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.

about ruling beside a different kind of Alpha..." he says, voice just

kind that reminds him

anymore.

You blew it. Literally and

something about the way his eyes linger on me makes my

Not because I'm scared.

me remembers. How stupid I

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

blonde hair pulls my attention. Zoe appears beside me in heels

my cheek. "Duty

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CHAPTER 116

disappears into the

I exhale, alone again.

the murmurs

Always the fucking murmurs.

"She planned this event?"

She even seduced the King on our own

She's got

she even knows what she's

"She doesn't belong here."

I hear every word.

Every venom-dipped syllable.

even flinch. I've been through worse. Had

who wouldn't know what real pain looked like if it slapped them across their over-powdered

my chin up high. Spine straight. Each step

They don't.

Of course they don't.

Until-

to know before the night ends."

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

fucking floor goes still at the first word

before I even turn to him-this heavy, magnetic pull in the air. As if the molecules shift to make room for him. It really doesn't make

The Alpha King.

rumor to the ground by showing up in the flesh, wrapped in a black-on-black suit like

steps beside the council elders on the raised dais, gaze cutting through

of silence, until it slams into

Loud. Clear.

up the dais with him.. "She is the last living

My lungs seize.

pale. One of them visibly chokes on air

dead,"

He's leaning back against the pillar with the smug energy of a man who's been dying to watch this trainwreck for months. His grin could slice egos. Another noble, whispering way too loud to be subtle, "Does this mean she'll replace

Enoch hears it.

won't replace anyone. She'll

Fuck.

chest might as well have its own percussion

locked on me like they're chained to

know what's coming. His jaw ticks,

"Taryn Lancaster, my queen-"

"Wait."

CHAPTER 116

like it's being yanked

He stills.

Gasps. Whispers. A few

I just spit in the holy

I thought it would be. I thought I

all these eyes on me, but I

I fucking rise.

I need