Luna. Chapter 76

(Lyra's POV)

Alpha Nova arrived at our house that evening looking older than his sixty years. His silver hair was perfectly styled, but his eyes held the weight of too many family secrets.

"Thank you for coming," I said, showing him into the living room where Victor and Asher were waiting.

"When Orion told me you'd found Marcus's glasses, I knew we needed to talk immediately." He sat heavily in the armchair, studying Asher with worried eyes. "How long were they in the boy's room?"

"We don't know. Maybe weeks. Maybe months." The thought made me sick.

"And he's been having nightmares?"

"Yes. But he calls them whisper dreams. Says the angry man talks to him."

Alpha Nova closed his eyes, pain flickering across his features. "Marcus was my great-uncle. The black sheep of the family, you might say. He became obsessed with extending his life through dark magic after his mate died in a car accident."

"What kind of dark magic?"

"Soul binding. The practice of attaching your life force to physical objects to achieve a kind of immortality." Nova's voice was heavy with old grief. "The family tried to intervene, tried to get him help. But by then, he was too far gone."

Victor leaned forward. "What happened to him?"

"He performed the binding ritual on his glasses—the ones he'd worn since childhood, the ones that held sentimental value. But something went wrong. Instead of preserving his consciousness, the magic trapped his soul in an endless loop of anger and frustration."

"So he's been conscious this whole time? For thirty-five years?"

"Conscious and furious. Unable to move on, unable to truly live, existing in a state of constant rage at the world that continued without him."

I felt sick thinking about what Asher had been exposed to. "Why didn't your family destroy the glasses?"

"We tried. But soul-bound objects are nearly indestructible. The only way to break the binding is to fulfill the soul's deepest desire."

"Which was?"

"Revenge on the people he blamed for his mate's death. Revenge on the family who tried to stop his dark magic experiments. Revenge on anyone who possessed the kind of happiness he'd lost."

The implications hit me like cold water. "He wants to hurt Asher because he's jealous of our family."

"More than that. Marcus always believed that children with strong psychic abilities could be used as conduits to channel supernatural energy. He thought if he could influence a powerful child, he could use their abilities to break free from the glasses and inhabit a physical form again."

"Using my son's body."

"As a vessel, yes."

I stood up abruptly, pacing to the window. Outside, the evening looked perfectly normal. People walking their dogs, kids riding bikes, the ordinary world going about its business while we discussed dead men trying to possess my four-year-old.

"There's more," Nova said quietly.

I turned around, dreading whatever else he might reveal.

"The glasses weren't just placed in your house randomly. Soul-bound objects can only be moved by people with supernatural abilities. Whoever put them in Asher's room had to be powerful enough to handle cursed artifacts without being immediately corrupted by them."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning this was done by someone with significant magical training. Someone who knew exactly what they were doing and what the consequences might be."

Victor stood up slowly, his face pale with understanding. "The house. Has the whole house been cursed?"

Nova nodded grimly. "Prolonged exposure to soul-bound artifacts creates what we call spiritual contamination. The curse spreads through the environment, affecting everyone who lives there."

As if to prove his point, Victor suddenly swayed on his feet, his hand going to his chest.

"Dad?" I rushed to his side as he sat down heavily.

"I can't... I can't catch my breath."

His face was gray, sweat beading on his forehead. I could hear his heartbeat, rapid and irregular.

"Call 911," I said to Alpha Nova, but he was already pulling out his phone.

"Dad, stay with me. Just breathe slowly."

"The dreams," Victor gasped. "The angry dreams. They've been getting worse every night."

I knelt beside his chair, holding his hand. "It's going to be okay. We're going to fix this."

But even as I said it, I could feel something dark and malevolent pressing against the edges of my consciousness. Like a weight settling over the house, making the air thick and hard to breathe.

Asher came to stand beside me, his small hand resting on my shoulder. "Mama, the angry man is getting stronger. He's using Grandpa's fear to feed himself."

Alpha Nova finished his call and turned to us with grim determination. "The paramedics are on their way. But Lyra, you need to understand—this is just the beginning. The curse will continue spreading until everyone in this house has been corrupted by Marcus's rage."

"How do we stop it?"

"You need a witch. Someone trained in purification rituals who can cleanse the spiritual contamination before it becomes permanent."

The paramedics arrived ten minutes later, loading Victor onto a stretcher while he protested that he was feeling better. But I could see the fear in his eyes, the understanding that something unnatural was affecting his body.

"I'm going with him," I told Alpha Nova.

"Lyra, you can't leave the house like this. The curse will continue spreading in your absence."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Let me make some calls. I know someone who specializes in this kind of spiritual cleansing."

I looked at Asher, who was watching his grandfather being wheeled away with the solemn expression of a child who understood more than he should.

"Mama, we need help fast. The angry man is getting hungrier."

Alpha Nova was already dialing his phone. "I'm calling Morgana. If anyone can purify this house before the curse becomes permanent, it's her."

"Who's Morgana?"

"A witch who's been dealing with cursed objects for forty years. If she can't help us, no one can."

I picked up Asher, holding him close as we watched the ambulance drive away with Victor inside. The house felt different now, oppressive and hostile, like it was turning against us.

"How long do we have?" I asked.

Nova listened to his phone ringing, his expression tense. "Hours, maybe. After that, the spiritual contamination becomes permanent and the curse will follow your family wherever you go."

The phone kept ringing.

"Please," I whispered. "Please answer."