Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

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Chapter 78

Chapter 78

My phone rings.

Loud. Obnoxious. The kind of shrill tone that jerks you out of sleep with the subtlety of a gunshot.

I don't open my eyes yet. I don't want to.

Because the moment I do, reality will hit me. And I'm not ready for that.

Not yet.

I groan, pressing my face deeper into the pillow, refusing to acknowledge the assault on my eardrums. Whoever it is can fuck off. It's too early for this.

The ringing stops.

Blissful silence.

Then it starts again.

"Ugh..."

I crack one eye open, my vision hazy with sleep. My phone vibrates violently on the nightstand, the screen lighting up the dark room with each call. The name flashing across it makes my stomach sink.

Zoe.

Persistent little shit.

I roll onto my back with a sigh, staring up at the ceiling as I let it ring. My body feels warm, the sheets tangled around me. My muscles ache in the best way, exhaustion settled deep in my bones from last night's emotional rollercoaster.

And then I feel it—the steady rise and fall of breathing beside me.

My head turns.

Enoch.

He's on his stomach, his face half-buried in the pillow, strands of dark hair falling over his forehead. His arm is thrown over mine as though he forgot how to sleep without touching me. The broad expanse of his bare back rises and falls with each deep breath, the ink on his skin stretching over muscle.

The tattoo.

I don't touch it, but my fingers twitch with the urge to. Instead, I let my gaze trace over the sharp cut of his jaw, the rough stubble there, the thick slant of his brows. He looks younger like this. His features are all sharp angles-cutthroat, dangerous -but in sleep, they soften just enough. Just enough for me to trace my fingers along his jawline, to memorize the shape of him the way I used to back in Riverstone.

Back when he was just a man with no name, no memories. Just Enoch.

Back when I was just a girl who had no idea who she really was.

A familiar ache blooms in my chest.

I used to wake up to this sight every morning back in the Riverstone Pack. Him on

the floor, curled in the corner of my tiny room because the pack barely considered

me worthy of a bed, and him-the future King-choosing to be beside me Chapter 78

anyway

Now, everything is different.

He's him again. The Alpha King. The untouchable Lycan ruler,

And me?

Still the same nobody, except now the world knows my name.

I brush my fingers over the thick line of his brows, down the bridge of his nose, hovering over the lips that kissed me last night-kissed me like I was the only thing that had ever mattered to him.

I could stay like this forever.

But of course, my phone has other fucking plans.

I groan, wrenching myself from the moment. My fingers wrap around the device, and I answer it without looking, my voice hoarse from sleep.

"This better be life or death, Zoe."

"It is!" she screeches, and I have to pull the phone away from my ear before I go deaf. "Oh my GOD, Taryn, wake up and check your socials right now before I rush over there and do it for you!"

I frown, rubbing my temples. "Jesus, good morning to you too-"

"NOW, TARYN. HOLY SHIT."

"What are you even-"

"JUST CHECK IT!"

Then she hangs up.

What the fuck.

My stomach twists at her tone.

Zoe is a lot of things-dramatic, over-excitable, prone to making a big deal out of absolutely nothing. But this? This is different.

Something's wrong.

is the number of alerts- hundreds of them, all from

Cinderella Unmasked-Meet the Journalist Who Stole the King's

My stomach drops.

notification is

DID SHE FORCE HERSELF ON OUR

tilts under

my throat-part disbelief, part rage, part

horror.

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Chapter 78

Force myself on him?

My lungs seize.

thumb scrolls before my brain can catch

dive into Taryn Sinclair, the mystery woman caught in the

at the Center of the Royal

breathless laugh leaves me. It sounds wrong. Like

This isn't happening.

clammy as I scroll through the pictures-grainy images of me at the fight, my face barely visible behind my mask.

Me and Enoch.

hands in my hair. His

it makes

Is This

rushes in my

No. No, no, no.

my

the world spins. My knee knocks

catching myself before my heel

step back. The floor tilts beneath me, the air thinning in my lungs. My body feels detached, weightless. Not

A sharp crash splits the silence as

topples, shattering

Glass shatters.

The vase.

sharp, echoing crack, and

Shit.

Fuck.

eyes flutter open, heavy with sleep. Dark. Lethal. It takes him a second to focus on me, then on

my mouth, panic clawing at my throat

just like

I've been trying to avoid, everything I've been pretending isn't real, is now staring me

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Chapter 78

are you

I can't answer.

I can't move.

gaze sharpens, following the way my

my life. He is up, hés movements slow,

but no words come

plan, my anonymity,

in the open for the whole Kingdom to rip apart. My

splintering before I

I know exactly who did

been crying. Humiliated, scolded by her father. And

take care of

"I'll handle it."

how she's

a fucking

my fucking death

phone, my brain short-circuiting, when warmth engulfs me from behind. A strong arm snakes around my waist, the

near my ear, breath brushing

at?" His voice is thick with

his entire

A beat.

Then another.

phone is ripped from my numb

Crack.

shatter, pieces raining down onto the floor. I just watch, disconnected, the world feeling too quiet. Too

but my voice barely comes out. I can't even hear

grip on me tightens as his other hand flexes open and closed, like he's holding himself together by a thread. When I glance up, I see it-the

his jaw. "I'm going to fucking

just stand

this isn't

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Chapter 78

is my last

in

head

my head, cold and

You're fired.

nausea

was it. This was my chance. I fought to get here, to get

about my parents-and now it's gone.

don't even realize I'm shaking until Enoch grabs my shoulders, forcing me to

cup my face, tilting it up. I still