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.

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 him. I couldn't recognize either of them, they seemed to be

your own daughter to see you like this, do you?” the man asked, a cruel smirk playing on

eyes turned to me, including

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

confusion when Ryker cocked his head to the side, almost as if he were actually listening to the rogue. Did he not hear that his voice was

not a witch, you know who I

had an amused expression on her face. I immediately knew that she had something to do with it. They weren't rogues like I had earlier thought, they were probably witches but it didn't make sense that they were trying to drag this out because witches would

knew, but this felt like Ryker’s test, the one that would determine if he was going to be lost forever or

listen to me. It's me, you know that it is. I would never lie to you. These people aren't

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

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

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

lying daddy,” the little girl chimed

what I thought he was then I knew that was going to be his undoing. There was little to nothing he

of water at it, I tried to make an ice shield but as I came to learn, you couldn't really defend yourself against shadows because all his magic did was crawl over it until it was wrapped around my feet. The moment I came in contact with the magic, I felt cold and empty. I smelled death and decay in his powers as

witches

come to associate with vampires. They had rows upon rows

all I had was a few seconds before he killed me and I was determined not to waste 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