"Four, it shouldn't take long they said," she informs her, "room 18, and I apologise for the interruption."
Avery absorbs the information and then smiles at the girl.
"It was a very welcome interruption, thank you," she whispers, and the girl hurries out, nodding to the Council before she flees.
"Are you ready to continue, Alpha Wilcott?" The head of the Council asks, and Avery nods wordlessly.
"Beta Female Louisa Simons, please come to the stand," the head instructs, and Louisa gets to her feet slowly, her mate helping her up and looping her arm through his.
"Beta Simons, please sit down," one of the Council members bark, and Xavier shoots them a cold glare.
"She's days away from giving birth, I'm not having her fall," he retorts, slowly walking his mate down the steps and to the table.
He kisses her forehead and helps her to sit down, resting a hand on her shoulder.
"You can return to your seat," one of the men scowls, and Xavier opens his mouth to protest.
Louisa lays a hand against his chest, and they share a look.
After a moment, Xavier returns to his seat reluctantly.
"Mrs Simons, how are you today?" The man doing this round of questioning asks.
He seems to be in a much better mood than his predecessor, which is nice, especially since Louisa is more or less always on the verge of tears because of her hormones.
"I would be better if I weren't being interrogated about my sister," Louisa mumbles into the microphone, seeming scared.
She doesn't look up, and when she does, her eyes dart between her mate and Avery, her face pale and grey.
"We're only going to ask you a few questions," he reassures her, "have you and Avery always gotten along?"
Louisa inhales slowly, closing her eyes as she searches for the answer she needs.
"No, but as we've gotten older, we've worked to repair our relationship," she responds calmly, "It's public knowledge that we fought like a pair of cats when we were younger."
"When was this relationship worked on?" The man asks, sitting down near Louisa.
She turns her body a little so that her bump is facing him, leaning over to the microphone.
"When I stayed in her pack for a few days," Louisa answers unsurely.
It isn't a lie, because she did actually stay in the pack.
"When you were imprisoned?" The man asks.
"Yes. While I was imprisoned, I saw a therapist who helped me explore why I was so rude and aggressive to those around me, including my sister," she softly responds.
"Why were you imprisoned?" The man questions, standing up and pacing closer to Louisa.
She shifts uncomfortably away from him, glancing at her mate nervously.
"Because I was disrespectful to Alpha Lancaster and my sister," she replies quietly.
"So your sister put you in prison?" The man smirks, "if she does that to her own blood, what the hell does she do to her pack members who aren't related to her?"
"No. Alpha Lancaster put me into prison. Avery has had many chances to punish me, and she never has out of respect for our parents. She had to uphold the punishment Alpha Lancaster gave," Louisa immediately insists, shaking her head at the man.
The man doing the questioning freezes a little - it seems like he was hoping Louisa would throw her older sister under the bus.
"Did you ever want to be Alpha?" The man asks, and Louisa snorts.
"No, I'm the middle child, I was next in line. I am content being a Beta Female," she laughs, flicking her waves back from her face.
The investigator deflates a little.
It's pretty clear that they were looking for some kind of dirt, and they didn't get any from Louisa.
"Next witness," the man mutters, waving Louisa away.
Louisa's mate quickly jumps up, hurrying over and helping Louisa down the steps from the table, and then up the steps to their seats.
Louisa nods to Avery, and she gives her a broad smile and a thumbs up.
Louisa breathes in a sigh of relief at her sister's positive reaction - she was terrified she would say something that could land her in trouble.
She had stayed with the truth for her explanation as well, which calmed her down - she didn't want to be put into the cells for lying on the stand.
Aunt Faye is led up the stairs by a guard, and she looks outraged by this.
"I'll have my lawyers on you," she sniffs, settling into the seat with a scowl on her face.
She nods to her niece, and Avery stares at her aunt in amusement.
Faye was and remains a spitfire.
She was known in the pack for having an extremely sharp tongue in her younger years - minding the children took the edge away from her, but she had the famously quick Wilcott temper.
"We'll begin now," the man announces hastily, glancing at the table and seeing the men at the head giving him urgent looks.
"You are an Unfortunate, correct?" He asks, and Faye rolls her eyes.
She has little regard for what others think of her, something she taught Avery at a young age.
"Yes, of course I am. I have been for over twenty-five years," she drawls, examining her nails.
"And so is your niece?"
"Well, since she's being questioned by you lot, I would assume so," she grimaces.
"Why was she blocked from working with the children?" The man asks, and Faye's face drops immediately.
Avery sits up, gritting her teeth.
That was pack knowledge, and there was no way that the Council could know that - there was never any file or case or anything to suggest that, it was merely some worried parents.
"A few years ago, some parents were nervous; she was a little aggressive, but this was before her anger management and all of that. She's mellowed out a lot since," Faye explains quickly, looking confused.
The only people who knew about that entire debacle were her, the parents in question, and Avery herself.
Faye is asked a few more useless questions before the Council gives up on her.
"Thank you for your time," the questioner sighs, looking bored beyond belief.
"Our final witness wants to remain anonymous, so only Alphas will be allowed remain in the room for their questioning," a man informs all of the witnesses.
Most people sigh irritably, but they all leave, leaving around one hundred people in the room.
The door opens after a minute of silence, and Zephyr and Alpha Katya walk back in, followed by Scott and Mike McConaghy.
They all look a little confused to see so few people in the room, but they take their seats.
Avery nods to Zephyr, raising an eyebrow at him walking.
He makes eye contact with her and shakes his head, rolling his eyes a little.
Avery slowly nods, not exactly sure what he means or is trying to mime out, but rolling with it anyway.
"We will now be bringing out the witness," the Councilman announces, and the room ripples with quiet chatter and questioning over who it might be.
A familiar sight enters the room, and a number of Alphas stand up at once, eyes flashing.
Avery is included, her teeth descending as she stares at the final witness that has been brought against her.
"Lilith."
This update is seven days late but life got very crazy and I didn't expect it!
Better late than never I suppose they say? But as I wrote this in the last three hours, the reads went up by 2k, which was interesting to watch!
I hope to have another chapter up tomorrow, this was going to be longer (it's over 4500 words right now) but I changed something in it and needed more time to fix the next bit as a result!
Like and comment if you'd like to!
Hope you're having a good day!!
- Aoife :) xx
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