Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

Chapter 128

I don't hear him.

I feel him.

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The air shifts. Pressure coils behind me, thick and choking. Then-his voice. "Don't run away from me again, baby." His voice-low, jagged-it shreds through my panic like a match dragged across bone-dry bark.

I don't breathe. I can't.

Fuck.

His body heat sears into my spine, the scent of pine and smoke curling around me like a noose.

My body locks up.

Like my spine's been slammed into a block of ice. Like my blood remembers what my mind tries to forget. My pulse rockets so fast it hurts. My knees nearly buckle.

It's him.

Enoch.

He's close. Too close. I don't need to turn to know it's him-the scent of rain and ruin, the static in the air, the sheer gravity of him pressing against my back like a loaded gun cocked at my spine.

Then-contact.

His grip is iron. One arm slams across my waist, jerking me backward like I'm a ragdoll, fast and brutal, hauling me against his body like he's reclaiming stolen property. The other clamps around my shoulder, pressing me flush against him.

I crash into his chest with a cry, the wind punched out of my lungs.

He doesn't loosen his hold.

I twist, elbowing blindly, my palm scraping against the wall in a frantic attempt to brace myself. My heels skid on the blood- slick tile, but it's no use. He's too strong. Too anchored. I'm fighting a fucking hurricane with bare hands.

"Let go of me!" I choke out, writhing hard.

He leans in, mouth grazing the shell of my ear.

"You think I wouldn't recognize my own scent buried under that cheap disguise?" he murmurs."You think running was gonna fix this?" he growls, gripping my jaw, angling my face toward him like I'm a thing he owns. "You think Italy was far enough?"

I spit. Right on his chest. "Fuck you."

His chest rises sharply. He looks down at the spit sliding down his expensive black coat, then back up at me with something close to... twisted admiration.

"Do I have to chain you up?" he mutters, then backs me up until my spine hits the cold wall of the hallway.

Everything spins again.

No.

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Chapter 128

No, no, no-

Panic claws up my throat ashi shand begin to lower down my abdomen.

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My breath shatters in my chest. He can't-he can't feel it. Not yet. Not now. I'm barely eight weeks, not even showing, but my body is betraying me, and if he so much as sniff's wrong-

"Don't," I whisper. "Don't touch me there."

He freezes.

breath catches. Like something inside him parses the truth just

needing distance. Space. Oxygen. "Get your fucking hands

His grip tightens.

can feel it in the way his hand trembles. He's not calm- he's barely holding himself

me," he rasps.

snap my head back, hoping to crack his jaw with the back

head aside just in time. His

uneven.

"I trusted you."

"You nearly killed me!"

"You ran!"

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have.

kill me and

flash. For one terrifying second,

Cold. Unhinged. A sound that

could never kill you baby." He chuckles.

dark I can't even see him with all the lights out right now. He's

legs threaten to give out. I reach for the wall behind me,

heat of him, the tension, the scent of raw power that still fucks with my head,

phone booth-too loud, too close, too much. And the

Still aches for him.

Fucking betrayal.

flickering in his eyes. "You're not fucking

back. I can't see anything but I know damn well he's right in front of me. "Wasn't the chase fun, Taryn? Now we're going home. I'm

him, Taryn.' Eris bangs his claws

I maintain control. "Then you better fucking

not

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20.03 Wed, 21 May

Chapter 128

seconds

What is he-

off the floor.

I can swallow

Don't you fucking dare!" I

59%

20

I weigh nothing.

locking me in place, and my hip smashes

explodes down my

something twist deep

The baby.

I stop struggling.

first, then not needing to. The pain is sharp and real but it's not enough

fold forward, going limp, one arm dangling

down," I rasp. "I can't-I think something's

He freezes.

That one word.

Please.

lowers me slowly, jaw tight, nostrils flared like a wild animal trying not to

my side like I'm shielding a cracked rib. My other hand curls into his shirt, fingers

He catches me.

Of course he does.

waist instinctively, like muscle memory. And for a second-one breathless, bruising second-it almost feels like the man I

he hasn't been completely consumed by

door behind me, illuminating his face in its ocean hue. I could see him very clearly.

My mate.

wrecked. Blood on his jaw, rain in his

wildfire trapped in

my eyes. The tear trailing down. The shaky

jaw-God, it's still warm. Still familiar.

smile I can muster. It's fake, but