Page 409 of His Hungry Wolf
Everyone stared at me when I entered.
“What is he doing here?” Chris asked coldly.
“I asked him to join me,” Lou declared.
“And he did, all the way from 1950,” he said referring to my jacket.
“Will you be quiet, Christopher. If Louis needs his…,” she fought to say the word, “fiancé with him at a time like this, then have some respect,” his mother said with shocking kindness.
“Thank you, Mother.”
Lou was trying to pretend that her gesture hadn’t meant much to him, but I could see that it nearly brought him to tears.
His father, who had been talking to a grey-haired man with more polish than sincerity, turned, stared intensely at Lou for a moment, and then addressed the group.
“Now that we’re all here, we can begin. For those who don’t know, this is Tom, he was the executor of mother’s will.”
“Doesn’t Tom work at your law firm?” Lou asked staring at him strangely.
“Yes, he does. Tom is one of the partners there.”
Lou’s neck cricked as if processing something that didn’t make sense.
“But wasn’t the lawyer who managed Grandma Aggie’s estate the one responsible for her will?”
“Your Grandmother made a few changes in the last weeks of her life. One of them was to allow my firm to execute her wishes,” his father said not making eye contact with his son.
“But, why would she do that after working with the firm for her entire career?”
“For God’s sake, Louis. Your Grandmother changed the executor. God knows why. Can you please just accept it and allow the man to do his job?”
Lou stopped talking and stared at everyone with a crinkle rippling his forehead.
“Thank you, Martha,” the man said addressing the room. “This will be short and quick,” he said holding up an envelope. “As you all know, Aggie made substantial changes to her will in the last weeks of her life.”
“She what?” Lou asked confused.
The slimy man pulled a letter out of an envelope and read.
“I, Agatha Armoury, being of sound mind and body hereby leave the entirety of my estate to my son Frank Armoury to distribute as he will to all of my living relatives. I make this decision without prejudice and of my own desire. May the Armoury legacy be in good hands for generations to come,” the lawyer said looking up from the letter.
“So, pretty much as expected,” Lou’s mother said reinforcing what the letter said.
“It looks so,” Lou’s father said receiving the letter from his friend.
I looked over at Lou who was incredibly confused. Fighting to get the words out, he said,
“That’s not right.”
“Of course it’s right,” his mother protested. “You heard it, didn’t you? What were you expecting? That she would leave everything to you?” she said with a laugh.
I looked at Lou for his response. He looked stunned. Lou, needing answers, turned to his brother. For once, Chris wasn’t an asshole. The look he gave Lou simply said, ‘What did you expect from them?’
Lou’s eyes darted around the room as he searched for answers. Quickly he became lost in his thoughts. There was no way to miss the anguish he felt as he realized that nothing he believed had been true. He wilted before my eyes.
“It’s happening,” his father said drawing my gaze.
Turning to him, my wolf immediately shot to attention. It was on alert and I knew why. Lou’s father had slumped forward into the exact position every shifter took before transforming. But that didn’t make sense. Lou’s family weren’t shifters. I could smell it. What was going on?