Wolf's Claim (The Royal Heir #3) - Jen L. Grey Page 0,31

made me sound like a bad person. "My parents tried to shield me from the world that Louis described, but there is only so much of it that can be buffered." Even though I wasn't sure if we could trust Louis, I couldn't completely throw him to the wolves either. No pun intended.

"Listen, I had to come clean for you." His eyes turned a dark steel color as they scanned Ella's face. "And for everyone else. I don't know the specifics. Dad refused to tell me, but we had a big enough fight to where I stayed here with you, willing to find distance from him. I had no clue I'd find my mate here. I'm willing to give up everything for you. Hell, I submitted to Elena and saved her when Gabby attacked."

Once again, he was being truthful.

"Just say the word and we can kick him out." Kassie was ready to take him. Her hands were on the handcuffs in her back pocket.

"I think we all need to calm down and take a breath." At the moment, I wasn't sure what the right answer was, but having Louis near us was probably the safest bet. If we allow him to leave without knowing everything, he could run to his dad and make things even worse.

Fine, but he sleeps where the guards can keep an eye on him. We can't risk anything happening to my sister. Mason took a step back so he was standing partially in front of me and his sister.

“Ella, I’m sorry. I should’ve come clean earlier.” Louis frowned and avoided her gaze by looking down.

“Look, I love you.” She took a deep breath. “But I’m hurt ... I need time.”

"Let's eat dinner." Even though the thought now turned my stomach. There was too much at stake to make any hasty decisions. If what he said was the truth, then we might have a little bit of an advantage. King Adelmo would expect us to be knocking down his door or retaliating. I had to keep my head on straight with both Adelmo and Louis. "Then we can go from there."

"Okay." Louis nodded his head and gave me a slight bow. "I appreciate you not kicking me out right away."

"Don't get too comfortable." Mason was so tense he probably couldn't even move if he'd wanted to.

"Why don't you go change shirts?" Between the metallic scented air and all the turmoil that was flooding me from my alpha bond with Mason, I felt like I may puke.

"That's fair." He scanned our group and hurt flowed through all of us. "Okay, I'll go grab a clean shirt."

"I'll go with you." Tommy pointed down the hall to the other side of the suite. "Your bag is in the other guest room. Let's go."

We all watched the two of them as they exited the room and headed down the hall.

Tommy was on full alert while Louis hung his head.

"I ..." Ella took a step back and shook her head. "I don't know what to do with this."

Do you mind if I talk to your sister for a second? I hated to ask Mason to leave right now. Except Ella was about to break down, and she was too strong to want to do it in front of everyone.

Yeah, I think that's a good idea. He turned around and kissed my cheek. If anything goes wrong, I'll let you know.

I caught Kassie's and then Mona's eyes, flicking from theirs to the door. Since we couldn't mind speak in human form, it could be inconvenient. Despite that, we had known each other long enough to understand each other even without it.

They nodded in understanding.

"I'm going to go check on the pizza." Mona walked out the door and headed toward the elevator.

"Mason, let's go get the rooms resituated. I'm assuming Ella won't want to share a room with Louis tonight," Kassie huffed. "We’d better figure out the logistics."

"On it." Mason nodded as he walked out the door, following behind Kassie.

Ella moved and shut the door behind them. When the door clicked, I'd expected her to turn back in my direction, but she stayed still.

I could only imagine how much pain she was going through. "Hey, are you okay?" I walked over and placed my hand on her shoulder, forcing her to turn around.

When she did, tears were already running down her face. "I just don't understand."

I pulled her into my arms, wishing I could take all the pain away. "He's in a tough spot."

"You