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.

your mind about ruling beside a different kind of Alpha..."

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

anymore.

chance. You

both laugh, but something about the way his eyes

Not because I'm scared.

part of me remembers. How stupid I was. How

past tense. A

of blonde hair pulls my attention. Zoe appears beside me in heels way too high for her

my cheek. "Duty calls. I'll be

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CHAPTER 116

into the sea of suits and

I exhale, alone again.

when the

Always the fucking murmurs.

"She planned this event?"

the

woman. She's got the King wrapped around

even

"She doesn't belong here."

I hear every word.

Every venom-dipped syllable.

I've been through worse. Had worse

pain looked like if it

Spine straight. Each step daring

They don't.

Of course they don't.

Until-

know before the night

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

floor goes still at the first word out of his

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

The Alpha King.

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

council elders on the raised dais, gaze cutting

slams into mine

Loud. Clear. And with no room

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. The Betas

My lungs seize.

Dresses rustle. Councilmen pale. One of them visibly

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

who's been dying to watch this trainwreck for months. His

Enoch hears it.

"She won't replace anyone.

Fuck.

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

wild, and locked on me like they're chained

me, and I already know what's coming. His jaw ticks, voice thick

"Taryn Lancaster, my queen-"

"Wait."

CHAPTER 116

it like it's being yanked out of

He stills.

layers. Gasps. Whispers. A few nobles clutch

just spit

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

this pressure, with all these eyes

I fucking rise.

that... I need