Connection - Golden Lycans Sequel 3/3 [Complete]

I Want You

***Ophelia***

Showering had been more of a cathartic experience than I had been expecting; I felt like I was washing away some a lot of the tension that I felt within myself in recent weeks. I could finally relax, standing under the steady stream of hot water as I mulled multiple things over. I hadn’t had this much to think about before, and my brain was feeling overwhelmed. Exiting the bathroom, I was feeling a lot more like my usual self, except I evidently wasn't the same, underneath.

Something was changing, and as excited as I was about it finally starting to happen, I was now rather apprehensive, because I still had no control over any of it.

I scrunch my damp waves in my palms as I cross the corridor to my bedroom, entering my softly-lit room and shutting the door behind me.

Turning around, I am startled to now notice Ares, sat in the armchair in the corner of my room, wearing some more of my father's old clothes.

My heart quickens to see him here, and I am surprised I don’t feel more self-conscious, standing braless in a cropped t-shirt and pyjama shorts.

"Ares. I thought you were going home," I say quietly with a smile spreading across my face, feeling joyous to see he hadn't done that at all.

I meet his dark, intense gaze from across the room as he stands, before slowly crossing the room towards me.

"I was going to but...your mother reminded me. Well, she gave me a choice, as such," he replies softly, stopping in front of me.

"A choice?" I ask, a little amused about this.

The longer I stand here gazing at him, the warm light from my floor lamp is doing his features more justice than I can scarcely believe.

How had I not found him this attractive when we first met?

Not that it mattered now...

"Your mother asked me what I wanted. The choice was that I could go home...or, I could stay and be with you - A choice that you also have a say in," he hastily adds, looking anxious, "because I can leave if that is what you'd prefer. But, to be candid...that is not what I want. Ophelia. I never want to leave your side again. I want to fall asleep hugging you again and again, because in all honesty, nothing has ever felt better, having your warmth against me."

I bite my lip at this raw, impassioned request.

My heart is beating obviously in my chest as I consider the best way to reply, opting to reach out with my hands for his, slowly weaving our fingers together.

"Can you…feel me?" I ask him, staring into his eyes a little fiercely, he nods immediately, hopefully feeling the affection that I am feeling for him right now...and probably an increasing amount of something else, too.

Simultaneously, now, I can finally feel something from him too; a pure, deep affection. Admiration...attraction...but best of all, he is genuinely so happy.

"Then you know that I don't want you to leave, Ares. I want you with me...I WANT you," I tell him boldly, feeling an undeniable tension building rapidly between us once again, just like in the garden at the ball.

I can either give into it again, or diffuse it, and my heart is beginning to beat more and more in anticipation.

The decision is soon made for me, however, when Ares releases my hands and instead weaves his fingers into my damp hair, holding the back of my head in his hands, his gaze dropping to my lips.

"That moment," he mutters, feeling a stab of regret, "on the balcony. Instead of being so fearful, upon the realisation of how I felt, I should have just...."

With no more hesitation I grab the sides of the t-shirt he is wearing, and I pull him even closer to me, making my wish more than obvious as our noses briefly touch.

He smiles in amusement at my impatience, finally responding to my invitation rather eagerly; not opting for soft lingering kisses this time, and instead going straight for firm and intense.

My arms are around him at once, and I feel it all over me; the resulting effect is rather immediate this time with next-to-no buildup. My hands are quickly abuzz with the familiar tingly electric feeling that has once again shot straight to my palms and fingertips.

I no longer feel tired anymore; I feel alive, a flame of desire burning low down within me, craving more contact...just...more...

I lift up the bottom of his t-shirt, dragging it upwards while Ares continues to wrap his arms around me. I giggle against his mouth as I realise that he has no idea what I'm trying to do.

"Take it off," I whisper to him, and he finally allows me to do so. It feels good to feel his bare skin against mine again, which only intensifies the feelings I am having. I feel him grab my arm briefly, at a point, and the memory of being grabbed by our home invader storms into my mind; a screaming man engulfed in flame...

I let go of Ares immediately, fear striking my heart as I look down at my trembling hands.

I step backwards until I hit the dresser behind me, unable to purge it from my memory.

"Did I hurt you?" He asks urgently, his dark eyes full of worry.

"No, not at all, it wasn't you," I gasp, trying to reassure him, my hands still tingling with an unobservable static, "I'm sorry, I'm just…I’m scared...of myself, Ares. I don't want to hurt you like I hurt them!"

He makes a sad sound and looks back at me with absolute sympathy.

"A feeling that I can more than relate to," he says so empathetically, as he rubs his own fingertips together, "I felt it again too, so quickly this time, but I truly do not feel like it's a bad thing. Moreover, I do not think you would ever hurt me, Ophelia."

I hug my arms around my chest and sit down on my bed, my good mood and the excited feeling I had just experienced, evaporating as I realise that I am feeling quite traumatised by what happened last night. More than I had realised.

"I didn't want to kill all those people...no matter how threatening they were," I admit quietly, staring at the floor, “taking lives…that just isn't me! I killed people...and I don't even know how many.”

"Lia, you're a good person and you want to heal, not harm, so I think it is very normal for you to feel like this," Ares says, coming over and sitting down next to me, "your body protected you, on instinct. It happened to your mother, when she was new to using her magic. I heard her recall while she was helping your father with dinner."

I take a deep breath in and breathe out slowly, feeling uneasy, once again.

"I have waited for something to happen inside of me, for so long now," I begin, feeling a complex mix of emotions over it all, "and now it has, but without me intending to, and I am scared of what that means. My mother has never obliterated anyone from the inside-out, Ares. It was terrifying."

He nods with a furrowed brow.

"I understand. To the extent that I am able to understand," he says before he looks at me earnestly, "but remember what else you have done with what is inside of you. There is a whole garden out there, that blossomed out of nothing. Death might have come from you Ophelia, but also so much life."

I sigh and smile back at him, but I still feel a little ashamed.

"Lay down, and I shall tell you about how I got here," Ares then says, patting my pillows.

I had forgotten about this, and it is the distraction that I need, because I have wanted to know this since he picked me up outside in the garden. I nod and eagerly lay down on my back with my head on the pillows.

"When I was six...just four and a half years ago," he begins with a chuckle, "I was playing on my own in our orchard, and I heard a whisper on the wind. It called me over and over, until I arrived at our wisteria tree. The voice encouraged me to think a certain way, and it was that day, that I discovered the other realm. The whisper then explained how to get back home, and that was it. It was the most beautiful place. Gravity was different; I felt much heavier, which initially put me off, but I would visit now and then, finding the place so interesting, and I soon realised that time moved differently there. But it wasn't until Vale was announced by Gaia, that I decided to use the realm to my advantage. In two years here, my body aged around eleven while there. I studied, I drew, I studied more and more, but I never heard the whisper again, not until the day after Madeleine's party. I went home that afternoon, for advice, because after I found you on the basketball court, I was suddenly experiencing a bloodlust I should not have had. That time, the whisper had become a voice. A real, feminine voice, and this time it was pleading...pleading for help. I went into the realm, and I was confused. As always, there was no one there, and I didn’t hear it again."

He clears his throat and then continues.

"Then...last night, I could not sleep. I felt agitated and restless, and I went to the window. Looking out, my attention was soon drawn to a blue, glowing light down in the orchard. I left my room, and I followed the light, and on the wisteria tree, was a large butterfly-"

I sit up at hearing this and look at him urgently.

"-was it a blue morpho?" I ask curiously. His shock mirrors my own as he nods enthusiastically.

"Yes! It was, how did you guess that? Did you see it?" I utter an anxious laugh and shake my head in disbelief.

"Not last night, no. But, I was in the bath at my uncle's palace, the night before your father's ball, and one appeared in the bathroom, somehow. It stayed with me for a long time until I blinked, and it was just...gone. It reminded me of being with you in the butterfly enclosure that time, and it just made me feel...better. Before I was feeling anxious and confused about why you’d avoided me since that moment on the balcony. Thinking back to being there with you...I immediately felt calm, and…I don't know, it was a feeling I cannot fully explain. It was almost like a sign. A reminder, that…regardless of how our last interaction had gone, we potentially shared something special..." I say with a little smile, hoping he doesn't find my comment strange. Indeed, he is looking very curious, now, his eyes wide.

"Was it around eleven? Because...the same butterfly visited me around that time, while I was in our library. It also reminded me of being with you in the butterfly enclosure, and that made me feel better, too..." Ares says in wonder.

We say nothing for a long moment, our eyes locked, while a profound realisation appears to be hitting us both.

The realisation that something much bigger than the two of us, was clearly guiding and encouraging us...somehow...somewhere...for what purpose, we did not know.

"Uh where was I...the voice was very urgent," Ares continues quietly, describing his journey through the other realm, chasing a glowing butterfly and being spurred on by the voice, "mere minutes would have gone by here while time passed much quicker, there. It allowed me to get to you rapidly, and I am just so thankful that I could."

I raise my hand up to his face and look into his soft, dark eyes.

“I never said thank you,” I state, biting my lip, “there was so much blood, and yet you still managed to help me. You pushed through it. I know you never tried a single drop, even though you could have.”

He knits his eyebrows and nods a little.

“I did not, but how do you know that?” he asks. I smile lightly at him.

“You’re too polite to,” I joke, and he utters a short laugh, “but I just…know. I trust you implicitly, and you’re so much stronger than you know. Strong enough to never give in to it.”

“Everything you've ever wanted is sitting on the other side of fear,” he recounts, having said it to me on the balcony, the evening he’d had his ‘migraine’. He smiles broadly down at me and looks all over my face with a happy, contented sigh...

“…and here you are.”

...

***Ella***

"You've actually sent a boy to our daughter's bedroom? That is such an Ollie thing to do," Austin says, feeling an interesting array of emotions about it, as I climb into bed next to him.

"Aus, just think. What if...she finally gets her wings, and then she finally gets her wolf as a consequence of getting her wings? Serena said so herself. She is trying to get Ophelia to her wolf. She took her to a ball at his house, Aus. She wanted them to dance and interact at that ball. She wants them together. And I don't just mean Serena...She does. That voice and the butterfly? It's just too bizarre to ignore and it’s got the goddess written all over it. So, yes. I suggested to a polite, young man who is so clearly in love with our sweet daughter, even though he probably has no true idea that he is, to go to her room...to do...whatever. I really don’t care. Even just talking to her and being near her is going to help because it’s worked well so far," I trail off.

"She's had that shot, right?" Austin asks bluntly, his eyes wide.

"Yes, and she had the booster just four days ago," I assure him, "but I don't think you need to worry about that, Aus. That man is way too nervous."

"I remember being quite nervous...once. And you. Nerves can go pretty quickly when things start to feel good, Els. Believe me," he says with a light laugh.

"Relax. She is an adult, which is more than I can say about our rather active teenage son," I sigh.

"Wonder where the i***t is," he muses.

"He would do well to just go straight to Exton. Because I will NOT be happy with him when I next see him."

...

***Ares***

It is morning, and a particular part of my body clearly knows it.

This didn't happen too often to me at all, but it was perhaps the first time it seemed to be lingering. I guess it is entirely down to where I am, and the particular position that I am currently in.

When Madeleine had described 'spooning' to me, it didn't sound as exciting as she'd made out. Now I certainly understood, and being the ‘big spoon’ had come with a rather obvious consequence.

The scent of Ophelia below my nose is still as heady and as intoxicating as ever, but I was most definitely dealing with it far better than I ever thought I could.

I can see the gentle pulse of her heartbeat along the vein in her neck. It is still unnerving, how keenly my senses automatically hone in on this, as if taking her blood is the most natural thing in the world.

Ophelia suddenly moves as she sleeps, and her hip shifts firmly against my groin, sending a pleasurable feeling through me.

With it, an entirely different hunger is becoming born within me, a primal, human desire that is calling me closer...

I immediately bring my face down toward her neck, my lips lightly dragging slowly across her velvet skin, the same way Atticus had during the lecture.

My lips are able to acutely sense exactly where blood is flowing beneath them, how fast it is, and the rhythm of her heartbeat.

Her scent and indeed everything about her is just wildly irresistible right now, and I instead opt for the safer idea of planting slow, soft kisses from the base of her neck and up to her ear. My action causes her to stir against my groin once more, and she abruptly turns herself over to intercept my lips with her own.

She immediately introduces her tongue without a moment's thought, beginning a deep and impassioned rhythm with my own. She pulls me rapidly against her by hooking a leg around me, as this impromptu and passionate embrace, promptly escalates.

The strange feeling is back; my fingers once again tingling with a vibrant energy that is racing around my body like a live wire.

Her hands slide firmly across my upper back, and everywhere her palms and fingers touch trails an electrifying path, encouraging this new, wild urge within.

Keen to know if it prompts a similar reaction in her, I lightly smooth my hand across her exposed midriff, then up and around the side of her ribcage beneath her top.

I feel her shiver under my hand in response and then a delighted sound issues from her throat as she pushes her hips firmly up against my groin once again.

This simple move and the strangely pleasing sound she has just made, is too much, and it causes my fangs to suddenly shoot out of my gums in response, the thirst for her blood suddenly burning in the back of my throat once again with a raging vengeance.

I break away from her immediately, my breath ragged as I climb off the bed, stumbling away from her as far as I can, my back up against the window. I am desperate for some distance between us with this startling return of my bloodlust.

"Ares, I'm so sorry!" she exclaims as she sits up on her bed.

Her flushed chest is heaving and her lips look so red and inviting. The temptation to go back over to her is ridiculous, like I am being magnetically drawn towards her. I instead sit down on the armchair with a sigh.

I somewhat understood now, what Atticus was trying to help me avoid. Situations like this, where my absolute lack of life experience was now rather embarrassing.

The prompt appearance of my fangs in response to physical closeness with her was initially, very surprising.

But, as I sit here and think about it, I realise that perhaps I ought to have known this, but truly, no one had ever explained much about my vampire biology-because I hadn't wanted to know.

We say nothing for a minute, both getting our breath back. I do not want to meet her gaze while I know they are still red.

I feel embarrassed.

“Don't...” she says quietly, coming over to me and kneeling down in front of me. She takes my head in her hands and after a few seconds I reluctantly meet her gaze. Nothing about her expression changes as she looks into my red eyes. She has seen them before, but this is different. This is me, not 'Aurelius'.

"None of this bothers me," she whispers, leaning forward and pecking me softly on the lips, "but I understand that it bothers you, and I never want to make you feel uncomfortable, so I am very sorry if I did."

"You didn't...I...am just...it's my own thing," I reply awkwardly. She kisses me on the forehead before she stands up, and then begins rummaging around in her dresser. She gets some clothes together and then addresses me again, "I'm going to go change in the bathroom, and then we can go down and get a coffee and some breakfast."

...

***Ophelia***

Once we have gotten dressed, I wander into the kitchen with Ares close behind me. My mother immediately eyeballs us as we walk past the dining table and around the breakfast bar to get to the coffee machine. She has definitely checked my aura as I've walked past, but I did almost die yesterday, so this time, I'll allow it.

She is sat at the table with Ollie and Freya, and they are having an animated discussion about some Lycan movie star who had finally taken a mate in their mid thirties; something that was rather unheard of for our kind. It was unusual for a Lycan to be unmated once they hit their mid twenties. But, Lycans loved hard, and we all knew it....and judging by my actions with Ares since I entered my room last night, I was starting to realise that wolf or no wolf...I might be more Lycan than I gave myself credit for.

I remove the milk from the fridge, glancing back up at my mother as she continues to watch us with narrowed eyes.

"Latte?" I ask Ares with a smile. He nervously glances at my family and nods silently.

I fill the milk compartment of the coffee machine and as the machine heats up, I can't help but keep looking at Ares, my mind deviating to the way he'd elected to wake me up.

I bite my lip as I remember the feel of his shapely back muscles under my hands, and the electrifying path his own hand had left up the side of my body...causing me to shiver...

"Ares, why don't you take a seat at the table and have some toast," I hear my mother say, having come up to us without me realising.

I jump a little, ending my mental detour abruptly. I look at Ares and he is looking back at me with a peculiar expression.

He then looks back at my mother and nods, before heading over to the dining table with my aunt and uncle.

"How are you feeling?" she asks, one of her eyebrows a little arched.

"Yeah...okay. No trace of any wounds now, luckily, but still a little sore underneath," I say awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. She steps closer to me and speaks in a quiet voice.

"Are you aware, that in addition to being able to feel your emotions without having to touch you, Ophelia, he can see it all over your aura," she says pointedly.

"It?" I ask, confused, "and...no, I did not know that..."

"I've known for some weeks now, that Ares can see auras. I found him attempting to research it in the library," she says with a light smile, "he was worried you were sick. But, what he was actually seeing was the increase in desire you were feeling toward him, Ophelia."

Her words cause a wave of embarrassment to wash through me.

"Oh god," I whine, holding my face in my hands.

"Don't fret, Ophelia, it is a very natural part of life, moreso for Lycans, and most definitely when you're alpha. Don't be embarrassed, but please, just be a little...cautious...with him," she says kindly, "going on a mental jaunt by the coffee machine is normal in this house, but probably not for him..."

"Mhmm...yes, well I think I've already made him uncomfortable, so you don't need to remind me to be cautious," I reply lowly, finally flicking the switch on the machine.

"Uncomfortable?" she queries. I roll my eyes.

"Yes...I think I was a bit much," I say bluntly, avoiding looking at her.

"Oh...well, I suppose he hasn't really..." she muses and trails off, "okay, so it's been a bit quick and dramatic hasn't it? You attend a masquerade ball where you both find out the other isn't actually human, and then a week later he's saving your life after you're mortally wounded in our garden...partly by using his saliva. Scale it all back. Go on a simple date. No fancy outfits, no frills and above all, no pressure?"

I finally turn to stare at her, opened mouthed. She had a point, but...saliva?

"I'm sorry; literal saliva?" I ask in surprise, looking over at him as he innocently butters some toast.

"Applied with his finger, Ophelia," she clarifies.

"Where is Dad?" I ask, removing one coffee glass from the machine and adding another.

"He is very busy," mum sighs, "this new development with the rogues, the trees...everything and everyone is in shambles. After breakfast, he and Ollie are going to have to draw up a new patrol rota. The first in a very long time. Your father can't be everywhere at the drop of a hat anymore, and he is not a fan of that fact."

I nod and sigh, looking back at my mum with a tense face.

"Ophelia, don't worry. I just want you to focus on yourself," she says, reaching out and tucking some hair behind my ear, "and by that I mean your studies, and wherever whatever you share with Ares, ends up taking you."

"Mum, I'm a little afraid," I suddenly admit, biting my lip, "I...literally vaporised people, without even wanting to. I badly want to be all that I can be, but that was scary. Really scary."

She takes my hand and smiles at me.

"I know and I am glad you do recognise that. I felt the same way at points. It is scary, and it's going to be even scarier for you because you are hybrid. Will is always a phone call away, Lia, please remember that. He would want to be called, whenever you needed him, even in the middle of the night. Because he is the only one in our extended family who can truly understand you."

I nod and remove Ares' coffee from the machine.

"I just might need to," I admit.

I take the coffees and make my way over to Ares, immediately feeling more relaxed as I sit down next to him.

"Is everything okay?" he asks, as he adds some sugar to his latte.

"Yep, grand. She was just reminding me that my uncle Will is always available if I need any hybrid-related advice," I reply, grabbing some toast.

"I am unsure what to do after breakfast, given what your mum explained to me last night," Ares says, finishing his toast.

"I would've been heading back to Vale tomorrow, anyway, so I guess I'll drive you home and then go to Vale a day early," I reply, not wanting to make any assumptions after everything that had happened since he got here.

"Sorry to interrupt, but before either of you go anywhere, the big man wants to see him," Ollie says, looking pointedly at Ares.

...

***Ares***

After I had finished my coffee and toast, I am being escorted by Ophelia's uncle to go see her father.

I am feeling anxious about it, even though he has only been kind to me so far.

"Just knock on the door and enter when you hear him," Ollie says, pointing up ahead to a large wooden cabin, "and stop looking so worried. You saved his heir. If anything, he owes you."

He claps me hard on the back as he goes off back to the house, leaving me to approach the cabin alone. Just before I am about to knock, the door opens anyway, and Ophelia's father opens the door wide open from the inside. He says nothing but gestures for me to enter.

Inside are six mismatched arm chairs in a circle near an unlit wood burner, and a large desk on the opposite side. On the desk are three, large, curved screens connected to two laptops. neatly stacked papers, folders and blueprints surround the computer setup and behind the desk are several crates of what looks to be yet more of it. Overall, it is chaotically neat. This man needed a much bigger office.

Austin gestures towards the armchairs and I gingerly take a seat on the navy armchair, wondering what on earth he wants to say or even do to me.

I had only really ever bothered to find out about his wife for obvious reasons, and didn't know much about this man, aside from the fact he ranked top of the list of the most powerful supernaturals in the world.

"I came incredibly close to losing who I consider to be the most important person in my world, yesterday. Too close," he sighs, as he sits down opposite me on a red chair. All I can do is swallow, right now, as I am unsure if I am meant to say anything.

"I had gotten too comfortable," he says simply, looking somewhere far to the side of me, "ever since I fulfilled my destined bond with Ella, I have had an extraordinary power at my disposal. A power I have not taken for granted and have had true reverence for. It has been years since I shifted into Atlas during a physical altercation, and many more years since he last had to intervene. The threat of Atlas alone has been enough to ensure the safety of this pack, Exton, and anywhere I have a strong connection to. Vale included. But, not anymore. I cannot go from here, to Zurich, to London, to Dalston, and then back here in less than ten seconds. I used to be able to. But the trees no longer function now- on top of people thinking they can now break into my home and threaten my children," Austin growls, his eyes glowing green.

He leans towards me and looks at me dead in the eye.

"I need you to protect Ophelia. Can you do that?"