The Rejected Werewolf Princess

RYKER'S P.O.V

The very last thing I wanted to deal with right now was a potentially psychotic wolf but here we were. I glanced over at Camilla and despite how tired I knew she was, she looked just about ready to comb every inch of this palace until she found this person. She was always prepared to do the right thing, no matter how much it inconvenienced her and that was one of the things I loved the most about her.

"Close all the exits to the palace," she said to the guard who was there with us. "Inform as little people as possible, I don't want to risk telling the attacker and having him run off. In the meantime, please escort these people to the physician's quarters and let him have a look at their friend."

The guard stared at her for a second, probably wondering why she wouldn't just ask for him to be taken to the morgue. His confusion was etched on his face but he didn't ask any questions. Many sentences in this chapter have been removed because you are not reading them on He just nodded and escorted them. They wouldn't let him touch their friend, together, the three of them picked up the bruised body and carried it down the halls. It was at that moment Christine saw it and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her hide her face in Juan's chest.

"You don't need to be here right now," I told them both but Christine waved me off over her shoulder. "You should be getting some rest. Camilla and I can handle it.”

"You need as many hands as you can get right now," she mumbled as she pulled back from her mate. She took in a few deep breaths before crossing her arms over her chest. "I probably won't be able to sleep right now anyway, so it doesn't matter. What is the course of action?"

I glanced over at Camilla to see if she had anything but she seemed lost in thought. I gently grazed her back with my hand and that snapped her attention back to me but I could see that she hadn't thought up anything yet. I couldn't blame her, it was jarring to know that someone within your walls was capable of such violence unprovoked.

"Wake the fucking elders," I said finally. "This is the bullshit that they need to be dealing with, not us. We have enough on our plate as it is." Christine nodded and within a second, she was off. After that, I turned to Juan, "I need you to find out from the guards everyone who walked into the palace within the last thirty minutes. I want names and where they were coming from."

"Consider it done," he gave me a curt nod and was off in an instant leaving just Camilla and I.

My mate was still lost in her thoughts and she was anxiously biting at her fingertips. I doubted she even realized what she was doing because the moment I touched her arm, she pulled her hand away like it had burned her.

"Did you say something to me?" she asked but I shook my head. "Why would someone do something like this? Do you think it has anything to do with... your magic?”

I shook my head. "Not everything has ties to magic, Camilla. Two things can be happening at the same time and have nothing to do with each other. This is happening because whoever did it is barbaric and has a desire to cause chaos. We will find them, I swear it to you."

She nodded although I could see that she hadn't eased one bit. I gestured for her to walk with me and she didn't hesitate before threading her fingers in me. She looked exhausted to the bone and if I had my way, I would have dragged her straight to bed but she had to be here for this. It was off to the council for us and thankfully, once we got there, the elders were already there.

Most of them still had that sleepy look in their eyes. They looked a mix of tired and annoyed probably that we had woken them from their beauty rest but I would be damned if Camilla and I spent our time and exerted ourselves to do something that they could easily do. It was all about delegation and I wasn't going to let us run ourselves to the ground.

"Your majesties," they bowed in unison before one of them decided to keep going. "I would not dare try to question your motives but is there a reason you woke us up at the odd hour of the night?"

"You wouldn't dare question but that is exactly what you did," Camilla snapped and he turned away in shame. “Were you all aware that while you slept, someone, presumably from this palace stepped out and attacked innocents, killing one of them?" There was silence and then murmuring. I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration as they all conveniently decided to stay silent. It was like being in a room with children. I couldn't understand for the life of me why they were not saying a single word. It wasn't magic, neither were we asking them to do the impossible.

"Our deepest apologies are with the deceased," Caius said finally and that was when I snapped.

"Your apologies are not going to bring the dead back to life," I levelled each of them with a hard look. "What you will do is get off your asses and do something about it. If you want to continue being useful to this court, you will find out who is responsible for the killings."

"But, your majesty, we have been doing exactly as you asked, we have been useful-"

I didn't even wait to see who was speaking before cutting him off. "Clearly not useful enough if someone can do this right under your noses. This entire castle is on a lockdown for the next forty-eight hours, you will use that time to find out who killed this boy and why. I don't care if you do not eat or you do not sleep, but no one rests until the killer is found, am I clear?"

"Yes, your majesty."

I turned to Camilla to see if she had anything more to say but she was silent. Once I was sure there was nothing more to be said, I thread my fingers with her and pulled her to her feet. She needed rest and she needed it now. Something was bothering her terribly and it was causing her mind to drift.

We were a few steps out of the council room when I heard someone clear their throats behind me. I turned to find Caius, he had his head bowed to the ground but it was clear that he wanted to see us.

Camilla glanced over at me, a silent question in her eyes and while I could have ignored him and gone on my way, there was a part of me that was always going to respect him for the help he had been to us. "You go," I told Camilla finally. "I'll meet up with you." "But-"

"Our room, Camilla," I whispered and although she frowned, she turned on her heels and left. I waited until she was gone before making my way back over to Caius. "There better be a good reason for this."Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.

"Do you truly believe this person to be one of the palace staff?" he asked and I simply stared at him blankly. "What I mean to say is that couldn't it be a possibility that the innocents in question killed their friend and came into the palace as a distraction."

I frowned. I hadn't thought about that, but it was plausible. "Perhaps you should pursue that lead if you believe it to be true. I don't care what angle you pursue, as long as you catch whoever did this."

He nodded but I could tell there was still more that he wanted to say so I waited until he spoke. "Will this truly determine if you cut some of the elders?"

"Does it really matter if I do or I do not?" I asked. "End this before it even starts. There is a potential killer in our walls and you should all be more concerned about the possibility of him killing again rather than the possibility of you losing your jobs. This is about lives that are at stake, the last thing anyone should be focused on is their work."

He frowned and pursed his lips. "You are right, I will get on questioning the friends. I will report back to you as soon as I can, your majesty."

I didn't hang behind, in case he had more questions. I immediately headed straight for Camilla's office because a part of me knew there was no way she would have gone back to the room with all of this happening. Sure enough, I found her pacing the length of the room and when she finally noticed me, she stopped like a deer caught in headlights.

"I couldn't just go to bed," she mumbled and I raised a brow. "There could be more deaths. There is a killer."

"I know," I said simply as I walked into the office. "But, the fact remains that the elders have this under control. You need to get better at delegation." "What if they don't do it right?"

"They will."

"How could you be so sure?" her voice was barely over a whisper. "They barely do anything right. They are like children who need their hands held."

"They barely do anything right because most times, it doesn't directly concern them. Their lives and livelihood is on the line here, Camilla, I am sure we will have answers within the next twenty-four hours."

"You seem sure."

"I know men, and I know men in power. They will do almost anything to remain in power. They are used to a certain life of luxury and it would be a shame if all that was stripped away from them. They will have answers and they will have them soon." She seemed to understand what I was saying. Her shoulders relaxed slowly and she wasn't standing on edge, so much anymore. She also stopped pacing and turned to face me.

"So all we have to do now is wait?" she asked and I nodded.

"All we do it wait."