Chapter 04

Michelle Morripin – The Lone Wolf

The reflection in the mirror didn’t look like mine.

My golden eyes gleamed under the dim candlelight, as intense as the full moon. My hair, dirty and tangled, revealed its true color—a rare, almost celestial silver.

I placed a hand over my chest, feeling my heart pounding.

For so long, I had lived like an animal, wild and forgotten in the forest, that my own identity had dissolved. I no longer remembered who I was. I didn’t remember where I came from.

But now, I knew.

I was the daughter of Richard Morripin.

The daughter of a powerful and righteous man—who had been killed by lies.

And yet…

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, reminding myself that none of it had ever made a difference in my life. Being a pureblood wolf hadn’t saved me from the cruelty and injustice of the world.

“This doesn’t change anything,” I murmured.

The old woman, still watching me, furrowed her brow.

“What do you mean?”

I turned to face her

“My blood may be pure, but I’m a renegade. I have no recognition, no name.”

Silence settled between us.

She studied me for a moment, and then, to my surprise, she smiled.

“Then I will give you your name back.”

My breath caught.

“What?”

The old woman took my hands in hers.

“I will help you… I’ll do whatever it takes to restore your name. But in return…” Her eyes filled with tears, as if this were the plea of someone with no other options, a desperate prisoner begging for salvation. “When you gain power, when you get what you desire, you must rid us of Alex Madson—that damned, corrupt Alpha.”

The weight of her words crashed down on me.

I took a small step back, averting my gaze.

“I… I need to go to the palace.”

It was the only thing I could say.

It wasn’t a request for help. It was a confession.

If I wanted answers, if I wanted revenge, I had to reach the Supreme Alpha, Matthew Dawolf.

But I had no idea how to get there without being recognized.

“How am I supposed to do that?” My voice came out strained. “If they see that I’m a renegade pureblood, they’ll imprison me… or worse… execute me for the audacity.”

The old woman watched me for a moment, then snapped her fingers.

“Then it’s simple,” she said with certainty. “You will go to the palace as my granddaughter.”

Confusion flooded me.

“As your granddaughter?”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “A humble young woman seeking work at the palace.”

My entire body tensed.

“That’s impossible.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“And why is that?”

“Look at me!” I lifted a strand of my silver hair. “How could I possibly pass as a mere servant looking like this? With these eyes?”

My features screamed what I was.

A pureblood wolf.

The old woman smiled, as if she had been waiting for me to say that.

“Oh, my dear, I already have a plan for that.”

My eyes narrowed.

“A plan?”

She nodded.  

"We're going to dye your hair and dull the shine in your eyes a little. It won’t be permanent, but it’ll be enough to fool anyone… for now."

I remained silent.  

My mind was spinning.  

Was I really willing to hide? To pretend to be someone I wasn’t?  

But before I could question myself any further, the old woman squeezed my hand tightly.  

"You want your name back, don’t you? You want to return to the place that cast you out?"  

My throat went dry.  

Yes.  

I did.  

I wanted it more than anything.  

In the past, I had spent countless winter nights dreaming of my home—the warmth of the fireplace, the comfort of my room, my late family.  

I wanted it all back… I wanted justice.  

Revenge.  

I let out a slow breath and then nodded.  

"Let’s do this."  

And with that, the first piece of my plan was set in motion.  

I didn’t know how, but I had to make this work.  

There was nothing left inside me. No dreams, no purpose—just revenge. My body was nothing more than a shell, a reflection of something I had long forgotten.  

If I had lost everything, then nothing else mattered from this point on.  

I would enter that castle.  

Somehow, I would find a way.  

The old woman gripped my hand firmly and pulled me along.  

"Come, we need to make you presentable."  

She led me to a small but warm bathroom, where she filled a basin with warm water. With no other choice, I removed my dirty clothes and stepped in.  

The heat wrapped around my skin, washing away the years of filth from the forest. It felt strange. My muscles relaxed instantly, and for the first time in so long, I felt something close to comfort.  

As I ran my hands over my now-clean body, the shock hit me.  

My skin was pale, flawless, without a single scar from the battles I had fought. My frame was delicate, balanced, and my face, now free of dirt, looked almost ethereal.  

It was as if I wasn’t real.  

My hair floated in the water, silver like moonlight.  

For so long, I had seen myself as nothing more than an animal, a creature of the wild, that I had forgotten just how different I was.  

The old woman watched closely as I finished bathing. The moment I stepped out, she handed me a simple yet beautiful dress made of lightweight fabric that fit me perfectly. The sensation of clean cloth against my skin felt almost foreign after so long.  

"Now, eat," she ordered, placing a bowl of soup in front of me.  

I sat at the table, hesitant.  

When I icked up the spoon, I realized the problem.  

It had been so long since I had used utensils that my fingers didn’t quite remember how to hold them. My first movements were clumsy, like a child learning for the first time.  

The old woman noticed but said nothing. She simply watched as, little by little, I reacquainted myself with the forgotten gestures of humanity.  

A small reminder of how much I had lost.  

After I finished eating, the woman led me to a bed and sat beside me.  

"Now listen carefully," she said. "If we’re going to do this, you need to know a few things about me and my family. We have to be as careful as possible."  

I nodded.  

"I'm Marilyn Stokes, and you are my granddaughter. Your name will be Alesha. Your mother passed away last winter, and your father—my son—was taken by the Alpha to fight in the last war… but sadly, he never returned." Her eyes welled with tears as she spoke.  

Those words cut through me like a knife.  

"This story… is it true?" I asked before I even realized it. But she didn't say anything—she only nodded, quickly looking away.  

"I see…" I replied, taking in every detail.  

She went on to tell me about the village, its daily life, and the struggles they faced. I memorized everything.  

"Don't worry, no one in the village will interfere… Just like me, everyone is searching for a way out of this chaos," she reassured me, explaining that they all wanted peace and would do whatever it took to achieve it.  

Late that night, when she finally finished her explanations, she gave me a faint smile and gently touched my face.  

"You'll get used to it quickly."  

I wasn't so sure about that.  

But there was no turning back.  

The next morning, she took a bottle of dark dye and poured it over my silver hair.  

I looked at myself in the mirror once more.  

The daylight no longer reflected off my shimmering strands. My identity was temporarily buried. My celestial appearance was hidden.  

For my eyes, she handed me a necklace—a dull stone that, according to her, concealed the glow of anything or anyone it touched.  

And just like that, I had become someone else.  

Over the next few days, Marilyn taught me the basics of everything I would need to survive unnoticed in the palace. 

Cleaning, proper speech, even simple cooking. In just a few days, I was nearly unrecognizable—hardly the same person who had spent almost an entire lifetime in the forest.  

When the day came to go to the palace, Marilyn managed to borrow a cart, and together, we made our way to the village gates.  

Before we left, Marilyn made sure to inform the most trustworthy villagers about the plan. Their faces lit up with hope.  

They had suffered for too long.  

Everyone wanted to be free of Alex’s tyranny. They were exhausted from this wretched, thinly veiled slavery.  

The village was dying.  

And even though I hadn’t asked to be part of this, I was in it now.  

I wasn’t just there for myself anymore.  

At the exit, we were almost stopped by the guards, but after hearing that we were on our way to the palace for work, they let us pass without too many questions.  

In just a few hours, I would be standing at the palace gates.  

And then, everything would change.