Chapter 2

It is two days before the festival of seasons and by now everyone is already packed and ready to go.

All the Lycan clans would be traveling to the capital where the king resides to celebrate.

There are seven clans in total and are being headed by the King's princes. The princes aren't related to him by blood; he has no children, instead they are personally handpicked by the king to oversee the clans.

The criteria in which they are chosen is unknown by everyone but the king which is why there is hardly any replacement except one of them dies.

The other clans should be on the road by now and the clan warriors mobilized to make it safer since all seven clans will be on the road. Inter-clan scuffles are a serious pain to deal with.

"Are you ready, my dear sister?" Sarah, my little sister, asks in a mimicry of my voice as she barges into my room like the rude little devil she is.

She always complains that I sound like a woman born in the nineteen hundreds, too reserved, she said.

Her straight bright blonde hair and sky blue eyes are a stark contrast to my wavy auburn hair with too many streaks of red and forest green eyes.

No one would believe we were siblings at first glance. The more you look, you'd see that there is a startling similarity in our face structure.

I scowl at her as she goes to sit on my box and grins at me.

"Aren't you excited, May? Just thinking about it is getting me wet," she moans while squirming on my box.

"Control yourself, Sarah. The whole clan already knows what a slut you are," Richard, our elder brother, hollers from the living room.

I let out a hearty giggle, "He isn't wrong."

She glares at me and throws a pillow my way but the aim is really off so it lands at my feet. She scoffs and walks out of my room, probably to go terrorize our brother.

Lycans are naturally sexual creatures, so we are more in tune with our carnal desires than most. Unlike the mythical werewolves, we do not have soulmates. We do not have the one who was made to complete us.

They find someone who they feel is most compatible with us and then the two of them come to a mutual agreement to mate and then a small ceremony; depending on the rank of the lycans involved, is prepared to officially join them for life. It's just like marriage in the human world, just with no way out.

So with that said, we don't actually have to remain celibate until we find a soulmate of some sort.

I pick up my box and make my way to the living room to join my sibling so that we can start making our way over to the town square so we can get on the road.

I find Sarah on her phone typing away and Richard switches off the lights and I'm guessing the electric appliances are switched off as well.

"Shall we?"

He smiles at me, "let's go."

He only packed a duffel so he slings that over his shoulder and helps me with my box.

"What about mine?" Sarah whines.

He sighs and picks up her largest box, leaving her with the two unnecessary smaller boxes.

I have no issues carrying my own box but my overprotective brother has always doted on me since we were little because of how I was bullied for my uniqueness from my family members.

Some called me adopted, some called me cursed, some called me about a bad omen. It got so bad that I rarely left the house and I stopped caring about people to an extent, it helped me build a thick skin of some sort. Not children though, they're just innocently wonderful.

We all make our way to the town square, which is just a wide open space in the middle of the clan, just in time for the prince of the clan to come up for the do's and don'ts speech he gives before every journey.

Once he is done, we all pile up into the luxury buses that have been provided for everyone to make the travel smooth and without much trouble.

The prince's vehicle is in front to guide the way.

I read in one of the history books that in the ancient times, we would run in our Lycan form all the way there. Thank god for modernization.

Unfortunately, mine and Jason's eyes meet and he glares at me before I look away, unconcerned.

My siblings and I sit together since it's a three-seater.

The journey lasted for about 6 hours of driving non-stop.

Once we get close to the Capital, as expected, many other luxury buses of different colors are driving towards the gigantic bronze gate that leads into the city.

The capital is situated in the middle of a very thick forest just like the other clans are but this one is thicker and impossible to navigate for anyone but the King's trusted people.

Slowly but surely our bus finally goes through the gate and all of them move in a straight line towards the King's residence and it isn't called a castle for nothing.

It's like something from a fairytale, just a bit more elegant and modern.

You can see it right from the entrance to the city. It's that huge and the glaring white color calls more attention to it.

If not for the cloaking spell that hides our territories, we would have been exposed a long time ago.

The city is bustling with activity, stalls sitting here and there selling ornaments that are meant for different purposes.

Ornaments meant for seduction, easy penetration, sexy lingerie, sex toys, you name it.

It's the most obscene thing one could ever see in their lifetime and I'm still not used to it but one's got to make a living somehow so I don't judge.

This kind of thing would never have been allowed anywhere near the king but during this time; a few days before the festival, it is allowed.

By the time the festival is over, all these stalls will be cleared and the streets will return back to it's peaceful, orderly self again.

"Sis, look at that dress over there," Sarah calls to me and I look in the direction she's pointing at.

It is a charcoal black lace lingerie that is almost fully transparent except for the V area which is covered with a flowery design, everything else is on show.

"You want to get that?" I ask her and she tilts her head to the side a bit. "I'm not sure it seems a bit too much. What do you think?"

I shrug in reply.

Everyone in the bus is also busy looking at the goods through the window of the bus including my brother. Whatever he is looking for I certainly do not want to know.

We finally arrive in front of the castle and once again I am left in awe at how impossible it looks.

The space around it is enough to fit in 50 luxury buses and that is just the space around it.

In front of the majestic building, there is a fountain made entirely out of marble of a lycan howling at the moon with water spraying out of its mouth in front of the building.

After that is a stairway that leads to the entrance which is being guarded by two guards with postures as if frozen in time.

The width of it is enough to fit 20 of the pack houses into it.

If I remember correctly, apart from the fountain in the front of the castle there are other smaller ones scattered around the property.

We all step down from the bus one by one trying not to jostle another.

"Be careful," Richard says from behind me while Sarah is in front of me. We climb down from the bus and go to stand with the rest of our clan mates.

The other clans are also holding together in their respective places. Just because we were alike doesn't mean there wasn't hate among us.

Some of the clan members next to us were glaring at us and of course we glared right back.

Some of the clans were peaceful and minded their business most of the time while some thought they were more powerful than others and deserved more land and resources.

There have been talks of attempts to inhabit the territory of another but of course it never pushes through because no one wants the King on their bad side.

The guards at the door suddenly move to open it and a huge bear of a man marches out to greet us. He walks down the stairs and stops on the third stair before the ground.

"The king is preoccupied at the moment so he cannot be here to welcome you all. On his behalf, You are all welcome and in the meantime make yourself comfortable." He announces and turns back and walks back up the stairs and into the castle, the guards closing the door behind him.

That is Xavier the King's Aide and as you could have guessed from that very short greeting, he is a man of very few words.

After that brief greeting we all piled up into the boxes you drive us to the hotels will be staying until the day arrives.

"Of course you wouldn't come to greet us," I mumble to myself, "the prideful murdering unapologetic prick that he is."