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 whisper, brushing the shell of

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

anymore.

your chance. You blew

both laugh, but something about the way his eyes linger

Not because I'm scared.

part of me remembers. How stupid I was. How much I believed he'd

are now nothing more than past tense. A "used to

attention. Zoe appears beside me in

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

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CHAPTER 116

disappears into the sea of

I exhale, alone again.

the

Always the fucking murmurs.

"She planned this event?"

did. She even seduced the

She's got the

think 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 noble wolves who wouldn't know what real pain looked like if it slapped them across their over-powdered faces?

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

They don't.

Of course they don't.

Until-

I want you all to know before the night ends." We all turn

It's Enoch.

to. The fucking floor goes still at the first word out

to make room for him. It really doesn't make any sense to me that the Goddess decided to pair me with

The Alpha King.

the ground by showing up in the flesh, wrapped in a black-on-black suit like sin decided

beside the council elders on the raised dais,

it slams into mine

it. Loud. Clear. And with no

He turns to me and nods, signaling for me to come up the dais with

My lungs seize.

marble walls. Dresses rustle. Councilmen pale. One of them visibly chokes on air like the words are too

was thought to be dead," one mutters. Pretty sure

been dying to watch this trainwreck for months. His grin could slice egos. Another noble, whispering way too loud to be

Enoch hears it.

won't replace anyone. She'll rule beside

Fuck.

not ready for this. My chest might as well have its own percussion section. Is that my rib cage? Or a goddamn war

wild, and locked on me like they're chained to my

what's coming. His jaw ticks,

"Taryn Lancaster, my queen-"

"Wait."

CHAPTER 116

blurt it like it's being yanked out

He stills.

Gasps. Whispers. A

just spit

not trembling. I thought it would

these eyes on me, but I

I fucking rise.

say that... I need to show you