Connection - Golden Lycans Sequel 3/3 [in progress]

***Ophelia*** I...am a joke. I stare down at my watch face and tap it again anxiously... ...It was now eight minutes past midnight. "It's okay, you are still worthy...or so they keep telling you," I mutter to myself. This was fast becoming my mantra of late, but any belief in it was quickly dwindling- particularly over the last eight minutes. I bite my lip a little hard as I begin to scrunch my mouth and then the rest of my face up. My emotions are once again getting the better of me. I look up into the night sky above me, watching a fluffy cloud innocently drift across the sky, eventually revealing the bright glow of the full moon. I stare at it in confusion, my eyes open so long that they begin to water...either that or I am actually crying. Either would be within the realm of possibility. Because there is nothing. Still...nothing. The breeze that stirs my long, tousled, mousy blonde hair is warm, but I shiver regardless. As of nine minutes ago, it is now July twenty-eighth, widely considered to be peak summer; but I am a little chilly. Another symptom of my problem. It is also now almost ten minutes into my eighteenth birthday. I technically, legally and socially, have now 'come of age'. I can now vote in a wide variety of elections. I am now old enough to purchase alcohol. I am officially now in charge of major decisions affecting my life and my body, when only yesterday that was still something my parents had the ultimate say in. I could now legally get the tattoo I had been considering. Because, I am now an adult. I know it. The law knows it. Everyone around me would soon know it...everyone except me, apparently. Somehow, my body had skipped the memo. Mostly. I was only five foot six. I only vaguely resembled my parents. I wasn't tall and strong like my father, or tall and lithe like my mother. I feel like a murky mess of the less than fine qualities of them both. I look how I feel; neither one way nor the other. I stand up and l shove my hands into the pockets of my powder blue hoody, looking out across the calm sea in front of me, the moon reflecting so casually on the water. I reach down and pick up a few pebbles, rolling them around in my hand before I throw them hard out into the water, hoping it might dispel a little bit of the pent-up frustration I have inside. It doesn't. Not much could at this point. With a heavy sigh, I finally turn around and start my long walk back up to our family home. I am deep in thought on my route back, the lost and confused feeling having deepened as yet another birthday had rolled around. Something just wasn't right. I was defective. And this...is why I am a joke. I reach one of the most iconic features of our grounds and I look at it a little bitterly as I approach. I know it is only going to make me feel worse, but stupidly, I do it anyway. Apparently, making myself feel worse is better than feeling nothing at all. I reach my hand out, laying my palm onto the rough bark of the majestic wisteria tree that dominates the lower portion of our substantial garden. "I want to go to Exton," I whisper to the trunk, feeling the clear intention I had, the good feeling and love I had for the place. But...the trunk still feels as solid as it ever did. No entry for the one inexplicably devoid of light. I drop my hand to my side and I utter a pathetic little sob. My eyes travel further up our multi-level garden, my eyes falling on the grand estate I had grown up on. It was an old building, but it had been renovated in the years after I'd been born. I could still remember some of the construction...so many skylights, everywhere....for the faerie occupants, of course. A building full of happy memories, and yet it was quickly becoming a building that was heavy with expectation. I can't face them again, right now. I can't deal with more sad looks, more confused expressions, more inner conversations with each other that I could never be privy to... I can't face him. I can barely face myself. As if feeling repelled from the building itself, I turn back down the garden, running as the tears threaten to come. I don't stop running until I manage to drag myself up onto the jetty at the very bottom of our garden. I am breathless, along with the pain of overexertion that I feel in my chest...I wasn't cut out for running, only jogging. I climb up onto the cruiser we have docked at the jetty, typing in the security code on the door and letting myself into the cabin, heading straight for the master berth at the front of the boat; my little safe haven. I flop down onto the bed and scream in frustration into the pillow as I grip it hard either side with both hands. All around me is absolute silence. Except, there shouldn't BE silence. Instead there is just my sad reality which is obnoxiously loud in it's own way. The reality is, I am Ophelia Landry and as far as anyone knew, I was the first of my kind; a Lycan-Faerie hybrid. The heir to Austin Landry, the world renowned 'golden alpha', most recently the world leader of the supernatural council, the Lycan ambassador to the United Nations...the leader of our immensely proud pack. My father was an absolute badass, there was absolutely no doubt about it. Not a single person on this earth would even debate it. My mother? Very much the same. Previously, the only living faerie left after the almost total extinction of the Fae over six hundred years ago. She wields insanely powerful magic, and she does wonderful things with it across the entire world. Famine wasn't something that existed much anymore, only in communities that opposed supernaturals and that was ultimately their problem. There was no doubt about it; I came from epic genetics. They were also just the best mother and father anyone could possibly ask for. For immensely busy people, they had always made time for their family. I was so lucky and so blessed, and I counted those blessings every day. I had a huge extended family, and they were also all amazing in their own ways, too. But...this could well be the main reason why I am continuing to scream into the pillow, alone in the darkness, on our family boat. Because I wasn't a bad ass. Not by a long shot. I was now eighteen and despite how often I had been told all my life that I was genetically blessed, genetically meant for greatness... I didn't reflect my parents at all. I was Lycan, yet I inexplicably had no wolf. I was also Fae, yet I had no magic and no wings. I...was..a joke. ... ***Ella*** I breathe a sigh of relief as I emerge back into the lower garden of our home, the familiar sight greeting me and providing me with instant comfort. A sight I had technically only seen less than three days ago, but was now situated at an entirely different time of year compared to when I'd left; for I had just spent a couple of days in the Fae realm...which equated to just over six months of time in our reality. I look down at the screen of my phone, clearly having a little confused moment of its own as it connects to the wireless signals and satellite network, struggling to update the date and time. I was late. A little. Deep down inside I know I haven't missed anything, but the ebb of guilt is still there regardless. I look up and smile as my eyes fall on the rapidly approaching glowing golden ball that is my husband...or more accurately, my husband's wolf, Atlas. He slows to a slow trot and bounds right up to me, nuzzling his great big head against my chest, growling softly as I happily hug his beautiful golden head, kissing the soft fur of his face over and over. "Ohh, I missed you too, old man," I tell him. A few days is nothing to most, but when you have a divine connection to someone you also happen to love very deeply, it is long enough. I feel guilt creeping in now for this too, having left Austin and Atlas for six whole months. He shifts rapidly into the naked and visually arousing form of my dear husband, who wastes absolutely no time in demonstrating to me exactly how much he has missed me; engaging in a rather heated kiss, his hands grabbing me in all sorts of places. Into our forties now, we still act like teenagers at the best of times, and as much as I craved such an action, I hope he doesn't try to initiate something up against the tree right now- not that it would be for the first time. If anything, Austin was like a fine single malt. I swear he was getting hotter as he aged. I couldn't say the same for myself, but having birthed and breastfed five children ending with triplets, certain parts of me were trying their hardest....but to no avail. Still, I was blessed with a husband who celebrated these changes and fully appreciated what my body had gone through to fill our home with more love and laughter than we had ever dreamed possible. "Please," he says in a half moan by my ear, "you're done there now, please don't ever go back there." "I won't," I promise, as the trip had been a highly planned-out trip to begin with, and I had achieved all but one of my objectives. "I know it was worth it, but I missed you terribly all the same. I almost came through myself several times. I was worried you'd miss an important meeting we have tomorrow morning," he says, dropping his nose to the mark he had given me on the base of my neck. He inhales so deeply and for so long that I can similarly do the same to him; pressing my nose against the one I had miraculously given him on our wedding night a little under eighteen years ago. My nose is nothing like his, but the familiar scent of his skin is comforting. I kiss his mark tenderly, provoking a low growl of approval in his throat. He soon peels back, looking at me intently with his bright green eyes. I look down and sigh. As well as the trip had gone in almost every way possible, the one question my heart had been asking during my time there had not been answered. Not even a little. "Where is she?" I ask, even though as the thought enters my mind I know exactly where our eldest daughter is. I can feel her grief like a sad homing beacon somewhere not too far away. Austin steps back, still holding onto my hand as he nods in the direction of the jetty. I note the full moon in the sky and I look back into his eyes. "The girls?" I ask, wondering about our non-identical triplets, one of whom was fully Lycan. Austin smiles a little and nods, looking proud. "Sage blended last month. Her wolf, rather fittingly, is called Saffron. She is a hundred and six years past her mortal life and this is her second blend." This was lovely news, but in the back of my mind I know it is news that likely only hurts Ophelia further. "How did she do tonight?" I ask, having already witnessed our son go through his blending and knowing how painful the experience could be. "Not sure. Josh took her like the doting older brother he is. We heard her earlier so I think she's okay. Olive and Fern are...they feel asleep. Finally," Austin tells me, nuzzling my neck again and stroking the side of my face tenderly. "I...still don't know, Aus," I admit quietly, biting my lip as I feel more of Ophelia's grief over the maternal bond that I shared with all our children, "the Fae I met couldn't tell me. She hasn't happened before. How did it go so wrong? How can I cure cancer and many other ailments, but I can't figure out this one thing for my daughter?" Austin pulls back again, taking my hand as he encourages me to follow him up toward the house. "If there is anything we have learned over the years, Els, it's that there is a purpose to everything, even if we cannot see it yet. Even if it's hurting one of us," he says sadly. "A purpose..." I chuckle derisively, "speaking of Her purpose; how is...the alpha problem?" Austin looks downhearted for a few moments and shrugs. "Its...getting worse, Els. A lot worse," he admits, "I honestly don't know what to do and I'm worried about Ophelia's safety, and about Joshua as he continues to mature." "Oh dear. It is very concerning. But, we can leave that for another day. Anything to tell me about our wider family?" I now ask as we reach the upper garden of the grounds, the expansive kitchen diner visible through the substantial glass wall. "Honestly, nothing interesting, which is bizarre for our family," he replies. I step across the threshold, relaxing a little more in the surroundings of our family home. Gone were the days when many people lived here; it was just our family now. The other higher-ranked members of the pack were now in a cluster of beautiful, new but rustic-looking cottages on the other side of the road to where the Landry estate is. The pack had grown so dramatically in size over the last twenty years and the infrastructure had needed to adapt. The door to the room opens from the corridor and our only son walks through, looking so much more grown than when I had last seen him. The change is alarming and hard for my brain to comprehend...because for me, it has only been a short amount of time. As any teenager did over a period of time and certainly over a summer, he had gotten taller. He had clearly been hitting the gym like the other lads his age and he had definitely been enjoying long periods of sunshine with his bronzed skin. He looks so incredibly like his father. I just know that the girls at Exton are going to be in complete trouble with their hormones, when he returns there for his penultimate year in several weeks' time. He rushes forward and embraces me warmly, because he hasn't seen me for almost six months. "MUM! We all missed you so much!" he says, giving me a healthy squeeze. "Oh goodness, Josh, calm down, honey!" I exclaim happily as I feel his bizarrely muscular arms compress me tightly around my chest. Where had my boy gone? Josh releases me, running a hand through his wild dark hair that was much like his father's as he looks happily into my face. I wasn't sure many sixteen-year-old lads loved their mother as much. I reach out and hold his face with my hand lovingly, taking in all the new details of his face. "Sorry, I was genuinely excited. Fruit from the supermarket just isn't the same," he laughs. "You've gotten so...lord above, I am never going there again," I sigh, feeling emotional again as I take my hand away. He leans in and gives me a sweet kiss on my cheek before wandering over to the sink with an empty glass. "How was Sage?" Austin asks him, pulling on a pair of jogging bottoms that had been hanging on the back of one of the dining chairs. Josh drinks some water before nodding and pointing with his free hand to the ceiling. "She's totally fine. She went to bed about twenty minutes ago," he replies. Even his voice sounds deeper. I had definitely been gone too long. "How long?" Austin asks, leaning up against the counter with his muscular arms folded. "She managed about...two hours? She shifted twice," Josh says with a little smile. "Oh! Wow, that's great," Austin exclaims happily with a glance toward me. "She had me. She felt safe, I encouraged her...I took control and she had a good experience. It's what any alpha would do..." he says casually with another shrug, draining his glass. I turn around and bite my lip, not wanting to get into this again. I can immediately feel Austin's frustration, hurt and anger toward his son, for he doesn't want to get into that again either. I hear a low and extended growl from him, followed by a frustrated sigh in response and the sound of the door shutting to the corridor. "Aus, you might need to entertain the idea..." I say quietly, turning around and looking at him with glassy eyes. I can feel his sadness over the situation too, but he shakes his head firmly. "No. Joshua is my son. Ophelia is my heir. I love them both equally, Ella, but I will not do...that. I won't entertain it. Not yet," he says, for possibly the fiftieth time. "Aus...you're so busy and the pack continues to grow..." I say, wandering over to him and sliding my hands around his bare waist. "We will figure it out. Her wolf is there somewhere. She is waiting. Ever since she was born I can smell it on her, Els, her blood is pure alpha, her body is Lycan and I can smell the Fae in her too...it is all there. We don't yet understand what's happened, but I am not giving up on her. Surely you can't give up on her Fae side either?" He exclaims sadly. I shake my head. "I won't ever....but Aus, you can't be alpha forever. Joshua is sixteen now and gosh he was just a boy when I left," I gesture towards the corridor, "he is apparently very strong already, and he will be very good...he has such a good heart," I remind him. Austin nods curtly. "He would. But, I know you have always found this subject so difficult, Ella, but that is just not how it works. Until such time, as I physically cannot lead this pack anymore and Ophelia is somehow still without her wolf, I am going to continue to treat her as this pack's next alpha. SHE is my firstborn. SHE is my heir. It is her. She is and always will be my Ophelia...she just...she just needs more time. She also needs her mother to not give up on her like her brother already has." I sense a finality to the conversation and his closing comment stings a little. I exit the room myself, still feeling my eldest child's grief coming in waves...grief she didn't understand, and indeed, neither did we. I go upstairs and pause outside each of our children's rooms like I usually do at this time of night, allowing myself to sense them. They were all fine. They were so healthy, they were thriving...all of them...except my first. I pause in her doorway, her room empty and dark. She probably won't be back tonight. It wasn't the first time she had taken herself away from the house like this. It happened at every full moon she spent here at home. I really felt for her. Her burden of responsibility was potentially so great, but she had none of the tools she needed to fulfill those responsibilities. I walk into her room and sit on her bed, hugging her lilac-coloured pillow. I bury my face in it and breathe in the scent of my daughter. I wasn't Lycan but I could appreciate the perfume she always wore. Lia...I'm home. I'm sorry but I couldn't find any of the answers we wanted. We love you so much. Happy Birthday... I hope she can hear me...but...I know that she can't. .. I am still awake an hour later as I hear Austin do his best to creep into the room. "Oh, you're awake," he says quietly with some relief, clearly engaging several senses to determine that. "I doubt I'll be able to sleep for a few days, Aus. The sun in the realm hits very differently," I explain, feeling him slide into the bed behind me. He immediately drags my hips close to his as he begins to softly kiss the back of my neck, a low rumble evident in his throat. I push the issues I have just been mulling over to the back of my mind, because right now I need to focus on Austin, as he is paying a ridiculous amount of attention to various parts of me already, and I cannot blame him. I was gone for too long for me, so the eagerness I feel from him right now is undeniable and entirely plausible, when it's been six whole months for him. He leans his head around, kissing me slowly down my neck before he nips my mark in just the right way and in just the right spot. He knows the instant effect it has and today is no different. I run my hand behind me, down his muscular thigh, pulling him toward me more, inviting him as he gently lifts my thigh away from my other, just enough to easily glide into me from behind. I bite my lip in bliss. "Fuck...how I missed you, but goddess did I miss this, on a full moon of all nights," he whispers by my ear as he slowly moves his hips behind me, entering me again and again at a deliciously slow pace. The angle is superb and so is he, but it isn't long before I am craving more, wanting to make the most of this long-overdue romantic rendezvous. Apparently, he is on the same page, withdrawing from me with a devilish look in his eyes as he turns me over onto my back and kisses me heavily for a few moments. "You've been gone one-hundred-and-eighty days," he informs me with a serious expression, "which by my calculations, puts you in a large deficit of roughly over four hundred mind-blowing orgasms that I would have assuredly given you." I laugh lightly at this and bite my lip. "Or...perhaps between ten to twenty by my estimate?" I suggest, as that seemed more reasonable... He nods, his moon charm necklace dangling onto my chest as he does so. "Perhaps, But, I'd rather go by my estimate, if you don't mind, so if you're really not in need of sleep for a long while, I'd quite like to get started..." he says, a lopsided grin on his handsome face. "Ohhh I missed you," I tell him happily. He gives me a quick kiss and flicks his eyebrows up at me briefly before heading down between my legs. ... ***Ophelia*** knock knock My eyes open, and I see the face of my Uncle Ollie staring back at me through the little window of the boat. I sit up, feeling a little embarrassed, as it is always him who finds me like this. I go out to the door and open it up, the summer sunlight streaming through and hitting my eyes rather painfully. "Wanna chat or would you rather be alone?" Ollie says, having met me at the doorway. I shrug and step away from the door, allowing him in. "Figured it was probably you in here once again when I saw the condensation on the window. Either that or your parents wanted to spare the ears of their poor children in order to celebrate your mother's return home from the realm..." I perk up instantly. "Mum is back?" I ask hopefully, wondering if she has any information. "Yeah, I was going to head up for breakfast," he says brightly, "perhaps you can come back with me? I know everyone is going to want to see the birthday girl..." I sigh and fiddle with the bottom of the zip of my hoody. "Part of me just wants to sail out onto the Solent and stay there the whole day. Today feels...pointless. I just can't deal with Joshua in particular..." I admit. "He's already out with Rose since dawn rolled around. They've taken the paddle boards so they'll be gone for hours. It's safe," Ollie assures me. "Good," I reply curtly. "Come on, things will seem better with a load of your mum's strawberries in your belly along with a huge stack of pancakes." I shoot him a little smile. "Maybe just the strawberries," I mutter, having felt my jeans getting a little tighter around my midriff in recent weeks. Ten minutes later I am tentatively stepping into the kitchen, emotion coming over me thick and fast as I see that my mother is indeed back from the longest trip she had ever taken. She looks at me, delight spreading across her face as she rushes forward, bringing me into the hug that I was apparently in dire need of. She presses her face to the top of my head and kisses the top of it repeatedly as she hugs me tightly. "Tell me," I say shortly, bracing myself, although the way she is hugging me right now tells me everything I need to know. "I'm so sorry Lia," she whispers, leaning back from me and looking at me so sadly with her azure blue eyes, "none of the Fae I met over the past few days had any insight." I force a smile at her and nod. "Right...it was a stretch. It's fine, I mean...there is lots to be so thankful for. I mean, I got pretty sick as a kid, and now I'm grand, so...that's pretty good," I say, doing a pretty lousy job of looking as positive as I was trying to sound. She tucks some hair behind my ear and cups my face. "Lia...nothing has changed for us," she says firmly. She said the same thing on my last birthday. But this birthday, all Lycan inclined Landry children now had their wolves...all except me. The door to the corridor opens and my father walks through, wearing a suit. It may be my birthday, but it's a normal day for him and that means meetings, meetings and yet more meetings. "Ophelia, my girl, although not anymore," he says affectionately, drawing me into a tight hug himself, now. I feel dwarfed by everyone here these days...even by the triplets. But being dwarfed by my dad is simply...comforting. My dad would always be larger than life and my absolute protector. Just like mum just did, he holds my face in his hands as he looks at me so proudly...but how? No one would dare say anything to him about the fact his heir is a dud; but it was still being said. "My beautiful heir is of age. I am so proud of the wonderful person you are, Ophelia. You embody all the qualities I had ever wished for in my heir, plus then some," he says, sounding so truthful... "...except one major and essential quality is still missing," I say quietly, clenching my jaw awkwardly as I avoid his eyes. He directs my head toward him more, keenly moving into my eye-line as he looks at me in earnest. "They will come, Ophelia. I feel it. I know it. She has not abandoned you. So, for the next six weeks...your training begins. Every evening in the cabin, after dinner, from next week," he tells me, gripping my shoulder fondly with his free hand. "But dad," I begin to protest and he just shakes his head. "Ophelia, it is what I require of you, so you will do it," he says firmly, "because when you do finally blend with your wolf, I know the rest will easily follow and I know you are going to be a great leader of this pack. Do you hear me?" I nod, dejectedly. It was better to just agree when he did these little speeches of his. "Yes, dad," I say simply. I couldn't help but feel so loved by him. Arguably the strongest, most powerful and indeed the most famous alpha in the world...his heir had no wolf...but his resolve was to have unwavering faith in me regardless. I just couldn't understand it, but he'd had many miraculous things happen to him over the years. Miracles were a thing, to him. He suddenly takes something out of his pocket; a jewelry box. "I will be back later before your birthday dinner. But it is a Landry tradition to do this, and I wanted to do it now," he says, opening the box. "You are a daughter of the sun just like your mother. Another warden of the light," he says emphatically with a quick smile at mum. He takes out a necklace from inside. It is a sun charm just like hers, featuring a moonstone. I smile at him gratefully as he reaches behind me to fasten it around my neck. "Dad-" I begin to say. But he holds his hand up to silence me. "-trust me, Ophelia. Mark my words. This time next year? You, are going to be a force to be reckoned with...and everyone, especially that incredibly eager younger brother of yours, is going to see exactly why you are my heir."