down at him.

“I’m the eldest daughter of the Ashford pack.”

“High Magister of the capital’s Mooncraft Council.”

“I don’t need anyone’s protection.”

“And I don’t lean on anyone.”

“You want me to be your curse suppressor?”

“Okay.”

I braced both hands on the table and leaned in until we were eye to eye.

“Half of the Moonveil pack’s assets.”

“And you. Personally.”

Lucien went still. Whatever he’d expected me to say, that wasn’t it.

The silence between us stretched taut.

Then he laughed. Low at first, then louder, a real laugh, the kind that shook through his chest.

“Good.”

“Very good.”

He stood, caught me by the waist, and pulled me against him.

“Selene.”

“You haven’t disappointed me once.”

“Half of everything I have. It’s yours.”

“And so am I.”