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.

click on my notifications. The first thing I see is the number of alerts-

Journalist Who Stole

My stomach drops.

next notification is

JOURNALIST EXPOSED: DID SHE FORCE HERSELF ON OUR

floor tilts under

throat-part

horror.

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Chapter 78

Force myself on him?

My lungs seize.

thumb scrolls before my brain can catch

Taryn Sinclair, the mystery woman caught

the Royal Controversy. She kissed him. Was it mutual? The Kingdom demands

laugh leaves me. It sounds

This isn't happening.

I scroll through the pictures-grainy images of me at

Me and Enoch.

hair. His lips

it makes my stomach

King's Mysterious Woman: Is This an Obsession Gone Too

in my

No. No, no, no.

my vision blurring, my fingers trembling as I

my feet so fast the world spins. My knee knocks

barely catching myself before

thinning in my lungs. My body feels detached, weightless. Not real. This isn't

into something. A sharp crash splits the silence as the

me topples, shattering on the

Glass shatters.

The vase.

hits the floor with a sharp, echoing crack,

Shit.

Fuck.

open, heavy with sleep. Dark. Lethal. It takes him a second to focus on me, then on the broken shards scattered across the floor. His voice is thick,

my mouth, panic clawing at my

just like that,

I've been pretending isn't real, is now staring me in the

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Chapter 78

you

I can't answer.

I can't move.

gaze sharpens, following the way my hands tremble, how

my life. He is up, hés movements slow, calculating.

to open, but no words

my anonymity, my

for the

I can

I know exactly who

Humiliated, scolded by

take care

"I'll handle it."

is how she's

a fucking target on my

just signed my fucking death

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

my ear, breath brushing over my

His voice is thick with sleep. But the moment his

screen, his entire body

A beat.

Then another.

my phone is ripped from

Crack.

it in his bare hand, like it's made of fucking paper. Plastic and glass shatter, pieces raining down onto the floor. I just watch, disconnected, the world feeling too quiet.

but my voice barely comes out. I can't

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 shift. His usually forest-green eyes bleed into

jaw.

just stand

this isn't just

10:17 Wed, 26 Mar

Chapter 78

is my last

frantic voice is still ringing in my ears. The headlines, the comments,

in my head like a whirlpool. I can

voice in my head,

You're fired.

stomach twists, nausea

fought to

to the truth about my parents-and now it's gone.

Enoch grabs my shoulders, forcing me to face him. "Taryn His voice is urgent, rough. "Nothing is going to

to cup my face, tilting it up. I