Chapter 127 Not Again
Kira’s POV
Miranda stepped out of the shadows like she owned the night, heels clicking on the cracked concrete, phone still in her hand, that smug little smirk plastered on her face. The same face I’d seen laughing while I fell off that rooftop. The same voice that had ordered those kidnappers to “have fun with the little bitch before you dump her.” She thought I was still tied up somewhere, screaming, waiting to be broken.
She had no fucking clue the tables had just flipped so hard they’d broken.
I stepped into the moonlight, ponytail swinging, hands loose at my sides. “Hey, sisi.”
Her head snapped up. The phone slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground.
For one glorious second her eyes went wide…pure, delicious shock…then anger flooded in, hot and ugly.
“You? What the hell are you doing here? Where’s the reporter? And how did you…”
She stopped. Really looked at me. The clothes…the grin. The fact that I wasn’t tied up or terrified. Color drained from her cheeks so fast I thought she might faint right there.
“How are you here?” She croaked out.
“Surprise,” I sang, taking one slow step closer. “Miss me?”
“You’re supposed to be—” Her voice cracked. “The kidnappers said they had you. They were supposed to—”
“Violate me? Break me? Yeah, I heard the whole plan, Miranda, loud and clear. I was there when you gave them the instruction, Remember? Too bad your goons suck at their jobs.”
I tilted my head, letting the new wolf senses drink in her racing heartbeat, the sour spike of fear under her expensive perfume.
Her pulse was jackhammering like a trapped rabbit, the sour reek of sudden fear cutting through her Chanel No. 5, the way her perfect lipstick started to smear at the edges.
“You really thought killing me once wasn’t enough? Had to try again in this pretty new body? Greedy much?”
She backed up a step, heels wobbling. “You’re insane. I don’t know who the fuck you are, but if you think you can blackmail me with some fake video—”
I moved faster than I knew I could. One second I was five feet away… the next my hand was around her throat, lifting her clean off the ground like she weighed nothing.
This is amazing!
Her feet kicked uselessly, eyes bulging. My wolf strength sang through my veins…hot, hungry, and unstoppable.
“Wrong answer,” I whispered, voice sweet as candy.
“Let me re-introduce myself properly. I’m Kira Summers. The little sister you and your parents pushed off that building like yesterday’s trash. Remember? You watched me fall. You smiled. Thought it was over.”
I squeezed just enough to make her gag. “Newsflash, bitch… I came back. My ghost crawled right into this body and now I’m here to haunt your sorry ass until you wish you’d never been born.”
Miranda clawed at my wrist, nails scraping uselessly. “L-lying!” she choked out. “You’re nobody! You’re just some delusional worthless piece of shit! You can’t scare me!”
“Oh?” I grinned wider, showing every tooth. “I can’t scare you?” With my free hand I slapped her…hard…across the cheek.
The crack echoed across the empty field. Her head snapped sideways, a perfect red handprint blooming on her skin. “How’s that for scary?”
Another slap, backhand this time, harder. “That’s for the rooftop.” Slap. “That’s for telling your thugs to violate me.” Slap. “And that’s for thinking you could touch what’s mine ever again.”
She was sobbing now, mascara streaking down her face, legs kicking wildly. “Stop! Please…someone help! This isn’t real…you’re crazy!”
I leaned in close, nose to nose, voice dropping to a silky whisper. “Crazy? Honey, I’m just getting started. You sent men to break me. I’m going to break you. Slowly. Creatively.
And the best part? No one’s coming to save you. Not Daddy. Not your Mommy. Not even fate.”
Miranda’s eyes rolled with terror. She clutched at her ears like she could block my voice out. “Shut up! Shut up! You’re lying! You’re just some nobody pretending—”
I laughed…loud, wild, unhinged. The sound bounced off the old mill walls like a promise of pain.
“Pretending? Sweetheart, I’m the nightmare you and your deluded family created. Every time you close your eyes from now on, you’ll see my face. Every shadow will feel like my hands around your throat. You killed Kira Summers once. Now she’s back wearing a crown and she’s pissed.”
She scrambled backward on all fours like the coward she was. I stalked around her in a slow circle, boots crunching on gravel, letting her feel my eyes on every inch of her shaking body.
“Get away from me! You’re a lunatic!” She cried, her hands flying around to push me away.
“You know what’s hilarious?” I crouched beside her, voice soft and sweet like we were sharing secrets.
“You spent years calling me worthless. The weak one. The one that has to stand by your side to shine. And now look at you…on your knees in the dirt while I’m the one who can snap your neck without breaking a sweat.”
I grabbed a fistful of her perfectly highlighted hair and yanked her head back so she had to look at me. “Every night from now on, you’re going to hear my voice in your head. Every time you close your eyes, you’ll see my face right before you pushed me. Every shadow in your fancy mansion is going to feel like my hands around your throat. I’m not just haunting you, Miranda…I’m living inside the life you tried to steal.”
She clutched her ears like a child, rocking back and forth. “Liar! Shut up! You’re not her! Kira’s dead! Stop trying to scare me. There’s nothing like ghosts and there’s nothing like coming back to life! You’re just some crazy girl pretending—”
“Pretending?” I ripped her hands away from her ears and forced her to look at me again.
“Sisi, I remember the exact perfume you were wearing that day. I remember the way your mother mocked mine… she said to tell my mother that she is fucking her hudbabd real good…ring a bell? You thought you’d won the family throne. Newsflash: the throne’s mine now. And I’m going to sit on it while I watch you lose everything.”
I stood up, dusting my hands like I’d just finished a chore. “You wanted to teach me a lesson? Now, watch and learn how it’s been done.”
She curled into a ball, sobbing ugly and loud. “Please… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean—”
“Too late for sorry.” I tilted my head, voice dropping to a silky, mocking purr. “But hey…thanks for the warm-up. Now it’s time for the main event.”
I dropped her. She crumpled to the dirt, gasping, scrambling backward on her hands and knees. Perfect.
Inside my head I whispered, ‘Leah… it’s time.’
Leah stretched, long and luxurious, like she’d been waiting her whole life for this moment.
‘Oh, it’s been a long time coming,’ she purred, voice dripping with dark delight. ‘Let’s give her a show she’ll never forget.’
Pain exploded through my bones just then, sharp, white-hot, like every joint was being cracked open and remade.
I didn’t let it show. Not a flinch. Not a whimper. I kept my eyes locked on Miranda while my spine bowed, fur rippling out in a wave of pure white that caught the moonlight like fresh snow.
My hands became massive paws, claws gleaming. The shift finished in seconds and there we stood…on all fours, huge white wolf, fur billowing in the night breeze like a goddamn avenging angel.
Miranda’s scream tore out of her so loud it hurt my new ears. “What the fuck…what the fuck…what the fuck!” She scrambled up, bolting for the other side of the field.
Leah lunged. One paw slammed down on her ankle, pinning it to the ground with zero effort.
Bones crunched under our weight as her scream turned into a raw, animal wail of pure agony.
She thrashed, trying to crawl away, but Leah just leaned over her slowly, jaws inches from her face.
Leah’s growl rumbled up from my chest like thunder. Hot saliva dripped in thick strings onto her cheek, her forehead, her open screaming mouth. She flashed every razor tooth, eyes glowing bright gold in the dark.
She sobbed, snot and tears and spit mixing on her face. “Please…please no…get it off me…someone help! She’s a demon! A monster!”
Leah let the growl build louder, letting her feel the heat of my breath, the promise in every drop of saliva. Her eyes rolled back. Once. Twice. Then she went limp…out cold, body slack in the dirt.
Satisfied, Leah stepped back, lifted her head to the moon hanging fat and silver above us, and howled.
The sound ripped out of me…long, victorious, wild…echoing across the city like a declaration of war. I am here. I am strong. I am coming for every single one of you.
“Princess!” Victoria burst from the other edge of the field, eyes huge, phone clutched in her shaking hand. “The King is looking for you…his men are everywhere! We have to go back now!”
Shit. Right. Human form. I needed like two seconds.
I closed my eyes, remembering exactly what Adrian had told me in the car…picture your hands, your face, your feet, pull the wolf back in like breathing. Easy. Simple.
I pictured it hard, over and over again. But nothing happened.
I opened my eyes. Still on all fours. Still a massive white wolf. Still drooling on the unconscious bitch at my feet.
Oh God. Not again.