The Rejected Werewolf Princess by Didiadeyemi

RYKER'S POV

No one made a move to touch the cloth. There was just so much fear and concern filling the room, it was almost suffocating. I sighed and reached out with my toe to push open the rag but nothing would have prepared me for what was in there. Inside said rag was one of the dolls but it didn’t look normal, it was black, almost as if it had been burned and it had the most putrid smell I had ever been unfortunate enough to encounter.

I knew what it was immediately, we all did. Christine had a hand to her nose and I watched her rush over to a corner to throw up. She should have left, I wanted to force her to leave but she didn’t, instead, she came right back and stood next to us.

“What the hell is going on?” she asked. “I was watching it and all of this happened within seconds. Something weird is going on.”

Camilla agreed but as I glanced back over my shoulder at the rotten body in the cell, it all made sense. “The cell keeps out every form of magic. The moment we put her in there, the magic keeping the body alive started to leech away, it had to go back to its original state. My only question now is what happened to the person in her body?”

No words were spoken as we all wracked our brain for any possible responses, the honest truth was that we didn’t know. This was magic and it was completely out of our pay grade. We didn’t have a resident witch who could answer all of our questions and tell us what was true and real or not. All we had at the moment was a dead body and a rotten doll.

“Peggy!” Camilla exclaimed after a second. “Shit, how are we going to explain all of this to her? She is going to be devastated. I have to tell her what happened.”

She looked to me and I knew she wanted me to handle it. It was clear that she was emotionally invested in this and I couldn't expect her to be at her best in this situation. I turned to the guards who were still watching us with close curiosity and anticipation.

“Get rid of the body, I would prefer that you burned it. Make sure to take this doll with you,” I gestured to it, not wanting to go any closer. “Do not touch it with your bare hands. We don’t know what it was used for or if there are traces of magic inside of it”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Speaking of magic, do not take that body out until the fire is ready. I don’t know if the magic will seep back in or not. This entire situation screams foul play and I don’t want to make it worse,” I turned to the women. “We should go.”

Peggy see her first?” Camilla asked

over the image of that rotten corpse,” I knew my worse were harsh but I needed to drive my point

my fingers with her. I turned to Christine who had been silent the entire

it from here. You should go and rest, I

away leaving Camilla and I. My mate definitely didn’t

we arrived at Peggy's door, I had to knock because I knew that in the moment, Camilla couldn't bring herself tc do anything. I knocked quietly and there was some mumbling before the door opened. Peggy took one look at us an she frowned deeply. I opened my mouth to speak but she held up a hand to

you are about to say and I would rather you didn’t,” she cut me off. “Can I at least see her?” “No, you can’t,” I hated doing that to her especially when her eyes widened and her frown deepened. “You don’t wan to see her in that state, I assure you.

spat and I knew that I had successfully pissed her off. “You can leave

a step into the room. She had her hands wrapped around her mid-section, almost as

I stilled. I had never heard her speak about this ou loud. “I wanted to, so badly but I was advised against it. I was furious, I thought they were trying to take her from me I thought they didn’t want me to say goodbye. I threw every tantrum in the book, I screamed and I cried but they didn't let me and now I am grateful

I raised her alone. I cared for her, I loved her, I watched her take her first steps, I watched her shift, I was there when she had her first kiss. I love my daughter with everything in me and you cannot stop me from seeing her. This is the time that she needs

off. “This is the time that she needs you to be strong. You don’t want to see her

don’t know my girl, you have no

not pull her back, instead, I let out a warning growl. Both women turned to me and Peggy's cheeks heated as she realized what she had done. She took a small step back to show me that she meant no harm and only then did the tension in my chest reduce considerably. I could see that Camilla wasn't happy with me for growling at Peggy but we could take care of that later. What mattered to me was that she

Marie, you can trust that I

my daughter's body rotting on the ground, Camilla,” Peggy spat. “Don’t

stop her and she went silent. I slowly made my way over to them making sure I

didn't tell you how her mother died,”

so slightly. “How