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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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 air

instant. The atmosphere drops, heavy and thick, as a storm rolling in. The scent of

Not Kallias.

Someone else,

Someone worse.

voice rumbles, deep and guttural,

My breath stutters.

don't have to look

Enoch.

The Alpha King.

light like something out of a nightmare. His hands are clenched into fists at his sides, his jaw locked so

around the bedframe, the wood groaning under

voice is barely human. More growl than words. More

I freeze.

tell him. I could open my mouth and let the truth pour out-tell him where she was when I last saw her, that she was still breathing,

then my eyes

his fists are clenched at his sides.

To way he's looking at me, like he's waiting-waiting for something,

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For hope.

that moment, I

comes back, maybe Kallias

looking at her

plants itself in my chest, roots

can let the

I lie.

"I don't remember."

Enoch's reaction is instant.

cot snaps under his grip. The walls seem to tremble, the air pressing down an

I swallow hard. Fuck.

us," I whisper, forcing my

move.

second, I think he's

then Kallias

he snaps at Enoch, stepping

me. “Let her

at him.

without a word, he turns on his heel

slams behind him, the sound echoing

my pulse

bought myself

Taryn

won't

myself I did the

until the

long, jagged shadows against the walls. My body is still sore, muscles aching from running through the forest like some feral animal, but it's nothing compared to the gnawing feeling in

It's been days.

every inch of the land like a fucking madman, and no one

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know who he

Because Taryn's missing.

I'm the last person who

the sheets, squeezing them so hard

This should be a fucking victory. That bitch

even have to

My stomach twists.

side, staring at the wardrobe across the room. The door

through, and my pulse kicks up. It's stupid.

pushing the blanket off. My legs are shaky when I

the door open

scent hits