A FAKE IDENTITY
1697 Words
SOLANE
Victor grabbed my wrist and pulled me inside. He shrouded a blanket over my shoulders, covering me in his wolf scent. We seized our mouths with silence as those guards were roaming right outside the door. A few minutes later, the sound of the boots slowly went far.
“Why are you here?” Victor whispered.
“I want to enroll in the Wolves Academy, and you will help me.” My hands put my bag on his blue couch.
The news of Hale's death startled his soul, and his face turned pale. Before he could console my pain, a loud bang on the door startled him.
"Hide inside!" Victor walked over to the door.
My feet ran to his bedroom while he opened the door... only to be greeted by a guard.
"Have you seen a hunter?"
I grasped my mouth and suppressed the sound of my breathing.
"What? N-No!" Victor lied, his hands shaking behind his waist.
“God! I'm so scared!” He was faking it.
"We're searching for him, be careful." The guard glanced around the living room for a brief second, then slowly shifted his gaze back to Victor's face.
“Close the door!” He walked away.
“I understand you want revenge, but enrolling in the Wolves Academy is way too dangerous. Lozark Aylestone will kill both of us.” Victor closed the door, turning his head to me.
“You're an alchemist. You can find a way to block my scent, Victor.” My feet took a step closer to him.
“Lozark Aylestone is a maniac. If he finds out about you…he will send the entire wolf force after us.” He perched on the blue couch.
“You shouldn't risk your life, go back!”
Leaving with no choice, I opened my bag, pulled out a dagger, and pointed it at his neck.
“Solane!” He widened his eyes.
“You can't back off from your promise, Victor!”
“If Hale and I hadn't saved your life from the enemy pack that day, you would have been dead by now.”
He wiped off the sweat from his forehead.
“No one knows a thing about Alpha's son. Even if you enroll in the academy, you can't find him.”
“That's not your concern!” I whispered.
“My brother, who never hurt an innocent soul, died a horrible death. You can't expect me to forget everything and move on!”
Victor sucked in a deep breath, grabbed the back of his neck, and stood on his feet. A look of guilt flashed over his face.
“This is for Hale!” Words came out of his mouth, submitting to my request at last. I softened my guard and slowly pulled back my dagger.
“Come with me!” Having said that, his feet headed towards a wooden door right next to his bedroom. My steps followed him quietly.
He grabbed a key from a small stand attached to the wall and unlocked the door. The room was a secret chamber for his alchemy. As we stepped inside, all my eyes could see were antique or strange things.
“Isn’t alchemy illegal in your pack?”
“Lozark Aylestone banned a lot of things. Alchemy is one of them.” He grabbed a small bottle from one of the wooden drawers of his study table.
“Why don't you leave the pack?”
“No one can leave the pack without Lozark's permission, and Lozark never gives permission.” Victor opened the lid of the bottle.
He clutched a small pin between his fingers and poked it into the skin around his wrist. A straight line of blood coming out of the wound slid down into the bottle.
"What are you doing?" My head tilted slightly.
“I will make you a jade bracelet with my blood
The bracelet will block your scent, so never remove it from your wrist.”
"How does it work?" My mind was always a curious one.
"We have a flower in the Kezent Moon pack. When mixed with a wolf's blood, it creates a strong toxin, and the wolf's scent becomes three times stronger, which can block any other scent on the human body. It's called the Lumin flower, red in color."
“Next, we need a fake ID for you.” He again opened the wooden drawers and grabbed a piece of paper.
“Here is the list of some fake names!” His hands passed me the list. Among so many different names, my gaze stopped at a particular one.
“Hailey!” The name Hailey resembled Hale.
Victor smiled and nodded his head. He then
asked me to take a good rest as more challenges were coming our way.
***
The next day…
Victor wrapped a sea-green jade bracelet around my wrist. He was up all night, making the bracelet for me.
“Your scent is finally gone!” The corner of his mouth curved.
My gaze observed every tiny detail carved on the bracelet. We hunters had a habit of taking notes of every object.
“What about the fake identity documents?” My gaze landed on his face again.
“I have asked someone to forge adoption papers for us. He's an expert."
“Who?”
“Tobi Andrews, my nephew!"
"He won't rat me out?"
"Tobi doesn't know you're a hunter. That boy never asks questions as long as we pay him." He said, confident and calm.
“Let's discuss the plan in detail.” Victor grabbed a small silver needle. The tip of the needle was hot and dipped in black ink.
“You're Hailey Randle, my adopted daughter!”
“Adopted daughter?” I was startled.
“We have an orphanage in the pack for all the abandoned pups. The orphanage is called Lancasters’ Home.” He gripped the needle tightly.
“For your background information, your parents abandoned you at the Lancasters' Home right after your birth. You don't remember them. When you turned twenty-two, you got adopted by Victor Randle.”
My head shook in response.
“All the children in the orphanage have a special blank ink wolf tattoo pinned on their wrist. The warden carved that tattoo on orphans when she welcomed a new admission. It works as an identity for the orphan wolves."
"Endure the pain!" Victor grabbed my right hand and turned it over.
I bit my bottom lip as he inserted the hot ink into the skin right below my wrist and drew the face of a wolf. The black ink slowly got mixed with the color of my blood.
"Once the rumor spreads that I adopted a daughter, Alpha will send someone to check on your identity." Victor pulled out the needle from my skin.
"What if he cross-checks with the orphanage?" I pulled back my hand, feeling numb.
"The orphanage is a bit far from here. He won't bother to visit them unless your actions catch his attention. For now, he will only cross-check with me!”
A breath slipped free of my lips.
***
One week later…
Victor strictly commanded me to stay inside for a week to let the tattoo heal, whereas he went to the Wolves Academy and submitted my admission form. The fake documents of my adoption passed the review by the administration. On the other hand, Lozark sent a guard to Victor's house.
"Show me your wrist." He uttered the words, flashing a cold expression. His eyes were observing my moves.
I revealed the tattoo on my wrist while Victor stood in silence behind me. The guard drifted his fierce gaze from my face and focused on the tattoo on my wrist. He roughly rubbed my skin, attempting to pull it off.
"Ouch!" The word slipped free of my lips.
The guard stopped, landing his gaze on Victor. He asked for the adoption papers. Upon receiving the papers from Victor, he read the words in deep silence.
"Everything seems fine!" Having said that, his hands passed the documents to Victor.
I turned my head to Victor, and he flashed a smile at me.
"Show me your claws!" The guard commanded, grabbing my attention again.
Victor and I weren't prepared for it.
"Quick!"
My hands refused to move. The guard lost his patience and grabbed my wrist, pulling my hand closer to his face.
“Reveal it!”
“What's wrong?” He narrowed his eyes.
I slid my free hand under my shirt behind my waist, intending to grab the dagger tucked into my jeans. When my fingers wrapped around the handle of the dagger, another guard barged into the house.
“A few of our guards caught a suspicious man near the Green Line. Perhaps the hunter we're searching for!" He announced, catching up his breath. The guard immediately freed my wrist from his grip and strode out of the house, following that other guard.
I released the dagger behind my waist.
***
Three days later...
It turned out the suspicious man caught near the Green Line was from an enemy pack. He suddenly became the center of attention. On the other hand, my identity was confirmed and the admission procedure was completed.
The academy was separated from the pack, surrounded by huge pine trees. My steps approached the prodigious black gate of the academy, wrapped in golden pothos leaves.
Two masculine guards were positioned on either side of the black gate. Sensing my presence, their eyes flashed a keen look.
“I am Hailey Randle, new admission.”
“ID card?” The guard on the left asked.
I pulled out the ID card from my bag and showed it to them. The academy provides IDs upon the confirmation of admission. The guard scanned every detail on the card.
“You can go inside!” They opened the gates.
Sucking in a breath, I stepped inside, slowly taking steps towards the main building. The academy was similar to a castle.
“Stop right there!” One of the two guards groaned behind me.
My chest tightened as my head slowly turned to them.
- Writer
