One.

Lana’s POV

“Will you stop meddling! This is your sister’s day!”  My mom shouts at me for the third time today. It was no different to any other day. They always preferred Abby. At least this time I wasn’t being hit.

“I’m sorry, okay, but I need to talk to you!” She glares at me with those bright blue eyes of hers.

“What a surprise?! Can you not let your sister enjoy her day without making it about you!” She scolds me again as she hurries about putting the decorations up. The problem was it was never about me. They didn’t give a shit about me and it had been this way since they adopted me. 

Abby and I came as a pair. We were not biological sisters but we had been inseparable in the orphanage and she had taken me under her wing. Our parents weren’t allowed to adopt her without me, so they took me too. It would have been better if they had left me behind.

“But mom, please you need to listen!”

Her hand finally reaches out and strikes my face. I don’t know why I expected anything different. I get hit at least once a day.

“That is enough Lana. You are twenty years old. Grow up!”

Staring at her while holding my reddening cheek, I keep my mouth shut. Mom may hit me, but dad, well he did a lot worse.

Mom didn’t even have a clue what I was, as far as she was aware. I was just like her, human! Yet for some reason, I could never stand up for myself against them. Maybe they were the ones who had created a deep hatred for my own kind.

Dad appears, carrying a platter, his deep grey eyes scanning over me. I watch as his face turns from relaxed to one that is full of anger.

“You! Why is she here Millie?”

My mom sighs, but refuses to look back at him. Sometimes I wondered why they were even together.

“Abby wants her here.”

“She isn’t welcome in this house!” He grits his teeth as he glares at me.

Mom may not have known what I was but dad certainly did. Ever since I made a comment about how people had smelt. 

I was maybe four at the time, not long after we were adopted. Our family had been invited to a street party. Mom wanted to celebrate that they finally had children. But I ruined the party for them. In one single comment.

“Why do they smell dirty?” 

That comment had changed everything. My father knew instantly what I was and he was livid, but he couldn’t get rid of me. What kind of dad would he have looked like? Instead everything was kept behind closed doors, even Abby didn’t know.

He grabs me by the collar of my shirt, ripping me off my feet as he pulls me from the room.

“I told you, you were not to come back!”

“Abby invited me.” I try to stand up for myself but he has always made me feel powerless. Yet anywhere else, I was confident in who I was

His hand wraps into my curls as he yanks my head back. He holds his lips centimetres from my ear. 

“You better not ruin this for my daughter.” He throws me down on the ground like I was nothing and boots me in the ribs.

I don’t know why I agreed to come, maybe a part of me hoped they had changed, Maybe they would see I wasn’t such a weak girl anymore. That’s what I wanted to tell them. I wanted to know about everything Abby and I had succeeded in doing. After all, they hated wolves.

The doorbell rings and I hear my mother squeal.

“She’s here, she’s here.” They had never cheered like that for me, ever!

Standing up, my father knocks me to the ground again before going to the door. My ribs are already aching and as I roll up my top, I see the bruising already appearing. I may be a wolf but for some reason. I just didn’t heal very well.

Pulling my top down, I tuck it back into my jeans. I didn’t need Abby worrying about this now. She had always suspected something but had never known the truth. I had managed to keep that from her.

I hear her squeal again and then ask where I was. On cue, I wandered in from the kitchen, plastering a big smile on my face. Abby was my best friend, my sister. She looked out for me and I knew she would come to my defence if she knew about mom and dad. Yet they loved her and I couldn’t break that apart.

She wraps her arms around me, acting like we hadn’t seen each other for months, when the truth was, we were together every night, sometimes during the day too.

I flinch when she squeezes me. My ribs felt like they were going to pop out of place and I see her frown but she says nothing.

“Mom, Dad, this is amazing. Thank you so much!” She quickly pulls her red hair up in a bun, her eyes scanning me as she continues to frown.

“Let’s open presents!” Mom pulls Abby into the small lounge. Where a stack of gifts sat waiting. Abby was turning twenty five but they still bought her everything they could think of. My last birthday, I got a tin of baked beans.

I sit in silence on the floor. I had never been allowed to sit on the sofas. Dad had always told me he didn’t want my wolf stench on them. Here I always felt like a small child, here I hated myself. Abby sits down on the floor next to me and leans into me. This time, I couldn’t help but yelp and she frowns.

“What is it? Did you get hurt last night?”

“Yeah,” I lie, but she continues to frown at me.

“You’re lying to me Lana!”

“It’s fine!” I snap back.

“You’re hiding something. I know you Lana, you don’t get hurt!”

“Abby, it’s your birthday. Just enjoy it!”

“I will get to the bottom of this!” she half whispers, half shouts at me and I can feel my fathers eyes on me.

They had been doing this to me all my life and Abby had never found out. I wasn’t about to let the information out now, because what if Abby takes their side?. What if Abby sees the mongrel that they see??