Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

APTER 123

I don't breathe.

I don't fucking breathe when I see that post.

My throat locks up like it's being gripped by iron fingers, and my heart plummets to my stomach so fast I swear I taste bile. The image is grainy, zoomed in, clearly from security footage or someone's phone. But it's me. My face. My hair. My goddamn freckles.

Right beneath it?

$300,000,000 REWARD - ALIVE.

Alive.

Like that's a fucking mercy.

I shoot up from Seraphina's tiny white couch, nearly knocking over her untouched mug of chamomile tea, and stumble toward the hallway like my feet can outrun Enoch's fucking insanity. My breath's gone shallow, broken up by little gasps I can't control.

"Where are you going?" Seraphina's voice is laced with disbelief and rising irritation, but I don't answer. Can't. I stumble toward the bedroom and nearly rip the closet door off its hinges.

I hear Ser curse behind me, but I'm already grabbing the duffel I promised myself

I wouldn't touch again. I start shoving clothes inside like a rabid raccoon-no folding, no planning, just get the fuck out, now, now, now.

Shirts. Underwear. Socks. I toss a pair of leggings in and-fuck, did I pack my camera? Where the hell is it?

I grab my passport, the burner phone, the vitamins the Italian doctor gave me after I sobbed through my first check-up. I toss them into the duffel so hard I knock over the fucking lamp on the nightstand. It crashes to the floor.

"Shit!"

I freeze. One hand clutching my stomach. One hand on the zipper.

"God, I'm sorry, baby," I whisper, blinking through the tears that are building fast. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just-fuck-I can't-I can't let him find us. Not again."

The sound of Ser's heels clacking down the hallway is getting closer. I yank the zipper and try to throw the strap over my shoulder, but my hand's trembling so hard the whole bag slides off and thuds against the floor.

Useless. I'm fucking useless.

"Taryn."

by animal control. Don't try to talk me down. You saw that post. He put a goddamn bounty on me like

like she isn't about to have a panic attack for me. * Yeah. I saw it. I also saw

"I'm not-"

"Sit."

in her voice slices through me sharper than Enoch's last fucking

my strings. My knees bounce. My hands

kneels down, grabs the duffel, zips it slowly, and sets it aside like

in the eye. "You

Sit here and wait until he kicks the door in and drags me back? I've seen what he does when he's

to slap me out of my spiral. "He's a Lycan King, Taryn. You think Google Maps is his only tool? He'll

face. They're sweaty. Cold. I can feel my baby kicking softly beneath my ribs, like a tiny plea. I shut my eyes. I

"I

dangerous. It's the kind of smile that says someone's about to lose a fight-and

CHAPTER 123

on. We've got an appointment. You wanna disappear? You're gonna need to lose that

blink. "You're taking me

with Disney Princess hair. You might as well wear a sign that says

It's sharp, unexpected, and feels like it might

mutter, dragging myself off the bed. "But if I end up looking like a Barbie stripper, I'm shaving

already tossing me a coat. "If we're doing this, we're going full send. Welcome to your

all of Milan, wrapped in a silky robe that probably costs more than my rent. Ser knows a guy. Of course she knows

rapid Italian to the stylist, her hands

cold metal of the scissors against the back of my neck as he

Snip.

goes Taryn

Snip.

tried to save

Snip.

idiot who fell in love with