Page 22 of Fighting the Lies

“Time is up.”

Jessica returned to her body and opened her eyes. A tear slipped from it. Selene turned white.

“Fuck.” Brayden muttered.

“There is no evidence of magical use on the sword.” Ethern’s words replayed in slow motion through his head. No evidence! “The sword has not been transported magically nor the prints placed there with the use of a spell. They could only have been made through the defendant actually touching the weapon.” Ethern’s whole body slumped, and he returned silently to his chair. No magic. Emma was now standing on her feet. She was swaying as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He wanted to go to her side, but he would be restrained if he even tried.

“Thank you, Mr Lennox.” The judge looked down at the paper work in front of him. “Mr Lincoln. I believe that your argument has been disproved. Do you have anything else to add?”

Kas run his hand through his head. “All I can ask is for the jury to consider Miss Bryant’s character. To murder her father would be totally out of character. I’ve already said that she was on a mission for me that day. She is a conscientious member of my pack. Respected and loved. She is not violent, unless severely provoked. In my time with her, I’ve never seen that except for Scott, another member of my pack. And he deserves to be bashed on the head a few times.” Kas’ words brought a much needed moment of light-heartedness to the proceedings. I don’t know what else to say. Miss Bryant would not kill her father; the day she came to me, she left him behind without a second thought. She embraced her future with us. She had no reason to do this heinous act. Out there somewhere is a murderer who will get away with a terrible crime if you do not act to find Miss Bryant innocent.” Kas bowed his head towards the jury, when he finished speaking. Phillip stepped forward next. Emma’s brother had the same blonde hair and blue eyes as she did, but that was where the similarities stopped. Phillip obviously left the hard work of the pack to others. His designer suit could not hide the protruding stomach he had. Typical male lion; eat, fuck, and repeat. Scott was different though. He liked to exercise and fight as well. He would squash Phillip in a one on one encounter. It would be the easiest victory he would ever have. He sneered when the other male lion looked up at him with stuck up expression.

“I was not aware that I had a sister for most of my life, and when I found out about her, I wanted nothing more than to welcome her back into my life, my pack, my home and have her rule by my side. We are the same flesh and blood. Kin from a father who was one of the kindest people I’ve ever known.” Phillip paused in his speech to swallow back emotion that was so evidently fake. Scott growled and Brayden put his hand on his knee to calm him down.

“He will get his.” The beta tried to placate him.

Scott just growled again.

“But the sister I dreamed of is not the one that I found in reality. The one here before you, all day, has become a monster, no doubt a product of her upbringing in a pack of no rules. She stole into my father’s bedroom while he was sleeping and used a prized family heirloom to decapitate him as he slept. This has been proved by the fingerprints on the sword. Fingerprints that two authorities on magic have said can only have been made by touch. Why? Will she ever give us a reason? He allowed her to stay where she chose, away from her family. This was nothing but a cold blooded kill of an Alpha greatly respected in our community. My sister does not deserve absolution for this crime. She deserves the full punishment proscribed by the law.” By the end of his passionate speech, Phillip was shaking; the words flying out of his mouth in spits of fury. Scott’s claws had appeared and were dug into his thighs in order to keep him seated and not scream what a load of bull shit was being spoken.

“Thank you, Mr Bryant. I understand how difficult this must be for you. Please take a seat.” Phillip sat and grinned smugly behind his pack to where the Glacial Blood pack all sat. The judge turned his attention over to the jury.

“Members of the jury. Do you need time to deliberate this case?”

They huddled together for a moment, and the owl shifter stood. He had thickly rimmed glasses and hair that spiked up on the top of his head to give him what looked like two ears.

“We are all agreed on a verdict.” He spoke.

“Do you find the defendant, Emma Bryant, guilty or not guilty of murder?” Scott could tell that Brayden was poised next to him for the verdict. The snow leopard’s hand were tightly clenched in a ball. He felt different though. His heart was cold, like it left his body to wrap around Emma to protect her. There was silence. The verdict not coming straight away, and then…it did.

“Guilty.” His world fell apart. The members of the pack around him screamed out ‘no’. Kas lay his head on the table at which he was sat. But Emma, she just stood there emotionless in the dock.

“Emma Bryant, you have been found guilty of the murder of your father. It falls to me to pronounce upon you the punishment for this crime. We have heard how out of character this is for you, but in my eyes, that makes it all the more dangerous, because the kill was of a man asleep in his bed. It is for that reason that I must sentence you to death. In two days, you will be taken from your cell at dawn and hung by your neck until you are dead. This is our custom.”

She let out a pained cry. It broke him. The mists descended, and before Brayden could grab him, he was over the seats, shifted, and pouncing onto Nuka who was sat with Phillip at the prosecution table.

“This is all your doing.” He whacked his paw around the polar bear’s head splitting the skin and blood poured from the wound. “What has she ever done to you?” Nuka smirked at that. Any ounce of sensibility evaporated, and he struck Nuka again, wiping the smile from his face. The next thing he knew;he was lifted into the air by strong arms. Brayden’s and Zain’s scents surrounded him. He shifted back to human, except for his claws, and used his free arms to strike out at the bear and leopard restraining him.

“Let me go. He needs to die.”

“Scott, stop it.” Selene screamed at him.

“Let me go,” He yelled again. His chest was so tight. What was this pain he was feeling? All he knew was that he needed to kill anyone who had caused Emma to be in pain. He needed to rid the world of Nuka, something Kas should have done years ago. The screams and shouts around him blurred into one, as he narrowed his sight on Phillip who stood horrified over Nuka. He struck out again at Brayden and Zain. His claws embedded in their arms, and they had no choice but to let him go. He was on Phillip in less than a second. The wimp of a brother, nothing like his brave sister, was pleading for his life. Scott allowed his fangs to emerge and opened his mouth ready to clamp down around throat of Emma’s traitorous sibling. He felt wet cover his naked body. The fool had wet himself; man, he was covered in some dude’s piss. He never got a chance to finish that thought, though, as he felt a sharp jab into his neck. He put his hand to it and pulled out a dart. He’d been drugged. Out of his peripheral vision, he saw Tyler standing with a tube. He’d been drugged by Tyler. He turned back to the terrified lion underneath him and went to bite again, but another sharp pain in his neck had him roll to his side. This time, Katia stood with a tube. Tears were streaming down her face. He gasped for air; the world closing in, darkness edged his vision. No, he needed to save Emma. He needed to kill. With his last conscious thought, he looked towards where Emma still stood in the dock. Her lips were moving like she was trying to talk to him, but nothing was coming out. He’d failed her. He loved her, and she was going to die, because he couldn’t save her.

---