Soul-Extraction: Reborn as the Luna Queen Chapter 07

Soul-Extraction: Reborn as the Luna Queen Chapter 07

Over the next two weeks, the Blackwood pack learned what it felt like to fall with no one left to catch

them.

Without my protective wards holding everything together, Blackwood Industries’ financing collapsed. They filed for bankruptcy.

The Pack Council seized the estate.

My mom and dad were shoved into a cramped basement unit that smelled of mildew and damp. They took Mira with them, her face still wrapped in gauze.

The Grey pack cut them off overnight. The mating ceremony with Adrian was off.

The council sentenced Adrian to ten years. His future was over.

And me? As Nova, I was thriving.

I used my mooncraft to secure project after project for the Ashford pack, every one of them

guaranteed to succeed. The Ashford name had never carried more weight.

I’d also taken the seat of High Magister of the capital’s Mooncraft Council.

The same mooncraft elders who once looked through Selene like she was glass now bowed their

heads when I walked past.

“High Magister Ashford.”

That afternoon, I was going through reports in my office when my assistant knocked.

“Ma’am, there are two people begging at the main gates.”

“They say they’re from the Blackwood pack. They’re begging to see you.’

I raised my eyebrows.

“Let them in.”

A few minutes later, my mom and dad shuffled in, leaning on each other like neither could stand

alone.

Two weeks. That was all it had taken to make them look twenty years older.

Their hair had gone gray, their clothes were unwashed and rumpled, and the stale, sour smeil coming off them filled the room as soon as they walked in.

They saw me behind the desk, and their knees hit the floor.

“High Magister Ashford!”

“Please, we’re begging you. Save our Mira!”

My mom was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. She hunched over, burying her face in her

hands.

“The curse wraiths come for her every night.”

“She’s lost her mind. She doesn’t even know who we are anymore!”

My dad was crying too, ugly, broken sobs shaking out of him.

“We’ve been to every mooncaster in the capital.”

“They all say the same thing. The Blackwood pack crossed someone they shouldn’t have. No one

will touch us.’

“High Magister Ashford, they say you’re the most powerful mooncraft wielder in the capital.”

“If you help us, we’ll do anything. Anything you ask.”

I leaned back in my chair and looked down at them, the same people who once ground me into the

dirt.

“Save Mira?”

“Okay.”

I spun the pen between my fingers, keeping my voice light.

“But you should know something. I don’t work for free.”

My dad nodded so hard his whole body shook.

“Of course! Whatever you want!”

“Name your price. We’ll scrape together every last coin!”

“I don’t want your money.”

“I want you to go on camera, on a pack-wide broadcast, and confess.”

“Three years ago, you used the forbidden soul-binding ritual to kill your own daughter, Selene.”

“Then you forced Mira’s soul into her body.”

“I want you to say it out loud.”

“Every year of peace. Every dollar the Blackwood pack made. All of it came from bleeding Selene dry.”

The words dropped between them like a blade. They went rigid, eyes blown wide.

They stared at me like they were seeing a dead woman.

“You…”

“How could you possibly know that…”

My mom’s voice broke apart on the last word.

I stood, came around the desk, and crouched to their level. When I spoke, it was barely a whisper.

“Because I’m the one you made kneel outside the royal wolf keep.’

“The one you killed yourselves. Selene.”

My mom’s scream tore through the office.

Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed.

My dad collapsed where he knelt. His hand came up, pointing at me, shaking violently.

“You…”

“You’re dead! You’re supposed to be dead!”

“You’ve come back to destroy us!”

I didn’t blink.

“I’m not a ghost.”

“I’m the girl who crawled out of hell. And I’m here to collect.”

“Go home. Tell Mira to enjoy my parting gift.”

“Everything she owes me, she’ll pay back. Every last piece.”

I called the pack enforcers. They dragged my dad out, still screaming, and carried my unconscious mom out like they were clearing wreckage.

I watched them go. There was no satisfaction in it. No rush of triumph.

Just a sadness that sank all the way down, and underneath it, finally, relief.

This was the love I’d spent my whole life begging for. Turned out it had never been worth anything

at all.