Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

King Novel 1

CHAPTER 1

"RUN!"

It starts the same way every damn time.

My father's voice shouting behind us as the last rogue slit his throat, "Run, Taryn! Just run!" I'm running away with my brother, his hand's squeezing mine, so hard I can barely feel my fingers. Behind us, the sounds-no, growls-are closing in.

My lungs burned. I wanted to stop. But I couldn't.

The forest blurred around us, trees rushing past in streaks of dark and light, the sound of paws thudding against the earth growing louder, closer.

"Keep going!" My brother's voice was frantic, but his grip was slipping. I turned, just in time to see the flash of fur and teeth before it lunged at me—No!

I wake up gasping, my heart hammering in my chest.

Shit, it's that stupid dream again.

My jerked, my hands slamming onto the scattered papers all over Kallias' desk. The dream fades into the gray-lit office, papers littered with "Riverstone Pack Quarterly Summaries" stamped in his neat handwriting.

All mine, technically.

My muscles ache from sleeping in that awkward position, and I let out a groan, half from pain, half because I was dumb enough to fall asleep here.

Three hours of sleep. Not bad, considering the nightmare marathon I've been running lately.

Of course, there's no Kallias to do his own assignments. That would be too much work for the soon-to-be great Alpha of the Riverstone Pack, God forbid.

I rub my eyes, trying to shake it off. It's been years, but the memory of that night never seems to go away. Every time I close my eyes, it's like I'm back there, running through the forest with no way out.

Before I can even stretch, the office door bangs open, and Seraphina storms in. "Taryn, you ready? Tonight's the big night!" Her voice is all excitement, but I'm not feeling it. Not even a little.

She throws a wrinkled dress at me like it's something worth more than the dust it'll gather.

I stare at it, frowning. "What...is this?"

"Oh, come on," Seraphina rolls her eyes, "Kallias bought it for you. Thought you'd be excited, seeing as it's for the Lunar Eclipse tonight." Her words are as sweet as poison, and as soon as she's done talking, she drops her gaze to her own haul—a pile of bags in her arms, all bulging with clothes. Fancy clothes. New clothes. Way more clothes than she'll ever wear.

My stomach turns, but I grit my teeth. "Just the one dress for me, huh?"

She shrugs, "You're not mad, are you? It's all for tonight. This is your big chance." She pouts, practically dripping with feigned innocence. "I mean, who know, maybe you'll get a pack warrior as a mate or something? And don't worry about Kallias being all distracted tonight; I'll take care of him."

"Sure," I mutter, tugging the dress up like it's a dead rat. "I'll try not to be too touched."

Seraphina barely hears me, too busy admiring her reflection in Kallias' full-length mirror, spinning in one of her own damn dresses. She's got the bags, the attention, the affection-even the best friend. It's twisted, watching her act all dainty while Kallias treats me like... well, like his secretary. A placeholder.

I'm his fucking girlfriend for Pete's sake.

The door opens again, and there he is, Kallias himself, with that classic, cocky Alpha smile on his face. He was always the most gorgeous man of his age in the entire pack He scans the room, attention zeroing in on Seraphina as though I don't even exist in the space. My heart clenches as he turns to me with a bored expression.

It's fine. It's fine.

"Taryn, you done with those documents?"

"Yeah," I say, trying to sound bored. I mean, it's not like I'm losing hours of sleep to his damn work, right?

"Good girl," he says, giving me a pat. Crimson immediately crawls up my cheeks. He barely glances at me as he walks past, his attention zeroing in on Ser, who is now preening under his gaze. "Taryn sure did help. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help yu even with that late-night studying we did." Seraphina's eyes turned gloomy with helpless ness as she looks up at Kallias. Kallis pulla s her in for a hug. "Don't worry, you're all the help that I would need." He replies. My heart pounds hard as I clench the dress he bought.

They're close friends. They're close friends. They're close friends.

"Are you ready?" he mutters, more to Ser than me, though, but I'm sure they're just close like that.

I nod as Kallias steps closer towards me, his hand brushing my hair back from my face. “You'll be fine," he says softly, almost like he cares. But there's always this distance between us, a wall I can't quite figure out how to break down. Yet he can easily do that with Ser.

Maybe I don't even want to.

"Get dressed," he adds, glancing at the time. "The ceremony starts in an hour. Don't keep everyone waiting."

I try not to watch the way he lingers, how his hand brushes her arm just a little too long. My stomach twists, the suspicion I've tried so hard to ignore bubbling up again. I can feel it, that gnawing jealousy clawing at me, but I swallow it down. Now isn't the time.

But...

you give us

"I just have something to talk to with my boyfriend." I emphasize the last word, although I'm

what the fuck are you doing?" Kallias grits his teeth to look at me. "She wants to help you

ask, Kallias. You and Ser... is there something I

ridiculous. There's nothing going on. She's just a friend—a long-time one, before you even came, if you ask me. Maybe if you were the east bit like her, it would have been less tiring trying

friend. It shouldn't hurt, but it does. I nod,

he might say something else, but he turns on his heel. "Finish up

try not to think about the sting of his words,

move to the stack of documents on his

all

***

night falls thick and cold, the kind that settles in your bones. The whole pack is gathered outside, preparing for the Lunar Eclipse. I

compared to the basics Seraphina tosses on when she's bored. But hey, it's better than nothing, I

I trying to impress,

for

simply... A sigh

is she even

guess she's still hoping to

who's been trying to for the last decade,

pitiful at this point."

to bite back; the ceremony's

wolves around us start to shift, bodies twisting, muscles tightening as fur bursts through

shifted years ago, and yet for some reason I never did, until I became an adult. Every year I participate in these

here as an Omega when I first arrived without so much as a family—I was an orphan with no

my heart pounding in my

going to be the same thing. I'd stand here as

and then, like a switch flipped, I feel

"Ah!"

tilts as I drop to all fours, bones rearranging, a prickling pain crawling through my limbs. It hurts. It hurts!

did it! After all those

the cold dirt, I look up, and my eyes land on

wolf towering above the others, and he's looking

Right at me.

Mate!

shock ripples through the crowd like a silent

can focus on

My mate.

out every other sound. Clinging to whatever dignity I have left, I pull the dress back up around my shoulders and stagger forward, heart

hackles raised, teeth bared even in his human

can't be."

his girlfriend, aren't

mate? This-this can't be happening. That's a

wounded animal. "Kal, don't be too harsh," she says, reaching toward me like I'm going to

her nails biting into my arm as she helping me up. It wasn't gentle though; it was rough, almost possessive, like

I yanked it back. The movement was pure reflex. Seraphine's eyes widened as she stumbled back on the ground. "Ah! I-I'm sorry, Taryn . . . I just

"You!"

my ears, and the metallic taste of

the impact, and the crowd's whispers shifted from shock to something darker. I couldn't focus on their faces, just the

his eyes and turning to the blood moon hovering

to what he's doing. "No . . . No, don't.

collecting in my eyes. "-reject

mate and future

Shit.

me, sharper than the slap,

a knife. Is this what it

and the whispers grow louder, drowning me, until

the rush of blood in my ears. Every breath is agony, every

"She deserves it,"

he actually

As he

No ... No!

Then I run.

wind whipped against my face as I tore

my skin. My feet pounded the dirt barefoot

barely notice when the ground turns