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...

stutters. I

That... that can't be

only be one, wasn't just some pack official. He was second only

And he... my father?

it might fucking disintegrate

into my

Jesse Lancaster,

Mother: Mary Lancaster, deceased.

death: Imperial Pack Internal

chill slithers down my

I don't breathe.

I don't blink.

I just read.

Blackwell, second in line on the throne in the

Alpha

Alpha King,

same man Enoch killed when he got

realization slams into me as a goddamn

family-my entire fucking bloodline-was wiped out in the same

Enoch. His

4

Chapter 88

He took

And I never knew.

knock echoes from

check," a voice calls. "Anyone

My stomach lurches.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

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

me.

A slow, heavy silence

Then-click.

locks from the

my eyes shut.

I'm locked in.

Not yet. Not when the truth

itself into my brain.

force myself to breathe, my hands curling

my family. The war that tore his world

too.

this is all

his steps began to retreat

I can't breathe.

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 inside of my head like nails

They killed him. They

crashes down on me, dragging me under. I

with both hands, trying to smother

That bastard.

to kill Enoch,

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

killed

it still feel as if I'm

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

Chapter 88

how long I stay like this-collapsed,

against my knees as I sob a fucking child. It could be

hours.

the tears finally slow, I

been hollowed out of

My parents are dead.

Jesse is

is

To know the truth.

to the Imperial family. To the wrong fucking

for what? For a bloodline that turned against itself?

There's no one left to punish. The

although if I

still alive, I would have

to Brooke,

know I could never be as

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

And I lost everything.

lungs are still shuddering when I force myself to

pulling up the last

yet.

Lancaster's connection with

My breath catches.