Chapter 42
I avoided Ryker for the rest of the day. It was a bit difficult considering we slept in the same bed and live in the same house but I would like to believe that I did my best despite the circumstances and situation.
Throughout the day I couldn’t help but think about what he had told me and the more I thought about it, the more farfetched it became. I’m sure there are a million brown haired and brown eyed women who didn’t shift until they met their mates and have bird like tattoos on their shoulders. I cannot be the only one, right?
I can’t be a princess. It would make zero sense in the grand scheme of things. I am an omega, that’s what I have always been and that’s what I will always be. It would make no sense for me to be a princess, not after everything that has happened.
A part of me wondered what if it was true. I couldn’t help it but a part of me was genuinely curious and intrigued about the idea but I just couldn’t find it in myself to consider the slim possibility.
As I glanced at Ryker who was sitting next to me on the dining table, I could tell that I was just being unfair to him. His eyes had never once strayed from me all morning. In fact, his eyes had never strayed from me since yesterday when I abruptly ended the conversation.
He had walked next to me silently, he never once pushed for a conversation but just simply followed me around and waited until I was ready to speak to him. Riley noticed the tension between us and I noticed she would glance between us at different times but she never once said a word.
“Are you going to work today?” Ryker was shocked that I was speaking to him but I saw a small smile grace his l*ps.
“I was thinking of working from here.” He offered with a small shrug, “My beta, Damian is returning from a retreat.”
I saw Riley perk up at the mention of Damien and I knew there was more to that story than she was telling me. I decided to file that information away for future use and decided to focus my attention on patching things. up with Ryker.
“Will he be visiting?” I asked and he shrugged.
“Damien does what Damien wants most of the time. If he feels like he needs to visit then he will. Although I doubt that, he would probably
want to lie in bed and knock out for like a few minutes.”
There was a scraping of a chair and Riley stood to her feet. She wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin and cleared her throat. “I should be going back upstairs. I will see you all later.”
Before waiting for a response from either of us, she turned on her heels and left. I watched her retreating figure and noticed how she sped up her steps as if she was running away from the conversation and from us. It had me raising a brow and turning to Ryker who seemed oblivious to the entire situation.
“Did you notice that?” I asked and he c ocked his head and turned to me with scrunched brows.
“Did I notice what?” he reminded me of a puppy when he looked like that, “If it is Riley don’t worry about it, she just likes her space most of the time.”
I shook my head and tried to hide my smile. Men can be so oblivious sometimes it hurts. Something is clearly up with Riley and Damien and the curious part of me will not rest until I am able to find out what that is. “I think I should still check on her.” I stood to my feet but Ryker grabbed onto my upper arm.
“Please wait,” he had reversed to his soft tone as he stared up at me. “Can we talk?”
As I stared at him I realized that I owed him that much considering the way I had ignored him all through yesterday. I nodded and I saw him let out a sigh of relief, almost as if he was doubting that I would have agreed to the conversation.
He rose to his feet and led me out of the dining room and towards the doors that I recognized as leading to his office. We walked inside and he locked the door behind us quietly. it was awkward between us for the first time ever and I didn’t know how to respond or react to that.
I took a seat on the free chair that I knew wasn’t his and kept my gaze down on my hands in my lap while waiting for him to make the first
move.
I heard his footsteps as he settled for leaning against the table in front of me. He could have sat in his chair on the other side of the table but instead he chose to have the conversation from right here- that had to mean something.
“Camilla,” he began softly, “I want to apologize.”
The Rejected Werewolf Princess
I was taken off guard by his words because that was not what I was expecting. What does he think he did wrong? If anything, I should be the one apologizing to him. I should be the one saying sorry for flaring up when he was trying to help and that is exactly what I did.
“I should be the one apologizing.” I looked up at him, “You were just trying to be nice and trying to help and I got upset.”
“I should have respected your decision to not want to pursue it further. I just thought it would be worth a try.”
“And you were right, it would be. I just, I just don’t see a world where I am a princess.”
“That’s a rather pessimistic way of looking at it but at the end of the day, it is your choice and if you are sure that you don’t want to pursue it then I promise you, I won’t.” he held my hands in his, “All I ask is that you think about this closely and carefully. What if it is your fear that is stopping you?”
I thought about it for a minute and although I didn’t want to admit it, I knew he was right. It wasn’t that I didn’t think I could be princess; it was that I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t imagine a world or a future where I was the princess. It just didn’t seem like something that could be real.
“Fine,” I said after a beat and Ryker turned to me with raised brows. “What do you mean by fine?”
“You can do whatever you need to about the princess issue,” I could see a smile beginning to form on his l*ps. “I still don’t believe that I’m the princess or whatever. But there’s no harm in trying, right?”
“Right,” he agreed and then he leaned down and k*ssed me.
When his l*ps met mine, I realized that he had been holding himself back all day because of me. His hand moved to cup the back of my head as he deepened the k*ss. He lifted me from the chair and turned us around so that I was sitting on the desk and he was standing right between my legs. My cheeks heated as I remembered the last time we were in a position. like this and what he had done.
“I really need to work,” he muttered against my l*ps, “And if I’m not mistaken, Riley is right outside this door.”
He pulled back after the last words and it took me a second to fully come to terms with what he had said. By that time, he was already at the door and he pulled it open to reveal Riley there with her hand raised as if che
was about to knock.
She quickly put her hand down and stuck her head to the side until she sighted me, “Is it okay if I talk to you for a while?”
“Sure,” I was off the table before another word could escape her l*ps.
By the time I got to the door, Ryker stopped me with his arm. I thought he was going to say something but instead, he pressed a k*ss to the top of my head and stepped back for me to pass. I could see Riley’s eyes follow his action with a somewhat sad look but there was something else buried underneath it, something like envy.
I stepped out with her and she walked in silence all the way up the stairs. and into the room she was currently occupying. She opened the door wide for me to walk in and as soon as I was inside, she locked it behind
her.
The room was-busy- that’s the best way I could explain it. Sheets of paper lined the floors and there was charcoal everywhere. Different potted plants lay at her window sills and basically the room was just in disarray. It looked a mess but somehow it didn’t feel so messy. It was some sort of disorganized chaos and the longer I glanced at it, the more I realized that there was an order to things.
All the charcoal and sketch thing were in one corner of the room, the plants were in another and so were the clothes.
“You seemed to be busy in here,” I began as I made my way over to the edge of her bed and sat, “What did you want to talk about?”
“I wanted to do something nice for Ryker since I had just returned after a while. I considered getting him a plant but I know he would just kill it and I was thinking what does he absolutely love and the answer is you.” She said all that in one breath and I raised a brow, “A sketch or a painting of you would be the perfect gift for him.”
“You want me to sit while you sketch me,” I repeated just to be sure and she nodded, “Okay, but I have one condition.”
“Anything,” she said quickly and I wondered if she would regret those words just as quickly once I said my condition.
“I want you to tell me about Damien,” she opened her mouth to begin but I cut her off, “Not just the surface things but about whatever it is that went on between both of you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She couldn’t meet my eyes as I
spoke.
“It’s alright if you don’t want to but I’m not Ryker. I can clearly see that something happened.”
She went silent and I could see the wheels in her head turning as she debated whether or not it was a good idea.
“Fine,” she said finally, “But you better sit tight because it is a long one.
