Wolf's Claim (The Royal Heir #3) - Jen L. Grey Page 0,29

I hadn't expected this. "But ... why?"

Mason jumped to his feet and closed the distance between them. "And you're just telling us this now?"

"Look, I ..." Even before Louis could finish speaking, Mason reared back and punched him right in the jaw. Louis fell back into the wall and landed with a thud on the floor.

"What the hell is going on?" Kassie hollered from the living room.

Just as Louis grabbed his nose to pinch it, trying to keep the blood from pouring down into his mouth, the bedroom door flew open. Ella pushed her way into the room and crouched down beside her mate.

"What the hell?" She turned around and glared at her brother. "What is wrong with you?"

"No, I deserved it." Louis rose to stand back up on his own two feet. "I should've told them earlier."

"Told them what?" Ella's eyes narrowed, and she took a step back.

"That my dad was part of the plan to kill King Corey."

"What?" Ella's brow furrowed, and she shook her head. "But that doesn't make sense. You've got to be lying."

The problem was we could all tell he was speaking the truth. Only, what we didn’t know was whether he was holding back any other information.

Watching the scene unfold in front of me caused my heart to drop. Even though it wasn't his fault, this kind of information would've been useful to have from the very start. He was telling the truth now, but why? All the possibilities made my stomach churn.

Chapter Nine

"Look, I'm sorry." Louis's nose continued to trickle blood. "I only recently learned about it. I found out about what happened right before we visited with you the first time." He sighed and shook his head. "That’s why there was so much tension between the two of us the night of the dinner."

"But why not tell us before now?" Ella's voice was nearing hysteria. "You've been with us for over two months.”

"I'm going to kick your ass," Mason growled again. "All this time, and you could have saved half of our efforts? Do you know who the witch is stalking Elena now?"

"Look, I get that you don't trust me." Louis took a step back and drew in a deep breath. "But I overheard Dad on the phone with someone after Darren died. He lost his shit and accidentally told me. We were already disagreeing on a lot of other things, policies, and such."

Louis rubbed his nose. "Shit. This hurts." He shook his head.

"Wait until I get done with you." Mason's body was tense and tight.

"Oh, no you don't." Ella took a menacing step toward her mate. "I'll be the one having the pleasure. I don't care if he's my mate or not. He hurt my family."

"Let's hear him out." If anyone had a right to beat the shit out of him, it was me. Though, royalty wasn't a privilege most of the time. It came with heavy expectations, and sometimes it was void of parental love. “But that doesn’t mean we trust him completely. It will take some time to get that trust back.”

"That's the problem. You have too big of a heart." Mason's rage was increasing and almost made me dizzy. "I'll be the bad guy."

"No, let's hear him out." The alpha will laced into my words even though I hadn't meant for it to happen.

Mason stiffened and turned to me. "Are you asking as my mate or as the alpha?"

Now, I felt like an asshole. I'd never used the alpha will before and honestly wasn’t sure if I even could. "I'm sorry. Of course as your mate. I’ve never had that happen before."

"She's getting stronger," Tommy said as he stepped into the room with Kassie and Mona.

"Just tell us everything." I reached over and touched Mason's shoulder.

When he stiffened to my touch, I tried not to allow myself to feel hurt.

"It was mainly why we weren't getting along at the dinner party." Louis's nose began to stop bleeding. "He must have decided to try to force your hand into marrying me. But when he realized you had already found your fated, he decided to have me stay and keep tabs on you instead."

"Did you report back to him or something?" Ella's hands trembled with rage.

"He wanted me to, but I didn't." He finally dropped his hands and took a deep breath. "Being around all of you made me feel things I'd never felt before. Being part of a family and then finding my mate. I'm telling you this now