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 can't be

just some pack official. He was second only

And he... my father?

might

into my

brother: Jesse Lancaster,

Mother: Mary Lancaster, deceased.

Imperial Pack

cold chill slithers down

I don't breathe.

I don't blink.

I just read.

by George Blackwell, second in line

first Alpha

Alpha

killed when he

realization slams into me as a goddamn

out in the same war

Enoch.

4

Chapter 88

the throne. He took Enoch's parents. He took my

And I never knew.

sharp knock echoes from

check," a voice

My stomach lurches.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

slam the laptop shut and duck low, flattening myself against the side of the desk. The flashlight sweeps over the glass wall, casting a faint glow through the frosted surface.

me.

pauses. A slow, heavy

Then-click.

door locks

eyes shut.

I'm locked in.

of that matters. Not yet. Not when the truth is

itself into my brain.

force myself to breathe, my hands curling into

uncle killed my family. The war that tore his world apart?

too.

this is all so

laptop when his steps began to retreat

I can't breathe.

again, my brother's voice-Jesse's echoes in my

Pack did this. They killed him.

on me, dragging me under. I clutch

trying to smother the scream

Royal. That

just responsible for my father's death. He tried to kill Enoch, too.

gag. The thought alone is so violently repulsive that my body rejects it like

killed

does it still feel as

then another, and another, until I'm breaking. Crying like I'm bleeding from the inside out, my shoulders shaking so hard I can't hold myself

Chapter 88

long I stay like this-collapsed, hands tangled in

sob a fucking

hours.

is that when the tears finally slow, I feel

been hollowed out of

My parents are dead.

Jesse

now I know why. This is what

To know the truth.

family.

for what? For a bloodline that turned against itself? For

rising in my throat. There's nothing I can do. There's no one left to

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

I would have felt a little

to Brooke, his head hanged

never be as brutal as

in the aftermath of a war I never even got to

And I lost everything.

shuddering when I force myself to move. My

swipe at my laptop's trackpad, pulling up the last folder I

yet.

with the

My breath catches.