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."

a stray dog cornered by animal control. Don't try to talk me down. You saw that

me. * Yeah. I saw it. I also saw you almost rip your uterus out

"I'm not-"

"Sit."

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

My knees bounce.

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

the eye. "You need to

"What the hell else am I supposed to do? Sit here and wait until he kicks the door in and drags me back?

if you fly to fucking Antarctica?" Her voice rises, not cruel but sharp enough to slap me out of my spiral. "He's a Lycan King, Taryn. You think Google Maps is his only

my baby kicking softly beneath my ribs, like a tiny plea. I shut my eyes. I can't run forever. Not

don't know how," I whisper. "I don't know how to hide

smile that says someone's about to lose

CHAPTER 123

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

blink. "You're taking me to

hair. You might as well wear a

laugh. It's sharp, unexpected, and feels like it might splinter something inside

if I end up looking like a Barbie stripper, I'm

doing this, we're going full send. Welcome to your

all of Milan, wrapped in a silky robe that probably

stylist, her hands moving

the scissors against the back of my neck as he starts snipping off inches of my

Snip.

Taryn from

Snip.

who tried to save

Snip.

fell in love with the