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.

hesitate.

I can't stay.

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?

did the King

fuck is

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 monstrosity of white marble and gold, stretching down farther than I remember. Of course, this place is excessive even when you're trying to flee unnoticed. I grasp the hem of my gown, my fingers trembling as I

to keep from tripping and faceplanting my way into

a glance

steel, unmoving except for his piercing, predatory, locked onto me

fists at his sides, and for a

Mine.

at me right now, idiot! Then he

haywire as

eyes-

as I can without breaking my goddamn neck. The second I make it outside, the cool night air rushes

I don't slow down.

that I need to disappear before anyone

"Taryn."

Oh, for fuck's sake.

nowhere better to be than waiting outside the grandest ball of the year. He looks me up and down, unimpressed,

Why are

have

"You look like you've been caught doing

I snap. "Change

He blinks. "Excuse me?"

play dumb," I seethe. "Make me unnoticeable.

sharply, reaching into the carriage and tossing me

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Chapter 69

it out. My old dress. The same stained, wrinkled thing I

I don't belong

at him. "Are

He shrugs, entirely too

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

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

"Thanks, asshole."

Anytime."

thing I need is for someone to realize the King's mystery woman just made a fucking Cinderella exit. I take off, slipping into the growing crowd of

the murmurs, the speculation, the desperate attempts to find the mystery of the woman who stole the King's attention. The