Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King novel Chapter 120

CHAPTER 120

CHAPTER 120

THE NIGHT OF THE UNITY BALL

ENOCH

“I love you. Please, baby. “Isn’t that worth anything to you?”

I can’t fucking breathe.

The second I say it, I fucking feel it. That slow, echoing crack in my chest, right where her voice used to soothe the chaos.

“Not anymore.”

The second the words leave my mouth, the world stops. Dead quiet. LEven the gods are holding their breath. She’s still looking at me. Fuck, she’s still looking at me like I didn’t just gut both of us alive with four fucking words.

I don’t look back.

I walk.

My footsteps are heavy. Weighted. Not with guilt–because guilt would mean I believe I’m the villain here. No. No, fuck that. I’m the one bleeding out every time she walks away. I’m the one who begged her to stay. I told her shit I’ve never said to a soul. And for what?

To get slaughtered in front of the entire fucking realm?

To have the most vulnerable part of me broadcasted like a goddamn reality show?

The Maldives video. That fucking video.

I don’t care if she “didn’t mean to.” I don’t care if she “tried to stop it.” Intentions don’t mean shit when the whole world saw me on my knees. Screaming. Begging for a god I don’t even believe in.

My hand slams into the office door, and I kick it open so hard the hinges scream. The second it shuts behind me, I lose it. Papers scatter like fucking snow as I swipe every single thing off my desk. Candlesticks. Frames. A globe that slams into the bookshelf with a crack. The sound of glass breaking doesn’t even register anymore. I need more. I need wreckage.

“You’re a fucking idiot,” I growl, slamming my fists into the desk until it splits. “Fucking weak, spineless–what did you expect, huh? That she’d choose you over the truth?”

Go to her.

The voice is feral. Ragged. My wolf is awake now–awake and clawing at the inside of my skull like a rabid dog.

Mate. She’s our mate.

“Fuck you,” I snap, out loud, dragging both hands through my hair like it’ll stop me from combusting. “She’s a fucking traitor.”

She didn’t leak it-

“She let it happen!” I roar, punching the wall so hard my knuckles split. Blood trickles down my fingers and I want more of it. I want to bleed until I can’t remember her fucking eyes. Until the memory of her voice isn’t tattooed into my fucking bones.

I tear open the balcony doors, stepping into the icy slap of midnight air. It burns. It’s not enough.

I strip off my shirt, shaking with rage as I stare down at the forest below. The moon glares at me like she’s disappointed.

Good. Join the fucking club.

With one breath, I let go.

My body contorts mid–air, bones snapping, fur exploding across my skin as I shift before I even hit the ground. My paws land hard on the dirt with a thud, and I run. No thought. No destination. Just bloodlust.

I tear into the trees like they’re the enemy. Leaves shred. Roots splinter. I’m a fucking weapon now, and the world is my war.

I see a rabbit. I kill it.

I see a deer. It tries to run.

Wrong move.

I rip it open mid–leap, blood splashing across my snout, hot and thick and not enough. Nothing is fucking enough.

I kill everything that moves. Everything that breathes. Birds scatter before I can reach them. Trees crack under my weight. The forest becomes a graveyard of my rage, and I don’t stop. I can’t stop. Not until the screaming in my head goes silent. I howl once–raw, ragged, unholy. The sound scrapes against the stars and shatters whatever was left of the boy who used

to pray.

The sun starts to bleed into the sky before I even realize how long I’ve been out here. My paws are caked in dirt and dried blood. My fur’s matted. My chest heaves like I’m seconds away from tearing out my own heart just to shut it the fuck up.

CHAPTER 120

That’s when I see it.

A flash of blue.

No.

Not blue.

Sapphire.

A figure dashes through the trees up ahead–graceful, frantic. The same color dress she wore that night. The night everything broke.

Taryn?

I freeze.

My wolf lurches forward, snapping inside my head like he’s ready to take over completely. I start to move toward the figure, lips peeling back, body trembling.

But then-

“Where the hell are you?”

Jacob’s voice slices into my head like a blade. Cold. Urgent.

“The nobles are whispering about the Ball, the Council’s panicking, and–fuck, are you in the woods?”

I snarl.

Not now.

But the connection’s open. I can’t shut him out.

The figure disappears into the trees. Gone. Like she was never real. Like it was just another hallucination. Another fucking reminder that she’s already slipping away.

My claws sink into the earth. My breathing slows. Just enough for the void to settle again.

I don’t respond.

I just stand there.

Rotting.

***

The ball is over. The celebrations–if you want to call them that–are long gone. The floor is nothing but footprints and smudged champagne stains. The laughter and the sounds of the nobility have all turned into whispers behind closed doors. Secrets. Fear. They think they know how to break me.

Fuck them.

Jacob’s voice crackles in my head, sharp and insistent. I should’ve been expecting it, but my mind’s still tangled in Taryn’s name. The one name that’s been gnawing at me like a fucking parasite.

“Enoch, where are you?”

“I’m on my way,” I reply, shoving the balcony doors open and leaping out into the night. The wind hits my face like a slap, raw and biting. I shift mid–air, my muscles stretching and snapping back into place, the wolf eager to spill blood.

But that’ll come later.

I land heavily on the stone floor of my office, the sound of my feet hitting the ground echoing in the silence. I stand there for a second, letting the anger, the rage, the frustration roll through me. Fucking hell. I was supposed to be something more than this. A king. But all I’ve been doing is chasing shadows.

The office looks like a goddamn slaughterhouse.

Papers are scattered everywhere, a storm of chaos from when I was too out of my mind to care. There are streaks of blood -mine, his, who fucking knows–across the floor. I can’t remember what I did, only that I was fighting to drown out the thoughts of her. But it doesn’t fucking work. It never works.

I spot the gray sweatpants lying on the chair, and I throw them at Jacob without saying a word. He’s already walking in, eyes flicking over the carnage, his lips pulling into a grim line. He doesn’t say anything either, but I can see the judgment there. He’s known me long enough to know this is the aftermath of my unraveling.

“Where is she?” I snap, my voice rough with the storm inside me.

Jacob’s expression hardens. “You know it wasn’t her. It wasn’t Taryn who played that fucking video.”

“Does it matter?” I growl, slamming a fist into the desk. “It’s done. She’s gone. The council knows everything. They fucking know how to kill me, Jacob. They know my weakness.”