Snow White and the Big Bad Wolf

Poor Unfortunate Soul

Luna Mara soon joined us in the office. She looked so regal with her chocolate curls pinned back neatly behind her shoulders and she wore a soft blue gown with a white shawl over her arms. As she noticed me in the room she took a deep breath and greeted the alpha with a soft kiss to his cheek. “Thank you for coming.” He told her while she took a seat next to me. The alpha dragged his hand down his face and sighed. “This is going to be difficult to swallow but it must be done.” He started. “Aella I am not your biological father.” My mouth parted slightly but nothing came out. It was the last thing I expected him to say really. It was what I thought but why? I waited for him to explain. “Before you were born there was an attack on our pack. Rogues came and nearly took over, they killed a lot of innocent people. It all started while Mara and I were celebrating our sons shifting ceremony with the pack.” Their son? I had a brother? More questions piled into my head. “The attack was brutal. The rogues would’ve taken the pack if not for the sacrifice Connor had made. He died in the fight and your mother was abducted.” Sweat beaded against his forehead and Luna Mara started to look pale. I started to piece together what all of this meant. It was more painful for them to admit than it was for me to understand. “We found Mara two years later abandoned in a cabin and heavily pregnant with you. The rogues left her to die there, you both were really sick. But... when you were born that’s when we realized that the one who was your real father was the leader of the rogue attack. He too had pure white hair.” He took a deep breath and all I could do was sit as still as a statue. So everyone knew of this hard truth but me? My white hair was a reminder to everyone of what happened to our pack. A lot of people died in that attack and for me to learn the leader of it all kidnapped and impregnated their Luna. Why wasn’t I discarded? Why didn’t they just send me away? “Why did you keep me.” I blurted, my thoughts escaping the walls of my mind or was that Tala who seemed to be enraged by it all? “Since your mother was so sick when giving birth to you there were.... complications.”

“I cannot have any more children. Hence I cannot replace you or Connor.” Luna Mara looked at me with black eyes, it was her wolf speaking this time. Her cold tone gave me chills and I gripped the sides of the chair I was sitting in tightly. “It didn’t feel right to discard you after all that happened. And the council decided it would be best for you to remain in our care since you were so young and fragile.” My eyes lowered and tears pooled at the bottom of my lids. I was forced into this world and treated lower than the earth they walked on. I didn’t ask to be here, and I didn’t know what else to expect from them. They didn’t want to deal with me but they didn’t want to be left childless. How selfish, I thought with a growl. I stood up suddenly and they both jumped with eyes wide. With a deep bow the tears I tried to keep at bay fell to the ground and I left the room.

He too has pure white hair.

Knowledge of it infuriated me and I went straight to my room locking the door. My breath hiked in my chest and I stifled a scream into my pillows. So I was just some poor unfortunate soul, trapped in a world where it didn’t matter if I existed. Since I wasn’t the child of the Alpha and Luna there was no way for me to inherit the pack. Not with the blood I had. No mate would find me suitable to marry. No one in my pack would want to be mates with the girl born from their attacker. *Tala what should I do?* Silence. She wouldn’t answer me no matter how many times I called for her. An overwhelming sense of shame washed over my body and I knew it wasn’t from my own feelings. Immediately I shot up and went to my dresser. I didn’t even stop to see my bloodshot eyes, anger filled my body as I grabbed the scissors and went to my connecting bathroom. I couldn’t look at it anymore so I grabbed a handful of my hair and SNIP. Long white hair fell down to my feet until it was all gone and the tears wouldn’t stop. What could I do? Dye my hair? Everyone would still know. Everyone would still give me the same look of pity and discard me for everything I was. It didn’t matter. There was a knock at my door and I struggled to pull myself together. “Aella... about the shifting ceremony. Its been changed to today...” the Alpha called. I opened the door and he took a step back once he looked at my hair and face. “I’m not going.” I told him bluntly. There was no celebration for me, just a secret hunt with an escort to make sure no one saw me. Was it really worth the time and fake effort? I knew the truth, no one cared anyway. “It’s an important tradition. You need to be properly introduced to your wolf.” I watched as his brows furrowed into a frown but he couldn’t bring himself to become angry with me. From the corner of my eye I saw Luna Mara watching in the walkway.

“She doesn’t want to show herself. She won’t even talk to me.” I muttered through tears. Mason and his mother happened to be walking by and saw everything happening. They both looked equally shocked and confused. “Aella... I’m sorry. I told you this was going to be hard-“

“For whom, Alpha? Because to me it looked as if you were more afraid to talk about it than to care about my feelings. You didn’t care who looked or treated me differently.” I scoffed and a clook of disappointment crossed my face. “You can’t have any more children together, what kind of excuse is that? Aren’t you supposed to love your kid regardless?”

“We do love you Aella.” He protested but his eyes told me a different story, I wasn’t his child and he did not have to love me..

“You pity me just like everyone else. At least be honest about that. I’m a disgrace, a sin among the pack...” I took a deep breath and stepped back grabbing the door. “Don’t worry, as soon as I graduate I’ll be gone and you’ll never have to worry about my pathetic life ever again.”

“Aella-“ I wouldn’t let him get another word in. I closed the door and the only noise left to be heard was my sobbing. It hurt like hell to have to finally confront things like this. If it weren’t for Mason how long would they have planned to keep this secret from me? How long would they keep me prisoner here? What’s wrong with adopting another child? Luna Mara acted as if I were a stranger and the Alpha avoided me like the plague. What difference would it make if I weren’t around? There were voices muffled behind the door as I calmed myself down but I didn’t care who was talking behind the door, I had nothing left to say. Loose strands of hair stuck to my face as I sat up and started for the bathroom again. Looking at my reflection I saw my mother’s face. Soft and round with full lips and shining blue eyes. My hair however was all messed up, cut unevenly and much too short. I looked down at the scissors and frowned, of course there was no turning back. I did my best to even it out into a pixie cut but I couldn’t do much with blunt scissors.

I took a quick shower and changed into a clean white T-shirt and black leggings and made sure no one was around my room before I went down the hall and to the second floor. Knocking on the door I swallowed all the feelings I had to face whoever opened the door. Thankfully it was Eden, the betas wife. “Aella! Oh my goodness you poor thing.” She pulled me into the room and embraced me. I stood perfectly still so to not erupt into sobs again. “Honey your hair...”

“You knew too didn’t you?” I asked her coldly and she sighed with her arms on my shoulders. “We were all forbidden from speaking about that day. The alpha insisted that none told you until they were ready to.”

“So it’s all true then?” She nodded slightly and I bit my lip. Did I expect anything else? “Can you help me?” I pointed at my hair and she nodded again. Edentook me into their bathroom and she pulled out some clippers. I knew she cut the betas hair, he preferred his sandy brown hair cut low. “Do you have any questions?” She muttered.

“There’s more?” I cringed hearing the buzz of the clippers and she shook her head. “You may not see it now but you are a blessing. For Luna Mara to be found and even carried a child after her son was taken so early in life, they were grateful to have you both together and alive.”

“But I got this painful reminder forever. Everyone looks at me like I kicked their dog.” Eden choked on her laughter and I looked up at her. She blushed and waved her hand over her face to calm herself, “I’m sorry, that was an interesting way of putting it. While it’s true that people here will always look and treat you differently, now that you know the truth will it change how they see you now?” I thought about it for a second. Only I didn’t know the truth about what happened to Luna Mara and the reason behind my white hair. Now that I knew why would anything really change? I was still the Luna's daughter, no one would publicly try to harm me. “You and only you can decide what you’ll do with this information and how you handle it. Of course you can chose to ignore it and everything will go on the way it has been for 16 years or you can try and change the way people see you by showing the real you and not who your true father is.” Eden finished shaping up my hair and getting it even. She even left a bit at the top so that it could have a little style to it. “It’s a shame your hair had to suffer. It was quite beautiful. I suppose this is cute as well.” She smiled and turned me around to see the mirror. I couldn’t say I didn’t agree, the style was cute in a tomboyish kind of way and I almost didn’t recognize myself. “My wolf won’t answer me anymore.” I told her. She nodded and started cleaning the clippers. “Our wolves are more sensitive and take a bit longer to process hurt than we are sometimes. She will come around and she’ll be your most valuable and loyal friend. Just be patient with her. She’s hurting too.” I had nothing but trust and respect for Eden, she had calmed my storm and helped me see things a little better after the whole fiasco in the hall. She gently kissed my forehead and gave me some tips on how to style my hair for school if I wanted. And how to go about growing it back out, she seemed to like my hair longer from the beginning.

I left her room feeling 100x better but most of it cut down when I saw Mason. He looked down at me and I looked away wanting to escape him immediately but he grabbed my wrist to stop me from walking past. “Do you understand now, outsider? You don’t belong here and no matter how you try to change your look everyone will know.”

“Does it matter now? There’s nothing more I can do about it.” I glared at him and felt Tala rise in the corners of my mind. I knew he saw my blue eyes darken. “How about we go on with our lives? There’s no reason to continue all of this over something you know I have no control of.”

“I’m liking this new attitude of yours. I should’ve brought it up sooner.” He tried to pull me closer to him with a smirk but I pushed him away. “Leave me alone Mason.”

“What? I was going to suggest some light sparring. A little training wouldn’t hurt and it’s a good stress reliever.” I looked at him in confusion, Mason was trying to be nice to me? It has to be a trick. He raised his brows in protest and let go of my arm to put his hands up. “Ok look, I’m sorry for giving you hell all these years. I’m not promising that I’ll lay off but the least you can do is train. Take your newfound hatred and turn it into strength.”

“You sound like your father.” I growled and he chuckled, “How about it Snow? At least no one can pull your hair.”

I met up with Mason and some of his training partners later that evening. The pack house courtyard was lit up with outdoor lights and the grass freshly cut and manicured. There were some rough patches from previous sparring sessions and I had noticed that the guys there had also gone to our school. “What’s she doing here Mason?” A blonde hair boy called. He was smaller than the rest but he was the first to speak up. The other two looked like twins with their short black hair and matching white tank tops. “She’s here to train with us.” They looked just as confused as I did when he mentioned it. Mason just scratched the back of his head and grinned, “Picking on her is no fun if she doesn’t fight back. Besides, she may want in on our little mission.” Their eyes widened and they looked at each other again but with deep concern. So this wasn’t for me, I was just going to be a pawn in whatever they were planning. I got a really bad feeling about it all. “Are you sure? I don’t want to get in trouble with the Alpha if she gets caught.” The blonde one spoke up again.

“Oh I’m sure she will keep her mouth shut. Right Snow?” Mason looked back at me with a smirk. “What are you talking about?”

“We are gonna hunt down and kill your real father.”