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.

Alpha..." he says, voice just above a

kind. The dangerous kind. The kind that reminds him I'm

anymore.

chance. You blew it. Literally and

laugh, but something about the way his eyes linger on me

Not because I'm scared.

remembers. How stupid I was. How

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

attention. Zoe appears beside

it," she says, kissing my cheek. "Duty calls. I'll

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CHAPTER 116

the sea of

I exhale, alone again.

when the

Always the fucking murmurs.

"She planned this event?"

the King on

vicious woman. She's got

she even knows what

"She doesn't belong here."

I hear every word.

Every venom-dipped syllable.

worse. Had worse thrown at me-rocks, lies,

noble wolves who wouldn't know what real pain looked like if it slapped them across their over-powdered faces? Yeah, that shit still

Spine straight. Each step daring

They don't.

Of course they don't.

Until-

to know before the

King is. It's Enoch. All eyes are

floor goes still

shift to make room for him. It

The Alpha King.

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

the council elders on the raised dais,

silence, until it slams into mine as

says it. Loud. Clear. And with no

and nods, signaling for me to come up the dais

My lungs seize.

Dresses rustle. Councilmen pale. One of them

line was thought to be dead,"

this trainwreck for months. His grin could slice egos. Another noble, whispering way too loud to be subtle, "Does this mean she'll replace Beta

Enoch hears it.

is feral. "She won't replace anyone.

Fuck.

ready for this. My chest might as well have its own percussion section. Is that my rib cage? Or a goddamn

wild, and locked on me like they're chained to my soul-flare with something

turns toward me, and I already know what's coming. His

"Taryn Lancaster, my queen-"

"Wait."

CHAPTER 116

like it's being yanked out of

He stills.

in layers. Gasps. Whispers. A few

spit in the holy

trembling. I thought it would be. I thought I would

pressure, with all these eyes on me, but I

I fucking rise.

you say that... I need to show you