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."

turning to her. My chest's heaving, and I probably look like a stray dog cornered by animal control. Don't try to talk me down. You saw that post. He put a goddamn bounty

about to have a panic attack for me. * Yeah. I

"I'm not-"

"Sit."

in her voice slices through me sharper

strings. My knees bounce. My hands

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

me dead in the eye. "You need to stop

I supposed to do? Sit here and wait until he kicks the door in and drags me back? I've seen what he

of my spiral. "He's a Lycan King, Taryn. You think Google Maps is his only tool? He'll search every inch of this world, pregnant scent or not. Unless we make

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

"I don't know how to hide

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

CHAPTER 123

and taps something. "Come on. We've got an appointment. You wanna disappear? You're gonna need

me to a salon right

Disney Princess hair. You might as well wear

it might splinter something inside me. But it breaks the fear, just a

myself off the bed. "But if I end up

"If we're doing this, we're going full

the bougiest fucking salon in all of Milan, wrapped in a silky

to the stylist, her hands moving like she's casting a

scissors against the back

Snip.

goes Taryn from

Snip.

to save a

Snip.

in love with the wrong