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.

with me, and click on my notifications. The first thing I see is the number of alerts- hundreds

Unmasked-Meet the Journalist Who

My stomach drops.

notification is

SHE FORCE HERSELF ON OUR

tilts

my throat-part disbelief, part rage,

horror.

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Chapter 78

Force myself on him?

My lungs seize.

before my brain can catch

Sinclair, the

of the Royal Controversy. She kissed him.

laugh leaves me. It sounds wrong.

This isn't happening.

chest feels too tight, my hands clammy as I scroll through the pictures-grainy images of me at the

Me and Enoch.

my hair. His lips on

it

Is This an Obsession

rushes in

No. No, no, no.

scroll, my vision blurring, my fingers trembling as I

so fast the

I stumble back, barely catching myself before my heel crashes into

me, the air thinning in my lungs. My body feels detached, weightless. Not

into something. A sharp

me topples, shattering

Glass shatters.

The vase.

floor with a sharp,

Shit.

Fuck.

takes him a second to focus on me, then on the broken shards

mouth, panic clawing at my throat as his eyes

like that, I'm

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

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Chapter 78

are you doing,

I can't answer.

I can't move.

way my hands tremble,

ran for my life. He is

my mouth to open, but no words come

my anonymity, my

in the open for the whole Kingdom to rip apart.

before I

I know exactly who did

had been crying. Humiliated, scolded by her father. And then the mysterious woman-ber handler, her puppeteer-had

take care of

"I'll handle it."

is how

fucking target on my

my fucking death

my brain short-circuiting, when warmth engulfs me from behind. A strong arm snakes around my waist, the scent of pine and something

near my ear, breath brushing over my skin

thick with sleep. But the moment his gaze

my screen, his entire body locks

A beat.

Then another.

is ripped from

Crack.

made of fucking paper. Plastic and glass shatter, pieces

I start, but my voice barely comes out.

he's holding himself together by a thread. When I glance up, I see it-the shift. His usually forest-green

jumps in his jaw.

stand there.

isn't

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Chapter 78

my

frantic voice is still ringing in my

head

voice in my head, cold

You're fired.

twists, nausea

fought to get here, to get into that

closer to the truth about my parents-and now it's gone. Everything I built. Destroyed in one

forcing me to face him. "Taryn His voice

cup my face, tilting it up.