Connection - Golden Lycans Sequel 3/3 [Complete]

Lovesick

***Austin***

"Where is he?" Ella immediately asks as I step through the patio doors.

"Sulking in the woods a mile from here. Whatever you said to him did the trick, he actually came and apologised before he decided to sulk off," I sigh, still in disbelief that Joshua had actually apologised.

"You felt so relieved when he came back," Ella says with a sad expression, "but it wasn't because he came back. You were worried he might've hurt someone, weren't you?"

I nod and let out a loud exhale.

"Very. You have felt like you've been losing Ophelia in recent months, but I have also felt like I've been losing Joshua," I admit, wandering over to the wine rack and extracting a bottle.

"It's probably Ophelia we may need to worry about, in truth," she says quietly.

"With her new electric personality?" I somewhat joke, extracting a wine glass from the cupboard.

"That storm was just a small beginning of what she could've conjured up. Since she and Ares have gotten closer, her magical potential has increased. But still not enough for her to have actual control over it," Ella starts to explain, folding her arms, "and...her aura...It just reminded me of the people whose Will's foundation helps. Ophelia suggested to me the possibility of being unbalanced, the day Will came to lecture. I brushed it off, but actually...she had a great point. What I saw today was most definitely a hybrid finding it hard to gain internal balance."

I pause after uncorking the wine.

"How? As much as I hate to admit it, Els, nothing about her is physically Lycan aside from her scent, her blood and the sense I get from her. The blonder hair and even the way she walks seems different. She is far more you than me. How can there be an imbalance when there isn't anything fighting against the side of her that's Fae?" I ask, feeling a little hopeless.

"Maybe it is all there...just not her wolf. Will thinks her wolf is lost," Ella replies.

"Lost? How? They don't get lost. Never before has a Lycan not blended," I point out.

"Regardless. A single touch from Ares and that imbalance sorted itself out pretty rapidly," she says with a slight shrug.

"Why?" I ask, mystified, "having the hots for a guy doesn't just..."

I trail off, frowning as I consider a few thoughts.

"It may not have anything to do with emotions, Aus. He WAS the baby she went to in the hospital. I have thought over and over that time in the hospital, since I first knew about Ares. She got out of that bed, with an energy that she shouldn't have had, and it was like she was called to him. Like she needed to go," she muses, her expression contemplative, "I wish I knew what happened between them in that room. Did she impart something on him? Who knows."

"You'll drive yourself nuts, Els," I sigh, walking over to her and rubbing my hands up and down her tense upper arms, "the problem is, you are used to finding answers, but sometimes, it just isn't for us to understand. One of your better qualities is also one of your worst; you can't let things go."

"I just wish I understood more. Why is he different? And finding out his mother was Fae has made so much sense of things, particularly the way I feel him. He has felt Fae to me, Aus. I just don't get it," she continues. I smile, because I know she can't drop it, despite what I have just said.

"I missed Ophelia going back. Again," I grumble with a sigh, "and it's not like I can just visit. Everything is going to take so much longer, now."

"I'm going to have to start setting an alarm," she replies with a sad face.

"At least Ophelia is with someone who will protect her at all cost," I reassure us both. She pulls back form me and looks intrigued.

"Interesting...you've suddenly changed your tune about Ares. What did that?" I ask. I smile and shrug a little.

"You have your feelings about things, I have mine," I reply. She then arches a brow at me, "okay. It's daft, but in my head it's a thing. He picked the right chair."

She laughs immediately at this, her eyes bright with intrigue.

"The right chair?"

"Yeah it's a 'thing' Atlas and I have noticed. Almost no one ever sits in the navy chair. He did," I explain.

"Your chair?" She asks with a smirk, "you now trust him with your heir because he sat in your chair when everyone else avoids it?"

"Ophelia is the only other person who does. I thought it was an heir thing. But...I don't know, Els, it's just a weird thing I have," I shrug. She laughs out loud at me before she takes the back of my neck in her hands.

"You are an intriguing man, at times," she says fondly, smiling sweetly up at me.

...

***Ares***

"...then, she said something like...she wanted to feel excited, and feel anticipation....and that is why she wanted to drive off alone. She said she wanted to miss me and then have me, and she wanted me to feel that too," I mutter with a confused shrug while I am sat on the marble worktop opposite Atticus. He is leaning against the large kitchen island holding half a glass of blood. His expression displays his restrained amusement over what I just said.

"Please stop looking at me like that. I do not understand the dynamic," I admit, feeling disjointed about it, "she has asked me, twice now, to hold her while she has slept. She said she wanted me, and she admitted that being close felt good, so why say that?"

Atticus finally lets out a loud laugh for a few moments, before he looks at me in a way I was far too used to being looked at by everyone...everyone except Ophelia.

"Ares. Women have been confounding men since the dawn of time. They're odd creatures. Indecisive, emotional and often utterly illogical..." He begins with another laugh, "but...you're missing the point of what she said, but also, what she is. We have purposefully stayed away from mating with Lycans due to our inability to adjust their memories, and therefore, I cannot speak from a wealth of personal experience on this. But honestly, you WILL have your hands full, with her."

"Enlighten me. Please," I reply, folding my arms. Atticus chuckles and smirks at me.

"She is an animal on a hunt. She wants a chase, she wants to crave you, Ares. It's in her blood," he says softly, stepping closer to me, "she may not be blended, but her blood runs alpha, and...well, I don't think you're even slightly prepared for what that means."

He chuckles and looks at me sympathetically before taking another mouthful of blood.

"Alpha females are well known to be a little aggressive... sexually," I recall from our lectures, and I look back at Atticus with a perplexed expression, "but Lia is not an aggressive person."

Atticus snorts a little.

"You're taking the aggression part of that description, a little too literally. But what you do have, once again, Ares, is...an opportunity," he says. I sigh and look back at him impassively, having heard him say this before. Arguably, though, it went rather well last time.

"If she wants you to play 'hard to get', then you're going to let her," he says casually.

"Well I was going to, I just didn't know how."

"There is an art to it. But it really all depends on what you want," he replies, setting down his glass. Being asked what I want, again, I am now wondering the answer to that, myself. But, unprovoked and unannounced, a mental flash of the Lycan mating video, pops into my head, and with a now familiar quickening of my heartbeat, maybe I did know?

"I want it all. All of her. All of it," I say bluntly, unable to phrase it any other way, right now. Atticus smiles rather proudly at me and cracks his knuckles.

"Well then, dear brother, it's time I taught you a few things about women that you won't find in a book..."

...

***Ophelia***

It's quiet.

Too quiet.

Now that I am here, I am regretting deeply my decision to not spend more time with Ares, and bringing him back here in particular. I wish I had brought back the drawing, but I felt a little embarrassed about taking it down off my bedroom wall and putting it on the top of my suitcase, right in front of him.

We could have been alone, because even though I have no idea how to define our relationship at this moment in time, I feel the need to. He hadn't said it himself, but his actions and physical responses had so far suggested we were feeling the same about each other.

I stand up from the sofa and head over to the balcony doorway, opening the door into the chilly air. My plants were still dead, exactly as I had left them. They had lost their life rapidly in conjunction with my rapidly dwindling mood before the end of term.

I kneel down beside one of them, reaching out and touching a solitary, crisp, dead leaf that remains on a decayed rose.

I feel...nothing.

Maybe it was too dead.

I sigh in frustration and lean back against the balcony railing, trying to unravel the mystery that was my very being.

I knew my mother had felt her magic before her wings had come, but...was it because she had a clandestine bond with my dad?

Were the two sides of me actually present in full and waging an unseen war? Surely with no wolf, the Lycan side should've given up a long time ago...

I check my watch, seeing that it is only three o'clock in the afternoon. Just as I stand back up, I see the front door opening through the glass wall. Excitement fills me as I dash for the balcony door, pulling it open eagerly to find that it is only Ash coming through the door. He turns as he maneuvers his suitcase through the door, smiling happily at me briefly as his gaze finds mine, before his face falls...likely due to the disappointment written across mine.

"Ash..." I say, trying to force a happy expression, now. He frowns at me and parks his suitcase.

"Lia, come on, don't do yourself this injustice. I'm sorry I'm not Ares coming through the door, but just remember the way he treated you!" He exclaims kindly, his frown softening. I had forgotten about this. It felt so long ago, now.

"Ah...yeah, I think it's going to be okay, though, Ash," I say instead. He sighs and walks closer to me.

"Don't think, Lia, know. Just so I'm clear, you wouldn't have to think, with me," he says, before turning back towards his suitcase and grabbing the handle. I shut my eyes with a sigh, having also briefly forgotten Ash's frank honesty with me.

"Ash-" I begin to say, but he shakes his head a little dejectedly and smiles at me once more, before silently heading into his room with his suitcase.

And then...it's quiet.

Again.

Too quiet.

...

***Ares***

"I was worried that you had become trapped in the other realm," I hear my mother's voice from the doorway. I put my paint palette down and rush forward to embrace her eagerly. She grips me tightly, evidently wanting to prove to herself that I was really here.

"I almost could've," I admit.

"Why did you leave in the first place?" she asks. I gesture for her to take a seat in an arm chair at the side of the room, and I explain all about the blue morpho butterfly and everything that had happened when I had eventually gotten to Ophelia.

"Oh my goodness, is she alright? Wait..." she stops herself, a smile appearing across her face, "she healed, didn't she?"

I nod and her smile grows wider.

"Yes, it was rather miraculous," I confirm.

"How did that happen? She does not yet have her wings," she asks, her eyebrow arching slightly.

"It sounds bad, as she was barely conscious... but...I just felt an urge to kiss her. Almost as if it were the right thing to do in the moment. Which turned out to be true," I reply.

"Instinct," she offers quietly.

"Exactly. Yes," I agree, realising that to be a true description of how I had felt at the time.

"What then?"

"She asked me to lay down with her, and I did," I smile, "and that is how her father found us when they returned from a party they went to in Austria."

She laughs lightly, and I tell her what happened during the rest of that day.

"You do understand the reasoning she had, for encouraging you to be with her daughter, don't you?"

"I do, now."

"So why is she not here? Why are you not with her? Ares, she has no control of her magic and she has no wolf, that young woman is very vulnerable," she says with a frown.

"That was HER decision. I wanted her to come in, I told her I never wanted to leave her side again, but...she declined. I will go back tomorrow. Atticus will drive me," I reply, picking up the palette again, "and when I see her, I will tell her that I intend to take her on a date on Saturday."

She gets up now and comes to stand next to me as I start mixing two bright blue colours.

"It is a little late for a date, Ares," she chuckles a little, "but that is very sweet."

I sigh and look at her.

"I am a little tired of being referred to as 'sweet'," I remark, finding it annoying, now. Men are built to be strong and courageous; not sweet. I start brushing large strokes on the blank canvas. She puts her hand on my arm and draws my attention back to her.

"It is not a bad thing at all, Ares. You can be sweet and many other things at the same time. Like...an onion."

I frown at her.

"An onion? They smell and make people's eyes water, I do not understand-"

"-Layers. People have many layers," she clarifies. I nod, understanding the concept now. Ophelia was sweet...but underneath I had recently sensed there were several layers to her. I continue to form the basic outline of my new painting, my mother watching in mild fascination.

"Ohh," she says, as my direction becomes clear, "the butterfly."

"Yes. Our time in the butterfly enclosure was special, but I just didn't realise why, at the time. I think we both ought to have known, then. The butterflies reacted to her, to the way she was feeling, to the closest she has felt," I say with a little smile, continuing to add to the base of the blue morpho, "I know now. She yearned for roughly the same thing I did, both of us at the same time. She wanted her wings, to be free, to be part of nature the way she was always meant to."

"And you?" mother queries. I glance at her briefly and nod.

"I wished wholeheartedly that I could be Fae, and not at all vampire. I wished too, to be free. That feeling has been a great driver, but also a barrier, for me," I muse.

"I have not helped in that regard," she replies sadly. I bite my lip and nod, because she is sadly correct.

"Growing up with you hating yourself the way you do, in this form, has only led me to reject that side of myself. Particularly with the fear that I could hurt Ophelia. Especially after finding out what she really is, I feared doing what father had done to you," I admit.

"Has that now changed?" she asks curiously.

"If I were not what I am, I would have never been able to save Ophelia. I know that. I also know that I will never hurt Ophelia. And...I think the more I have accepted that side of myself, the easier it has been to control it. If I truly invite it in..."

She puts her hand out onto my forearm, the one holding the palette. I turn and look into her eyes.

"Trust yourself, Ares," she says, nodding toward the basic outline of the blue morpho, "because She does."

"Ophelia?"

"The goddess above, mainly, but I am sure Ophelia does too. Why else would She lead you the way She did, using a symbol that meant something to you both, from a special moment you had both shared?"

I smile at her and look back at the painting myself.

"Why would a goddess care about us? There are billions of others..." I mutter, confused.

"Why indeed, Ares," she says pointedly.

...

***Ophelia***

Ash finally exits his room two hours later, while I'm reading a book on the sofa.

"How was your Christmas?" I ask him as he sits himself down on another section of the sofa. He nods and looks happy.

"Chilled. Aside from the essays. Saw family, bumped into Mads at a Christmas market..." he trails off.

"Really? How funny," I reply.

"Yeah, didn't know we lived fairly close to each other. She was there with her family. I actually took her for a drink and some mince pies. She told me about what happened just before you left..." he says with amusement. I utter a short laugh and nod.

"Yep...all of you now know who my parents are," I sigh. In reality, I didn't feel too bad about this fact, not anymore.

"All?" Ash queries. I nod.

"Yep. Ares knows...and how he knows is not something I am going to go into, as it is not my place to tell."

"Intriguing. Is this related to how you think things are going to be okay between you both?" Ash asks, a little steely.

"Very much so," I confirm.

"Why is it not your place to tell?" Ash asks.

"Well...his father is good friends with my uncle. The king, not the supernatural Olympics one, or the weird one I often forget I am related to. Anyway...I saw him over the Christmas break because of that, and...it is going to be okay," I say with a smirk.

"Fair. I don't understand why he acted the way he did, but I'll have to trust you on that," Ash replies, before his brows raise a little, "are you officially together?"

"I don't know, honestly. We haven't discussed that," I admit. I didn't really want to speak further about this, so I change the subject, "When is Mads getting back?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Why are you back early?" I now ask.

"Wanted some peace and quiet, you know how it is," he laughs, referring to his younger siblings.

"I have something to ask you, Ash," I add, closing my book and putting it onto the coffee table. He makes a gesture as if to continue.

"Can you please show me around the campus gym?"

..

"So, you didn't say how your Christmas was," Ash says as we exit the gym in the dark. He had showed me all the equipment which had taken a lot longer than I had initially thought it would. He had looked at me sympathetically while I'd struggled with even the lightest weights, particularly the upper body ones.

"Hmm...complex answer," I say honestly, as we walk down an illuminated path, "bit of a rollercoaster, in truth. But Christmas day itself was good. My brother was grounded the entire time so he was sulking in his room, and my younger siblings were annoying, but overall we had a good time."

"Any sign of...things?" he asks.

"Uh...yeah. A fair bit, in a sense. But I really don't want to talk about it," I reply, feeling uneasy. Ash suddenly stops and he looks at me with concern across his face.

"You know I'm here for you, right? I'm not just a strong guy, I'm a pretty good listener..." he says.

"I know you are. You are a great person, and....I am truly sorry I do not share your affection, Ash," I say sadly. He smiles and nods.

"I know, but that doesn't stop me from being here for you, Lia. For instance, we have got to train those upper arms of yours," he jokes, lightening the mood.

"They are frighteningly pathetic," I agree, as we get closer to our building.

"You up for a pizza and movie night?" he asks, stopping by the front door.

"I would love that," I reply happily.

...

***Ares***

"I am ready. Can we please go shortly?" I ask Atticus while he stands there flicking through news channels in one of our reception rooms. The news was largely discussing the abrupt issue with the trees, with plenty of theories going around about what has happened.

"Silly humans," Atticus mutters, ignoring me as he now watches some loud women in heavy makeup discuss him, on a show that Madeleine would probably enjoy. He sips some blood out of the mug he is holding and eventually he turns his eyes to me.

"Please?" I ask again.

"What's the rush?" he asks with a shrug. I sigh hastily and look back at him in mild annoyance.

"I want to go back!" I exclaim. He smiles and takes another mouthful.

"What did we discuss yesterday? At length? We will leave around six," he says lazily.

"Six? That's NINE hours from now!"

"You are like an impatient puppy, Ares. Just trust me," he says with a sigh, "just do what I told you to yesterday. Which will work better if you aren't stepping through the front door at breakfast time."

"What am I meant to do for nine hours?" I ask.

"Study...paint...cook...find something -anything- better to wear from my vast wardrobe? Actually lift some weights...masturbate...I don't care. I've got things to do," he says curtly, turning off the television, "you can either walk ten miles with your suitcase, or you can wait until I've got back. But trust me, you do want to leave that one waiting for you."

...

***Ophelia***

"You know a watched door isn't going to just open, right?" Ash asks me as I stare at the front door the next morning.

"I know...I just...I can't explain it," I mutter, using my finger to eat some foam off the top of my coffee, "I feel...weird, since I dropped him off."

"You dropped him off? Was he at your house?" Ash asks. I turn to face him, wishing I hadn't said anything, and I'm about to come up with a reason when the front door opens. My head whips around as I immediately slip off of the stool, shortly disappointed to see Maddy coming in through the door.

"Oh," I sigh, without intending to.

"Oh to you too," she says indignantly, "what the f**k is that reaction for?"

"She's a bit lovesick for Ares," Ash says in amusement.

"I am not lovesick," I exclaim, now it is my turn to sound indignant.

"Oh Lia, honey, never give a man all the power," Maddy says, coming up to me and smirking somewhat, "especially in your position."

I purse my lips and look down at the worktop.

"Uhh... Mads, I don't know if Ash told you-"

"-that you're a bit broken?" Maddy says bluntly.

"Whoa I never said that," Ash says immediately.

"He didn't, but I am," Maddy says, "but you know what, Ophelia, sometimes obstacles are sent to test us, and it's how we overcome those obstacles that truly make us. You know? We are all a little broken, after all."

"I have referred to myself as broken many times, Mads, it does not offend me, but thank you for not simply telling me it's going to be okay."

Maddy smiles at me and nods.

"Some call it pessimism, but I like to call it being realistic; because it might not be okay. But at the end of the day, you come from supernatural royalty, and you're related to literal royalty. If anyone is going to be okay in life while being broken, it's you."

"Wow. Please don't become a psychologist, Mads," Ash laughs. She turns her gaze to him and she winks at him.

"Gotta say, Ash, I enjoyed our little coffee date. I'm always up for a repeat," she says smoothly, biting her lip briefly, "maybe next time you can have dessert?"

She wriggles her eyebrows at him briefly before she pushes her suitcase to her room.

I sigh deeply as I look at my watch.

"You are sooo lovesick," Ash teases, sipping his tea.

...

***Ares***

Atticus steps into my line of vision, a look of irritation on his face.

"Oh! You're back. Can we please leave?" I immediately ask.

"What did you do to my wardrobe?" Atticus demands, tossing his long dark hair over his shoulder in annoyance.

"You do remember telling me to go through it, correct?" I reply, folding my arms.

"Yes..." he says with a frown, "I also said a heap of other things. Did you do them all too?"

"Not all, no," I reply.

"What a pity," he says with a sigh, "did you at least try lifting some weights?"

"I did, actually," I confirm, "but only because Ophelia's father asked me to protect her. Which is monumentally harder when I am not WITH her. So, can we please go?" I say firmly.

Atticus smiles broadly at me and gestures for us to leave with his head.

"I have to say, I like this lovesick version of you," Atticus says.

"I do not know what that means, but...thank you," I reply.

..

Opening the car door into the chilly air at Vale, her scent is in the air. Instead of igniting panic inside of me, it feels more like a comforting blanket, now. I feel a loosening in my chest and I feel like I can finally breathe, as ridiculous as it sounds.

"Just remember what I told you, because you need to prepare yourself, Ares, it is inevitable," Atticus says from the driver's seat. I frown back at him, one lef already out the car door.

"I am not going to bite her," I tell him firmly. He shakes his head.

"You will. But I think Ares, you have enough about you to not do what father did. Not that I would ever admit that to him," Atticus says kindly.

"I won't," I say firmly once more, before remembering my manners, "thank you. I will text you about how it all goes."

"If you must," he relents, looking less than thrilled.

I say goodbye and enter the building, the scent of her building and building as I stop outside of the front door.

I know exactly where she is, as soon as I enter the flat, the magnetic feeling in my chest directing me to her, trying to draw me back into her orbit.

I ignore Madeleine, her loud words just noise as I stride across the room to the balcony, my eyes on the figure that occupies the lounger.

I open the door, stepping out as a smile spreads across my face, the tightness in my chest since Ophelia had dropped me off, now disappearing entirely.

She is in tight black jeans and a white jumper. Simple, but to me she looks heavenly, her long blonde hair framing her lovely face. Hair that is brighter than ever...because of me.

Her eyes glance up from her book, and her face says it all. I had thought describing someone's face as 'lighting up' was hyperbolic...but it's true. Her eyes grow brighter, her smile is genuine and captivating, and the excited feeling I sense from her is very real.

"Ares!" she exclaims, jumping up and leaving her book on the lounger.

"Finally! I thought you'd be back a little sooner," she admits, now feeling a touch annoyed at me. I nod and look down into her beautiful eyes.

"Atticus left it later than I wanted. I have not felt right since we parted," I admit.

She steps closer to me, and the desire to kiss her again is incredible, but...she wanted anticipation...

"Mhmm, I have felt the same. I have been looking forward to you coming back all day," she tells me, stepping right up close to me, now, enough that I can feel her warm breath on my face.

"You have?" I ask in an almost-whisper, my gaze still locked with hers as I lower my head toward her. Her heart rate is audibly increasing, the red streaks are clouding her aura once again, and I feel her desire.

I am not sure if I am strong enough for Atticus' advice, even though I am unsure how to act upon how I feel now, regardless. Ophelia nods fervently at my question, her eyes excited as my hand reaches for hers at the side of her body.

"Oh...you have..." I confirm slowly, our simple touch deepening and multiplying the complexity of what I can feel she is feeling. She smiles fondly up at me, closing her eyes happily as I lean my forehead against hers. In a moment akin to the last time we stood here together on the balcony, I so lightly-but purposefully this time-briefly touch her lips with my own, before ducking further around to her ear.

"Saturday," I whisper softly. It causes an actual shiver to ripple through her, much to my surprise and delight -Atticus had been right when he suggested it.

I release her hand and reluctantly step away from her, smiling back at her just a little before I leave the balcony, feeling somewhat successful.