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...

breath stutters. I

that can't

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

And he... my father?

though it might fucking disintegrate in my hands. The

burn into my

brother: Jesse Lancaster,

Mother: Mary Lancaster, deceased.

Imperial

chill slithers

I don't breathe.

I don't blink.

I just read.

line on the throne in the case

Alpha King, or no

current Alpha King,

man Enoch killed when

me

bloodline-was wiped out in the same war

Enoch. His uncle

Fri, 4

Chapter 88

the throne. He took Enoch's parents. He

And I never knew.

knock echoes

voice calls.

My stomach lurches.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

myself against the side of the desk. The flashlight sweeps over the glass wall, casting a faint glow through the frosted surface. My pulse hammers as I hold my

me.

light pauses. A slow,

Then-click.

door locks from

eyes shut.

I'm locked in.

of that matters. Not yet. Not when the truth is still staring at

itself into my brain.

force myself to breathe, my hands curling

killed my family. The war that tore his world

too.

is all so

laptop when his steps

I can't breathe.

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

Imperial Pack did this. They killed him.

words crashes down on me, dragging me under. I clutch

hands, trying to smother the scream clawing

The Prince Royal. That bastard.

to kill Enoch, too. If he had succeeded,

gag. The thought alone is so violently repulsive

killed him. It's

hell does it

it, and then another, and another, until I'm breaking. Crying like I'm bleeding from the

Chapter 88

know how long I stay like this-collapsed, hands tangled in my

knees as I sob a fucking

hours.

know is that when the tears finally slow, I feel empty.

hollowed out

My parents are dead.

brother,, Jesse is

now I know why. This is what

To know the truth.

Imperial family. To the wrong fucking people.

and for what? For a bloodline that turned against itself? For a kingdom that let it

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

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

would have

how he died thanks to Brooke, his

I could never be

the aftermath of a war I never

And I lost everything.

still shuddering when I force myself to move. My

pulling up the last folder I

yet.

Lancaster's connection with the Alpha

My breath catches.