Two.

Irina’s POV

I try to ignore the strangers’ intoxicating scent and focus on my mother, she was more important right now and even though it was nerve-wracking seeing her like this, I try to keep my shaking hands steady as I use a towel to gently wipe the blood away from her skin so that I could see what I was dealing with.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the handsome man leaning on our kitchen table, crossing his arms in front of his chest, but his eyes were fixed on my movements. It looked like he was interested in me, but the way he was watching me, made me feel uncomfortable and his scent swirled in my mind.  When I look up, he turns his head away, glancing around our small home. As I carry on dabbing the damp towel against my mothers wounds. I discover that the blood splattered across her body is not hers?! The more I wipe the more confused I become. I wonder how she got away with one tiny wound that was almost healed and still ended up covered in blood. Where did she go?? Did she go to the war?? But I say nothing and keep my mouth shut.

The man does not speak, yet helps by providing me with clean towels and by the time we are finished, mother is finally stirring. The strange man leaves us alone and heads to the sink whilst I help my mom to sit up

“Mom, what did you do?”

She doesn’t answer me but stares at the man

“Did he do this?” I keep my voice low, praying to the Moon Goddess that he was not listening in

She shakes her head ever so slightly but I’m not sure I can believe her, especially when she left without even leaving me a note. What if he had set her up, what if this was some sort of kidnapping attempt?What if she really went to the war?

I can't get the thoughts out of my head and slowly pull the small shiny knife from my moms jeans and hide it in my pyjama's waistband

The tall man walks back in carrying a glass of water. Its only now I see that he is covered in blood too. Too my surprise, I just realize how large he really was, his shirt was torn, showing his muscular body. I tried to hide how my feelings but his scent is making my head dizzy and chills run up my veins, it is definitely something I had never felt before and I didn't like it.

He carefully kneels down, handing my mom the glass and tells her to take small sips before turning his attention to me

“Where did you learn to do that?”

I shrug my shoulders trying to avoid the truth "She is my mom, I had to help”

“But you were prepared to fix stitches. Is this something you have done before?”

“No” I lie through gritted teeth, I wasn’t sure what he was accusing me of. Either way I did not like it and I wasn’t going to tell a random stranger that I had taught myself how to stitch things up after one to many run ins with Vivian.

“Who are you?” I finally feel confident enough to ask as he rises back up. My hand sitting on my hip, ready to grab the knife at any moment

He starts heading towards the door, glancing back over his shoulder and he smiles “I am Damien Lonecrown, the Alpha’s son”

My half brother, the true and future heir to the Lonecrown pack. I gulp as I stare at him and he turns back to face me properly, frowning as I gulp for air. I knew I had an older brother but because of my identity, we had never been introduced, my father forbade it but here he was, stood in our tiny house, with his deep green eyes completely focussed on me

I take a deep breathe and then let it out, it was going to be now or never. “I…. I…. I am your half sister”

“You!” he sounded annoyed rather than surprised

He knew of me, had my father told him? If so why had he kept us away from each other? 

Damien does not speak, instead he stares at me slightly bewildered

I had so many questions for him, I wanted to know how long he knew about me, why he stared at me the way he did but instead I panic and tell him to leave.

"O..out!" my voice was trembling

He glances towards my mother who was pretending to drink water so she didn’t have to speak and trying to act like she wasn’t even in the room.

Damien’s green eyes linger on me for a moment, but to me it felt like a century had passed before he  bows his head, stepping out into the cold air but I swear I hear him say ‘until we meet again’

I turn back to my mom who has conveniently disappeared and realise Damiens scent was almost gone, why did he smell the way he did?

“MOM!” there was no answer but I find her in the kitchen. “That is my brother, what were you doing with him and whose blood was that?”

“I went to the war”

“You what? Why would you do that when father specifically said to stay here, plus you are not even a warrior”

"I had too"

"You had too. What does that even mean and why didnt you tell me?"

“Irina we will talk about this tomorrow”

"No mom, you need to tell me, what the hell happened out there"

"Irina, I have already said we will discuss this tomorrow with your father!"

I groan, I knew there would be no chance in getting anything out of her tonight. So I slink upstairs to bed with my heart full of anger and don't bother to give her my most annoyed look.

I couldnt sleep, how could I when all I could think of was my half brother and the way he looked at me, like I was some kind of freak.

Grabbing a notebook, I throw myself on my bed and start to write down all the questions I had, getting myself more and more annoyed and scribbling the words out or tearing off the paper and throwing it on the floor. Each question I had, led to a new one and before I know it my alarm rings. Great another school day! I rolled my eyes and climb out of bed. Mom's probably off to work by now, I won't have a chance to ask her the questions. I hoped the day would pass by quickly, then I can have all the answers tonight.