The Golden Lycans (Ella) novel Chapter 65

Reunited

***Freya***

+25 Points>

I hadn’t heard much from Etta during the Christmas break, and this made me a little skeptical about whether she felt anything herself. If he was bonded to Ella, would he know for sure or would he have to wait until Ella turned eighteen too? All I knew was that his drama with Ella and our father’s constant pressure on him was making him lose himself, and I was becoming really quite concerned.

I’d just finished packing my things away when Ella comes back. I immediately noticed that she looks healthier and more rested than she had when I’d last seen her, and I was really thankful to see that. As she walks into the room the smell on her hits me immediately.

“Oh my god, Ella…you smell of Will, like you actually stink of him!” I exclaim with a moderate amount of disgust.

She looks very surprised at first and I see a flush appear across her cheeks. I feel a wave of disappointment hit me as my mind goes straight to a particular, horrifying thought.

“Well…that might be because he has been staying with me since Christmas Eve,” she says, avoiding direct eye contact with me.

“Hold up. Why? Oh no…OH GOD…are you guys together or something?” I ask, my voice getting more pitchy toward the end of my sentence. She narrows her eyes at me.

At least SHE’S been shacking up with someone. Can’t say I blame her. Two years has done him some GOOD! Mira replies, unhelpfully.

“No, Freya…although would it be so awful if we were?” she asks, sounding quite defensive and frowning at me now, “he’s great guy, he’s been a great friend to me, and you really need to give him another chance.”

I was quite taken aback by how feisty Ella was being. I liked it, and I was also so relieved to hear that they weren’t an item. I feel myself relax a little.

“Sorry, you’re right. The last time I saw him was years ago when he was all over the place. People change and people grow up.”

Ella sits down on the edge of her bed and looks a little pained for a moment.

“How is Austin?” she asks quietly, looking nervously up at me as if dreading the answer. I sit down opposite her on my bed.

“I don’t know how much of the Austin you knew is really there, at the moment,” I admit sombrely. She wasn’t expecting this answer from me; her expression tells me that much.

“Why?”

“Dad is training all the men pretty hard. A few families left the pack after what happened with Fern Lake. People are scared, and who could blame them?” I begin, standing up now and wandering over to the window.

“I think our dad has always managed to get by on the long and unrivalled legacy of pur pack, but now…people are losing faith. They’re finding it hard to feel inspired. I don’t think he’s going the right way

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about it at all, but why would anyone listen to me? He just seems to be putting a lot of time and effort into Austin being another version of him rather than allowing Austin to be…well…Austin.”

“Doesn’t the Alpha have the Luna there to keep things, you know, balanced?” Ella asks with an enquiring tone, “surely your mum must’ve tried to intervene? I mean he’s her son,”

shrug.

“I think our mum just gets on with it. They’re pretty old school. She raised the kids and tended to the home and the garden for the most part. She taught a little in the greenhouse for a few years when some Elves were here, but that was only part time. Modern Lunas are different. They’re trained warriors, they have a say, they’re a person that everyone can count on and go to with problems. Times have changed; it isn’t like how it used to be

Lunas now challenge and stretch their Alphas more than they ever used to. It’s more of a partnership these days. I guess we can thank the evolving times for that. Women have more power and more rights than they ever did before. It’s just a shame that our mum hasn’t caught up with the times, not that our Dad would ever listen to her about Aus, of course. He made his mind up about all that years ago,” I explain. Ella sits up a little straighter.

“Sol.. Lunas these days don’t have to be housewives? Like…they can have a career and…choices?” Ella asks curiously, looking at me with rapt attention. I c**k an eyebrow at her.

“Yeah…like I said, times have changed,” I reply, narrowing my eyes a little, “why are you asking about Lunas

?”

Ella immediately looks awkward and drops her gaze down.

“No grand reason, I was just curious,…” she trails off. I am interested now, and I begin to wonder as I furrow my brow and look at Ella square on.

“Anyway…I just hope Aus finds his mate on Saturday. It would make him a great deal happier, it might give him the confidence to realise that he can pave his own way, instead of being moulded into our father…you know?” I begin, sitting back down across from her now, “a mate for him, who champions his finer qualities and can see how they will actually make him a damn fine leader in his own right.”

“That was…illuminating…have you thought of saying those things to him?” Ella asks, raising her eyebrows

at me.

“I’ve tried. I think the only person who can get through to him now, would be his mate,” I say pointedly, still staring intently at Ella with my own eyebrows raised a little. She looks a little uncomfortable under my gaze, but she still says nothing.

I pull on a cardigan and turn back to her.

“Shall we go grab dinner?”

We wander down the corridor and it is like a rerun of the first day back in September, with Annabelle running up the corridor towards us.

“Let me guess, another mate bond?” Ella jokes as Annabelle joins us, clearly feeling the deja vu along with

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“Hey, you,” she says, giving Ella a quick hug, “and actually…yes! But this one is a funny story, and you’ll really like this one Ella, because he might not bother you again after today!”

Annabelle links arms with Ella and leads her down the corridor in excitement.

“Dear old Creepy Cass has been snagged by one of the omegas from the year above,” Annabelle says, sounding overjoyed at this, I snort with laughter.

“That is actually, amazingly funny,” I reply as Ella lets out a light laugh herself.

“Also, it gives me hope that I may one day hold some sort of notable rank, that even bonding to an alpha is still possible,” Annabelle muses.

“Alphas very very rarely get mate bonded with omegas,” I explain quietly to Ella, “which makes it even funnier as it’s Cass, when we know he has an ego the size of a small country.”

“MG has definitely got a sense of humour. That should level him out,” Annabelle laughs as we head down the staircase together.

We enter the dining hall and go straight to the food service. The dinner today happens to be Indian rather than the usual roast dinner, which I was quite pleased about. I loved hot and spicy food. I wave at one of the kitchen workers I’d grown up with at the pack and he heads over to me as I hold my tray of food.

“Hey Liam, any chance of grabbing the hot sauce so I can fire my curry up a bit more?” I ask cheerfully.

“Hey Freya, uhh…it’s already out, I think Ollie may have it,” Liam says before heading back into the main kitchen.

We put our trays on the table and I wander off over to Ollie while Ella and Annabelle take their seats.

“Didn’t think you had the balls for that hot sauce, Ol,” I say, dropping into the chair opposite him with a smirk. He’s mid-squirt over his already overloaded plate of curry and pauses just long enough to give me a slow, amused look.

“Oh… this?” Ollie replies, twirling the little bottle between his fingers with absurd dexterity, “Freya, babe, this is nothing compared to what I have the balls for.”

I snort, even as my cheeks warm. Of course he’d go there.

“Babe’? You really going for that now?” I raise a brow, reaching across the table. “Hand it over before you melt your insides for the sake of bravado.”

He passes the bottle over with a wink so over-the-top it would’ve been ridiculous-if it didn’t make my stomach do that irritating flutter thing.

“Careful,” he says with mock seriousness, “hot sauce might be the only spice in your life right now.”

I narrow my eyes at him.

“Make fun of me and I might just squirt this hot sauce in your eye,” I warn.

“Sounds kinky.”

“Ollie!”

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He just grins, unbothered, lounging In his chair like he owns the place.

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