The Alpha And His Mate (Silver Hills #1)

Chapter 11

"Did you have fun with Genevieve?" My mom was already up when I traipsed into our house. I thanked God that she was too caught up in himself to notice what a mess I was.

"Yeah, it was great," I lied. "What happened to Sebastian? Did you scare him off already?"

My mom wasn't even offended by this. She just smiled dreamily. "He had to leave early, but he promised he was coming back to see me soon."

I rolled my eyes and made my way towards the stairs; I was in desperate need of a shower. "When's the wedding?" I jokingly called to her. Rather than scolding me, she laughed again.

"Whenever I can get him to ask the question."

I scrunched my face up in disgust and flung myself into the bathroom. Now I was beginning to feel the effects of staying up all night. The pristine white walls of the shower weren't helping my emerging headache.

I let hot water run in rivulets down my body, the water turning brown with the dirt and blood. Guilt nagged at me, for everything I had done. More than ever I wished to be normal.

Then it hit me: I could be normal. I'd chased off Jax and Genevieve. I'd even chased off Jax. They were the people messing my life up. I could spend the rest of the summer with Angel and then go to college like I'd always planned.

With that thought in my mind, I switched the shower off with plans to call Angel and ask her to hang out. Hopefully she wouldn't be too pissed off about me ditching her last night.

I turned to open the shower curtain and grab a towel when I saw something. Through the hazy shower curtain there was a shadow. A shadow of a man. I clamped my mouth shut so I wouldn't scream. If there was an intruder, the last thing I wanted was my mom rushing into the danger zone.

Heart beating, I closed my eyes and counted down from 10. It was just an illusion. It couldn't be real. Nobody could get into this room without someone noticing.

Unless they used magic.

I hastily opened my eyes and decided immediate action was best. Not caring that I was naked, I flung open the shower curtain just in time to see a strange dark mist fill the room. I gasped in surprise. The mist began to creep out through the window, which was open although I had been certain it was shut when I entered the room.

I swallowed down the bile in my throat and wrapped myself in a warm towel. Somebody had been watching me shower. And just when I thought I could get on with being normal.

"Persephone!" My mom called from downstairs.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah?"

"I thought we could go out and get lunch together in a bit- only if you wanted to, of course." She sounded brighter than usual. Sebastian must've had quite the effect on her.

"That sounds great," I replied. I could always see Angel another day. My mom hardly ever had time off work to spend with me.

I would try and enjoy myself today. Try to forget the events of last night.

It was only in the car a few hours later, on my way to the Silver Hills Grill, that I realised something.

"Mom?" I asked, trying to keep panic out of my voice. "Have you picked up any bottles from the front door this morning?"

She looked at me in confusion. "No. Where you expecting there to be bottled outside our house this morning."

"Just one," I corrected. "And it's nothing really. Just something a friend said she would do."

It wasn't just nothing. I had finished off my last bottle yesterday, expecting more to appear as usual. Of course, now Genevieve wasn't in a mood to help me. In fact, it would be a just punishment for her to leave me in agonising pain and tormented by mysterious voices.