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.

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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.

should be careful... with

I freeze.

the fuck is that supposed to

pulse kicks up, drumming hard against my wrists. Every hair on the back of my neck

what do

That's what

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

spins back to the last time I saw him. The fight. The fucking mess he made out of my life. He was jealous

the Lycan King start swirling through the Free City like smoke before a

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

He's coming here.

They're all coming here.

gotta go." My voice

"Taryn-"

whatever

on me.

start hissing secrets through the speaker. What the hell are you hiding,

time I drag myself in-phones ringing,

her chair like a puppy someone accidentally slipped an

hear?" she stage-whispers, eyes

at her, still trying to scrape the sleep and lingering anxiety from my

2/5

King"

stomach drops through

voice losers like des duwww me

to de city soon. Riuri

for."

arramid he made of rory

Alpha King

Enoch

sage his name. He's just the King new the twot

how

voice never broadcastrd. just whispers in the shawderaws

Jun

if that's how he wants in tf he likes hiding behired the

forgotten what is like

To be mine

throat locks up, panic coiling hot and fast

Zoe nidges me.

hard, forcing my expression into something

"Just nerves."

whare how w

Lie.

I can't fucking breathe.

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

for me to crack so he can ship my

and march toward his office like

wide open behind

office is a glass-walled fishbowl at the far end of the floor-overlooking the whole newsroom like some smug little

up when I

"Close the door."

I do.

"Sit"

I don't

half annoyed-but his

Calculating.

He sees me.

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+45)

at Riverstone used to

intern trying to keep her head down

A threat.

fold my

wanted to see

dead-on.