The Rejected Werewolf Princess

CAMILLA'S PO.V

I was in such a daze when walking back that I didn't even realize someone was calling out to me until I felt their hand on my shoulder. I nearly jumped until I heard Christine's voice behind me. "Relax, it's me," she whispered, her tone had an edge of concern to it. "Are you alright? You are way too jumpy. Did something happen?"

Only that I just had a terrifying experience with the moon goddess and for a while, I feared that I was going to die because her presence was so terrifying and she felt so angry with me that for a while, I thought it was the end of it all. It was an experience I had neve and did not ever want to experience again. The coldness was out of this world, it felt different. It came from my inside, like someone had dropped an icicle into my stomach and I knew for a fact that I would never find anywhere on earth to rival that level of coldnes even if I wanted to explain.

"Nothing I can explain," I kept my answer short and cryptic. "What are you doing out here? Do you need something or were you looking for someone?"

"I was going to find Ryker, he mind linked me. When I saw you, I hoped you would have an idea about it but the curiosity on your face tells me that you don't," she finished and I let out an awkward laugh before wiping the curious expression off my face. "You can come with us if you-"

"I think you should go alone. It is you he wants to speak to," her brows furrowed and I knew she was skeptical about something. "I know one of you will tell me what you talked about if it is important so I am not bothered. Besides, I need to prepare for the meeting with the elders tomorrow."

Thankfully, that was enough to get her attention off Ryker because her eyes widened. "I heard about that. I overheard Caius telling one of the other elders to be worried because it seemed like you wanted to get rid of them or something." I shrugged. "Or something. I just realized how utterly useless they are. All they do is wear cloaks and sit on their asses while trying to come up with stupid ideas that don't even help us. I can't believe that we actually pay them for that." Christine laughed. It was one of pure amusement and by the time she was done, she wiped away a stray tear from her eye. "I have been thinking the exact same thing for years."

"You could have suggested it."

She shook her head. "One thing I learned early was not to question things. I am not Queen, it isn't my job to ask questions or raise suggestions."

I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. "But you are my family and my best friend, it is your job to raise suggestions to me- not to your queen- to your family."

I could tell she didn't quite agree but I didn't push it. It wasn't easy to get rid of years of teaching in just one sentence.

"I should be going," she said finally. "I'll be sure to tell you what happened later."

I watched her walk away and when she was gone, I let the mask fall and let out a heavy exhale. I looked down at my fingers that were shivering as I tried to keep them clutched to my dress so that Christine wouldn't notice. I let out a gasp at what I saw, I blinked twice hoping I had seen it properly but it didn't disappear.

Right at my fingertips was ice. It was almost crusted to it and I tried to wipe it off but it just wouldn't seem to go on its own. There were too many people around and I didn't want to risk anyone seeing it and whispering about it, so I shoved my fingers back into my dress and rushed out of there.

I didn't leave my room for the rest of the day because although the ice had somehow disappeared from my fingertips, my entire body still felt cold. I was shivering at odd times and I didn't know when it would stop. A part of me knew that it was just after effects of being in the goddess' presence but that didn't stop me from worrying that maybe it could be worse.

I heard the door to my room start to creep open so I pulled the covers over my head and pretended to be asleep. I immediately knew once the presence filled the room that it was Ryker. I tried to track his movements using just my hearing but he was quiet and almost impossible to decipher. One minute I heard him by the door and the next, I felt him by the bedside.

He ran his fingers through my hair and placed a soft kiss on my temple. "You're f*****g freezing."

He was talking more to himself than to me because the next thing I knew, he had pulled out another blanket from the drawers and pulled it over me.

"What could you have possibly done in the peak of summer to get this cold?" he mused aloud. "Do I wake you for dinner or not?"

"Not," I mumbled deciding to give up the pretense. "I don't think I'm fit to go out yet."

Another uncontrollable shiver hit me and Ryker's eyes narrowed. "I think we should take you to the physician. That did not look right."

"I'm fine," I tried to wave him off but his fingers wrapped around my wrist. "Ryker, I'm serious, don't worry about it."

"That was not normal. You were visibly shaking. Something is definitely wrong and-"

"I spoke to the goddess today," I blurted out and he stilled. "I went to pray to her for Audrey- and you. I didn't actually expect her to audibly respond but she did and I felt coldness on my inside. This is probably the aftershock, I will be fine so please can you stop pushing and just get into bed with me?"

He frowned but nodded and without hesitation on his part, he crawled into bed behind me and pulled me close to him. It did wonders for me to feel his body heat surrounding me.

"You really went to talk to the goddess about me?" he asked and I nodded.

"I was worried about you," I shrugged. It truly was that simple. He was my mate and I was worried so I spoke to her. It was what every normal person in my shoes would have done. "She told me something about you by the way."

He stilled behind me for a split second before quickly snapping back to normal and running his fingers through my hair. "What did she say?"

"She said all of this is a test and if you didn't pass it, you would be gone forever."

"Almost everything in our lives is a test," he said it so blandly that I couldn't make out any emotion behind his words. "Don't worry about ne, Camilla, I never fail."

That should have been comforting but something told me that this test was different.

"Just promise me something."

He didn't miss a beat. "Anything."

"You're going to try your hardest to pass it because I can't lose you."Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

I felt something shift in the air as Ryker cursed and pulled me impossibly closer to him. He pressed a lingering kiss to my temple and we just stayed that way for a full minute enjoying each other's company and it wasn't until much later that I realized, he never actually promised me anything.

I woke up much later than I usually did the next morning and for the first five minutes, I wanted to spend my entire day in bed but got a rude awakening that I needed to be with the elders. I forced myself out of bed and got dressed ready for the inevitably long and exhausting day.

After breakfast, Ryker was immediately by my side. "What's the course of action for today? I want to make sure that no matter what, I am on your side."

"Honestly, I don't know," I admitted. "Yesterday I must have been feeling something because otherwise why would I bring them here? But I think I want to get rid of them. They aren't helping, not at all."

He just nodded because we had gotten to the council room and when the door was opened, I saw all the elders seated around the table. I expected a sarcastic remark about how we had called for them and left them waiting but there was none. The air was thick with fear and anxiety. It felt good knowing that I could make them shiver.

As we walked in, there was a chorus of 'your majesties: Ryker and I ignored them as we took out spots at the head of the table. I watched them with my hands folded neatly in my lap and I made sure to run my eyes over each and every single one of them watching them quiver but not saying a word.

After about three minutes, one of the elders cleared his throat. "You didn't tell us when you wanted to meet, your majesty, only that you did and we still don't know why."

"It's simple really," I said leaning back into my seat. "What do you do?"

"I don't quite understand, your majesty."

"What is your purpose? Of what use are you to me? Why should I keep you around because frankly the way I see it is that we pay you so much to do nothing, so my question is, why should we keep you?"

No one could speak, they all stared at me like I had somehow grown a fifth head. I could tell they were having a quiet conversation in their heads and I glanced over at Ryker and he immediately spoke in my mind.

"I have an idea," he said simply and my brows rose. "Do you trust me?"

"Always, the floor is yours."

He broke off the mind link and cleared his throat. Everyone turned to him and he smiled. "Following the Queen's recent convictions, we have decided to give you a chance."

He paused for dramatic effects and I could almost see the elders shaking with anticipation.

"We have no use for six elders, we only have space for two or three. We will evaluate your behavior over the next few weeks and decide our top choices."