Heaven's Mate

2.

Aurora's POV.

As I strolled through the expansive grounds, the moon created a gentle glow across the Williams estate, and the sound of my shoes echoed off the cobblestone path. Against my skin, the cool night air provided a striking contrast to the intense feelings that were whirling inside of me.

The image of Heaven and Derek together lingered in my mind, their mocking laughing like a terrible joke on my own wishes. I had secretly loved Derek for years, following him about as he carried out his responsibilities as the Alpha to come. But as soon as Heaven entered the picture, my fantasies were dashed.

Heaven has been a constant in my life for as long as I could remember. She was my best friend, my confidante, and my sister. And yet, every time she smiled with Derek, I sensed a wave of bitterness rising inside of me that threatened to swallow me whole.

It all began when, as little kids, Derek pulled me out of a mob of bullies. I became enthralled with him right once, pulled to his fortitude and empathy like a moth to a flame. To be close to him and feel the warmth of his presence, I even accepted a job working at the castle.

However, despite my best efforts, Derek continued to be unaware of my feelings for him. Despite never having discovered his true love, he had no interest in other women. He appeared to be waiting for someone else, not me.

And then Heaven appeared, her contagious laughter and bright smile diverting Derek's focus from me in one instant. Of course, she was unaware of my love for him. How was she able to? That did not stop the jealousy, though, from eating away at me from the inside out like a festering sore.

From the shadows, I saw Heaven and Derek become closer, their relationship growing stronger every day. They were entirely complementary to one another, like two parts of a whole. Despite their progress towards happiness, I could sense my own slipping further away from theirs.

However, I was determined not to let my feelings control me. Every time Heaven mentioned Derek, I forced a grin onto my lips, acting as though I was pleased for her, even though all I wanted was to destroy them.

It was all a stage, a well put up front to cover up the contempt and hate that was growing inside of me. And I did my part flawlessly, tricking even my closest friends and family into thinking that I was completely happy for my sister.

However, I knew the truth in my heart. I was aware that I would do whatever it took to ruin Heaven and Derek's love, even if it meant putting my own happiness at risk.

I felt a tide of determination running through me as I returned to the estate. The war for Derek's heart was far from done, even though I might have lost. And I would do whatever it took to win, even if it meant destroying my own family's foundation.

My anger towards Heaven and Derek grew over the next few days, growing like a poisonous vine that choked the life out of me by wrapping its tendrils around my heart. Seeing them happy together was unbearable for me, since it was a daily reminder of my own unfulfilled love.

Sensationally wicked, even the intricacy of my plot startled me as I devised a plan to destroy them. I went looking for Marcus, a young man who, although Heaven had repeatedly rejected him, had always had feelings for her. I was confident that with his assistance, I could create an irreversible rift between Heaven and Derek.

Little, seemingly harmless acts were the first to give rise to the suggestion that Heaven had been seeing Marcus behind Derek's back. Derek initially wrote off what I said as idle rumours, but as I kept planting doubts in his thoughts, his misgivings grew.

In the meantime, I preyed on Heaven's weakness and turned her against Derek by playing on her fears. I painted Derek as a cunning manipulator who had never really cared for her, whispering lies in her ear. At first, Heaven resisted, my greatest attempts to put out her love for Derek failing. But as time went on, her determination grew weaker and the doubts that had crept into her thoughts grew into intense scepticism.

I set up random meetings between Heaven and Marcus, sowing doubts in her mind with well constructed dialogues intended to increase her mistrust of Derek. Satisfied, I watched as their relationship started to fall apart in front of me, their once-unbreakable bond breaking under the pressure of my manipulation.

But I was not going to be satisfied with just watching my idea come to pass. I persisted in interfering with their affairs, arranging miscommunications and misunderstandings that caused an irreversible rift between them. I created stories, disingenuous proof, and manipulated facts until Heaven and Derek's relationship collapsed under my feet.

And I knew I had succeeded when the dust eventually settled and they faced one another with treachery and anger blazing in their eyes. Heaven and Derek had become bitter enemies, consumed by bitterness and fury towards one another, and unaware of the puppeteer manipulating events from behind the scenes. They were no longer the happy couple they had once been.

But when I witnessed the destruction I had caused, a tiny voice in the recesses of my consciousness warned me that no triumph gained by trickery and deceit could ever genuinely provide me with the happiness I so sorely desired.

And I could not help but wonder whether, in my desire for vengeance, I had lost something far more precious than I could ever expect to acquire, as I looked upon the rubble of their broken love.