Babysitting The Amnesiac Lycan King

Chapter 88

Chapter 88

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

0. 70%#

+5

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.

+5

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 blink. Imperial

that

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

And he... my father?

as though it might fucking disintegrate in my

into

Jesse Lancaster,

Mother: Mary Lancaster, deceased.

death: Imperial

cold chill slithers down

I don't breathe.

I don't blink.

I just read.

in line on

the first Alpha King, or no

Alpha King,

killed

realization slams into me

fucking bloodline-was wiped out in the same

Enoch. His

Fri, 4 Apr

Chapter 88

take the throne. He took Enoch's parents.

And I never knew.

knock echoes from

a voice calls.

My stomach lurches.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

the glass wall, casting a faint glow through

me.

slow,

Then-click.

locks from

squeeze my eyes shut. Fucking

I'm locked in.

Not when the truth

itself into my brain.

force myself to breathe, my

family. The war that tore

too.

this is all so

his steps began to retreat

I can't breathe.

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 on

this. They killed him.

weight of those words crashes down on

to smother the

Brooke's father. The Prince Royal. That bastard. That power-hungry, cowardly

He tried to kill Enoch, too.

violently repulsive that my body rejects it

killed

it still feel as

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

Chapter 88

don't know how long I stay like this-collapsed, hands tangled in my

fucking

hours.

that when the tears finally slow, I feel

been hollowed out of

My parents are dead.

Jesse is

know why. This is what

To know the truth.

to the Imperial family. To the

a bloodline that turned against itself? For a

shut, swallowing down the bile rising in my throat. There's nothing I can do. There's no one left to punish. The bastard

is good. I should be relieved, although if I

was still alive, I would

he died thanks to Brooke, his head hanged

never be

the aftermath of a war I never even

And I lost everything.

lungs are still shuddering when I force myself to move. My fingers,

trackpad, pulling

yet.

Lancaster's connection with

My breath catches.