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.

voice tightens. "You should be

I freeze.

is that

my wrists. Every hair on

what do

That's what

96%

(+45)

through the phone-slow and measured, like he's debating whether to feed me half-truths or just leave me starving-tells me he's full

The fucking mess he made out of

calling me out of nowhere... right when rumors about the Lycan King start swirling through the

against my skin. Enoch's necklace. The only

He's coming here.

They're all coming here.

gotta go." My voice

"Taryn-"

can finish whatever cryptic warning he was about to

on me.

to start hissing secrets through

is already a madhouse by the time I drag myself in-phones ringing, coffee machines hissing,

waves me over, bouncing in her chair like

eyes wide with barely contained

to scrape the sleep and lingering anxiety from

2/5

Alpha King" dur

drops through ite

des duwww me IP WITH

to de city soon.

for."

he made of rory rag

Alpha King

Enoch

the King new the twot when heasanteway fragmas he

how

voice never broadcastrd. just whispers in

Jun

if that's how he wants in

what is like to be a

To be mine

throat locks up, panic coiling hot

Zoe nidges me.

forcing my expression into

"Just nerves."

whare how w

Lie.

I can't fucking breathe.

don't have time to fall apart. Not now. Not with Liam

waiting for me to crack

toward his office like I don't

wide open behind my

the floor-overlooking the whole

glances up

"Close the door."

I do.

"Sit"

I don't

half annoyed-but his eyes stay

Calculating.

He sees me.

3/5

+45)

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

keep her head

A threat.

fold my arms,

to see

dead-on.