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

Spin the Bottle

***Ares***

"RIGHT. I need all of these blown up," Madeleine says bossily to Ash and I, an hour before her birthday party was to start. It was probably not the moment to admit that I had never blown up a balloon before, but thankfully, as I watch Ash, it seems to be quite straight forward.

"See, THIS is why you should go to the gym," Ash says, looking at me in some sort of wonder as I blow a balloon up fully with one long breath, "your lung capacity is ridiculous!”

"I do not need to, Ash, I play basketball with Lia, and I really enjoy that," I reply, thinking that the better I had become, the more of a workout it had really become.

"Yeah, I bet," he says strangely, with a quick wiggle of his eyebrows and a short laugh.

"It is a good cardiovascular activity, it is sociable, and I know that it helps my friend decompress...therefore it is ideal," I shrug, proceeding to blow another balloon up.

"You're not wrong there, to be honest," Ash replies, tying up the end of his balloon and batting it far across the room with his hand.

"Hey! Blow, don't throw," Madeleine shouts from the other side of the room. Ash rolls his eyes at me, and we both laugh.

"I'm not sure how tonight is meant to work for you, Mads, you've invited every guy you've banged in the building since we all got here," Ash says loudly.

"Because they're my friends. Friends with benefits, my friend," she says, coming closer, "feel free to cash in on yours."

Ash laughs and shakes his head at her.

"Hard pass," he says succinctly, blowing up another in front of her.

...

***Ophelia***

I close the lid of my laptop, finally done with just one of our four essays.

It seemed mad to me that the scientific principles behind things such as the Lycan bonding process, had only been discovered since disclosure. It was insane how few supernaturals were scientists. I could count them on two hands. Still.

There is a knock at the door and Maddy enters in her robe, her hair curled, and makeup done to perfection.

"It's six. Are you finally done now? The others will be here soon!” Maddy asks with a hint of exasperation, standing in front of my door with her arms behind her back.

"Just finished now, yeah," I reply with a sigh.

"You could've just worked on it during the Christmas break, it's not due until January," she points out.

"Aside from the three others that we have to do, I wanted to be able to chill out a little during the break."

"Well...it is time for you to get dressed," Maddy says bluntly.

"I honestly cannot imagine what this could be," I say, biting my lip as takes the costume out from behind her back. I frown at it. I mean...it looks nice, but I am not sure what it's meant to be. It is an aqua-coloured dress made with sheer, floaty fabric on the skirt, topped with a half sheer, half silky bodice with a plunge neckline. No wonder I needed nude underwear.

"Er...some sort of princess?" I guess.

"Almost. Get ready, and I'll complete the outfit in a bit. The glue needs to set!"

She lays the pretty dress on my bed and slips out my room, shutting the door.

Getting ready is a breeze for me by this point. I hadn't had much else to do during the nights when everyone around me went to shift while at Exton, so I'd distract myself by practicing how to do my make-up and my hair if I didn't have any schoolwork to do. I apply some bold sea-green colours to complement my eyes as well as the dress and some light pink lipstick, including some well-placed highlighter and blush. I opt for a side plait in my hair and put some tiny, fake pink roses into the plait along the length.

I exit my room to find Ash putting out bowls of crisps onto the breakfast bar.

"Whoa. Did Maddy get your costume too?" I ask with a laugh, looking at the fireman's outfit that he's wearing; not that a tight white tank top and braces holding up cargo trousers would do much good in a real fire. The plastic helmet he's got on might do a better job of protecting him. He looks pretty damn hot, I have to admit.

"No, I just got the helmet. The clothes I already had," Ash replies while looking up and down at what I'm wearing, "I have no idea what you are, but...you look beautiful, Lia. You...look really good.”

He continues to look me up and down, a smile on his face.

"Careful, Ash, it's almost like you're checking me out," I joke, although I'm guilty of having just done that to him.

"Well, Lia, would that be such a bad thing?" he asks, raising his brow ever so slightly. I open my mouth to reply, but I say nothing, not really knowing how to respond to that; it didn't seem much like a joke...

Thankfully, Ares' door opens, and we both turn to see him exit his room. My mouth promptly falls open.

"What happened to the Spiderman outfit?" Ash says as I look at Ares in slight bewilderment.

"It was too short, too tight...I did not feel comfortable. But, I considered this, and I quite like it. I have never worn anything formal before. I feel a little like my father," he mutters, giving the black suit he is wearing a little tug.

"I think you look...great," I say honestly, "you're James Bond, right?" Ares ignores my question for a moment as he looks at me with his eyebrows raised a little. As he looks at me, it eerily reminds me of when people have looked at my aura.

"Correct," he finally says after a long pause, stepping towards me a little, "who are you meant to be? Rapunzel?"

"Rapunzel?" I ask with a laugh.

"Yes, from the animated film Madeleine watched two weeks ago. Your hair grows quickly, and it is in a plait with flowers. It has gotten longer lately as well as blonder," Ares replies, smiling at me, "you look rather lovely."

"Oh. Thank you, Ares," I say quietly, feeling my cheeks warm a little. Maddy's door opens, and she comes out wearing what can only be described as black leather underwear, as the bottom half barely qualifies as a skirt.

"F***ing hell, Mads. Are you...a Dom?" Ash asks, looking at her skeptically.

"No! I'm a vampire! Mwahaha!" Maddy says, revealing a set of fake fangs in her mouth. Ares frowns at her and makes a rather disgusted face.

"Vampires do not wear such things," he suddenly says.

"Er I think you'll find Atticus did," she says, turning towards him and then proceeding to look him up and down in amazement. She then steps right up to him and smoothes her hands up and down the front of his chest, looking rather flirtatiously at him, "wow. Double-o yes! You actually look f*ckable in a suit, Ares."

He frowns at her, and I hope her comment has only confused him. I can just about see the bottom of Maddy's butt cheeks with her back to me, and I am simply thankful she got me a relatively modest outfit in comparison.

"I knew that'd suit you Lia," she says, turning towards me, "but, there is one more finishing touch!"

She ducks back into her room for a moment, and my breath catches horribly when she comes out carrying a pair of silver faerie wings. Fake as they are, they look eerily like my mother's and my heart drops in my chest at the sight of them. I try to keep my expression composed, as Maddy doesn't know...but this...this hurts.

"Lia is a faerie! All she needs now are her beautiful wings," Maddy says sweetly, going behind me and proceeding to attach them to the back of the corset that I am wearing. I feel awful, and I look at Ash as he looks back at me with great sympathy.

"Oh, it suits you, and I love your hair like that," Maddy says, playing with my long plait a little as she smiles back at me, "such a pretty girl." She steps back and admires her handiwork before turning to the guys.

"I apologise in advance for what will definitely be some rather sordid behaviour," she says with a wink.

...

***Ares***

Out of around twenty people, three have managed to turn up to Madeleine's party with different interpretations of what they thought vampires wore. The part of me that is tired with this innocent mockery wants to direct them all to my wardrobe, where I could declare that this, this is what a vampire wore.

Clothes.

Arguably, tonight, this vampire is wearing a suit, and I have to admit, I quite liked dressing a little more formally.

"You'll need to keep hold of that suit for the swanky fundraiser they emailed about yesterday," Ash says with a beer in his hand as we watch six of the others playing a game called Twister, once the party is in full swing. This is not the ideal game for what Madeleine decided to wear. Parts of her are on show, and she can barely move her legs in what she feels qualifies as a skirt.

"I quite like it. I might start wearing casual shirts more often," I reply, sipping my coke. I had remembered Lia's reaction when I'd worn a shirt the day my father and Atticus had come to campus. She had told me I looked good, something no one had said before, and it was then that I decided to go as James Bond. I look over to her, where she is sat on the sofa, staring into space with the fake faerie wings sticking out behind her.

She looks miserable.

"Lia is not happy," I tell Ash with a frown, wondering what was making her feel down this evening when she was happier earlier on.

"Yeah, and I know why," Ash says, slurping his beer again before wandering over to Lia and sitting down next to her. He says something to her, and she nods, her aura clouding up with sadness once again. He puts his arm around her and pulls her into a hug against him.

"Time for your turn at Twister," Maddy says from beside me as I continue to watch Ash talk to Lia.

"James Bond does not play Twister," I tell her, looking at her now with a wry smile. She rolls her eyes at me, grabbing my hand and tugging on it with a pout on her face. I refuse to move.

"Come on! Do you not want to get all tangled up with Natalie and Talmira?" she asks with a sultry expression on her face.

"Not particularly, Madeleine," I reply, looking back at Ash and Lia. Ash's arm is still around Lia. Madeleine follows my line of sight and makes a rather long 'ohh' sound.

"Ohh, fair enough...I understand completely, Ares," Madeleine says, tugging at my hand again. I can sense a hint of jealousy from her underneath the numbing effects that the alcohol has had on her senses. It was having a similar effect on mine, but I definitely haven't had as much. She has had quite a bit to drink already. I look down at her as she tugs again, and she smiles mischievously as she leans up towards my ear.

"Perhaps the next game will be something you want to participate in?" she says, before looking over at Ash, "but eh...I need Ash for one more game. Natalie is quite keen to get that fireman's butt in her face."

She skips away, and I watch her strut over to the sofas towards Ash and Lia. She takes the arm Ash has draped around Lia and peels it away from her, dragging Ash to his feet. He does not look too happy, but he follows, and Lia instead wraps her arms around herself. She is self-conscious, that was for sure. I had never seen her wear something with such a low neckline, so maybe that was why. Her eyes find mine and I smile back at her, gesturing with my head for her to come over. She was not enjoying this party and neither was I, really. It was not my thing, and the alcohol wasn't doing enough to negate that.

"Are you not going to play a game of Twister?" she asks as she comes up beside me. Self-conscious or not, I think she looks even prettier than she does on a day-to-day basis, with her hair done the way it is and her unusual sea-green eyes more evident due to how she has done her makeup. I want to tell her she looks beautiful, but something feels wrong about that, almost as if telling her that meant she was not beautiful any other day.

"No," I reply simply, "how about you?"

"In this dress? No thank you," she says with a short laugh.

"You are not enjoying this party, are you?" I ask her directly. She smirks at me and shakes her head, "I don't really drink...and this music is not the music I enjoy."

"Playing basketball with you is far more enjoyable," I tell her with a smile. She looks rather grateful for my comment, and she smiles back, smiling for the first time this evening. I feel happy that I have made her smile. I down the rest of the bottle of beer in my hand, and put the bottle down on the counter.

"Well, there is always tomorrow," she replies. I nod emphatically, causing her to smile again before she turns to watch the others playing the new game of Twister, slowly leaning her head against my upper arm.

...It feels nice.

...

***Ophelia***

"It's tiiime!..." Maddy says loudly, lowering the volume of the music a little, so that people can hear her, "...it's time for Spin the Bottle!"

"Lia, what is Spin the Bottle?" Ares asks immediately while he stands next to me. I look up at him awkwardly. He leans down, so I can tell him quietly, and his cologne fills my nose.

"You spin a bottle on the floor...and whoever it points to, you...kiss them," I tell him, close to his ear.

He leans back and looks a little sceptical, but nods in acknowledgment. I put my hand on his arm and look him in the eye.

"You don't have to play the game, Ares," I tell him. He furrows his brow for a moment, and he looks as if he is about to say something, when Maddy squeezes herself between us, positively beaming.

"Come on! EVERYONE on the sofas," Maddy announces bossily, half a bottle of tequila in her hand, "just so everyone knows; if you decline to kiss, you gotta swig this!"

People take seats on the sofas, and I am privately wondering how much tequila I can possibly get away with having, should the need arise. I didn't particularly want to participate. Things could get...awkward, not that Maddy seems to mind.

"Who wants to go first?" Maddy asks, getting an immediate arm in the air from Natalie.

"It's two days until a full moon, and goddess I am feeling it," Natalie says, and I know she is implying that her libido is almost at full throttle. She gets onto the floor and spins the bottle around. It spins rapidly around on the hard floor until it stops, and she is definitely not sad when the bottle ends up pointing to Ash, who doesn't look like he is about to complain either.

"Ohhh Volcanic Ash, I definitely ain't drinking," she says with a giggle. Ash gets off the sofa and onto the floor.

"Volcanic ash?" he queries. Natalie laughs and nods.

"Coz you're so hot, Ash," she explains with a quick arch of her eyebrow.

"Lucky girl!" Maddy exclaims as Natalie eagerly grabs hold of the braces Ash is wearing, pulling him towards her and engaging in a rather heated kiss for several seconds.

"Whoa," Ash says, looking pleased but rather taken aback once Natalie relinquishes her hold. She looks rather smug herself as she gets back onto the sofa.

"So, now it's your turn, Ash," Maddy says with a sultry flick of her eyebrows. He promptly slides onto the floor, hesitating a little before he spins the vodka bottle. It ends up pointing to Gareth, who Maddy has affectionately nicknamed Gay Gaz.

"Oh. Mate. I'm gonna have to drink. I'm sorry dude, but I'm super straight, and I know it's lame, but I can't, nothing personal, you're great...but...yeah gotta drink," Ash says anxiously, with an apologetic shrug.

"Oh no worries, honey. I'd have turned you, you know," Gareth teases, flicking back the multi-coloured wig he is wearing with his sixties disco outfit.

"Well exactly, I just can't take that risk," Ash jokes, taking a large swig of the tequila and coughing straight after. Gareth spins the bottle, and it shortly turns into a back and forth between members of the other flats, when on the sixth spin, Natalie ends up getting Maddy.

"Interesting. Well, I'm game if you are, my dear," Maddy says. Natalie shrugs, evidently a little more fluid than I had realised. Maddy promptly grabs Natalie around the back of her head and the two engage in a short yet enthusiastic exchange. I can't help but giggle a little as I see Ares' reaction to Maddy and Natalie kissing, including Ash, Jason and Seth's yells of approval.

Why did guys like girl-on-girl stuff so much? It baffled me.

Eventually, Natalie returns to the sofa, looking rather pleased with herself once again.

"Guess it's FINALLY my turn," Maddy says brashly, looking around the circle. She shuffles forward and places her hand on the vodka bottle before looking up at us.

"Just so you know, I'd happily kiss any of you, so I am not losing out here. I mean...I've kissed quite a few of you already! Since it's my birthday...there will be tongue," she jokes just before she spins it efficiently on the spot.

She has clearly done this a fair number of times in her life, as it's the best spin yet. I knock back some more of my lemonade as it continues to spin rapidly on the hard flooring.

It soon stops and Maddy looks delighted, albeit a little predatory as she sees that the bottle has pointed to...

"Ohhh...I was hoping it would land on you, Ares," she says softly as she shuffles toward the middle of the circle on her knees, looking expectantly at him. Everyone looks at Ares with bated breath, clearly wondering whether he is going to acquiesce to this or not. His expression is a mix; a slight furrow of his brow, yet there is some intrigue in his eyes. I can't imagine what is going through his head right now. I can't tell if he's going to do it or opt to drain the last bit of tequila that remains in the bottle.

To my absolute surprise, he takes an audible deep breath in, and he gets onto the floor, inching closer to Maddy rather than the bottle of tequila. Her eyes shine with delight in response and I see her wet her lips with her tongue. Ares is looking at her a little nervously as he gets closer, and I am admittedly more than a little shocked. Like…really shocked. Perhaps...despite all the times he has rolled his eyes at her, he actually wants this? Maybe the beer has given him some liquid courage?

If I were honest, despite her snide remarks and the casual digs, it’s probably impossible for any guy to resist Maddy’s magnetic pull. She’s dazzling.

She knows it.

Bold, unapologetically brazen with her body and words, every movement she makes is dipped in intention. She doesn’t care what anyone thinks.

I’ve always envied that about her—how she fills a room, how the world bends just a little in her presence. I’ve wished, more times than I care to admit, that I had even a sliver of her fearless self-possession.

My heart beats faster as I watch them now—right there in front of me.

She’s so close to him, smiling like she already knows how this ends. Her hands slide up to his shoulders, slow and deliberate, fingertips grazing fabric like it’s skin. She leans in, lifting one hand to the base of his neck, her fingers slipping under the collar of his shirt. Her nails just barely rake across his skin as she curls them behind his head, holding him there. She presses her body into his, her chest against his chest, their hips brushing.

It’s too slow.

Too sensual...

...She’s savouring this.

I can hear my heartbeat in my ears now—loud, ragged—as Maddy tilts her head, lips parted just enough to tease. Her mouth hovers a breath from his. Ares’ eyes flutter shut, and there’s a flicker of something across his face. Uncertainty. Anticipation. Desire?

She whispers something I can’t hear, her eyes glancing to me briefly. She kisses him soflty, her lips moving against his with deliberate grace, and he…responds. Tentatively, at first, his hands floating awkwardly to her shoulders like he doesn’t quite know what to do with them.

But then—she kisses him again, deeper this time, her tongue slipping into his mouth, and I see his hesitation crumble.

Something changes.

Suddenly his hands slide down—firmly—to her waist. He pulls her to him, her body arching into his like she belongs there. The kiss becomes a collision—his mouth demanding and his grip fierce, as if something primal has just cracked open inside of him. The way he holds her now is possessive and hungry—making my skin flush and freeze all at once.

In front of us isn't socially-awkward Ares anymore.

In his smart, tailored suit, gripping Maddy the way he is, kissing her like that...he looks... devastating and confident. He looks like a man who knows exactly what he wants—and knows how to take it.

Something inside my chest lurches and drops like a stone.

It’s too much.

Too real.

And then it hits me, brutal and breathless:

I want that to be me.

Not Maddy.

Me.

I want his hands on my waist. I want his lips devouring mine, his fingers buried in my hair, pulling me into him like he cannot get enough. I want him to kiss me like it's his last few moments on earth.

But he’s not.

He’s kissing her.

And I’m here—watching it unfold like some sick punishment from the universe.

A fresh wave of nausea crashes over me. My blood runs cold. My heart’s hammering so fast I think I might actually pass out. I feel crushed—torn apart by something I didn’t even know was there until this very second.

All because of a stupid bottle.

A bottle that has just detonated my entire world in less than thirty seconds.

A sharp crack of thunder explodes overhead, rattling the glass, followed by a roar of rain pounding against the skylight. The sudden storm rips through the moment like divine intervention. Ares and Maddy pull apart, their breathing uneven, eyes dazed. We all glance up at the flashes of electric blue streaking the sky.

“Stormy indeed. Not bad, Ares... not bad at all,” Maddy says, her voice husky. She runs her tongue along her bottom lip before slipping back into her place in the circle, completely unbothered.

Ares stays frozen, touching his fingers to his mouth, looking almost... analytical. Like he’s just had an experience he doesn’t fully understand, and now he’s quietly dissecting it. Not regretful. Just... curious.

And me?

I can’t breathe.

My lungs are tight, and my thoughts are a cacophony of screaming contradictions.

Maddy.

Fucking Maddy.

First the shiny wings and the see-through Fae dress, and now this.

I have never felt so violently displaced in my own skin. I want to disappear.

I HATE being me.

I abruptly stand up from the circle before anyone says a word, grateful for the next second—when, as if by design, the power dies. The entire flat plunges into darkness. The only sound left is the furious rhythm of the rain and the occasional snap of thunder overhead.

...and my heart breaking silently in my chest.

The storm that has erupted above us, sudden and uninvited, is vicious and untamed. It snarls through the sky with howling wind and sheets of rain, a violent contrast to the laughter echoing around me. The others are intoxicated—by alcohol, by chaos—shrieking with joy at the thunder crashing above. But I’m the only one drowning in it.

"Can all students please promptly ensure they are in their own accommodation for a head count due to the loss of main power," crackles the announcement over the building’s old comms system, one of the few things not tied to the main grid. Around me, people groan, reaching for phones to light their way to the door. I suppose they’re worried about people being stuck in lifts or stairwells.

“Cheers, guys! It was a blast until the power cut!” Curtis yells, drawing a round of drunken agreement.

I bolt into my room, slamming the door behind me before I rip the ridiculous wings off my back.

I press myself up against the window. The sky is thick and black, streaked with electric veins. The clouds churn like a living, undulating beast.

Where did this storm even come from?

I drop to the floor, hugging my knees tightly against myself as I stare out at the raging storm, My heart is thudding painfully in my chest, every beat louder than the last. The realisation that had just occurred, cirling over me like a hawk.

My body and heart had teamed up and made a decision, quietly and arrogantly. Now, I’m left to deal with the aftermath.

The storm outside no longer feels separate from me. Its chaos mirrors mine, it's fury almost feeling like my own. The lightning in the sky feels like it’s splitting me in half.

The tempest is inside me, now, just as wild and unrelenting as my mind reels over and over.

...

***Ella***

"Yes, Aus, fill it right up!" I say happily as Austin comes back into the living room with the bottle of wine.

"Yes ma'am," he jokes as he does a generous pour into my glass. With a small gesture I turn the light switch off at the other end of the room and I snuggle into my mate's large arms. Despite being child-free most of the time during the school term, it wasn't often these days that we got to spend time together like this. It doesn't take long for the wine glass to be left on the coffee table, and for us to get rather handsy with each other on the sofa. But of course, my phone starts ringing, and my stomach plummets as I hear the ringtone of the Vale night-team for the first time...which could only mean an emergency.

"Oh god, I have to take this," I say to Austin, looking apologetic as I answer the phone.

"It's Ella," I say anxiously, wondering what's happened. Is it a fire? Has someone hurt themselves? An attack?

"We've lost power all over campus. The back-up generators are fried and the battery store is all drained of power. Only the emergency broadcast is working, so we've got all students to return to their flats for a headcount. Hopefully none are stuck in a lift," Anthony, the night operations manager tells me, sounding acutely stressed.

"How? I thought the power grid was solid. I mean it's not like we are connected to the national grid, we generate our own," I exclaim, wondering how this has happened. I tested it myself...

"Well...there is a very good reason for it," he says before he switches the call to a video call. He holds it up at the window of the room he's in, and I am very surprised to see an incredibly angry storm outside, lightning flashing several times in succession across the sky. I can hear angry rumbles from the storm now coming across very clearly over the call.

"When did that start?" I ask. Anthony looks into the camera himself and shrugs back at me.

"It just...happened. Completely out of the blue. Ventusky doesn't even know about it yet. It appears to be only here. The electrics that aren't connected are not behaving properly either, this storm is weird...something about it is just...not right. It's just sitting here...and what kind of storm drains electricity like this?" he adds, looking pointedly into the camera. My heart starts thudding excitedly at this news.

"I'll be there shortly. I will sort out the storm myself, don't worry," I tell Anthony. I hang up, and I turn around and look at Austin with a rush of excitement coursing through me.

"What's happened? Did you say a storm?" He asks before frowning, "why would you look happy about that?"

"Yes, a storm," I confirm, barely holding in my excitement, "something I had sorely hoped would happen...although maybe not a giant thunderstorm, because now I am a little worried about why THAT'S happened!"

"You had hoped for a thunderstorm?" Austin asks, very confused.

"No, Aus. But I AM very happy, because I am pretty damn sure that our faerie daughter has just caused her very first thunderstorm!"