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.

of Alpha..." he says, voice just above a whisper, brushing

laugh. Not the sweet kind. The dangerous kind. The kind that reminds him I'm

anymore.

chance. You blew

the way his eyes linger on me

Not because I'm scared.

because part of me remembers. How stupid I was. How much

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

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

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

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CHAPTER 116

disappears into the sea of suits

I exhale, alone again.

when the

Always the fucking murmurs.

"She planned this event?"

She even seduced the King on our

vicious woman. She's got the King wrapped around

even

"She doesn't belong here."

I hear every word.

Every venom-dipped syllable.

flinch. I've been through worse. Had worse thrown at me-rocks, lies, fucking death

wolves who wouldn't know what real pain looked like if it slapped

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

They don't.

Of course they don't.

Until-

something I want you all to know before the night

It's Enoch. All eyes are

The fucking floor goes still at the first word out

in the air. As if the molecules shift to make room for him. It really

The Alpha King.

whispered rumor to the ground by showing up in the flesh, wrapped in a black-on-black suit like sin decided to dress up and throw a

the council elders on

until it slams into mine

it. Loud. Clear. And

woman you're talking about all night... is not just an Omega." He turns to me and nods, signaling for me to come up

My lungs seize.

rustle. Councilmen pale. One of them visibly chokes on air like the words are too sacrilegious to

dead," one mutters. Pretty sure he just pissed

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

Enoch hears it.

is feral. "She won't replace anyone. She'll rule

Fuck.

chest might as well have its own percussion section. Is that

me like they're

already know what's coming. His jaw ticks, voice thick like

"Taryn Lancaster, my queen-"

"Wait."

CHAPTER 116

it's being yanked

He stills.

Whispers. A few nobles clutch their

just spit in the

thought

these eyes

I fucking rise.

that... I need to