The Alpha's Secret Legacy

Chapter 29

Harry's Pov

The dining hall was too quiet.

Not the peaceful kind of quiet—more like the kind where everyone is thinking something, and nobody wants to be the first to say it out loud.

Forks barely touched plates. Chairs creaked every now and then. Someone sighed. Someone else smiled for no reason at all.

And yet... everything felt off.

Dani and Liam were exchanging soft looks across the table like they were in their own little world. Zayn, on the other hand, hadn't stopped staring at Chrissy with that annoying smirk of his.

Chrissy kept giving him death glares in return.

Niall was smiling to himself like he'd just heard the funniest joke in history—but nobody else had heard it. Liam looked nervous, fidgeting with his fork like it personally offended him.

Gemma's eyes kept moving between all of us like she was trying to solve a puzzle we didn't know we were part of.

Tim? Smirking at nothing. Or everything. Hard to tell with him.

Louis leaned slightly toward me. "Tell me you feel how weird this is."

"Oh I do," I muttered back. "I just don't know what it is yet."

Before anyone could figure anything out—

Ding dong.

The sound cut through the house like a warning shot.

Chrissy stood up immediately. "I'll get it."

She disappeared into the hallway.

And then we heard it.

"BASTY!" she shouted, way too happily for how tense the room had been.

We all froze.

That name... sounded familiar. Like something I'd heard in passing but never bothered to place.

A few seconds later, she walked back in with a boy beside her. Blonde hair. Green eyes. Calm expression.

"Guys!" she said brightly. "This is Basty. My friend—Tim's youngest son."

Tim gave a small wave. "Hello, son."

"Hey Dad," the boy replied casually.

Right. That alone should've been a red flag for how strange our life had become.

Chrissy started pointing at everyone like she was introducing characters in a chaotic play.

"That's Dani—she's basically the mother of this house. Liam's her boyfriend. Harry's the curly one with the dimples. Louis is the dramatic one. Niall's my brother. Zayn is the annoying smirking one."

Zayn gasped. "Excuse me?"

The entire room burst out laughing. Even Tim cracked a smile.

Basty just nodded slowly like he was trying to keep up with a very confusing documentary.

"Nice to meet you all," he said. "We were actually about to—"

"You can sit now," Chrissy cut in quickly.

A beat of silence.

Louis whispered to me, "Why did she interrupt him like that?"

"I have no idea," I whispered back. "But I feel like we should be concerned."

Before anything else could settle—

The door slammed open again.

"WHAT DID I MISS?!" Greg shouted cheerfully as he walked in.