The Alpha And His Mate (Silver Hills #1)

Chapter 20

"Do you like your coffee cold or something?"

I looked up into Caspar's enquiring eyes and smiled lightly before taking a long sip of the latte in my hands.

"It's still warm," I objected.

I was conscious that my attention wasn't fully on Caspar at that moment. I was thinking of how I woke up in bed that morning- alone- with my life permanently altered.

Still, I got up and I hauled myself to the coffee shop so I could discover Caspar's secret.

"So," I begin to say, placing my coffee cup down on the table. Garlands of flowers hung around us as we sat on the smallest table outside the little shop. The sun beamed down on us yet a strange chill still infected my veins.

"So," he mimics me, his violet eyes twinkling. Even in the sunlight, he still looked like a dark prince with his long hair hanging down to his shoulders and a long coat thrown over his jumper.

Apparently summer in Silver Hills wasn't warm enough for him.

"To start with, where are you from? I noticed an accent?" I hoped he would answer truthfully and not dodge the question.

He almost grimaced. "I'm from here actually."

"No way!"

"Yes! I was born here, though I moved away at a young age."

That explained the accent then. "Where did you go?"

He cast his eyes to the sky, as if reminiscing. "Everywhere. I travelled with my mother and we explored the world. My life was an adventure."

"What happened?" I asked, hoping something he said would explain the purple eyes and vampire-slaying skills.

His expression darkened quickly, like thunderclouds rolling over a blue sky. "A curse," he muttered, the words pained and almost indistinguishable.

I swallowed hard at that. Curses had always meant witches to me, but perhaps they weren't the only creatures who could inflict magical pain on others.

When he spoke again his words were clearer and more sure.

"I still don't know who did it," I admitted. "I was eight and living in Scotland. My mother pissed off the wrong person and next thing I know-" he gestured to his spectacular eyes- "I have these."

I chose my next words cautiously. "But what do the eyes mean? Surely that wasn't the whole curse."

He sat back in his chair, a grim turn to his lips. "The eyes were just a side-effect. The truth of the curse is that I spend my whole life being hunted by bloody vampires."

I tried to keep my features neutral in response to that statement.

"My blood has been enchanted to lure the bloodsuckers towards me. It's only through luck and the help of a few friends that I've survived this long."

"That's awful," I whispered. I had lived a life of constant stress and anxiety since I discovered the truth about Silver Hills, I couldn't imagine a decades worth of fear and never being truly safe.

He shrugged. "I'm glad of it now. Otherwise those beasts at the cinema would've taken you away."

I smiled gratefully and reached out for his hand in what I hoped would be a platonic manner. "You saved my life that day."

"Truthfully, goddess," he said, the nickname falling over me like a death shroud, "I could sense you were involved with the same monsters as me form the minute I saw you in the bookstore."