The Unfortunates | COMPLETED

Part 67

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.