The Rejected Werewolf Princess by Didiadeyemi

Chapter 118 CAMILLA'S PO.V We were on edge after that because it meant that someone was onto our plan but whoever it was didn’t come around us again. It was almost like they were trying to be careful so as not to draw more attention to themselves. By the next morning, we still weren't any closer to finding out who they were but | was excited because the team that went out to find the night lock were supposed to be returning any day from now. | wasn’t sure if | wanted to use it on Alastair but it felt good to know that we had a backup plan if need be. | knew Ryker didn’t feel the same way, he wanted to get rid of Alastair as soon and as quietly as possible.

We were at breakfast getting Audrey ready for her first day when they returned. | was itching to see the infamous plant that could incapacitate someone as powerful as Alastair but my daughter was more important. She was terrified about her first day and hadn’t stopped gripping onto mine and Ryker’s hands for dear life. We took the carriage to the school and | could see her bouncing her feet anxiously. | could tell that if given the opportunity, she was going to sprint the other way without looking back.

“Everything will be fine,” | dropped my voice to a whisper and she looked up at me with wide and hopeful eyes. “| promise you, this will be the best time of your life and you are going to love it.” “Are you sure?” she asked and | nodded. She still looked a little hesitant but at least she had stopped K bouncing her feet. “Will you come get me after school?”

“I don’t know, sweetheart, if we are busy, we might have to send some guards to get you but we will be waiting for you at home if that is anything. We will be counting down the moments until you get back.” She didn’t seem happy about it but she nodded. Once we got to the school, there were other students going in at the same time. Some arrived in carriages just like us but others were simply walking in. Ryker helped Audrey out and she looked so small and timid. | was unsure of what else | could say to make her feel better when a little girl walked up to us. She was in the grey uniform that everyone else was wearing.

Audrey got hers last night because we were adamant that she doesn’t stand out from the crowd so as not to make her first day awkward.

“Hi, are you new?” the little girl asked and Audrey nodded slowly. “My name is Maya, do you want to come in with me?” She was a beautiful girl with blond pigtails and bright blue eyes. Audrey hesitated before nodding and taking her outstretched hand.

“My name is Audrey,” she said slowly and Maya beamed wide enough to rival the sun.

Chapter 118 “You're really pretty.” “You're really pretty too, come on, I'll show you all my favorite places.” B # 5 0 That seemed to calm Audrey down because she smiled. She waved to us and | watched as she disappeared into the building. Tears burned the back of my eyes and | blinked rapidly to prevent them from falling. It was one thing to know that your child was all grown up but it was another thing to see it and | was seeing it in person. Ryker kept a hand at the small of my back and ushered me back into the carriage. | could tell that he was just as emotional as | was but he was better off at hiding it.

“She will be fine,” he assured me. “There is no better place for her than here.” When we got back to the palace, | had to push aside all my emotions to focus on what was happening.

The guards along with Steven and Kevin were in the training room. They looked exhausted but at least they had changed out of their gear. As soon as they saw us, they got to their feet and bowed.

“How was the journey?” | asked and Steven sighed deeply.

“It was tough but we got it. The mountain was nothing like we had expected. We lost someone on the trail, there was a landslide and he got caught in it,” he reached into his pocket and brought out a carefully wrapped package.

| gingerly took it from him and opened it slowly. It was much smaller than | had imagined and | wondered how you could get someone like Alastair to take that. | decided that it would be a problem for another day and wrapped it back up. Steven was looking at me with anticipation as if wanting to know if he had done correctly so | smiled.

“Thank you, all of you. You have been a great help,” his shoulders sagged in relief and | turned to Ryker.

He seemed to get the hint so he thanked them too and we walked out together. As soon as we were out, | started speaking. “What do you think?” “Obviously he can’t eat it like that, he would never agree. The question is, how did your father manage to get him to ingest it? Did he make it into a powder and throw it on him. Did he incapacitate him first and then force feed it to him?” “I don’t know,” | answered honestly. “I don’t really know about the plant and its properties. It could be possible that my father ate it himself and then got Alastair to bite him thereby transferring it but | don’t even know if that would work.” pe

“It is a good place to start, the question that remains is where do we keep this? We already know that someone is watching us.” | was about to answer when | noticed someone walking behind us. | jumped slightly then let out a sigh of relief once | realized that it was Christine. She raised a brow at my 15:58 Fri, 26 Chapter 118 panic.

“If you don’t want people listening in, then you shouldn’t have conversations in public,” she grabbed my arm and pulled me into the nearest room which so happened to be the dining room. “Now, what is it about ingesting that | am hearing?” We explained everything that we had been up to lately and if she was upset for not being included, she didn’t let it show. She just listened intently and by the time we were done, she let out a deep sigh.

“I think your idea seems the most probable,” she said to me. “There is no guarantee that we will be able to incapacitate him long enough to feed it to him by force, but, do you even want to do this, Camilla?”

“What do you mean?” | asked and she shot me a bland look.

“When you spoke about it, you sounded weird, almost as if you weren't fully into it. I’m not trying to put you on the spot but, | mean-”" “It doesn’t matter, okay? | just sometimes feel bad for him because he is as much a victim as we are,” | said slowly and | felt Ryker tense beside me. “| am not condoning the things he did and | understand that he needs to be punished for his actions but | can feel that and also feel pity for who he was and what was done to him before. Two things can be right at the same time.” Ryker wanted to respond but was stopped from doing so when the door creaked open and Alara walked in slowly. She had her head bent low and she was wringing her fingers. At first, | thought something was wrong but then she started speaking.

“I know | shouldn’t have been listening,” she began slowly, “but | heard you talking about him and | just, I’m sorry for eavesdropping.” “What's wrong?” | asked as | gestured for her to come closer.

“I want to help, in any way that you will have me. He ruined my entire life, he took away my childhood and everything that | know. | don’t want to just sit here and wait for him to be caught. | want to be useful and | know I’m just a random girl from the town and | probably don’t have any skills but | would like to help.”

| glanced over at Ryker because | was unsure of what to say. There was truly nothing she could do to help. | didn’t want anyone digging into my father’s things and unless she could go out with the guards then she was better off in the palace than helping. | shot Ryker a ‘help me’ look and he sighed.

“Alara, | understand, but the best thing you can do is to stay safe.” “No, you don’t understand, your majesty,” she shot back. “That house was all | had left 111 15:58 Fri, 26 Jan Chapter 118 oO of my parents. It was everything to me and he took it. | have nothing left of my family. Please, | will do anything.” She dropped to her knees and | saw fresh tears in her eyes. | glanced over at Christine who | could see was also moved by her. Maybe it was because she had also lost her parents but we understood her pain and at least | was able to get rid of the person who killed my mother, she wouldn’t get that privilege. [ Ryker glanced over at us and | nodded.

“Okay,” he said finally and | saw her eyes widen in shock. “There isn’t much that you can do here but there is a guard, Steven, and | am sure he would be more than happy to train you. | will not be putting you out on the front lines but you will be learning how to protect yourself. Is that okay?” She nodded and | watched as she launched herself into Ryker’s arms. He stiffened and cleared his throat and she immediately pulled away. “| apologize, your majesty, thank you, | won’t let down.”

Chapter 119 CAMILLA'S PO.V | watched as she walked out of the room and | waited until she had shut the door behind her before | turned to Ryker with a teasing smile. “Looks like you have a new fan.” He rolled his eyes at me and turned back to the table. “We were discussing something very important before she came.” | raised my hands in mock surrender. “I guess it is settled about the night lock. | can’t take it unless we are very certain that we will see him. Where do we keep it until then?” “We can keep it in one of the offices or in our room,” Ryker began but | shook my head. There was no guarantee that no one would keep it safer than he would, the problem was that everyone else would expect it.

“If someone were to go looking for it, that would be the first place that they would look,” | dropped my voice to a whisper in case of any more eavesdroppers. “I think Christine should hide it, probably in the same place that you hid the map of the tunnels. No one else can know where it is, not even us.” “Are you sure?” she asked and | nodded. “What if you need to get it and I'm not there?”

“We will deal with that if it ever comes to it but right now, | don’t want to risk it getting taken. I'm not saying we have any spies in here but | am just trying to be safe.” She thought about it for a second before nodding. “Fine, but what if you kept some in Ryker’s office like he suggested. Just a small amount of it so that if anyone goes looking for it, they will think that they found everything and they wouldn’t expect you to have any more hidden away.” | realized that was a brilliant idea and we all agreed to it. Ryker and | took the small quantity of the berries and hid it safely in his office. Fortunately, they had a long shelf life so | wasn’t worried about them getting spoiled within the next week or so. It gave us a little time to figure out how we wanted to do this. If it exceeded a week then | had no idea how we were going to deal with it or handle the situation. Ryker tried to assure me that everything was going to be fine but | couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong.

He met with the guards while | went out for training, Loris wasn’t out there so | trained on my own. | had come to find it relaxing rather than a painful reminder of all | couldn’t do. There was just something about the water that soothed my nerves. It was almost like an extension of myself and | loved it. | didn’t know how long | stayed there, | just knew that | was moving. | felt formidable and untouchable for the first time ina

long time. | let the water slide back into the stream and was about to leave when | decided to try something.

After Loris had realized | wasn’t making any progress in getting water out of the moisture in the air or out of the ground, he had decided to let it be and he focused on other aspects of my powers. | looked around to make sure no one was looking and crouched down to the ground. | could feel the water- | always had. The problem was that | could never reach it. It didn’t matter how much | pulled or tugged, it just never came within

my reach.

| closed my eyes and tried to pull on the water but it wouldn't rise. | could have sworn | felt it move an inch but that was it. | muttered a curse under my breath and huffed as | kicked a small stone in my path. | turned to return to the palace but was surprised to find Ryker standing there. | was surprised that | hadn’t noticed him earlier.

“How long have you been watching me?” | asked and he shrugged.

“Not long, you're doing much better than before.” “| still can’t get to it,” | gestured off handedly to the floor and he shrugged. “I just never thought it would be that difficult, you know.” “You'll get to it sooner or later,” he kept his tone soft and encouraging. He reached out to me and | wasted no time in letting my hand slip into his.

Just as | did, there was a noise behind us. His hold on me tightened and he pulled me behind him. | could barely see over his shoulder and | think that was his plan because he made sure that | was hidden behind him. You wouldn’t have even known | was present if you had walked in.

“Ryker,” | began but he held up a hand to stop me. “It was probably just the wind or something. There is no one here.” —

“Yes there is,” he said simply and when | opened my mouth to protest he shot me a hard look. | decided to stay silent for the sole reason that he had more experience than | did when it came to people and fighting so he probably knew more. “Walk away slowly and go back to the palace.” “Are you crazy? I’m not leaving you out here.” “Camilla, do you ever listen to me?” he sounded annoyed but underneath all of that, there was a hint of admiration. “| don’t want you to get hurt.” “| am getting a toothache from just watching you,” | turned to the woods and | saw a vampire leaning against the trees. It was the one who had led me into the mountains. | hadn’t seen him in a while and a part of me had hoped he was dead. “You wolves need better protection. You have no idea how easy it was for me to get in here.”

D Ryker growled and | saw a flash of fear in his eyes. He even took a slow step backwards. It was good to know that they were smart enough to ascertain when someone was a genuine threat to them and that was exactly what Ryker was. He was the most patient and loving partner on the planet but that didn’t mean that he still wasn’t the Alpha everyone thought that he was.

“You have two minutes to get the f uck out of here before | rip your head off your shoulders,” Ryker warned.

“I’m not here to hurt either of you, relax,” he held up his hands to show that he meant no harm. “I simply came to relay a message.” “I’m not interested not f uck off. You have just one minute left.” “I figured you wouldn’t want to listen. Well, Alastair is a bit upset that you would consider hurting him when he has been nothing but kind to you over the past few weeks,” | raised a brow at his words. Did he really say the words kind when Alastair had killed more wolves than | cared to count. “He was upset at the number of vampire casualties at your town and he has promised to right the wrong.” “You have a lot of nerve coming to my home and saying that,” Ryker took a slow step towards the vampire who took one back. “What’s stopping me from killing you where you stand?”

“I’m just the messenger. Your fight isn’t with me.” +5 Ryker moved so fast that | barely had time to register it. One minute, he was standing by me and the next, he had his hands around the vampire’s throat and was squeezing tightly. The vampire clawed at his hands and despite the blood dripping down his arms, Ryker never made one move to let him go. | stood fixated in my spot and unable to say anything.

“If you kill me, you will inquire Alastair’s wrath. | was the first man he turned, | am his closest ally and confidante.” “| don’t give a sh it.” “You should, we could wipe out this pack in a matter of seconds. You should think about that, Alastair would not be pleased in the slightest,” | could see that he was just trying to buy time to save his life but Ryker wasn’t having it.

“He should have thought about it before sending you here. Let this serve as a warning to the rest of you.

If any of you comes near my home or my family, you will die.” | thought Ryker would let him go to deliver the warning but to my shock, he twisted his neck and | | watched as the vampire crumpled to the ground.

Ryker stood over the body and turned to me. “Get me a torch, now.” That forced my legs to move. “Is he dead?” “No, you can only kill them with fire or by tearing off their heads. | just twisted it. He will be up in an hour or less and we cannot have that happening.” +5 | watched in shock and slight horror as Ryker lit a fire over the body of the fallen vampire. He stood there and watched it burn. | couldn’t even look at the body, my eyes were fixated on Ryker.

“You could have kept him for questioning,” | began slowly and he shrugged. “Why didn’t you?” “He was a threat to you,” he said simply. “If you weren’t here then maybe, but | had to think of the possibility that he would try to attack you and | couldn't risk that. It doesn’t matter now, he is dead, come.” | was shocked by how casually Ryker was saying everything but | took his outstretched hand and walked in step with him.

“He said that Alastair wanted to even out the numbers, what did he mean?” “I don’t know and honestly, | don’t think | want to find out.”

Chapter 120 CAMILLA'S PO.V For the next two days, | was on edge, | kept waiting for Alastair to attack the palace and take revenge fc the death of his friend but he never did. If anything, he was quieter than before. | began to wonder if the other vampire had been bluffing just so we wouldn’t kill him. | wanted to tell Ryker about my worries but didn’t want to jinx it. If nothing had happened yet, then | was more than happy to keep it that way. Thing were going perfectly, we had the night lock and the guards were training. The town people had become more vigilant and there were fires set at every boundary. There hadn't been any deaths in two days and found that to be a record.

“Damien wrote back,” Ryker’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts and | found him at the door to my office. “He thanked us for the poultice and even asked what was inside. He also mentioned that he was going to try to visit soon because he had been hearing about everything that was happening.” “Are you going to respond?” “Not right now, there are more pressing things on ground,” he shrugged as he made his way into the office. “We need to figure out a way to get rid of Alastair permanently. | don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder wondering if you are safe.” “I know,” | sighed as | ran my hands through my hair. “I’m just here hoping that he is going to change. | know it is fantastical and it is not going to happen but you can’t fault me for believing, right?”

He was about to answer when the bell started to ring. | was out of my chair in seconds and we both rushed out of the room. There were guards already getting ready to ride into town. They were so engrossed in their work that none of them even turned to pay heed. Kevin made to walk past me but | grabbed his upper arm pulling him to a complete stop.

us any “What is happening?” Ryker asked and Kevin hesitated before speaking. “You're not mute so don’t start now.” “It’s the school,” he explained slowly and that was all | needed to rush into the stables and grab my horse. | couldn’t even wait for someone else to saddle it for me, | started doing it all on my own.

“Camilla, stop,” Ryker said to me but | ignored him. “I don’t want you there.”

“| don’t care, my daughter is out there so | am going. You can either deal with it or you stay behind.

Nothing is stopping me from going,” my eyes burned but | tried to convince myself that she was fine- she was safe. Audrey was not going to die much less at the hands of a vampire.

| couldn’t help but shake my head as | thought of Alastair. We had hit him where it hurt so he was trying to do the same thing. At this point, | didn’t care about anything, if | saw him then | was going to kill him myself. | got on the horse and didn’t even wait for Ryker before | started riding in the direction of the school.

| felt the heat before | saw the fire. A good portion of the gate was on fire. No one could go in and out. | could see the guards trying to weave their way in to get the children from inside. | got off my horse immediately trying to see if | could get an opening to go in but there was nothing. Suddenly, | felt Ryker by my side.

“I’m going to get her out,” he whispered and before | could process what he had said, he literally dashed through the flames. | tried to reach out for him but one of the guards held me back.

“Why would you let him go in there?” | screamed but | still wasn’t allowed to move forward. | felt a pair of eyes on me and | looked around.

It was like a magnet directed me to Alastair. He was standing in the trees and once he saw that he had my attention, he tipped his head forward. There was a sick smirk on his face and | saw a torch in his hands. He was the one who had set the fire. He knew he could have died from it but he risked it just to K hurt us.

“Good luck,” he mouthed before disappearing into the woods and | felt blood bubble up in me.

| wanted to chase after him but my major concern was for my family that was currently stuck in the flames. | noticed the guards were rushing in and out of the woods to get the water so | closed my eyes and tried to feel for the source. It took me a few seconds but | felt it- it was a stream with a waterfall a few feet away. it was further than anything | had tried to reach for but | wasn’t going to give up now.

| pulled as hard as | could and with a scream, | heard the rush of water. Everyone stared in awe as | swirled the entire stream overhead. A few looked at me with awe while others looked at me with fear in their eyes. | figured that | would handle that problem later as | dumped the entire thing over the burning building. The fire was out but | felt so dizzy that | could barely stand on my own. | didn’t know how much energy it would take to maneuver that much water over that kind of distance.

| stumbled back a bit but the guard behind me who | realized was Steven kept me

stable. He had a hand on my shoulder and | watched as the other guards rushed in to retrieve the people who were inside. | stood with baited breath watching the people going in and out and waiting to see my family. | saw Audrey’s hair before | saw her. She ran straight from me and despite how tired | felt, | still allowed her throw herself into my arms.

Ryker reached me next and he placed a kiss on my forehead. “That was incredible, | saw the entire thing.” “You’re a hero, mummy,” Audrey whispered and | couldn’t stop the tired smile that grew on my face. | handed her over to Ryker who was more than happy to take her from me. He had soot on his clothes but overall he was fine.

“Did anyone die?” | asked but he shook his head.

“Not from the students, no, | haven't checked with the guards yet, so | am unsure of that,” he stopped mid sentence to look at me. “Are you alright? You look a little green. Do you feel sick?” “No, I’m fine, | just didn’t know it would take that much to hold that much,” my vision. was hazy but | managed to keep myself upright as | leaned on Ryker’s arms. “| just need a second or an hour or a very long nap to recuperate.” “Do you want me to call a carriage for you?” he asked but waved him off because | knew shaking my head would be a very bad choice. [

“| can ride, | promise.” It wasn’t that | was going to pass out or anything, | was just tired and everything hurt. Ryker kept his arms around me as he led us back to our horses. He had to help me get on mine because | couldn’t do it myself then he got on his own with Audrey in front of him. We rode back to the palace at a slower speed than the one we did to get to the school and | knew it was for my sake so as not to make the dizziness worse.

By the time we got to the palace, | just wanted to get a snack and take a nap. Christine was in front of the palace holding Aurora and Audrey rushed into her arms. | saw relief pool over her features as she embraced her. Ryker took Aurora from her and | leaned over his shoulder at my sleeping infant. | knew how much this issue with Alastair had pulled me away from her but | was determined to make things work as soon as we got him where he belonged. | didn’t care for peace anymore, he came for my daughter and | was going to make sure that he died a very slow and painful death.

“I got you some chocolate,” Christine produced a bar from behind her back and | thanked her as | took it from her. | wasted no time in biting down as Ryker and | walked

into the palace.

“I need to get something from my office first,” he told me. “Do you want to wait here for me?” “It is fine,” | assured him. After eating the chocolate, | felt relatively better. | followed him to his office and right from the door, | knew something was wrong because Ryker never left his door open.

He handed Aurora to me and | held her close as he pushed the door open. | braced myself for an attack but what | saw was even worse. The entire room was in disarray, the papers on his table had been thrown all around, his bookshelf had been destroyed and everything was a mess. It was almost as if there had been a fight in there.

“Did they come looking for you?” | asked but he shook his head. | watched as he rushed towards his dresser and he pulled it open. He muttered a curse under his breath and wiped his hand across his forehead. “What is it?” “They got the berries,” he said simply and my eyes widened. “The school was a distraction. He wanted the berries and he got them.”