Week 18

The next day at about 10:00 am, the court was called into session. Jocelyn came in looking pale. She woke up that morning vomiting. Zane took her to the doctor, and he gave her something to settle the stomach. The doctor felt it was just nerves and morning sickness.

When they walked in, Cynthia and Cerberus asked if she was ok. Even the judge asked. The judge added, "If you start to feel ill, that door in the front corner takes you to a hall. There's a restroom right across from here. Bailiff, please show it to her before we begin." He showed her. The court began.

The Bailiff said, "The first person to testify today is the defense, Alpha Terrance White, Crimson Red." He stood up and walked to the witness chair, and sat down.

Mr. Varnish stated, "My clients will be testifying but changing their plea. They still state they did not rape her, but eight mateless male wolves did get overwhelmed by Jocelyn going into heat. Mr. White will testify that Xavier was not involved in taking Ms. Sommers." He then turned to Mr. White; please tell the court in your own words what happened that day in the woods."

He, first of all, looked over at his Uncle and nodded his head. He then looked at Jocelyn. "Until we were detained, we did not realize what you felt. I do owe you an apology. I had been out with eight friends. We were super excited that day. Earlier that day, we had won the district soccer tournament. We did go and have a few drinks. We were running back home when we caught your scent. We did not realize you were unaware you had gone into heat. You took off running. This caused our wolves to go into predator mode. I will admit I am the one who knocked you down."

He looked down as ashamed, "I grew up; if an unmated she-wolf goes into heat, she is taken to the closest mating building. We took you to the mating building on the edge of the school grounds. We chained you down. We stepped into the hallway. I then called my uncle since I had never dealt with this."

He then looked over to the jury, "Jocelyn's scent was driving us mad, and we started to fight between us. As the highest-ranking alpha there, I managed to beat the others. I chained the guys to the wall, but before I could chain myself, Jocelyn cried out in heat pain. My wolf took over. When I was sated, I did what I was raised to do. I unhooked the next ranking wolf. By the time my uncle got the messages, we had started round two, and I will admit we all took turns by then, and sometimes we took her in even our wolf form. She even shifted without us commanding her. She was a full bitch in heat, and I will admit we were all in a frenzy when my uncle finally got the message. He came and cleaned up the mess. By then, you were coming down from the heat. My uncle Xavier is only guilty of covering up our exploits, but he never touched you."

He took a deep breath and turned back toward Jocelyn, "As is our custom, if the pup turns out to be mine, I will become your mate."

Jocelyn stood up, "No. I will not mate anyone who has that barbaric of a custom. Plus, I was not in heat when you kidnap me. I do not accept your false claim." She then sat down and turned her head to have tears running down her face. She looked at Cynthia and whispered, "he is lying."

They called the five other wolves up, and all made similar statements. Then the bailiff called, "Alpha Xavier Branson of Crimson Shadow." He stood up and walked to the witness chair, and sat down.

Mr. Varnish asked, "Alpha Xavier, can you tell us in your own words what happened between your family packs and Jocelyn?"

"Yes, I saw the missed call the next day. I listened to Terrance's message. One thing Terrance did not do was tell me where he was at. I didn't even know who the she-wolf in the heat was. I kept trying to reach him and my sons.

I got a phone call from Alpha Solomon about a missing she-wolf. It was then I felt dread. I did not want to admit my nephew and sons were also missing. I did not want to accept what I suspected since his pack did not follow our traditions.

I will admit I did try to cover it up and make it look like rogues once I tracked them down. When I got the boys back, I sent two of them back to their families. They all were collared for 30 days for taking someone not in the family pack that way. We train our wolves; if a she-wolf goes into heat, they should inject her with a special serum that suppresses the heat, but these bumbling idiots forgot that and were too busy celebrating their victory."

He then stood up and joined the other wolves. Mr. Varnish looked at the judge and jury, "Based on their testimonies, you can see it wasn't rape. It was following their pack wolf customs. They were punished for not having the serum on them. They have each offered to mate her."

Jocelyn stood up, "I know what his scent smelt like. He was guilty of taking me. He, too, is lying. I repeatedly said no. They all took me to try to teach me a lesson. When I go to the supernaturals council after this, I will move to have that barbaric rule also stricken down. NO MEANS NO even when I later went into heat." She sat back down.

Mr. Cerebus said, "I want to call up Doctor Victor from Crimson Shadow."

Alpha Xavier, "Why are you calling up my pack doctor?"

Cerebus replied, "As your pack doctor, he can confirm your statement about the heat in your pack."

Dr. Victor walked up, "Why am I up here?"

"As a medical doctor, I wondered how the unmated she-wolves are treated when they go into heat?"

"Since I became a doctor, there has been no unmated heat. As soon as they change, their moms bring them into me. The first Wednesday of January, April, July, and October, the she-wolves now come into the clinic for a shot. Once they find their mate, they don't come in for shots unless they decide they don't want pups right away."

"What was it like before you became a doctor for this pack."

"If a she-wolf went into heat, she was locked up. If she had a mate or boyfriend, he was placed in the room with her. If she did not have anyone, they fought for her. They would be chained up when they lost. The strongest would get to take her first. When he ran out of steam, the next one would take her if the strongest one consented. If more than one was in heat, the strongest got the first pick."

"What about if you were mated? Did you get to take an unmated girl?"

"They were not supposed to, but sometimes if a higher-ranking wolf were upset at a she-wolf or her mate, he would take the one in heat as punishment, but this behavior also hurt their mate. It is allowed to happen according to pack law legally."

"How does this hurt the mates?"

"She gets chest pains. She starts to get bruises on her body when her mate touches the she-wolf he is with. However, if he takes another species, she gets chest pain. Though the same thing can happen if a wolfs takes a male wolf but in most of those cases, the male hunts down his mate. He will attack who she is with. If the mate plans to use it as punishment, he usually sedates his mate.

"Have you ever seen such cases?"

"I have. In residency, I saw two cases of the wolf and 1 case of a male wolf. Then once in my pack, I saw one. I have seen it happen four times."

Mr. Varnish stood up, "I object to this line of questioning. This was not what the doctor was called up here to discuss."

"It does pertain to your honor. He is explaining both sides. This way, we can try to understand what happened to Jocelyn according to their defense."

"I will allow it, but wrap it up quickly," the judge says.

Cerebus looks at the doctor, "When did you see this happen in your pack?"

"It was 16-18 weeks ago."

"Whom did this happen to?"

"I cannot say. It is covered under privilege. The only way to break privilege is by the patient or alpha approval."

Cerebus looks at Alpha Xavier, and before he can say anything, the alpha states, "I do not."

Then a female voice in the back says, "But I do give permission." Everyone turns to the agent, " I am Luna Victoria Branson. I do give permission. No, she-wolf should have to go through the pain and betrayal you put me through, Xavier."

Xavier jumps up and changes into his wolf. He charges his mate, but Beta Zane gets the brunt of the attack when he dives in front of the Luna. Then Siam and Peter attack their father. Next thing you know, several Lycan are in the room. The three Bransons are collared and forced to return to their human self. A blanket is thrown over them. They are dragged from the room.

The doctor runs over to check his Luna. She says, "I am fine, but work on him?"

The doctor looked at Zane and said, "I am sorry, Luna, but he is dead.

Then Jocelyn let out a scream when that was announced and fainted.