Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

Novel 44

Chapter 44 Chapter 44

SERAPHINA

I don't walk into the Riverstone Pack's territory. I fucking crawl.

My legs barely work, my feet raw and cut open, burning with every step as I drag myself over the border. A few more inches and I collapse, face-first, into the dirt. Gravel bites into my palms, but I don't even care. The pain is just another reminder that I made it. That I survived.

The air is cold this early in the morning, crisp and sharp as it fills my lungs. The icent of pine and damp earth should be comforting-it means home, safety-but it just makes my stomach turn. Because safety is a fucking lie.

There's a second of silence, and then-

"Holy shit. It's the Gamma's daughter!"

Boots slam against the ground. Voices blur together, frantic and disbelieving. Hands grip my arms, hauling me upright, but my body is too weak to fight them off. My head rolls forward, my hair falling over my face in a tangled, sweaty mess.

"She's barely breathing," someone mutters.

No shit, genius.

I hear the murmurs, the frantic shuffling, but I don't react. I just stare. Stare at nothing. At the sky, the trees, the faint glow of the rising sun that makes everything look softer than it really is. My mind is still back there, in the dark, trapped in the stench of blood and damp stone, where monsters speak in whispers and smile while they break you.

Someone lifts me, and the movement sends a sharp wave of nausea crashing through my gut. I groan, my stomach threatening to empty itself right onto their boots.

"She needs the healer. Now."

Distantly, I register the motion of being carried, the hushed voices, the shift in temperature as I'm taken inside the infirmary. The warm air wraps around me, a stark contrast to the ice still sinking into my bones. They lower me onto a cot, and I sink into it, my muscles giving up entirely.

Someone pries my fingers apart, checking my pulse. Another set of hands wipes the grime from my face, cleaning the shallow cuts lining my skin. I should say something, maybe tell them what happened, but my lips stay shut.

Because if I open my mouth, if I start talking, it's real.

And I'm not ready for that.

A thick blanket is draped over me, but it doesn't stop the shaking. My body is betraying me, trembling like a leaf in the wind, useless and weak. I hate it. I hate that I was taken, that I was powerless, that I'm here now, wrapped up like a fucking fragile little thing when I should be spitting fire.

But I know someone out there is having it harder than me.

Taryn must have been punished harder than we already had been.

"Seraphina."

A loud voice calls.

I don't have to look to know who it is.

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Chapter 44

Kallias.

His scente-embers and leather-hits me before I even see him. He worms into the room, his boots clicking against the floor. and suddenly, the space feels suffocating

"Where the hell have you been

1 fin my head-barely My lips part, but nothing comes out.

Because what do I even say? That I was ripped from my own facking life because

of the tyean King? That was held captive in some rotting pit with Taryn, of all people! That they hart we, that they-

No.

I damp my mouth shut.

Kallias doesn't wait for an answer. He grabs the edge of the cot, leaning in. His brows are furrowed, his jaw tight, his whole body coiled with something I can't quite place. Worry? Anger?

"Taryn," he snaps. "Where is she?*

when the

atmosphere drops, heavy and thick, as a storm rolling in. The scent of raw power slams into me,

Not Kallias.

Someone else,

Someone worse.

voice rumbles, deep and

My breath stutters.

don't have to look

Enoch.

The Alpha King.

are clenched into fists at his sides, his jaw locked so tightly I swear I hear his teeth grind. His entire presence is one giant fucking

curl around the bedframe, the wood groaning

More growl than

I freeze.

let the truth pour out-tell him where she was when I last saw her, that

my eyes flick

fists are clenched at his sides. To the

he's looking at me, like he's

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For hope.

in that moment, I

never comes back, maybe Kallias will finally

at

roots itself deep, and

it, before I can let the guilt sink its claws

I lie.

"I don't remember."

Enoch's reaction is instant.

walls seem to tremble,

I swallow hard. Fuck.

blindfolded us," I whisper, forcing my voice to tremble. "I

move. He doesn't

think he's

Kallias steps

been through enough,” he snaps at Enoch,

“Let her recover

at him. Then

a word, he turns on his heel and storms

him, the

my pulse pounding in

bought myself

Taryn never

won't

myself I

until the words lose

of moonlight slicing through my window, casting long, jagged shadows against the walls. My body is still sore, muscles aching from running

It's been days.

turned the pack inside out, tearing through every inch of the land like

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who he

Because Taryn's missing.

I'm the last person who saw

fingers into the sheets, squeezing them so hard

This should be a fucking victory. That

to

My stomach twists.

roll onto my side, staring at the wardrobe across

through, and my pulse kicks up. It's stupid. Irrational. But something about it makes my

up slowly, pushing the blanket off. My legs

over, yanking the door open before my own cowardice can stop

hits