Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

CHAPTER 116

CHAPTER 116

Of course it's him.

Kallias fucking Morrigan.

The second I turn around, I already know. It's the scent-like cedar and

arrogance—and the way my skin goes prickly, like my body still remembers every fight, every kiss, every betrayal.

He looks good. Too good. That kind of good that makes you want to punch a mirror just to stop yourself from looking

twice.

Navy tux. Crisp. Jawline sharp enough to gut a deer. And that smirk-God, that smirk-same as the one he used to wear when he'd sneak into my room and say I was his secret.

"Found you," he says, low and smooth like whiskey, and I hate that I still remember how his voice used to sound when he whispered my name.

I blink, giving him my best you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look. “What, did you

crawl here from Riverstone just to make things awkward?"

"You look... different," he says, gaze sliding over me like I'm a fucking museum exhibit.

I raise a brow. "Yeah, well. Trauma has a way of turning Omegas into bombs."

He huffs a breath, something between a laugh and a sigh. "Where's your shadow? Seraphina? Don't tell me she's still clinging to your ankles."

Kallias shakes his head, smirk twisting a little sad now. "We split. She's actually working now. Secretary to some CEO in the North. She always did love order."

"She was good at color-coding. And at being a backstabbing manipulative bitch," I say, smiling sweetly.

He chuckles. "Still sharp."

"And you?" I ask. "Let me guess. Finally got that Alpha title you were jerking yourself over back when we were nineteen?"

"Riverstone's mine now," he says, tipping his glass toward me. "No more Alpha's son. Just Alpha. Official and all."

"Congrats," I say, and mean it, weirdly. "Bet the wolves are thrilled."

He doesn't reply. Just watches me like I'm some puzzle piece he used to own but can't figure out how it fits anymore.

"You really do look different," he murmurs.

I tilt my chin, already bored of this. "I look like a queen."

He smiles, and it's not cocky this time. Just... reflective. "Not yet crowned. But I'm good at predicting things."

The room's heat shifts. I feel it before I see it.

That invisible string pulling tight from across the ballroom. That unmistakable

weight in the air, like the forest right before a

storm.

I know he's watching.

don't even have to look. I can feel the heat of it burning into my neck.

I grab the glass from Kallias's hand-on purpose, slow and deliberate-and sip. Champagne. Cheap. Not worth the calories.

He leans in, close enough I can smell his cologne. Expensive. Desperate.

a different kind of Alpha..." he says, voice just above a whisper, brushing the shell

kind. The kind that reminds him I'm not the girl who begged him

anymore.

your chance. You blew it. Literally

something about the way his eyes linger

Not because I'm scared.

me remembers. How stupid I was.

cry over are now nothing more than past tense. A "used to be." A ghost in a tux with too much pride and too

blonde hair pulls my attention. Zoe appears beside me

says, kissing my cheek. "Duty calls. I'll be back before

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CHAPTER 116

into the sea of

I exhale, alone again.

when the

Always the fucking murmurs.

"She planned this event?"

seduced the King on our own

vicious woman. She's got the

she even knows what she's

"She doesn't belong here."

I hear every word.

Every venom-dipped syllable.

been through worse. Had worse thrown at me-rocks,

these people? These noble wolves who wouldn't know what real pain looked like

walk past them slow, holding my chin up high. Spine straight. Each step daring them to say it

They don't.

Of course they don't.

Until-

want you all to know before the

where the King is. It's Enoch. All eyes are

need to. The fucking floor goes still at the first

molecules shift to make room for him. It really doesn't make any sense to me that

The Alpha King.

just burned every whispered rumor to the ground by showing up in the flesh, wrapped

on

slams into

it. Loud. Clear. And with no room

you're talking about all night... is not just an Omega." He turns to me and nods, signaling for me to come up the dais with him.. "She is the last living descendant of the Lancaster bloodline.

My lungs seize.

firecrackers across the marble walls. Dresses rustle. Councilmen pale. One of them

line was thought to be dead," one mutters. Pretty sure he just pissed

energy of a man who's been dying to watch this trainwreck for months. His grin could slice egos. Another noble,

Enoch hears it.

"She won't replace anyone. She'll rule beside

Fuck.

this. My chest might as well have its

his eyes-green, wild, and locked on me like they're chained to

know what's coming. His

"Taryn Lancaster, my queen-"

"Wait."

CHAPTER 116

it's being yanked

He stills.

Whispers. A

just spit

lift a hand. It's not trembling. I thought it would be. I thought I would

pressure, with all these

I fucking rise.

I need to show you