Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

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Chapter 69

Chapter 69

As the day he lost me...

Right. He did lost me.

My mistake is pausing as I stare at him. Just for a second. Just enough to catch my breath, to feel the warmth of his hands on me before I remember exactly where I am. Who I am.

Shit.

The music stops.

Silence.

For a fleeting moment, I wasn't a nobody. I was the woman wrapped in the King's arms, with every eye in the room pinned on us like we were a goddamn fairy tale.

I need to leave. Now,

A thick, pressing quiet, shattered only by the rapid clicks of cameras and the murmurs slithering between the guests. A scandal is unraveling in real-time, and I'm standing right in the center of it.

My heartbeat pounds in my ears. I can't afford another trouble. I'm on strike two on Liam's list, I'll be fired for another one.

I try to step back. His grip tightens.

I swallow hard, my throat burning like I just downed a shot of acid. "Enoch."

His name feels foreign on my tongue, forbidden after years of avoiding it. Like saying it too many times might make it real.

His jaw clenches, the muscle twitching like he's at war with himself. "Stay."

The word punches straight through me, through the layers of this gorgeous dress.

And I almost do.

But the spell breaks when a reporter shouts, "Who is she?!"

That brief hesitation-the scrape of his thumb over my wrist, the unspoken resistance-uncoils something deep in my gut. But I rip myself away, breath hitching, forcing myself to move.

Now. Now, Now.

Run.

"Taryn-"

I don't look back. I can't.

I'll hesitate. If

I can't stay.

a gunshot. The moment our dance ended, silence swallowed the room, only for it to be devoured by a frenzy of whispers, the murmurs slithering through the

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Chapter 69

Who is she?

King dance

the fuck

into my back. The air feels thick, suffocating, and the last thing I want is to be cornered by the hungry, sharp-toothed press ready to rip me apart for breathing the same air as their untouchable King. My lungs protest as I reach the grand staircase, a

from tripping and faceplanting

a glance

a statue carved from shadow and steel, unmoving except

into fists at his sides, and for

Mine.

thought slams into me like a sledgehammer, and I nearly miss a step. No. No, don't look at me right now, idiot! Then he smirks. The

thoughts is in haywire

eyes-

without breaking my goddamn neck. The second I make it outside, the cool night air rushes to meet me, a cold slap of reality

I don't slow down.

know where I'm running, only that I need to disappear before

"Taryn."

Oh, for fuck's sake.

and nearly slam into Jacob, who's leaning against a carriage like he had nowhere better to be than waiting outside the grandest ball of the year. He looks me up and down, unimpressed, arms crossed

running. Why are you

don't have time

unimpressed. "You look like you've been caught doing something

yet," I snap. "Change me back.

He blinks. "Excuse me?"

play dumb," I seethe. "Make me unnoticeable. Before someone comes

carriage and tossing me a bundle

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Chapter 69

out. My old dress. The same

I don't

stare at him. "Are you

said to change you back." He shrugs, entirely

fabric of my disguise crumples at my feet, forgotten. The second I'm back in my

then nods. "Yeah. No one's

"Thanks, asshole."

Anytime."

made a fucking Cinderella exit. I take off, slipping into the growing crowd of guests leaving the ball. No

attempts to find the mystery of the woman who stole the King's attention. The thought makes my stomach churn.