The Rejected Werewolf Princess by Didiadeyemi

CAMILLA'S POV

The moment I found the girl bound and alone in the woods, I knew it had been a trap to separate Ryker and I. She was terrified but relatively unharmed. As soon as she was free, she rushed over to me and in that moment, I wasn't the Queen, I was just the person who had saved her. She was younger than I had expected, she couldn't have been any more than sixteen and I couldn't imagine all that she had to go through.

“Are you alright?” I asked once she pulled back and she nodded.

“I apologize for rushing towards you like that, I"

“You don't have to apologize,” I waved her off. “Do you want to tell me how you got here or would you like to see your sister first? She is in the palace.”

“I can explain,” she cleared her throat and stood up straighter. “One of the elders came to me, he said that you wanted the palace off lockdown. He asked me to come with him and the next thing I knew, I was here”

“Thank you for explaining, that was-" my words died in my throat when I felt something tense in my chest. It almost felt like someone had wrapped their hand around my heart and was squeezing tightly. I could see the girl and the guards watching me with wary expressions so I forced a neutral look on my face. “Take her back in, make sure she is given clean clothes and take her sister to her. There is something I must do.”

“Your majesty,” one of the guards began hesitantly. “We were under strict orders to not leave you alone”

“And I am releasing you of those orders,” I snapped.

He knew better than to directly disobey so he bowed and walked off. As soon as he was gone, I allowed myself to stop pretending. I placed my hands on my knees, trying and failing to catch my breath. The pressure on my chest was getting worse and I wasn't sure how, but I just knew where to go. I allowed instinct guide me until I was much deeper into the forest. I saw a house in the distance and what I saw there had me freezing.

Ryker, with shadows coming out of his hands, it was a terrifying but beautiful sight. His eyes were black, almost like they were the last time I spoke directly to the magic inside of him. Weirdly enough, it wasn't Ryker who shocked me, it was the people around

on his lips. I wasn't sure what game he was playing at, but the girl behind Ryker was

listen to him!” yelled out and all eyes turned to me, including Ryker’s. “Ryker, they are lying to you. Our daughter isn’t

at me before turning back to Ryker. “You can see the witch, can't you? This is a test, she wants you

listening to

a witch, you know who I am. Look around,

a step forward but it was almost like there was something blocking me from doing so. It was like an invisible field of air. I pushed against it but all to no avail. When I glanced back at the woman standing behind Ryker, she had an amused

wall and it felt and smelled suspiciously of darkness and death. I wasn't sure how I knew, but this felt like Ryker’s

please, listen to me. It's me, you know that it is. I would never

the woman spoke and even I fell silent. There was something melodious and charming about her voice, something that seemed to almost sing out to me. “She's a witch, she's trying to make you think that she is your mate, but I am. Look, I have our daughter here with

as if he was seeing what she said which made no sense at all. I banged my fists against the barrier between Ryker and I. If I could just reach out to him, if I could just touch him, then perhaps I could have saved him. If he could have just touched me then he would have known that I was

wants to separate us,’ the woman said once more. “Kill her, please. Protect us." “No!” I screamed. “Kill them, they are trying to use you. They are lying to you. Our daughters are at home, they are in their rooms probably sleeping. You said it yourself that there was no way that he would have been able to get them out of

lying daddy,” the little girl chimed

was seeing and hearing what I thought he was then I knew that was going to be his undoing. There was little to nothing he wouldn't have done for our daughter so I wasn't completely surprised when he

did was crawl over it until it was wrapped around my feet. The moment I came in contact with the magic, I felt

witches

witches and it didn't have the fangs I had come to associate with vampires. They had rows upon rows of jagged teeth like it had been filed to look that way. My blood ran cold, it was utterly terrifying. “Ryker,” my voice came out softer than

it. if he was going to remember my last words, then I needed him to remember me well. “Witch,” Ryker snarled, his voice wasn't his. It was much deeper and guttural. It was the first word he had spoken since I got