Two.

Lana’s POV

When I was sent to do the dishes, I already knew that I was in for a rough ride. His footsteps have always haunted me. I had come to recognise his sound, his scent. It always sent a shiver through me.

“Fucking scum!” he mutters as he pushes the door open.

I keep quiet, just trying to get through the dishes. I just wanted to go home.

“I knew as soon as we brought you home, I knew exactly what you were.. That thing on your neck, darkening with each moment that we got closer to home.”

I should have turned to face him. I didn’t and that was my mistake. His hands lock around my neck as he pushes me up against the counter. He slowly starts to squeeze and no matter how much I pull at his hands. My fingers did nothing.

“Why?” I choke out as the pressure continues.

There is no answer, his hands continue squeezing as I desperately gasped for air. Struggling against him, my body is weak, I cannot fight him.

“ABBY!” I just about call her name and I hear my father laughing.

“She has gone out with her mother. It’s just me and you mutt. You will never get to see our daughter again.”

Black spots form in front of my eyes and I knew I didn’t have long left. I was going to die at the hands of a human that I couldn’t stand up too. A man that had beaten me and forced himself on me at any chance he could get.

“DAD!”

He lets go of me as soon as he hears her. My body crumples to the floor as I gasp for air.

“She lost it! She started attacking me!” He starts babbling and I was afraid that Abby would believe him. No matter how much Abby and I loved one another, there were just some things she didn’t know.

Abby glances down at me but I was still trying to breathe.

“All this time, it was you!” 

“What are you talking about Abby? I just had to save myself. Do you know what she is? She attacked me!”

“I thought I had to be imaging it. I thought it couldn’t be true. Why would you adopt us if you were going to beat the shit out of one of us.”

“She isn’t like us. She is one of them, she is a wolf!”

“I know exactly what she is. She is my sister and I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner.”

Abby hurries over to me. Checking over my neck, apologising as tears streamed down her cheeks.

“We care for you Abby. We just don’t want anything to do with them. They took our jobs, they took our homes and now we have to coexist with them. The last thing I want is someone in my house that has anything to do with them. They put us in danger.”

It was what I had been trying to tell them. I didn’t want to live with wolves, the wolves were the reason I was in this mess. I just wanted to be happy.

“What are you going to do Abby?!” I watch as our fathers face becomes full of malice.

“I am getting her out of here and you will never see either of us again!” She snaps back at him, helping me to my feet.

“I can’t let her go anywhere!”

He shoves Abby away and pulls me against him. As my back hits his chest, a knife presses against my throat.

“Let her go!” Abby screams at him but keeps her eyes on mine. I knew what she was doing, she was pleading with me to shift. It would probably be the only thing that could save me right now.

Closing my eyes, the blade presses into my skin, I feel the trickle of blood making its way down my neck as I plead for my wolf to come forward. I hadn’t shifted since I was a child. The shift had only made my father hate me more. Since then, I had refused to let her out.

Opening my eyes, I see Abby staring at my father, her brown eyes laser focussed on him.

“Shift Lana!”

I feel my bones crack as my wolf finally comes forward. The force of my shift sends my father to the ground as I fall onto all fours. The white wolf that I had only seen once before, now stood over my father.

I couldn’t kill him though, even after all the shit that he had put me through. I turn to look at Abby, but she has my blade and before I know it, she stabs our father, ending his miserable life.

There was no time for me to think. I couldn’t even get the words out if I wanted to. His body drops to the floor. Bright red spilling out around him, some splashing my white fur.

“Lana?” I hear my name, but it wasn’t Abby. She was still stood over our father. My blade in her hand.

“Lana?” My name is called again. The voice was inside my head. A deep male voice, one that strangely gave me comfort. A voice that belonged to another wolf.

“Who are you?” I question back as Abby pulls me away. Begging me to follow her.

There is no response, not immediately. I started to think that I had imagined it. That the adrenaline was playing with my head.

“My name is Logan. I am your mate!”