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.

back, I'll hesitate. If I hesitate, I'll

I can't stay.

hit the marble floor with sharp clicks, each step reverberating through the grand ballroom like a gunshot. The moment our dance ended, silence swallowed the room, only for it to be devoured by a

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Chapter 69

Who is she?

King dance

fuck

rip me apart for breathing the same air as their untouchable King. My lungs protest as I reach the grand staircase, a monstrosity of white marble and gold, stretching down farther than

slightly to keep from tripping and faceplanting my way into

risk a glance

carved from shadow and steel, unmoving except for his piercing, predatory, locked onto me

sides, and for a split second, something flickers in his gaze. Recognition.

Mine.

No. No, don't look at me right now, idiot! Then he smirks. The bastard smirks, playing with me. Goddess, the media

is in haywire

eyes-

push harder, descending the staircase as fast as I can without breaking my goddamn neck. The second I

I don't slow down.

only that I need to disappear before anyone

"Taryn."

Oh, for fuck's sake.

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 over his

Why are you

don't have time for

"You look like

snap. "Change me

He blinks. "Excuse me?"

play dumb," I seethe. "Make me unnoticeable. Before someone comes out here looking for

into the carriage and tossing me a bundle

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Chapter 69

My old dress. The same stained, wrinkled thing I

screams I

him. "Are you

to change you back." He shrugs, entirely too pleased with himself.

over my head, my movements frantic. The silky midnight fabric of my disguise crumples at my feet, forgotten. The second I'm

a critical eye, then nods. "Yeah. No one's looking twice

"Thanks, asshole."

Anytime."

I need is for someone to realize the King's mystery woman just made a fucking

the speculation, the desperate attempts to find the mystery of the woman