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

the Journalist Who

My stomach drops.

next notification is

EXPOSED: DID SHE FORCE HERSELF

floor tilts under

sound escapes my throat-part disbelief, part rage, part sheer

horror.

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Chapter 78

Force myself on him?

My lungs seize.

my brain

into Taryn Sinclair, the

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

leaves me.

This isn't happening.

chest feels too tight, my hands clammy as I scroll through the pictures-grainy images of me at the fight, my face barely visible behind my mask. And then another

Me and Enoch.

hair.

beneath it makes

King's Mysterious Woman: Is This

rushes in my

No. No, no, no.

my vision blurring, my fingers trembling as I

fast the world spins. My knee knocks against the

stumble back, barely catching myself before my heel

beneath me, the air thinning in my

sharp crash

shattering on

Glass shatters.

The vase.

hits the floor with a sharp, echoing crack, and Enoch stirs

Shit.

Fuck.

on me, then on the broken shards scattered across the floor. His voice is thick, gruff

panic clawing

like that,

everything I've been pretending isn't real, is now staring

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Chapter 78

are you doing,

I can't answer.

I can't move.

my

I just ran for my life. He is up, hés movements

force my mouth to open, but no words come out. Everything is

my anonymity, my

the whole Kingdom to rip apart. My reputation

splintering before I can

exactly who did

had been crying. Humiliated, scolded by her father. And then the mysterious

care

"I'll handle it."

how

a fucking target on

my fucking death

behind. A strong arm snakes around my waist, the scent of pine and something darker, rawer, filling my nose. Enoch got

chin comes down near my ear, breath brushing over my skin

thick with

his

A beat.

Then another.

my phone is ripped from

Crack.

Plastic and glass shatter, pieces raining down onto the floor. I just watch, disconnected, the world feeling too

voice barely comes out. I

closed, like he's holding himself together by a

jaw. "I'm

just stand there.

isn't just

10:17 Wed, 26 Mar

Chapter 78

is my last

frantic voice is still ringing in my ears.

fucking vitriol swirling in my head like a whirlpool. I can already

my head, cold and

You're fired.

stomach twists, nausea crawling up my

my chance. I fought to get here,

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

don't even realize I'm shaking until Enoch grabs my shoulders, forcing me to face him. "Taryn His voice is urgent, rough. "Nothing is going

my face, tilting it up. I still don't