Saving Her Wolf Pup

Chapter Three

The meeting was held at the courthouse, in one of the large conference rooms. As they entered, Alice saw their mother sitting to their left at the end of a long table, with a man, presumably a shifter, standing next to her. He nodded in acknowledgement as they entered. "Welcome. This is Judge Morris." The man pointed to the man sitting in the middle.

"Thank you, Janson," Morris said as he looked at Crimson and the others. As his gaze settled on Alice and Frederick, who was holding on tightly to Alice's arm, he smiled. "Hello there, young man. I'm going to take a wild guess and say your name is Freddy."

Frederick loosened slightly and nodded, but with a side glance towards their mother he hid behind Alice again. Alice looked towards her, but kept her face neutral. She reached behind with her right arm and brought him to her right side. "It's okay, bud. Let's go sit down."

Crimson led them to the opposite end and pulled out the chairs for the three others, with Alice at the head. Frederick was to her right, Crystal to her left, and Crimson stood behind and to her right, giving her shoulder a small squeeze.

Judge Morris looked at Alice. "So I hear you are a shifter?"

"Yes, that is correct. Although I didn't know there were others until yesterday when I met Crimson."

"How did it happen?"

"When our grandmother lost the custody battle with her last year," Alice gestured towards Allison, "Her heart gave out and she died. I lost two of the most important people in my life. I guess my abilities were suppressed until that moment when they awakened."

Morris looked to Crystal, "I hear you're the best friend?"

"Yes, sir. I've known Alice since middle school. She wasn't the most sociable, but it didn't take long for us to become close. I went to their house occasionally, and Allison always left a weird impression on me."

Morris nodded, "And were you ever exposed to the circumstances?"

"Not directly," Crystal stated, "However, there were many days I noticed a change in Alice where she wouldn't talk much and she tried to nap in class. I eventually asked her what was wrong, and she had showed me some of the bruises."

Morris made a few notes. "Now, I need a few details on yesterday's events. What happened at the residence of Allison Ward? What made you go there?"

"I received a voicemail from Freddy of him screaming. I could hear her yelling at him and it sounded like the phone I bought for him crashed against a wall as the voicemail ended. I was furious. I shifted and stormed out, running to the house. There was a window open, his bedroom window, so I jumped through to find them in the living room. She was about to hit him when he saw me and cried out to me. She pulled out a knife and tried to kill me, although I don't think she knew it was me at that moment. I have the voicemail still in my phone if you would like to hear it." Morris nodded and Alice pulled out her phone. After scrolling through it to the voicemail, she let it play.

Morris took notes then gestured to Allison's arm. "And you did that to her arm?"

"Yes, sir. I won't lie, I'm not particularly proud of having to do it, but I couldn't let him be hurt."

"That's a lie!" Allison yelled. "You tried to kill me and your brother! You have him scared! You-"

Morris shushed her then wrote a few more notes. "What happened next, Alice?"

Appalled by Allison's lie, Alice took a moment to gather herself. "I pinned her to the ground and got the knife away from her. I shifted back into my human form and told her she couldn't hurt him again. Crystal and Crimson showed up then."

Morris looked at Crystal. "Tell me what happened then, miss."

Crystal glanced at Allison. "She threatened to kill me and Alice. Alice got between us, to defend us, and Crimson was standing behind Allison. He told her to put the knife down before she ended up in more trouble. The three of us then left while Crimson took care of a few things."

"Okay. I already know what happened after that." He made a few more notes then turned to Frederick with a soft smile. "Now, young man, I want your opinion. "How were things growing up?"

"You can't trust what he says! He's only 10! He doesn't know-" Allison had to be silenced and held by Janson as she tried to get up.

"One more outburst and I will hold you in contempt for disrupting me!" Morris stared at her until she was quiet. He turned back to Frederick. "Don't worry about her. Just tell me what happened."

"When Aly was still with me, I often watched her get hit after I got in trouble. She often had bruises. Grandma brought us here a few times, but…" He couldn't bring himself to say it, now knowing what happened. Tears came to his eyes.

"I'm sorry young man, but I need to know."

Frederick sniffled and looked at Allison defiantly. "SHE made me lie so that I couldn't be with grandma. She threatened to hurt them. It is my fault grandma died. She was just trying to help me and Aly get away."

Alice reached over to hold his hand in an effort to calm him down.

Morris wrote a few more notes, then pulled out other papers. "I have heard all I need to know. Alice, I am granting you sole custody over your brother as I believe you are entirely better for his well-being. I have your history files here, too, and so all I need is a signature from each of you."

"I will not sign!" Allison yelled.

"If you don't, I can overrule you as I am a court judge. You can either cooperate, or I can have you escorted out. Either way, you will not be allowed to see your son anymore without the consent of Alice."

"That is bull-!" She was cut off with a warning squeeze from Janson.

Morris stared at her hard. "Janson, take her away. Tell the guards she is to be held in contempt until I am done here. Then come back here, please."

Janson nodded with a grin. "Come on, lady. Up you go." He grabbed Allison by her arm and lifted her up, leading her towards the door. She tried to lunge at Alice as she went by, but Janson was too quick and strong for her. "That's it!" He grabbed a pair of cuffs and put them on her, leading her out the door.

"Wait a moment," Alice called out. She got up from her seat as they stopped and Janson took a step back with Allison. Alice went up to Allison and spoke to her. "Your days of torturing my brother are over. I told you long ago that you wouldn't get away with it. Don't ever come near him again." With a nod towards Janson to leave, Alice went back to the table. Crystal and Freddy got up and hugged her.

Morris and Crimson smiled. "Now, Alice, you have a signature to give," Morris stated, holding a pen out.

With a smile of victory, Alice let go of them and signed the paper. "Thank you, sir."

Morris smiled back. "Here is a temporary confirmation of custody to give to his school. Everything else you need for him, like his birth certificate and social security card, should be mailed to you within a month. You can go to his doctor with this paper to request new shot records, but you know how the system can be, always taking its time." He chuckled as he gathered the papers and stood up. He held out his hand and shook with Alice.

"How can I ever repay your kindness? You finally served well-deserved justice."

"To be honest, I've been working with the shifters for a while now, but I have never seen how they do it. Could you show me your other form? It truly fascinates me!"

"Morris," Crimson cut in. "That's not really important right now, is it?"

"Well, Crimson, I've seen Janson's but not yours, and obviously not hers. I just want to see if what Janson said is true."

"Well, you have only seen his because he is your son."

Alice was a bit surprised. "He's your son?"

"Adopted, but yes. Ironically, his first transformation was similar to yours. I adopted him after we found out his parents had perished."

"It's good he had you. I don't know what I would've done if I didn't find Crystal during my first shift. To be honest, I wanted to forcefully take Freddy back. Crystal calmed me down and talked me into waiting Allison out. Sooner or later, she was going to slip up and get caught in her web of lies and torture. For the service you have done for me, I would be happy to show you my other form." With that she smiled and let go of Freddy. She went to the middle of the floor between the table and the wall and with ease shifted into a white wolf. She looked straight at Morris, gave a playful yip to Freddy, then changed back.

"It's true." Morris smiled. "Crimson, you know what that means."

"Yes, Morris. I know. Well, we have to get young Freddy here some new clothes and run errands."

"Have a good day, Morris," Alice said as she led Freddy out the door.

The four of them walked out victorious. Freddy was finally safe and with his favorite person. He felt as if the whole world was right now, no more monsters to watch out for. He knew his sister would protect him. Alice always kept her promises.