Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

CHAPTER 118

I should've known peace was too fucking quiet.

The air in my apartment smells like old lemon floor cleaner and the rain that crept in through the cracked balcony door I forgot to lock. I'm still in the same clothes from the palace-my jacket reeking of stiff perfume, anxiety, and whatever the hell heartbreak is supposed to smell like.

Liam said the job was still up.

Sol came back, packed the one suitcase I kept under my bed for emergencies, tossed in every file I had printed about my parents' deaths, the article draft I never submitted, and the only photo I have left of my brother. Everything else? Well, I can burn it. I don't care. I'm done pretending this place was ever a home.

I snap the suitcase shut and drag it to the door when I hear it. Not a knock. Not even a creak. It's just silence-so fucking sharp it pricks the hairs on the back of my neck.

And then, the sound of the wind shifts.

My head snaps toward the balcony.

Something-or someone is standing there.

Fuck.

'You're so dead.' Eris murmurs before she shuts me out. Stupid wolf.

I don't think. I drop the bag and reach for the knife I tucked between my boots. The figure steps through the sheer curtain, slow, like it has all the time in the world. And when I see its eyes, glowing faint gold, slit like a goddamn snake, I know it's not human. Not even close.

"You're her," the voice rasps. A delighted grin on his rough face.

I don't answer.

He already knows who I am. Someone must have sent him.

The King's weakness.

Before I knew it, he lunges.

I duck, instinct kicking in before fear can freeze me. My shoulder smashes into the

coffee table and it fucking hurts, but I've had worse. He's on me in seconds, claws out, slicing through air as though he wants to shred my face off. I roll beneath him, boot kicking into his knee hard/enough to make bone crack.

"Little bitch," he snarls.

I grin. "Takes one to know one."

He

goes for my throat. I jab the knife forward-he catches my wrist. Shit. His strength

his grip burning,

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CHAPTER 118

And then-

loud voice shouts and I

gun in hand,

into.the wall. My spine bounces off the

Liam shoots.

bullet-dumbass. The guy doesn't even

I wanna scream he absolutely would not be

whatever bullets you have. "Don't waste your

eyes flicking to Liam. "Another one.

Shit.

to kill

launch at the guy's back, jamming the knife into the base of his skull-not deep enough to kill, but enough to make him scream. He throws me off like I weigh nothing. I crash onto the floor, but the distraction works. Liam moves in to tackle him, yelling something I can't hear because

"LIAM, GET OUT!"

assassin snarls, lips pulled back over teeth that are way too long, way too animal. He looks

time, I'll present you rhead to the King and maybe get the crown myself." he hisses, then launches himself out the balcony

Gone.

Just like that.

rains down. Rain pours in. My chest is heaving like I've run a fucking marathon, and I probably look like I've just been chewed up and spat out

at me. At the blood on my lip. The busted wall.

fuck just

my mouth with the back

I'm the King's weakness," I say. "And now everyone else

What? Just because he's inlove with

everything happened, alright?" I raise

CHAPTER 118

up. "Then are you... are

snap, deadpan. "But thanks for the dramatic entrance. Very action

Remind me to

snort. "You think

he's about to

Smart man.

knife from the floor. My hand's still shaking. I shove it back in my boot anyway. Liam's still staring at me like I'm some unhinged lunatic.

I probably am.

But I'm alive.

Barely.

And for now-that's enough.

***

I don't look back.

slap the cold pavement like they belong Here. Like I belong here. Italy smells like espresso and rain and exhaustion and overpriced perfume that's too good to be real. The air feels sharp enough to slice skin, but after everything-I welcome the