Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

King Novel 56

Chapter 56

Chapter 56

The name flashing on my phone screen is a punch straight to the gut.

Kallias Morrigan.

I stare at it like the damn thing is going to explode.

I haven't heard from him since I left Riverstone.

Well, we did got off the wrong footing and I don't remember giving him my phone number when I left.

Not a single call. Not a single text. Not even a half-assed apology buried under some pathetic excuse like "I was just giving you space"-because we both know he's not that considerate.

Should I answer it? We were good when I left.

Buut he helped Enoch leave. No, he made him leave..

I still holda huge grudge for him doing that even if I was all smiles when he helped me move back then.

The smart thing would be to ignore him. Block the number. Toss the phone out the fucking window.

But some sick, masochistic part of me still hits Answer.

I press the phone to my ear, forcing my voice into something steady and

indifferent. Like his name popping up doesn't have my heart hammering against my ribs.

"Kallias?"

A beat of silence. Long enough to make me wonder if this is a mistake- some

Then his voice spills through the line, low and rough.

"Hey, Taryn."

pocket dial or cruel cosmic glitch.

I close my eyes, biting down hard on the inside of my cheek. Fuck him for still sounding the same-like cigarette smoke clinging to leather jackets and bad decisions. Like the boy who used to press his lips to mine under moonlit treelines before he ripped my heart out of my chest and tossed it to the wolves.

My fingers tighten around the phone.

"Why are you calling me?"

More silence. Then...

"I wanted to check in."

A laugh punches out of me before I can stop it-sharp and bitter.

"Bullshit."

Kallias has never checked in on anyone but himself in his entire damn life.

I hear him exhale through the receiver, like he's already regretting dialing my number. Good. Join the club, asshole.

"You're in the Free City now," he mutters, like that explains anything.

1/5

Chapter 56

"No shit."

"Alone."

I blink, caught off guard by the way his voice drops-low, cautious.

"I can handle myself," I snap.

He knows that better than anyone. He's the one who made sure I learned how to fight when the other Omegas used to corner me in the packhouse hallways-long before he decided I wasn't worth fighting for anymore.

"You should be careful... with the

I freeze.

the fuck is

kicks up, drumming hard against my wrists. Every hair

do

what

96%

(+45)

phone-slow and measured, like he's debating whether to feed

saw him. The fight. The fucking mess he made

now? Now he's calling me out of nowhere... right when rumors about the Lycan King start swirling through the Free City like smoke before a wildfire. My

my throat-the tiny wolf pendant still warm against my skin. Enoch's necklace. The only piece of

He's coming here.

They're all coming here.

gotta go." My voice

"Taryn-"

can finish whatever cryptic warning he was

on me.

it's going to start hissing secrets through the speaker. What the

the time I drag myself in-phones ringing,

chair like a puppy

stage-whispers, eyes wide with barely contained

her, still trying to scrape the sleep and lingering anxiety

2/5

Alpha King"

stomach drops through

voice losers like des duwww me IP

de city

for."

count igin arramid he made of rory rag is

Alpha King

Enoch

the King new the twot when heasanteway fragmas he

how

broadcastrd. just whispers in the shawderaws

Jun

if that's how he wants in

he's forgotten what is like

To be mine

throat locks up, panic coiling hot and fast

Zoe nidges me. "You

swallow hard, forcing my expression into something

"Just nerves."

whare how w

Lie.

I can't fucking breathe.

time to fall apart. Not now. Not with Liam

bullpen, probably just waiting for me to crack

march toward his office like

open behind my

the floor-overlooking the whole newsroom like some smug little king on

barely glances up when

"Close the door."

I do.

"Sit"

I don't

mouth twitches-half amused, half

Calculating.

He sees me.

3/5

+45)

just the washed-up Omega everyone at Riverstone used to kick

the newbie intern trying to keep her

A threat.

fold my

wanted to

dead-on.