Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

Chapter 88

Chapter 88

I should have left the fucking office when I had the chance.

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Instead, I'm sitting on the floor, my back pressed against Liam's desk, my heartbeat thudding against my ribs as if it's trying to break free. The file is in my lap, its weight far heavier than paper and ink should ever be. My fingers twitch as I flip it

open.

The first page stares back at me. My name. My birthday. My blood status- Omega.

Basic shit.

I scan further, flipping through old reports and documents though I'm peeling back layers of my own existence. Foster records. Riverstone adoption papers. Thirteen years old, found near the pack borders, malnourished but unharmed. No immediate family traced.

Bullshit.

I keep reading. My fingers tighten around the pages, my breath coming quicker. The more I search, the more I realize what's missing. My mother's name is listed- Mary Lancaster. My father-Edward Lancaster. No known cause of death. Just... deceased. No details, no reports, no explanations.

I press my palm against my forehead, willing myself to stay calm. This was supposed to give me answers. Instead, it's feeding me the same half-truths I've been living with for years.

This isn't enough.

Liam has more. He has the damn flash drive. The one he dangled in front of me like a fucking bone. "You want the truth?" he'd said. "Give me the file, and I'll give you the drive."

Yeah. Right.

My eyes flick up to the desk. Maybe he left it. Maybe he didn't trust himself to keep it with him.

It's a long shot, but I've done dumber shit before.

I get on my knees, ignoring the way my pulse skitters, and pull open the top drawer. Nothing but pens and a half-empty bottle of whiskey. Next drawer-stacks of folders, invoices, memos.

My breath hitches when I spot the bottom drawer. Locked.

That's it.

I grab the handles and yank, but it doesn't budge. My fingers search the desk frantically, rifling through loose papers and files, knocking over a stapler and a goddamn coffee mug before-keys.

Tucked under a stack of notes.

I snatch them up, hands shaking, and jam one into the lock. It doesn't fit. Neither does the second.

Come on. Come on.

The third clicks.

My entire body stills for half a second before I yank the drawer open. My breath catches.

There it is.

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12:42 Fri, 4 Apr

Chapter 88

The flash drive sits in the corner, small and unassuming, but I swear it might as well be glowing. I grab it, shove it into my pocket, and pull out my laptop, my fingers working on autopilot as I jam the drive into the port.

The screen lights up. A single folder appears.

1 click. My name is the first file. Taryn Sinclair's Origin.

No. Not Sinclair. Not even Riverstone.

Shit, I'm not even who I thought I was.

"Taryn Lancaster." I let the name roll off my tongue. That sounds so... fucking royal. Holy shit.

My stomach twists. My fingers hover over the trackpad as I double-click the file.

A document unfolds, line by line, word by word.

Taryn Lancaster.

Daughter of Edward Lancaster, deceased.

Former Imperial Beta of the Lycan Kingdom.

No way...

I

That... that

could only be one, wasn't just some pack official. He was second only to the Alpha King. The King's

And he... my father?

the laptop as though it might

into

brother: Jesse Lancaster,

Mother: Mary Lancaster, deceased.

of death: Imperial Pack Internal

chill slithers down my

I don't breathe.

I don't blink.

I just read.

in line on the throne in the case

Alpha King, or

Alpha King, Enoch's

same man Enoch killed when he

slams into me

fucking bloodline-was wiped out in the same war that

Enoch. His uncle

4 Apr

Chapter 88

He took Enoch's parents. He took

And I never knew.

sharp knock echoes from

check," a voice calls.

My stomach lurches.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

the side of the desk. The flashlight sweeps over the glass

me.

pauses. A slow, heavy

Then-click.

door locks from

squeeze my eyes shut. Fucking

I'm locked in.

yet. Not when the truth is

itself into my brain.

breathe, my hands curling into

killed my family. The war that

too.

this is all

back at the laptop when his steps began to retreat away

I can't breathe.

in front of me blurs, my eyes burning, but I can't look away. Once again, my brother's voice-Jesse's echoes in my skull, scraping against the

They killed him. They killed

down on me, dragging me under. I

with both hands, trying to smother

Brooke's father. The Prince Royal. That

death. He tried to kill Enoch, too. If he had succeeded, if Enoch had

gag. The thought alone is so violently repulsive that

Enoch killed him. It's

hell does it still feel as if I'm

another, and another, until I'm breaking. Crying like I'm bleeding from the inside out, my shoulders shaking so

Chapter 88

I stay like this-collapsed, hands tangled in my

I sob a fucking child. It could be minutes.

hours.

that when the tears finally

hollowed out

My parents are dead.

Jesse

why. This is

To know the truth.

were loyal to the Imperial family. To

a bloodline that turned against itself? For a

in my throat. There's nothing I can do. There's no one left to punish. The bastard responsible is already dead, rotting in a ditch somewhere thanks to

should be relieved, although if I had clawed him in the face

alive, I would

he died thanks to Brooke,

never be as brutal

feel relieved. I feel like I'm standing in the aftermath of a

And I lost everything.

shuddering when I force myself

laptop's trackpad, pulling up

yet.

with

My breath catches.