Chapter 56
Chapter 56
The name flashing on my phone screen is a punch straight to the gut.
Kallias Morrigan.
I stare at it like the damn thing is going to explode.
I haven’t heard from him since I left Riverstone.
Well, we did got off the wrong footing and I don’t remember giving him my phone number when I left.
Not a single call. Not a single text. Not even a half–assed apology buried under some pathetic excuse like “I was just giving you space“-because we both know he’s not that considerate.
Should I answer it? We were good when I left.
Buut he helped Enoch leave. No, he made him leave..
I still holda huge grudge for him doing that even if I was all smiles when he helped me move back then.
The smart thing would be to ignore him. Block the number. Toss the phone out the fucking window.
But some sick, masochistic part of me still hits Answer.
I press the phone to my ear, forcing my voice into something steady and indifferent. Like his name popping up doesn’t have my heart hammering against my ribs.
“Kallias?”
A beat of silence. Long enough to make me wonder if this is a mistake- some
Then his voice spills through the line, low and rough.
“Hey, Taryn.”
pocket dial or cruel cosmic glitch.
I close my eyes, biting down hard on the inside of my cheek. Fuck him for still sounding the same–like cigarette smoke clinging to leather jackets and bad decisions. Like the boy who used to press his lips to mine under moonlit treelines before he ripped my heart out of my chest and tossed it to the wolves.
My fingers tighten around the phone.
“Why are you calling me?”
More silence. Then…
“I wanted to check in.”
A laugh punches out of me before I can stop it–sharp and bitter.
“Bullshit.”
Kallias has never checked in on anyone but himself in his entire damn life.
I hear him exhale through the receiver, like he’s already regretting dialing my number. Good. Join the club, asshole.
“You’re in the Free City now,” he mutters, like that explains anything.
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“No shit.”
“Alone.”
I blink, caught off guard by the way his voice drops–low, cautious.
“I can handle myself,” I snap.
He knows that better than anyone. He’s the one who made sure I learned how to fight when the other Omegas used to corner me in the packhouse hallways–long before he decided I wasn’t worth fighting for anymore.
“Still.” His voice tightens. “You should be careful… with the company you keep.”
I freeze.
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
My pulse kicks up, drumming hard against my wrists. Every hair on the back of my neck prickles.
“Kallias, what do you know?”
Nothing. That’s what he says.
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(+45)
But the way he breathes through the phone–slow and measured, like he’s debating whether to feed me half–truths or just leave me starving–tells me he’s full of shit.
My mind spins back to the last time I saw him. The fight. The fucking mess he made out of my life. He was jealous of Enoch back then–burning with it.
But now? Now he’s calling me out of nowhere… right when rumors about the Lycan King start swirling through the Free City like smoke before a wildfire.
My heart slams against my ribcage.
I clutch the necklace around my throat–the tiny wolf pendant still warm against my skin. Enoch’s necklace. The only piece of him I have left.
He’s coming here.
They’re all coming here.
“I gotta go.” My voice cracks.
“Taryn-”
I hang up before he can finish whatever cryptic warning he was about to unload on me.
I stare at the phone like it’s going to start hissing secrets through the speaker.
What the hell are you hiding, Kallias?
The office is already a madhouse by the time I drag myself in–phones ringing, coffee machines hissing, the smell of burnt caffeine and deadlines thick in the air.
Zoe waves me over, bouncing in her chair like a puppy someone accidentally slipped an espresso shot to.
“Did you hear?” she stage–whispers, eyes wide with barely contained gossip.
I blink at her, still trying to scrape the sleep and lingering anxiety from my brain.
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“The Alpha King” dur breathurs
My stomach drops through ite Forking horn
Zw’s voice losers like des duwww me IP WITH GIANT
ming to de city soon. Riuri C
for.”
My fingers count igin arramid he made of rory rag is series has
Alpha King
Enoch
No one ever sage his name. He’s just the King new the twot when heasanteway fragmas he rare offered am
how
shown. His voice never broadcastrd. just whispers in the shawderaws and swoman he race at
Jun
Twonlee if that’s how he wants in tf he likes hiding behired the wa
T he’s forgotten what is like to be a man.
To be mine
My throat locks up, panic coiling hot and fast beneath my ribs
“Taryn” Zoe nidges me. “You okay?”
1 swallow hard, forcing my expression into something neutral
“Just nerves.”
whare how w
Lie.
I can’t fucking breathe.
But I don’t have time to fall apart. Not now. Not with Liam watching me like a hawk from across the bullpen, probably just waiting for me to crack so he can ship my ass back to filing coffee orders.
I square my shoulders and march toward his office like I don’t feel my heart splitting wide open behind my ribs.
Liam’s office is a glass–walled fishbowl at the far end of the floor–overlooking the whole newsroom like some smug little king on his throne.
He barely glances up when I walk in.
“Close the door.”
I do.
“Sit”
I don’t
His mouth twitches–half amused, half annoyed–but his eyes stay cold. Calculating.
He sees me.
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Not just the washed–up Omega everyone at Riverstone used to kick around. Not just the newbie intern trying to keep her head down and pay her rent.
A threat.
I fold my arms, meeting his stare dead–on.
“You wanted to see me?”
He leans back in his chair, fingers tapping against the desk.
“I need someone to cover the Alpha King investigation.”
My stomach clenches.
“Why me?”
His lips curl into something that’s definitely not a smile.
“Because everyone else is too afraid to touch it.”
I hate how well he already knows me.
My pulse kicks hard, adrenaline spiking through my bloodstream. This is it. This is the break I’ve been waiting for. The whole reason I came here in the first place–to dig into the old blood feuds and whispered conspiracies that got my parents killed.
I just got distracted with Enoch back then.
To burn this whole corrupt fucking system to the ground.
I
square my shoulders.
“I’ll do it.”
Liam’s brows lift like he wasn’t expecting me to actually say yes.
“Bold for a rookie.”
“I’m not a rookie.”
A beat.
His mouth twitches again–this time asif he’s almost impressed.
“Pitch me a story by tomorrow,” he says finally. “If it’s good, you’ll have your first byline. If it’s shit… I’ll bury you so deep in the archives they’ll forget you ever existed.”
My heart pounds so hard I’m pretty sure he can hear it.
He’s not kidding. I can’t fuck up now. I still need access to those archives.
I nod, turning for the door-
“Oh, and Sinclair?”
I stop, glancing back.
“Don’t embarrass the company.”
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I flip him off behind my notepad where he can’t see.
Tomorrow.
I have less than twenty–four hours to write the story that could either make my career or ruin my whole life.
I press a hand to the necklace under my shirt–feeling the familiar bite of metal against my palm.
If Enoch is really here…
If he’s watching…
I hope he sees me.
I hope he knows I’m not the same girl he left behind.
I’m coming for the truth.
Even if it kills me.
