The Rejected Werewolf Princess by Didiadeyemi

CAMILLA'S POV

It wasn't in my nature to go to sleep while the entire palace was on a countdown timer, but somehow Ryker managed to drag me into bed and Lull me to sleep. When I woke up, I was equal parts relieved that I had rested and embarrassed that I was able to do so easily.

It took me a second to remember what happened last night and as soon as I did, I was on my feet in an instant. I got ready in record time and found Ryker in his office. He looked like he hadn't slept a wink all night and I felt guilty that I slept so freely and he hadn't rested at all. “Anything?” I asked but he shook his head. “What about the elders? Have they found anything yet?”

“No, the palace is still on lock down and I have people watching the girls to make sure that they are safe and unaffected by all of this."

I hummed. “We have less than two days to figure this out because we cannot keep the palace on lock down forever. We have to do something but I don’t know what. I cannot just leave this to the elders. They are going to do a shit job."

Ryker sighed. “Do you want to go talk to the friends? We might be able to get something out of them.”

“You don’t have to come with me. I can do it myself”

He snorted. “As if I would leave you to do this alone. My powers can wait, Camilla, they aren't running away. They will still be here once we are done.”

I didn't think it was possible to love Ryker any more than I already did. He was being incredibly selfless. If he had chosen to sit back and handle his own issues, no one would have held him to a fault, but he put his aside for the betterment of the entire palace. It was one of the reasons I knew for a fact that he was going to get the better of this entire ordeal. There was no way Ryker would ever become like Reina, it was impossible. They were two completely different people. Where she was self serving, he was not. He was good, at his core, that was who he was. Even when he did not so good things, he did them for the right reasons.

The friends were all huddled together in the same guest room. They hadn't changed from their last night's clothes and I could tell that none of them had slept. They sat close together on the bed and the moment they saw me, they rushed to their feet and bowed.

“Did you find anything yet, your majesty?” one of the girls asked and I opened my mouth to speak but no words would come out. I saw the hope in her eyes deflate as she sank back onto the bed. “I presume they are long gone by now.”

“The palace is on a complete lock down, I promise you, no one can go in or out right now without my permission,” I assured her. “We are doing everything we can to find out who did this to you but I wanted to ask you a few questions if you are willing to answer them"

“If they will help us find out who did this, then sure,” she nodded with her spine straight. It was clear that she was the unofficial leader in the group. Everyone turned to her for support and she was the only one speaking directly to us. “I already told the other guy what happened but I would be happy to recap”

“Other guy?” my brows pulled in confusion. “Can you describe this other guy? Or did he tell you his name?”

She shook her head. “He said he was one of your elders or something and you had asked them to look into it. I don’t like him much, he was an asshole but I was much too tired to care last night?”

“It might have been Caius," Ryker spoke directly into my mind. “He thought that it was possible they were lying to get access into the pack and asked for permission to question them. I can talk to him after this to be sure.”

“Thank you,” I told him before turning back to the girl. “I'm sorry that one of the elders was. rude to you. After all that happened, that is the last thing you deserve. I already have most of the story from what you told me last night but I need to know more about the wolf that attacked you."

“It was a dark brown color, it wasn't black but it was very dark and I could be mistaken. It was on the big side and I think it was male. It came out of nowhere. We were so scared that we just ran. It managed to get a hold of” her words caught in her throat and she wiped at some stray tears that leaked from the corner of her eyes. “We rushed at it with everything that we had. We threw sticks and stones but it wouldn't let go. It was almost like it knew what it was doing.” “I'am so sorry,” I whispered at the same time Ryker handed her a handkerchief to dab at the corner of her eyes with.

“Once it was done with him, it took off in the direction of the palace. I tried to chase after it but it was faster. I figured the palace guards would have seen a large wolf run by but no one did. I presume it shifted and walked in.”

It did seem like the only likely possibility. I let out a sigh and gave her a small and comforting smile. “I will make sure that whoever was responsible for this is punished, you have my word.” “What if you don't catch him?” she asked and I stilled. “You just gave your word. What happens if he isn't caught?”

“He will be," I said simply before standing to my feet. “If you need anything at all, there will be a maid positioned right outside of your door. She will get you breakfast and anything else." “Thank you, your majesty,” the girl bowed. “Not many people would have taken time out to come to us. I am truly grateful”

I didn’t know how to respond to that so I just nodded. Ryker and I walked out hand in hand and it wasn't until we had gotten a few feet away from the room, that I let out an exhausted breath. There were thousands of people in this palace on any given day. How the hell was I meant to find out the person who had gone in and out at that time.

“Camilla, Ryker," I turned to find Juan rushing over to us. “I finally got the list that you needed. It was a hassle to get from every entrance or exit but there were about three hundred names. I crossed out all the people who were accounted for at every second within the vicinity of the palace- mostly maids- but now, we are down to about fifty."

“So we have fifty plausible suspects,” I deduced and he nodded.

“Can you cut out any females,” Ryker suggested and Juan crossed a few names off the list.

“We still have around forty."

“What about cutting off any of the lower ranking males. I'm thinking the very low servants who would have smaller wolves,” I offered and it took a little longer this time but Juan crossed off more names.

“Twenty.’

I didn’t know what else we could cut out so I nodded. “Thank you, Juan, I think we can take it from here.”

“Are you sure?” he asked and I nodded.

“Go and be with your mate, you deserve it."

He nodded and disappeared leaving Ryker and I with the list. There were twenty suspects and I didn't know where to start. How were we going to find out who attacked them? Would we call them all out and make them shift in front of the friends to see if they recognized the wolf? It seemed like the only plausible solution but the fact remained that if one of them was guilty, and they caught wind that we were onto them, it could prove disastrous for the rest of us. “What do we do?" I asked Ryker who just shrugged. He seemed as confused as I was. “We can gather all of them and question them.”

“We can, but we cannot let them know why we are questioning them.”

Finding everyone on the list proved easier than I had imagined. Perhaps it was because the palace was on lockdown. We were halfway through the list when I noticed Caius walking towards us. I immediately remembered what the girl had told us earlier about his being rude and walked up to him. It took Ryker a second to realize what I was doing but as soon as he did, he was by my side.

“Your majesty” Caius bowed the minute he saw me. “Is there something I can help you with?” “There is actually, I would hope that you would treat our guests with a little more curtesy than you did before," I said simply and his brows furrowed.

“l am afraid I am not following."

“You went to question them, did you not? I am afraid that your manner of approach was-"

“I apologize for the interruption but I didn’t question them. I wanted to, I asked for permission but by the time I got there, I was told they had already been questioned by another elder.”

At this point I was confused. “What are you talking about?"

“That is exactly what they told me. I assumed someone else had the same idea I did so I let it slide. It was very annoying if I am being honest especially since the only reason I didn’t ask them earlier was because I heard some commotion in my room and found it a bit messy. Now that I think about it, I-”

He was interrupted by a guard rushing over to me. “Your majesty, we have a problem."

As if the day couldn't get any worse. “What happened?”

“It is the guests, one of them was poisoned.”