Beneath the Alpha’s Skin Lies a Stranger

"Ah!"

Startled, I jumped to the side, dropping the photo album from my hands, which hit the floor with a thud.

"Why are you shouting?"

Only then did I realize my mother-in-law, Luna Zaria, had entered the room.

"Luna? How did you get in here?"

"I saw the door was open and thought I'd check on you. You said you were tired. Why aren't you resting?"

Did I really leave the door open? How could I be so careless?

"Lena?" Luna Zaria called me with a concerned look, her Luna aura wrapping around me like a suffocating blanket.

I snapped back to reality and forced a nervous smile.

"Oh! I just found this photo album and thought I'd take a look."

Saying this, I picked up the album from the floor, flipping to the last photo. My wolf stirred uneasily in the back of my mind, a low whine escaping her.

"Luna, why aren't there any pictures of Alpha Caden after he went to college?"

She glanced at the album, and I noticed a subtle twitch at the corner of her eye before she reached out to take the album and quickly flipped through it. Her movements were too sharp, too deliberate for a Luna who should exude calm.

"So there is an album. What's so interesting about this?"

A sinking feeling settled in my stomach. Her reaction was odd. Normally, a mother's eyes would soften when looking at her child's old photos, but she looked irritated and anxious, her Luna composure cracking.

Snap!

She closed the album with a decisive thud, her face regaining its usual calm, though her scent betrayed her unease.

"Kids grow up, and you can't control them anymore. It's hard to get them to sit for pictures. I'll take this album and have a look at it myself. You should get some rest."

With that, she turned and left the room, her Luna aura lingering like a heavy cloud.

I exhaled the breath I'd been holding and immediately shut the door. Her reaction was unusual, and the way she went straight for the photo album as soon as she entered—it seemed like she had come specifically for it.

Confused, I continued searching the room but found nothing useful.

Feeling defeated, I sank down at my desk and absentmindedly pulled out a well-thumbed book, starting to read. My wolf whined again, her unease growing.

I don't know how much time passed, but then Astrid knocked on the door to say lunch was ready. Her voice was polite, as always, the respectful tone of an Omega addressing her Luna.

Acknowledging her, I stood up, accidentally knocking the book to the floor. As it fell, a faded photo slipped out.

I picked it up—a group photo of four people, with two women each hugging a child. My breath caught in my throat.

Upon seeing their faces, my eyes widened in shock. Both women looked just like Luna Zaria. The one on the left wore Victorian-style dresses, her posture regal, her smile commanding—a true Luna. The one on the right was dressed more casually, her expression softer but no less intense. Each held a boy of around ten years old.

The one on the left, with the radiant smile, was Alpha Caden. The somber, withdrawn boy on the right was hauntingly similar to my current mate.

I turned the photo over and saw four names written on the back.

Zaria… Ivanna…

Caden… Malik…

Zaria is my mother-in-law's name, the Luna of the Hunt pack. But who is Ivanna? I've never met her.

I swallowed hard, recalling something Lycan King Paxton had said.

"Like a completely different person!"

A chilling thought crossed my mind.

Ivanna, Malik…

An imposter among us!

My wolf growled low in my mind, her instincts flaring. The mate bond between me and Alpha Caden thrummed faintly, as if warning me of the deception lurking beneath the surface.