Chapter 4

Aurora's POV

Mason starts to shake me, his eyes burning with an emotion that's way too close to hate for me to stay comfortable. I pry myself off of him, taking a couple of steps back. But all the distance I try to put between us is just erased by him still advancing towards me.

The mate pull is indeed still there. It's making me feel almost giddy with our closeness even though I know that he's angry right now.

I just close my eyes when he gets close enough, when his face is just inches from mine. It's either a kiss or a scream, and I don't think I'm prepared for either....

But nothing comes. Instead, I hear the familiar click clack of high heels on the stones set in the garden. I open my eyes and I find that Mason is already walking away from me, towards a familiar figure in the distance.

It's Margot, coming in to check on us.

"Is everything okay?" she asks Mason, but her eyes are on me. "Rory? What is happening?"

"Nothing," is all I can say.

Mason is the one who decides to speak. "I think she got overwhelmed by the party so I decided to check on her here. She's all good now, though. I just had to make sure she's going to be fine here all alone."

"That's really sweet of you," she croons, pulling him by the back of the neck to kiss him squarely on the lips.

I have to ask myself: Does she know? Does she know that he's also my mate and now she's deliberately trying to make me feel jealous?

The thought of it scares me and angers me at the same time. If she can indeed feel it, then there is no need to rub it in my face like this. She already won. She has my parents' approval. She has everyone's respect and admiration.

And she also got my mate.

* * *

The party is still in full swing when I enter the house. All of Margot's friends are there, including her friends' friends and everything in between. They're swarming around the house like loose flies, and all I can do is swerve past them until I reach the bottom of the stairs.

I just want to lock myself in my room and forget... Everything.

I'm about to run up, but then I feel a hand closing over my arm. I turn around expecting it to be Margot, but it's just Mom.

"Honey, where are you going?" she asks, her eyebrows furrowed in concern.

My anger is budding now, and part of me wants to just snatch my hand and tell her that it's good that she finally remembers the daughter whose birthday everyone is supposed to be celebrating. But of course, I bite my tongue and just say, "I want to go to my room. The crowd is making me feel a little overwhelmed."

"Okay, let me take you there," she offers, which is quite kind of her to say.

She wades through the crowd with me and takes me to my bedroom. I thought she would just close the door behind her and leave, but she actually goes in with me and stays with me next to the bed as I lie down.

"I can tell it's not just you being overwhelmed," she offers when the silence stretches between us a little too long. "What's happening, honey? You've been off since Mason showed up. Do you know him?"

Maybe my mother is not as oblivious as I thought. I have always been under the impression that the only child she notices is Margot, but I guess she takes note of me too. The realization strips me right down to a vulnerable state and I find myself staring at her with a heart full of trust.

"I found out that Mason is also my mate," I whisper. When she just stares at me in shock, I shake my head and bury my face into my hands. "I know, I know. I have no intention of making things complicated, but it's like I'm a slave to these feelings and all I can feel is this great desire for him. But I still know that Margot is the one he loves."

Mom just stares at me for a while, and I don't know if it's just because she wants to choose her words carefully or if she's passing judgment. Either way, I turn away and just refuse to look at her.

"Mason is the one destined for your sister," she says at last, and I face her slowly. "It's only right for you not to get in the way, and I'm proud of you for that."

"But what do I do with my feelings?" I ask, desperate for advice.

But my mother only shakes her head. "There is nothing else to do but to supress them. Kill them. Keep them inside you until they wither on their own. You can't be getting in the way of their love. Not ever. And this should remain as a secret between us that we will both take to the grave."

My heart breaks, but I know that she's right. She kisses my cheek and leaves, and I'm just left there trying to fight back tears. Supressing my feelings. Killing them, just like she said.

But the more time passes, the worse it gets. Suddenly my entire body is tingling with pain, as though I'm being pierced by tiny needles all at the same time. My chest is tight and suddenly I feel like someone is holding a bag over my face, restricting my breathing.

I get out of bed to splash my face with some water, and that's when I hear something from the room next to mine.

Margot's room.

Moaning. I hear moaning.

I want to shut down my sensitive hearing, but it's almost as though fate itself wants me to hear all of it. The bed creaking in a certain rhythm, Margot asking for more. Faster, harder, she's pleading. Mason responding with a groan of pleasure and hearing the bed creak louder and harder until it's all just grating my ears and my heart and maybe even my soul.

He might just be claiming her, even with the mate bond still present and strong between us.