The Golden Lycans (Ella) novel Chapter 36

Seventeen-Part 3

Ella***

Walking around in heels was something I was not used to doing and I wondered at what point it would be socially acceptable to kick my beautiful yet rather torturous heels off and go barefoot.

I gasp when the hall lights are dimmed, as the fairy-lights now become more twinkly and now provide the main source of light in the hall aside from the dance floor in the middle of the room There seemed to be UV light coming up from the spotlights on the dance floor itself, making anything white or light coloured glow intensely.

“Ohh, this is a banger, come on its time to dance!” Freya yells over the sound of the music, pulling me up out of my chair. I teeter slightly as I struggle to get myself balanced. I follow her onto the dance floor, enjoying the glowing effect the UV lights were having on everyone as we dance. Freya’s perfect white teeth glow comically as she smiles her way through the next three songs. It feels so liberating to be dancing and I finally relax a little, feeling so carefree and the happiest I’d been in the last two weeks. I shut my eyes, singing along to one of the songs, enjoying the way the throaty bass feels throughout my body. We take a short interlude to get a quick drink before returning to the dance floor again for another line up of great songs. Annabelle gestures that she needs a time out, going back to where we’d been sat. Freya on the other hand, is in her element, grabbing hold of my hand and spinning me around on the spot, laughing her head off while she does so, I do a somewhat elegant twirl at first, but then I feel a strange sensation inside my chest, which causes me to lose my balance. I stumble, and I would’ve assuredly face-planted on the floor, had I not been caught rather suddenly, by a pair of strong arms.

I look up, already knowing who has caught me. Even before I meet his gaze, the familiar yet contradictory sensations-calmness and exhilaration-wrap around me like a second skin.

It is Austin.

The UV lights cast a glow in his fierce, penetrating eyes, intensifying the sharp contrast of whites against the dark depths of his irises. His wavy hair, usually neat, now unruly, serving to remind me of the potential wildness under his handsome exterior. My gaze flickers over the way his shirt clings to his toned arms and torso, and a wave of heat rushes through me. It is ridiculous, how he still manages to take my breath away.

We don’t speak, but we don’t need to. The unspoken tension between charges the air, thick with memory. The footbridge; the last time we were this close. I know he’s thinking about it too.

Or at least, I am.

Something strange happens then, stranger than the way I already feel around Austin. Time slows,

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warping the reality around us. A pull from deep in my solar plexus tugs me toward him, like a

magnetic force that I just cannot ignore. My feet move of their own accord, closing the space between us. The thumping bass of the music fades into a distant echo as the world beyond him

begins to blur, colors leeching away until only he remains in sharp focus.

Austin says something, his lips curving into his heart-stopping, knowing smile, but I can’t hear him. My heartbeat pounds in my ears, drowning everything else out. My breath catches. Every nerve in my body is heightened, attuned solely to him.

What is happening to me?

Am I having a stroke?

Before I can grasp the answer, Austin’s hands settle on my waist, firm and confident, pulling me in. Instinctively, as if following an invisible script, my arms slide around his neck, and the world beyond

him ceases to exist.

Just him.

Only him.

He dips his head, his nose brushing the base of my neck, followed by a deep inhale. A shiver shoots down my spine. It should feel strange, yet somehow, it feels natural-like we’ve done this before, like we were always meant to.

Then, he straightens, fixing me with that smoldering, unreadable gaze. A warmth spreading through me, originating from his touch, rolling outward until my chest feels heavy, my skin all abuzz. We move together, the rhythm of the music is distant, secondary to the slow, intoxicating dance we’ve fallen into. My fingertips prickle with a familiar heat-the same heat from my dreams beneath the willow tree. It’s all connected. It’s all intentional.

He leans in, as if drawn by the same invisible force that controls me. Our breaths mingle, lips parting, anticipation thickening the space between us. My body hums with need, a desperate ache that consumes every rational thought.

I close my eyes.

Because I want this.

I need this.

The pull inside me screams for it, urges me forward.

And then-our lips meet. The kiss is deep, searing, sending electric jolts through me, setting every nerve alight. His hands slide up my back, tangling possessively in my hair, as if staking a claim he never intends to relinquish. The intensity is overwhelming, all the emotions from the footbridge

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undoing all the mental and emotional work that I have put in these past two weeks, but I am too

gone, right now; I am entirely at Austin’s mercy.

But then…pain, burning at the front of my chest, causing me to wail loudly. I am in absolute agony, immediately letting go of Austin and collapsing to my knees in alarm. The burning pain overwhelms me as I claw at my chest helplessly, realising in my groggy state that it is my necklace that is burning me once again, just as it had earlier this afternoon. I cry out again as the burning intensifies even further. Freya is suddenly in front of me, shaving Austin out of the way. A look of shock appears on her face as she grabs hold of my necklace and tugs it roughly away from my

neck, breaking the chain.

The moment the necklace leaves my neck, sound slams back into my ears like a tidal wave. The pounding bass, the chatter, the shuffling of feet-everything that had faded to the background now explodes into sharp, deafening clarity. I gasp, clapping my hands over my ears, wincing as the sheer volume sends a sharp ache through my skull. It’s too much, too loud, too real.

Freya holds the necklace up in front of us and I breathe heavily in astonishment at the sight of the little sun charm. It’s normally yellow stone is now a glowing, blazing red. I rub the skin where it had burned me, watching in bewilderment as the colour of the stone fades completely, the stone turning clear and dull.

As soon as the stone turns clear, a strange ripping sensation suddenly tears painfully up both sides of my shoulder blades. I cry out, toppling backwards onto the floor as something incredibly heavy has suddenly weighed me down.

For a few agonizing seconds, I lay there, chest rising and falling in rapid, ragged gasps, my body trembling as the onslaught of sensations gradually ebbs. The disorientation subsides. My mind clears. My senses sharpen. A crowd has gathered, looming over me. Dozens of wide, unblinking

eyes…staring.

I brace for laughter, for mockery, the kind of public humiliation that comes with collapsing in the middle of a party. But instead…

Nothing.

No amusement. No smirks.

Just silence.

Like I’m something they don’t recognise, like I’m something they fear.

“Ella…” Freya’s voice is sharp, almost breathless, as I push myself up from the floor. My movements feel oddly fluid, more graceful than they should be, despite the strange, heavy sensation weighing

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across my back. My pulse pounds in my ears, but it’s not from exertion-it’s from the way Freyaís

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