The Alpha And His Mate (Silver Hills #1)

Chapter 7

There was an unexpressed guest in my house when I returned home.

I was so busy going through the plan in my head, I had barely noticed him until my mom waved me over.

"Persephone, come over here! I want you to meet someone."

I begrudgingly let myself be beckoned into our kitchen. My mom was cooking something at the stove that smelt like oil and garlic. Besides her stood a man who looked to be in his late thirties with sandy blonde hair and intense blue eyes. I supposed he was handsome in a way. I could tell from the way my mom jittered nervously she was immensely attracted to him.

"Persephone, this is Sebastian. Sebastian, this is my daughter." My mom swiftly introduced us before turning back to her cooking.

"You're welcome to join us for dinner, sweetheart," my mom told me. "Sebastian was just released from hospital today and he's from out of town so I decided to let him stay with us for the night."

For this night and every night.

"Hospital?" I asked. "I hope nothing was too wrong."

He smiled politely and tugged at his pristine white shirt. Nothing about him indicated he had recently been hospitalised. "I was visiting your lovely town when I got into an unfortunate car accident. I was lucky to walk away with a mild concussion and some scratches." He had a low pleasant voice, almost hypnotic. His teeth were shining and white; for some reason they reminded me of sharks. "I was also lucky that have someone as lovely as your mother looking after me. She is truly an asset to Silver Hills."

My mom blushed and stuttered something about flattery getting you everywhere. I could see where this was going and I didn't like it. My dad had died before I was born so I never get the chance to mourn him or miss having a father figure. I certainly didn't want handsome Sebastian to be my step-dad.

Thinking about dads reminded me of my mission. I couldn't allow myself to be distracted.

"Mom," I said. "Do you mind if I stay the night with a friend."

"But honey, you just got back from Angel's house. At this rate you might as well pack your bags and move in." My mom played at being concerned, but I could tell she was more than happy to be left alone with Sebastian.

"I have other friends," I lied. "Genevieve invited me round to hers. We were going to... talk about books."

My mom frowned and stopped stirring the pan she had been intently focusing on. She turned to face me, brown eyes confused. "Persephone. You hate Genevieve."

"I hated Genevieve. But that was high school, and we recently found a common interest." If I lied anymore my tongue may fall out.

"A common interest... in books?" I could tell my mom was trying to think of one time she had seen Genevieve read anything. She would come up short; Genevieve liked books almost as much as she liked me.

I glanced at the clock and then at the darkening sky. I needed to hurry this up.

My mom sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose you can go then. As long as you and Genevieve don't murder each other and you don't go into the woods. Rumours have been spreading about some nasty wolfs getting brave and attacking humans."

I smiled, feeling bad about the fact I was planning on doing everything she told me not too.

"Goodbye then," I said to her and Sebastian. He smiled and gave me a slight nod in dismissal.

I raced up to my room, loosing a breath in relief. Now we could get to business. I flung myself into the dark bedroom and searched for my light switch desperately.

My lamp switched on from the other side of the room. I stifled I scream at the dark shadow in the corner.

"Coward." Genevieve strutted into the light, a smug look on her face. "Now get ready. Quickly."

"Is Richard-"

"Richards doing his job. Now do yours." She pointed towards something on my bed. I moved forward to better see what is was.

"What's this for?" I asked, grabbing the gorgeous dress and holding it into the light.

"It's part of your costume," she said. "We want you to be as distracting as possible."

"And I can't be distracting in jeans and a sweatshirt?" I demanded, trying not to think about running around in a cold wood wearing a scanty dress. "Where did you even get this?"

The dress was the deep green of the trees, patterned with floral embellishments that sparkled like starlight. The v-shaped neckline and short sleeves would show off plenty of my pale chest. The skirt finished just below my knees, and was loose and flowing.

"That," she replied, "is mine. And where is your sense of drama? I'm about to release you into the woods as wolf bait, you may as well look pretty whilst running for your life."

I bit on my bottom lip, but went into the bathroom to get changed. When I walked out moments later, with my dark hair falling freely down my shoulders and the green dress clinging to my figure, Genevieve grinned maliciously.

"My, my! You'll make a pretty corpse." She sauntered towards me holding something shiny in her hands. I flinched away from her when she raised a hand.

Reluctantly, I let her place something cold around my neck. When she stepped back I investigated the long necklace. A small opal shimmered at my breast, hanging from a delicate chain.

"For good luck," Genevieve explained. "It's not from me though."

"Whose it from?" I asked, bewildered by the beauty.

Genevieve looked contemplative for a second. "Nobody you'll know."

I nodded and inhaled. "I'm ready then."

"No." Genevieve said. "You'll never be ready for what you're about to do. But I suppose I've prepared you as much as I can."

She grabbed my arm and led me to the woods.