That statement causes an uproar.

Marie grabs onto Richard's arm and pales, her nails digging into his skin.

"Richard, what's going on?" She whispers faintly, and Richard glances at his wife distractedly.

"I have no idea," he mutters to his mate, kissing her temple and rising from his seat.

"Order," the man at the head of the Council table roars, banging the gavel against the table as hard as he can.

The table cracks and one of the legs breaks in half, the rest of the Council looking hugely uneasy.

The crowd doesn't stop; the chattering only gets louder.

Hayden sits calmly, clasping his hands.

"What child are you adopting?" The man doing the questioning asks with a curled lip.

His disgust is apparent, and Sonya is snarling at it.

"Tobias Nakamura," she says evenly, and Kathleen releases a little gasp.

Louisa's coughing fit can be heard from where Avery sits.

When she looks in her sister's direction, she spots Xavier patting her pack, trying to calm her down.

"How do you know Tobias?" The questioner asks.

"He is the child of my Gamma," she calmly replies, her eyes blank and cold.

Her face is entirely neutral, and she has no expression whatsoever.

Some of the crowd find it slightly scary, and she can hear the whisperings about how blank she looks.

She forces her features to soften, the corners of her lips quirking up, her eyes widening, and her left eyebrow quirking slightly.

"So are you and Gamma Nakamura engaging in a relationship?" He questions, and Avery exhales.

"No," she simply responds, not giving any more detail than required.

"Why are you adopting him then?" He asks, and she sighs inwardly.

It's a fair question, and she would probably ask it if she was doing the questioning.

"He needs a mother, and I need an heir, co-parenting is a common feature of today's society," she quips, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.

The man with the clipboard seems to be at a loss for words and simply returns to his table.

Some of the Council put their heads together and have a rapid and hushed conversation, arguing with each other as it continues on.

Richard is shooting his daughter looks, and he forces his way into her mind.

We are talking about this later, so help me Goddess, he hisses.

He doesn't like being blindsided, and his daughter just totally shocked him - Avery very rarely expressed her emotions to him, and they had never spoken about her and her wanting to be a mother.

Avery brushes off his statement, and he scowls as his daughter doesn't even look in his direction.

Her eyes don't move from the investigators.

"We're going to take a break. When we come back, we're going to have character witnesses," one of the Council members hastily announces before the entire group of them hurries out of the room.

"A lot of their basis for removing you from power seems to be the fact you didn't have an heir," Hayden smirks as he and Mitchell arrive beside Avery.

"That was a risky move, guys," Mitchell mutters, rubbing his face roughly.

Kathleen makes him stop, but she glares at her friend.

"Are you actually going to adopt Toby or is this all just grandstanding?" She pleads, and Avery sighs.

"I'm going to adopt someone. There was a kid at the orphanage that bonded with me, Milo. If I don't adopt Toby, I'll certainly foster him," she says after a moment of contemplation.

Kathleen grunts, walking back to her seat while she runs her hands through her hair.

The stalls are almost empty now, and Scott walks down with a slightly irritated look on his face.

"They haven't tried to take my pack away because I don't have kids," he mutters, and Avery shrugs.

"They see me as a ticking time bomb, they're gonna use anything they can to try to get their way," she sighs, welcoming his quick hug.

"You're godmother to Emmett, anyway," Zephyr mumbles, appearing behind Scott and scaring everyone.

Avery looks at him cautiously.

He doesn't look like himself, and he actually seems slightly green.

Avery rises from her seat and pulls him to the side, resting a hand lightly on his bicep.

"Are you alright?" She whispers, and he flinches, sweat building up on his brow.

"I think I'm going to be sick," he confides in her, and she instantly jerks away.

"Like nauseous sick?" She clarifies, and he grimaces as he puts a hand against one of the desks.

"Like fainting sick," he hisses, and Avery's eyes widen, looking around the room rapidly.

"Do you need sugar? Water?" She asks, and he shrugs.

"I need my mate back," he mutters, and Avery sighs deeply.

"I'm so sorry," she murmurs, "you're doing amazing, never forget that."

He pulls away from her touch and runs a hand through his hair.

"It doesn't feel like I'm doing amazing. I'm only keeping it together for Emmett," he mumbles, and Avery drags him into a quick hug.

He sags against her, and she welcomes it, wrapping her arms around him tighter.

He doesn't react or reciprocate the squeeze, and she curses under her breath, slowly lowering them both to the ground.

Hayden notices what's happening now, and hurries over, taking most of Zephyr's weight and manoeuvring the huge man to the ground to the side of Avery.

Avery quickly slaps his face, checking his pulse and breathing once he doesn't flinch from the slap.

"Shit, we need a medic," she mutters, beckoning for her mother to come over.

Marie walks over the instance her daughter summons her, her brows furrowing in concern when she realises that Zephyr's eyes are closed.

"What happened?" She asks, kneeling by his side and checking his vitals and patting his body down to see if there were any obvious issues.

"He fainted, I think. He said he thought he might," Avery grimaces, holding Zephyr's head at the top of his body.

Some of the Council hurries into the room, and their eyes widen when they see a considerably powerful Alpha on the ground.

"What's wrong with him?" One exclaims, and Marie shoots them a glare as she listens to his chest.

She ignores them, continuing to press against Zephyr's ribs.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" One asks irritably, and Marie stands up as the man tries to get closer.

"I'm trying to figure out why he passed out. We need to get him to a hospital," she snaps, and the members roll their eyes a little.

Avery stands behind her mother, her eyes flashing black as she stands in front of her fallen friend.

Her wolf is protective of her friends, Zephyr in particular.

Sonya likes him, and their wolves are like siblings.

They've ran together a few times, and they get along well, which is unusual - Sonya is usually hugely combative and aggressive towards Alpha Males. So that speaks volumes to Zephyr's good nature.

"We need to continue with the hearing," one man sneers, and Avery flashes her teeth at him, her eyes entirely black as she approaches him.

"We will wait until Alpha Zephyr is safe, as a show of politeness," she hisses, keeping her distance from him.

She doesn't want to be accused of assault or menacing, and she isn't letting them frame anything that way.

Avery plants herself by Zephyr's head again, lifting it onto her lap and holding it on either side of his skull.

"Keep it still, Ave," her mother orders, and Avery nods determinedly, making sure he doesn't have any way to squirm out of her hold if he wakes up or starts having a seizure.

"Does anybody have an update on when a medic will be here for transport?" Marie asks calmly, and everyone looks at each other awkwardly.

Avery scowls, looking around.

"Scott, Hayden, Mike, and Mitchell - grab a limb," Avery barks, and the men hurry into action, Scott perhaps a little more reluctant than the other three.

Mike nods to his Beta, and the man comes to help, too.

Avery waits until they're all beside their designated limb and then she looks at her mother.

"Will we bring him ourselves?" She murmurs, and Marie nods, a scowl plastered on her face.

"We need a guide to the hospital," Marie snarls, and a younger Council member steps forward, his hands clasped, and his face screwed up nervously.

"I'm sorry, Alpha Wilcott, you can't leave the arena," he whispers, his face pale.

Avery grimaces, and Alpha Katya steps forward.

"We'll go, keep your Beta here," she roughly mutters, resting a hand on Avery's shoulder.

"Are you sure?" Avery whispers to her, and the older Alpha nods.

"Go ahead, we've got this," she reassures, and Avery slowly removes herself from under Zephyr's head, standing to her full height.

She nods to Mitchell, who steps back and barks at a Gamma to take his place.

"On my count, on three, you lift," Avery roars, projecting her voice so that everybody can hear her.

A lot of the spectators are frozen in horror in the stands, and Avery grits her teeth.

"One," she begins, and the men slide their hands under their chosen sides, "two," the men squat and prepare to lift, "three."

Zephyr is scooped off the ground with a series of grunts and gasps.

"Everyone okay to walk?" Katya checks, and the men all glance at each other.

"He's heavier than I expected," Alpha Mike chuckles, and Scott grimaces.

"Walk, McConaghy, everything is heavier than you expected," he mutters, and Mike rolls his eyes good-naturedly.

Katya sets the walking pace, and Ellie hurries alongside her, looking hugely intimidated by the number of men around her.

"You can leave Ellie here, Kathleen will sit with her," Mitchell offers to Katya, and she glances at her mate.

Ellie nervously shakes her head, sticking close to Katya.

"Thanks anyway," Katya nods to him, and the pack of men and an aloft Zephyr leave the room at a fast pace.

"Let's get this over with," Avery hisses to Mitchell, and he nods, clapping her on the shoulder and returning to his seat.

Marie went with Zephyr, and Richard slowly returned to his seat, having hurried to his wife's side when he spotted her kneeling on the ground.

"Thank you to everyone who assisted Alpha Addison," a Council member announces, nodding to Avery.

She raises an eyebrow and slowly lowers herself into her wooden seat, squirming a little as she tries to get comfortable.

She's far too warm, and Kathleen notices her tugging at her collar a little.

You okay?, she asks her friend, furrowing her brows in concern.

Just too warm, she grimaces, and Kathleen stands up quickly.

The Council are still filing in, so Kathleen hurries over to her friend, clutching a bottle of water from her satchel.

"Drink this, I'll tie your hair up," she whispers, pressing the bottle into her hand while hurrying behind her.

Kathleen scoops up the mass of blonde and scrapes it into a high ponytail, smoothing any lumps or bumps with her fingers and securing it with a hair tie.

Avery is gulping down water like there's no tomorrow, unbuttoning her top button and sitting back a little in her seat.

"Do you want to take your shirt off?" Kathleen asks in a hushed tone, and Avery's eyes widen.

"I can't, I have a bright red bra on," she hisses and grimaces to herself.

"It matches the blazer; you could totally do it and say Zephyr got sick on it," Kathleen hisses back, and Avery sighs.

"Do you have any backup tops?" Avery asks through gritted teeth, glancing at the Council who are still standing around and gossiping.

"Yeah, I'll go grab it," Kathleen promises, scuttling over to her bag and fishing out a white babydoll blouse.

She practically runs back to Avery who is slipping out of her blazer and unbuttoning more buttons on her shirt.

"You slide the shirt off; I'll put this over your head at the same time," Kathleen nods, and Avery exhales slowly.

I can't believe we're doing this, Sonya sighs.

It's this, or we faint like Zeph did, Avery reminds her, and her wolf becomes a lot happier with the idea of their striptease then.

Mindlinking a countdown, Avery rips her shirt off at the same time as Kathleen forces the babydoll blouse over her head.

"There we go," Kathleen exhales, buttoning the button at the back of the shirt.

"Is that better?" She asks, and Avery shrugs.

"Colder. This doesn't have sleeves," she snorts, and Kathleen lays the blazer over the back of her seat while Avery fixes her hair.

"I'll take this with me," Kathleen nods, picking up the shirt from the ground.

"Perfect, thank you, Kath," Avery grins appreciatively, giving her friend a quick side hug and settling into her seat.

Kathleen returns to her seat, and Mitch stares at her questioningly.

"Fashion emergency," she shrugs nonchalantly, flicking her own ponytail over her shoulder.

"You timed it well, or half of the crowd would have gotten flashed," he snorts, watching as people file back into the hall.

"Yeah, it was lucky," she sighs and leans against her mate a little.

Avery, on the other hand, is trying to figure out who the witnesses who will be interrogated on her are.

Lancaster is the only obvious one.

Sure enough, as soon as everybody is sat down, the Council ring the bell and the spokesperson stands up.

"First up we have the distinguished Alpha Roman Lancaster," he beams, sitting back into his seat.

Roman is led out to a table near the Council's, and he and Avery glare at each other briefly.

Louisa scoffs, keeping her face as straight as possible as her mate nudges her gently.

"Also on the list today, we have Louisa Wilcott, Faye Wilcott, and a witness who would like to remain anonymous," the man with the scroll announces.

Louisa bolts out of her seat, resting a hand on her bump in horror.

"No," she cries out, shaking her head rapidly.

"Lou, you have to," Xavier whispers to her softly, trying to pull her down to her seat.

"No, I won't say anything," she hisses to him, her eyes wide as she looks over at Avery.

Avery shakes her head, shooting her sister a reassuring look.

"You have to, you're too close to giving birth to be put in the cells," he whispers, and Louisa whimpers, clutching her mates hand and sitting down.

Louisa is shaking her head frantically as she looks at Avery, and she quickly shakes her own head at her younger sister.

"It's okay," she mouths to her, and Louisa wails quietly as she sinks into her seat, squeezing Xavier's hand as tightly as she can.

"We will begin the questioning now," a Councilman barks, standing up.

"Alpha Lancaster, when did you meet Alpha Wilcott?" He asks, and Roman shrugs.

"Officially, we met around four months ago. Unofficially, we had been aware of each other before that due to running in similar social and business circles," he informs the court, and the men at the table nod.

"And when did you last communicate with her?" He asks, and Roman pauses, frowning.

"About a week ago? Maybe a little less?" He sighs, running a hand through his hair.

He's definitely balding, Sonya drawls, her eyes zeroing in on his patchy scalp.

How sad, Avery grunts, keeping her eyes on Roman and the Councilman.

"What was it about?" The man asks.

"She called me to inform me that she had caught a rapist," he sighs, looking rather bored.

"Why was that important for you to know? Did he rape you?" The man asks, and Roman coughs, raising his eyebrows.

"No, one of his victims lived in my territory," he hurriedly explains, red creeping up his neck in embarrassment.

Avery grits her teeth.

"Were you not investigating the case yourself?" The man questions.

"No, it was almost nine years old," he mutters, and the Council frowns.

"How did Alpha Wilcott find him, then?" He asks, and Roman shrugs.

"I have no idea," he simply responds.

"How did yours and Miss Wilcott's relationship end?" The man inquires.

"Alpha," Avery quietly corrects, resting her head on her hand.

"Excuse me?" The man gapes, and Avery shrugs.

"Alpha Wilcott, not Miss," she simply says, shrugging again.

"It ended with her removing me from her territory," Roman states irritably.

"He actually left of his own accord," Avery corrects, raising an eyebrow.

"After it was clear that you didn't want me there," he barks, and Avery blinks, sitting back in her seat and staring up at him.

She didn't expect an outburst, or any sort of reaction from him, to be honest. She didn't really care if she hurt his feelings while they were here, because he agreed to testify against her. It was apparent who had agreed and who hadn't agreed, which was interesting. She hadn't seen her aunt in days, so she was probably going to be asked about her perspective as she was a more well-known older Unfortunate.

Louisa had clearly been blindsided, and Avery was concerned for her sister. Any unnecessary stress could hurt her sister and her niece.

She was curious about who the anonymous source was, because the list of people who knew her well enough to testify was short, and most were within her pack or in front of her. Choosing to be anonymous meant the person knew beforehand that they would be called to testify against her.

"Okay, and what was the nature of yours and Alpha Wilcott's relationship?" The man sighs, and Roman stiffens.

"I suppose she'd say it was purely sexual," he scowls, and Avery raises an eyebrow.

"And what would you say it was?" He quizzes, and Roman scoffs.

"The same, I never have and will never have any romantic feelings for her," he grits out, and Avery cocks her head to the side.

He wouldn't be this angry if he never liked us, Sonya comments, slightly miffed by the brushoff.

"And Alpha Wilcott, what was the nature of your and Alpha Lancaster's relationship, in your opinion?" The man asks, his eyes glittering as he turns to Avery.

She stares at him calmly, refraining from rolling her eyes.

She certainly wasn't going to be one of those over-dramatic telenovela characters.

"I would say it was sexual," she responds slowly, stopping herself from passing comment.

It wasn't even a good sexual, Sonya grunts.

"In your last conversation, Alpha Lancaster asked if you were pregnant. Why did he ask this?" The investigator asks.

Avery's eyes widen, and her jaw drops a little.

Roman looks equally startled at this question, clearly unaware their privacy had been violated.

"Because we had a sexual relationship," Avery states, raising an eyebrow as she forces herself to remain outwardly calm and civilised.

The investigator flushes slightly and looks like he regrets asking.

"If you're done stating the invasion of my privacy, I'd appreciate the next witness being called," Avery calls to the Council, and some of the men look at each other nervously.

Avery has a way of terrifying them, and she loves it; they have no idea what she'll do next, and they have no standard to measure her by.

A messenger enters the room, and instead of going to the Council table as everyone expects, the young girl goes straight to Avery.

"Your presence has been requested at the mating panel after thing," the girl whispers, and Avery slowly nods.

"What time?"