The Golden Lycans (Ella) novel Chapter 101

<WIN’s Idea

Claim

Will’s Idea

**Will***

Half an hour later I get out of a taxi outside of Exton, ensuring Erebus was well away from me when I’d left the pub.

What’s the plan now? Fabian asked.

I’ve not a clue, Fab, I need to speak to someone with more wisdom than we have, I reply

I check my watch, hoping it isn’t too late in the day for this as I direct myself to the lift, going up to

the Headmaster’s office.

I knock on the door several times. After a few seconds I impatiently knock again before the door opens, the Headmaster looking at me blankly in the doorway.

“William, what a surprise,” he says, moving out of the way for me to enter. I take a seat.

“Is it? Not much here tends to escape your notice,” I reply with a wry smile.

“I assume Erebus has finally made contact,” Landry says, taking a seat himself. I probably smell of

the man, right now.

“Unfortunately. I just got back. I’ve got two issues we need to address,” I sigh, wondering whether my instincts are even correct. Landry continues to look at me impassively.

“First, I think we need to somehow get a new talisman for Ella. Erebus is aware that her power is growing and we need to start masking it somehow if we want to keep him at bay and away from her, while we figure out how to deal with him. Even if it just makes him believe she is weaker than she is,” I suggest. Landry nods in agreement.

“I had been considering something like that myself. We need more of a handle on things until Ella is at her full strength,” he says. I feel a rush of protectiveness toward her for a moment; particularly after seeing how easily she crumbled at the fact she’d killed seven rogues.

“Why Ella? She is physically weak and while she can heal she can be mortally wounded, easily. Why does it have to be her? It bothers her and it puts a lot of stress onto her that she just doesn’t need

right now,” I ask in irritation.

“Unfortunately, Will, sometimes our destiny is greater than we’d like. The Fae used to provide the balance in the world, the balance between light and dark. We have a dark entity out there, who we Lycans cannot hope to deal with on our own, particularly if he is capable of destroying a whole

pack.”

SAT

00 10

|||

O

୮

1/6

<WIN’s Idea

Claim

I nod, defeated, biting my lip as I consider the second thing I need to address….but I am hesitant.

“The second issue?” Landry presses. I clench my jaw and look Landry in the face. I could be wrong but what if I wasn’t?

No one reads people better than you, Will, you KNOW you’re right, Fabian reminds me, sadly.

“Well…I can read auras, and I’ve gotten very good at studying them. I’ve also spent so much time looking at Ella’s that I’m highly attuned to hers. I know everything about it. I stole a quick glance at Erebus’ aura earlier when he was momentarily distracted,” I explain, before pausing again.

“Will..?”

“I think…I mean I cannot be certain, but I think Erebus may be Ella’s biological father.”

Headmaster Landry looks the most surprised I had ever seen him.

“Why do you believe that,” he asks softly with a curious expression.

I

“There has always been a part of Ella’s aura that has been a mystery to me. It stands out from the

rest and I had assumed it was something to do with her heritage. I incorrectly assumed it was to do with her being Fae, but then I just saw the same unusual thing in Erebus’ aura. I could be wrong of course…except that he clearly knew about the talisman. I mentioned that Ella had been wearing it and that is why he wasn’t able to ever find her. I told him it was you who discovered its true

purpose and that arranged to have it removed. He clearly knew too much about it. I told him it was still intact, but kept it safely in this office. He was disappointed that it hadn’t just stopped working n aturally. How could he know…unless he’d come across her birth mother?”

Landry’s eyes narrow for a moment as he processes this information.

“Ah. That would make sense, yes. He must’ve done his research on it to know about its break

point…or perhaps Ella’s mother even told him, if she knew?” Landry suggests.

“Exactly. He must’ve been planning this for years. Now it makes sense why he couldn’t do some things himself and why he needed me,” I sigh, wondering what sort of person could hatch a plan to rob their own child of something so important to their body and soul.

Landry also looks deep in thought for a moment.

“Regardless of sending me, he must have been hoping for a mate bond for Ella, why else would he have waited all this time for his own child to surface rather than just be content with whatever he stole off Ella’s mother? How could he know, though? It happened only once, nine hundred years ago. The odds of her being able to would be insane,” I mutter.

“Genetics are an interesting thing. Perhaps being born of a hybrid and a faerie is exactly what makes Ella able to bond with Austin? She would have warlock, Lycan and Faerie heritage. A very

SAT

10

THE

O

2/6

<WIN’s Idea

potent combination. We may never know for sure, of course,” Landry suggests. I shake my

disbelief.

Claim

head in

That would make sense. Hybrids aren’t common and the chances of one ignoring any mate bond they had, to instead have a loving relationship with a faerie and then having a child with them…particularly in the past with how people used to vilify diverse pairings, I can see why it only happened once before. What sort of person plots to do this to their own child?” I wonder sadly before trailing off.

Landry suddenly looks up and stares blankly ahead for a minute.

“Austin and Ella have just returned to school grounds. I have just summoned them to this office. The question is whether we wait for more proof of what you believe, or in a few minutes, we tell Ella about the possibility that the hybrid hunting for her is likely to be her biological father,” Landry says. I shake my head immediately.

“No. No more lies. She needs to know. I won’t lie to her again,” I exclaim defiantly.

A few minutes later, Austin and Ella come through the door into the office hand in hand. Ella looks so relaxed and happy, carrying a stuffed wolf in her other hand that looks remarkably like Fabian. I manage a chuckle at this despite the gloom I currently feel, particularly now, knowing that the good mood she is in and deserved to feel, is about to be ruined.

Landry smiles at them warmly. I get up out of my chair and lean against the wall, gesturing to the two empty seats. I had a lot more respect for Austin these days, but we weren’t exactly friends; I felt a little awkward.

“Well, this is a lovely sight,” Landry says kindly. Ella beams at him and the pit of disgust I feel in my stomach only grows. I was starting to wonder if this was the right thing to do.

“What’s going on, Pa?” Austin asks.

“Will has had an interesting evening,” Landry said nodding towards me.

I can’t lie to her again.

Then don’t. You know her. She can take this. She will be crushed, at first, and she is going to have a lot of questions…but she values the truth, Fabian says in an encouraging way.

I rake a deep breath and recount to Austin and Ella about my most recent meeting with Erebus and my suggestion about a new talisman. I could sense Austin’s growing anger as I talked, his aura becoming more turbulent and looking so unlike its usual focussed and levelled appearance. The guy was becoming more like other alphas by the day and that just didn’t seem right; not for him.

DO

SAT

10

3/6

O

<

< Win’s Idea

Claim

“There is one more thing,” I add, looking into Ella’s eyes. She narrows her eyes a little and I can see her trying to check my aura. I am a little proud of her, for a moment.

“What is it, Will?” she asks, looking hesitant, clearly seeing from my expression and perhaps even my aura, that it isn’t anything good.

“You know how easily I can read your aura,” I state sadly.

“Yes, you’re horribly good at it, even when I’d rather you weren’t,” she agrees with a nervous laugh. clench my jaw a little. Here goes nothing, I think.

“I stole a glance at Erebus’ aura and…I saw something that I’d seen once before; but only in yours, Ella,” I begin before taking a deep breath, “I…think there is a high chance that he is your biological

father.”

Ella’s eyes widen a little as she slowly digests my words. Austin immediately gets up from his char and wanders over to the window, his hand over his mouth a little as he talks to his wolf. After a

minute, Ella speaks.

“I hope that you’re wrong,” she says quietly, but her eyes tell me she believes every word.

“I hope so too, but, I mean I’ve seen Austin and Freya’s auras and they have similar traits too… I can tell that at the very least you are closely related to him. But…he’s roughly the right age, he knew about your existence and it even sounds like he likely knows everything about the talisman,” I

explain sadly.

Ella shakes herself a little as if dusting herself off mentally before she looked up at Landry with a

stern expression.

“Okay. How do we make a new talisman?”

Landry chuckles under his breath a little and shakes his head while looking up at the ceiling.

“Once again the pieces line up perfectly under the hand of fate. After learning of your actual lineage after christmas, I looked into the background of your parents. Your father’s ancestors created the talisman and so naturally they’d be best placed to create another. They can be trusted. Have you considered where your surname originates?”

“No, not really,” Ella shrugs.

“Reva is French…” Landry says gently. Ella utters a short, hollow laugh and I am not entirely sure

why.

“My dad’s coven and ancestors are in Chamonix, aren’t they,” she states evenly with a slight frown.

“I’m afraid so,” Landry replies. Ella sighs very loudly.

SAT

|||

୮

4/6

< WIN’s Idea

“Chamonix…where we just happen to be going skiing in ten days.”

Claim

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify