Charles’ breath quickened, and his movements became more urgent. “I’m close,” he gasped in my ear, his voice breaking between moans. My own pleasure surged, and I couldn’t hold back the scream that tore from my throat. A wave of electric tingles swept through me, my temples throbbed, and the world around me faded into white…
Every pore on my body felt wide open, heat radiating from me in waves. It was surreal, as if I were in a dream, feeling everything but grasping none of it…
I could hardly believe it—I had married this man, the infamous Alpha of the Black Valley Pack, Charles McLean, and I had just slept with him.
But there was no love between us. We weren’t fated mates.
Since his first shift at eighteen, Charles McLean had never found his fated mate. And after one engagement after another, each of his fiancées had died under mysterious circumstances. Rumor had it that he wore a mask to conceal his hideous face and that he was a cruel, violent man who would kill without hesitation. People whispered that he had murdered his previous fiancées.
His last fiancée—my sister—was terrified of him. Horrified by the stories, she had vehemently refused to marry him. And just before the wedding, she found her fated mate. So, without warning or preparation, I was forced to take her place, pushed into marrying Charles in her stead, to stand as his wife in name only and the unacknowledged Luna of the Black Valley Pack…

A Substituted Bride But A Fated Luna

“What are you talking about, Billy?! I’d never declare war on Red Moon Pack!”


I studied Charles’s expression closely. His anger was genuine, not a performance. He gripped my collar, his frustration palpable. “When did I give you such an order? What’s going on?”


At that moment, I knew for sure—this was the real Charles.


“Alpha, the order was issued just now… but it wasn’t from you!”


Charles was both furious and confused. “Explain. What exactly is happening?”


Cold sweat formed on my back. So much information was flooding my brain that I struggled to process it. “Charles, we… we have a second you in the pack. There’s someone posing as you! He’s been with Penelope… And now that I think about it, the one seen in the cell with her might have been him too…”


137 The Mask of Betrayal