Welcome to Lycaconia
I stared out the window as the old bus trundled down the long and winding road. So far there hadn’t been much to see as we traveled, mostly forest. Though that wasn’t surprising given our pack’s location high in the Altalune Mountains.
But I knew that we were getting close now. Close to the capital city of Lycaconia, a place that I had never had the opportunity to visit before and I was eager to see the sights.
The Freki Pack, where I was from, was small and basic tucked high away in a mountain valley. We had many of the same comforts of a modern pack, but we lived a more rustic lifestyle.
Our houses were small and made of wood. Even our pack house was rather insignificant and unimpressive, particularly when compared to that of a larger pack. Our electricity was spotty and went down with every single storm. There was one clothing store, one grocery store, and only one restaurant.
But to be fair…we didn’t really need much more than that. There weren’t enough of us in the pack to bother asking for more. Besides we were happy with what we had. It was a peaceful existence in a serene setting.
However, for the next week we would be saying goodbye to all that to visit Lycaconia. Not that I was upset about that. I was eager to see the city and experience a different way of life for a short time.
I saw this as an adventure to learn about another way of life and that was the only reason why I had agreed to go in the first place.
“I’m so excited that we’re finally going to be attending the Feray Festival!” Daisy exclaims as she pops up leaning over the back of the empty seat next to me.
“Me too! I feel like we’ve waited forever for this!” Lily squeals as she too appears, leaning over from behind my own seat.
I had to shift in my own chair in order to turn my head to see the both of them. They’d taken the seats behind me so they could sit together. I wasn’t surprised or hurt by this. Even though they were my best friends, they always did everything together.
They acted alike, talked alike, and dressed alike. They even looked exactly alike. Many who didn’t know them or their families often mistook them for twins. But the truth was they were not even sisters, they were cousins.
However, their mothers, who had been twin sisters, gave birth on the same day, at the exact same time. The midwives even mixed them up a few times. Fortunately, their mothers and fathers could tell them apart because a wolf always recognizes their young and would simply switch them back.
And to this day, their parents and I are the only ones who can tell them apart with ease. A skill that I learned over time, after being tricked by them on several occasions when we were pups. Even their scents were the same, almost indistinguishable from each other.
It was kind of weird if you asked me. But they wouldn’t want it any other way. They fully believed that they were meant to be sisters.
“Aren’t you excited for the festival, Aylin?” Daisy questioned after I’d failed to say anything in response.
“Not really,” I huffed.
“What do you mean? Don’t you want to find your mate?” Lily pressed, disappointed by my response.
“Of course, I do. I just don’t think it will happen at the festival.”
At least, I hoped that it didn’t.
The Feray Festival was held every five years in the royal pack of Lycoan in the capital city of Lycaconia. It was originally started by the current Alpha King’s grandfather, the late-King Odin Aegenwulf.
It was meant to be a chance for unmated wolves of age to come together with wolves from other packs that they may not have otherwise interacted with. The original intention was to help the unmated to find their fated mates.
However, over the years it’d become less about destined mating’s and more about debauchery and lust. Evolving into a weeklong fuck fest filled with orgies and experimentation.
Very few mated pairs were discovered nowadays. It had become almost impossible to track down your mate in the midst of the chaos that the festival was said to have become. And if you did find your mate…the activities that they have been up to may make you wish that you hadn’t.
There was the story of one girl from our pack who’d attended the last festival five years ago. She had somehow managed to scent her mate amongst the mayhem and followed the scent into a nearby tent.
She found him sandwiched between another male and a female. Their bodies writhing in pleasure. She dared to touch him to confirm her suspicions and he was indeed her mate. However, the worst part was that even after noticing her and recognizing her as his mate, he didn’t stop the activities. Instead, he invited her to join them and when she refused – he simply brushed her off and continued.
Needless to say, she wasn’t on the bus headed to festival this year. She vowed that she would never return for fear that she would see her mate again. It worked out well for her in the end. A year ago, she was mated to a chosen mate, a slightly older male who had given up on finding his fated, and they were expecting their first pup.
But it was stories like hers and the many others like it that made me hope I didn’t find my mate at the Feray Festival.
I hadn’t even wanted to attend in the first place. However, my mother had insisted as the prospects in our pack were slim. Daisy and Lily hadn’t helped either when they announced that they were attending and begged me to go with them.
Even my father had not been an ally, believing that I should attend at least once for the experience. He had attended in his youth but only one time. The very next year, my mother came of age, and he claimed her as soon as he scented her since they were both lucky enough to be from the same pack.
A rarity it seems nowadays.
My mother had often expressed that she wished she’d gone, at least, once. Not because she was unhappy with my father. They were very much in love. But she had missed out on an experience that almost every other wolf in the kingdom gets to experience. It made her feel just a little left out.
So, I relented. Which is why I was here now. Sitting on this rickety old bus with other unmated she-wolves from my pack and the Amoux Pack. The only two packs to exist in our area of the Altalune Mountains.
Which is why the Lycoan Pack only saw fit to send one bus for both packs. I couldn’t complain too much though. The girls from Amoux had been picked up first and had been stuck on this bus for nearly twelve hours. That was a long time, especially for wolves who were used to being surrounded by nature.
“I don’t plan to look for my mate at all,” a shrill female voice pierced the air.
I looked around noticing a female with long dark hair sitting across the aisle with her friend. I didn’t recognize either of them, so I knew they must be from the Amoux pack.
“I have my eyes on one wolf and one wolf only,” she continued. “I’m going straight for the top, where I belong, and seducing Alpha King Titan,” she announced loud enough for all for the entire bus to hear as though she were staking her claim.
“As if…” I scoffed under my breath.
Though apparently I was not quiet enough as she and her friend both turned to glare in our direction.
“Got something to say, mutt?” she sneered as her eyes danced between me, Daisy, and Lily.
I wasn’t going to say anything. I really wasn’t. I had every intention of being the bigger wolf and biting my tongue. But for some inexplicable reason, the words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them.
“Just that it’s next to impossible for you to seduce the Alpha King. Everyone knows that he doesn’t attend the festival amongst the common wolves. He has never been seen at the festival not even before he took the crown. What makes you think you’ll ever have a chance to get close enough?”
“Everyone knows that King Titan sends his advisors into the festival to find the most beautiful she-wolves to take back to him in the castle,” she countered with a flick of her hair as she stuck her nose in the air.
“That’s just a rumor. No one has ever confirmed that happening.”
“That’s because they sign an NDA,” she replied in a “duh” tone as though Iwas the delusion one. “And at least I will have more of a chance than you ever would,” she continued giving me a once over with a look of disgust. “A runt from the Freki Pack. You’ll be lucky if you get any action at the festival.”
I was not a runt. I was a completely respectable size for the average she-wolf, but it was clear this female thought that she was better than everyone else and proved it to herself by tearing others down.
“Hey!” Daisy snapped. “Aylin is the prettiest she-wolf in the entire Freki Pack. The Alpha King would be lucky to have her!”
“Yeah!” Lily agreed.
Not exactly the point that I’d been trying to make, but I appreciated that they had my back.
“Yeah…that much I can agree with you on,” the dark-haired she-wolf scoffed as she looked at my friends.
“Hey! Don’t talk to my friends like that! They are beautiful inside and out which I doubt anyone would say about you!” I growled as I rose from my seat.
“And who’s going to stop me?” she challenged. “Everyone knows that Freki wolves can’t fight.”
Also, not true. Our warriors were revered. But at this point she had already gotten me riled up and I snarled in response, my wolf threatening to take control.
However, before things could escalate further, the representative from Lycoan who accompanied us, stood up at the front of the bus and shot us both a distasteful glare.
“That is quite enough ladies! If you want to fight you can do at a sanctioned match once we reach the festival. But until then there will be no bloodshed on this bus!” she scolded.
I sat down grumbling under my breath. I didn’t want to cause trouble. I didn’t want to draw attention. I just wanted to enjoy this week and take part in the more wholesome activities that the festival would have to offer.
“It’s not worth it, Edith,” her friend bid as she tugged the dark-haired girl back into her seat. “If you want a shot at the Alpha King, you can’t go upsetting representatives from the Lycoan Pack. They will never recommend you to him if you do.”
It was a ridiculous argument, but it worked to get Edith back under control as she turned away from me and focused instead on digging makeup out of her purse.
“Great we’re not even there yet and we already ran into our first ‘mean girl.’” Lily quipped through our mindlink causing Daisy to stifle a laugh.
A few minutes later, the Lycoan representative stood up and faced us again. But this time she had a large smile on her face as she addressed us.
“Ladies, welcome to Lycaconia,” she announced. “We at the Lycoan Pack hope that you enjoy your stay. Remember to go straight to the registration line when you get off the bus. After which you will be taken to the assigned quarters for your stay. Good luck finding your mates!”
I stared out the window in awe as I took in the immensity of the city. I’d never seen anything like it. I had traveled out of Freki some, but the other packs I’d visited were large towns at best, most with villages not much bigger than ours.
But Lycaconia was unlike anything I could’ve imagined. It was huge and bustling. Vehicles zipped up and down the street. The sidewalks were filled with wolves of all shapes and sizes hurrying from one place to another.
And the buildings were so large that they touched the sky. In the center of it all surrounded by a magnificent park, a massive castle with spiraling towers sat atop a hill looking over its domain.
The grounds of the park was where the Feray Festival would be held with a massive portion surrounding the castle blocked away from the public to ensure no commoners wandered onto the royal grounds. You could see the tents spread out across the landscape, all various sizes and colors.
In no time at all, we would be there. Entering the Feray Festival and there would be no turning back until the events were over. And I had the strangest notion that something big was about to happen.
I just had no idea what.
