When My Mate Chose the Imposter Over Me

Synopsis

Lyra Castillo was scrolling through Instagram when she stumbled upon a picture of a girl wearing the same dress she owned. The girl was taking a selfie in front of a mirror, her long Victorian-style dress flowing elegantly, her smile bright and confident. The caption read: "The dress is pretty, but it looks better on me." Switching to her chat with her mate, Ryker Tran, a warrior from the Shadow Fang Pack, Lyra calmly typed out a rejection message. The dress wasn’t costly, but it was unique—one of a kind. And right now, it was quietly hanging in her closet. Lyra put down her phone and glanced at the picture frame on her bedside table. In it, an inexperienced version of herself, from two years back, was captured wearing that very dress for her graduation photo at the Blue Moon Pack’s design academy. It was her final project, the result of two relentless months of sleepless nights. She recalled how worn out she had been, too exhausted even for makeup to conceal the fatigue. It hadn’t looked as good on her as it did on the other girl. Her phone buzzed incessantly with Ryker’s name flashing on the screen, but she ignored it and opened her closet instead. After wearing the dress just once for graduation, she had preserved it without washing. But now, the dress exuded a fresh scent of detergent, hanging silently there. It was as if the girl in the photo had come alive, mocking Lyra’s obliviousness. That’s when Lyra remembered their encounter. About two months ago, downstairs, she had run into a girl who was walking her dog. The girl had seemed hurried and grabbed Lyra’s arm to ask for help: "Hi, I didn’t bring a bag for my dog’s mess. Can I