Courting The Phoenix [Eternal Flames 3]

Chapter 1 “Will the defendant please rise,” the voice rang out loud through the large room. Gavin Ryder sat in his seat at the prosecution table watching intently as Avery Madison nervously pushed back from the table and slowly stood. His hands clasped in front of him and bound by a special council cuff. They weren’t ordinary handcuffs like the humans used. These were made of a magical alloy that stopped paranormals from shifting, and could only be removed by one of the council members or a guard assigned to the prisoner. Ryder studied Avery as he moved, trying to get a fix on where the kids head was and if the kid was as stupid as his father, Carver Jinx. It had been two months since the capture and arrest of both the boy and his father. Two months of a long battle between himself and Jinx. Because of Avery’s crimes against paranormals, and he being a paranormal himself, Ryder believed the boy should have to face charges set forth by the Paranormal Council and not the human courts. But Carver Jinx, being an attorney himself, threw up roadblocks every step of the way. It had been a hard battle, but Ryder was confident that he would win this first round. He was also confident he would win the next, as well as the case against Carver Jinx. He had already won when the council agreed with him that both men should be tried separately. Carver had been angry and railed against that, but the council turned a deaf ear. So now they were here waiting for the council's decision on whether Avery should be tried in this paranormal court or with the humans. But Ryder wasn’t worried. He had brought up many good facts as to why the boy shouldn’t stand before the humans. The best being that the truth about their existence would most likely come to light should Avery be tried in a Denver court. The boy was a loose cannon and if pushed hard enough, he wouldn’t be able to hold back his shift. But Ryder had also argued that Carver would do everything in his power to sway the human judge and jury to his side. Then he presented evidence that Carver was known in the human world to have a few judges in his pocket. The boy made a grunting sound, bringing Ryder from his thoughts and directing his attention back to the boy. He stood stone-still, chin held high in defiance, and jaw clenched. Ryder couldn’t make out the emotion in the kid’s eyes because he was focused on the fifteen men and women in front of him, but the tightness of his jaw and the stiffness in his back, told Ryder the boy was ready to snap. Ryder smiled to himself and thought, “Good. Snap, kid, and let them see the true you. If pushed hard enough, your rage will consume you and your animal will take control.” “Avery Madison, after a long deliberation and study of the facts brought before this council, we hereby agree that your case should and will be tried here in front of the Paranormal Council. You will remain in our cell until your trial and for its duration. We also throw out the request by Carver Jinx to serve as your counsel in your criminal trial.” Carver interrupted as he shot to his feet. “But, your Excellence―” “Silence, Carver Jinx. Your motion to defend your son has been denied by a unanimous fifteen votes. Do not think for a moment that this council has not taken notice to the fact that you posted bail for yourself, while your son sits in our jail. Now sit down before this court throws you back into a cell while you await trial,” the council member warned. Carver’s face twisted in rage, but he clamped his lips shut and sat back into his chair next to Avery. “Avery Madison, seeing as your father will not be able to represent you, we will give you a chance to name a new counsel. Do you have someone in mind?” Avery cleared his throat and looked back to his father. Jinx narrowed his eyes at Avery, sending him a message with his gaze, on what Avery should do. Avery rolled his eyes and turned back to face the council. “Yes, your Excellence. I choose my co-counsel, Keith Fisher.” “Good, then we will not have to wait weeks for a new counsel to be brought up to speed on your case.” The council member turned and met the gazes of all the other council members and each nodded. The council member turned back to face Avery. “The council accepts your choice of representation. Mr. Keith Fisher, please rise.” Keith, who was also sitting with Avery, stood to face the council. “Seeing as you are familiar with this case, we give you one week to prepare for trial.” Keith’s eyes went wide and he looked down at Carver. Ryder shifted his gaze to Carver and he could see the man was not happy with today’s outcome. He looked like he was about to shoot flames from the top of his head and at the same time s**t a litter of purple kittens. Keith looked back to the row of men and women and cleared his throat. “If it pleases the council, I request for more time to prepare for this case.” “Request denied, counselor. You have had more than enough time over the past two months to prepare alongside your co-counsel. This council has spoken. We will see you all here in one week. Guards, bring the defendant back to his cell,” the councilman ordered, then stood. He along with the other fourteen members walked from the room. * * * * Angelo waited for all of the council members to leave and the guards to escort Avery from the room. He slid forward in his seat and leaned against the railing in front of him. “So, what do you think, Ryder? This is a good sign, right?” Ryder turned in his chair to look back at Angelo and gave him a smile. “Yes, Ang. This is a very good sign. Now we don’t have to worry about the humans and we can speak freely and present evidence we wouldn’t have been able to if we were in a human court.” Angelo sighed in relief as his shoulders dropped. Morgan, his mate, sat next to him and placed a hand on Angelo’s back in comfort. “So what do we do now?” Angelo asked. Ryder stood and closed his briefcase, then grabbed the handle, and turned to face Angelo. “Now we make sure we can get every tiny piece of evidence we can dig up on Avery. I know we have good evidence now, and a really strong case, but with Jinx and his conniving ways, we need to make sure our case is iron clad. We have no room to f**k up here. If Avery is found innocent and is free to go, I fear for Manny. Hell, I fear for all of you.” * * * * Detective Pauly Malone sat in a chair opposite his captain, Nash Savino’s, desk, waiting patiently while Nash took a phone call. He let his eyes roam over his captain as he waited, noting how good Nash looked for his age. The man only looked thirty-five, but Pauly knew he was much older. In the shifter world, they aged as the humans did until they hit twenty, then things slowed down to a snail's pace. He himself was the same age as his friends Angelo, Viktor, and Ethan. They all looked in their mid-twenties, but were much older. That was one of Pauly’s favorite things about being a phoenix shifter. Not only did it extend the time he could protect and serve his community, but it gave them an advantage with men. As long as they looked this young, they could keep having fun with the young studs of the world. But looking at how good Nash looked at his age gave Pauly more hope that he too would look just as good, which would give him many more years to play the field. And that was always a plus. A glint in Nash’s arctic blue eyes made him look even more attractive, and Pauly wondered why he had never tried to hook up with his captain. Sure, Nash was technically much older, and he was his boss, but if neither of them demanded anything but s*x from each other and both understood that that is all it would be, then what could be the harm? Nash was pretty fine with his hard packed muscled body. Okay, maybe he wasn’t as built as the dragons that now lived among them, but Nash could hold his own. At six foot two and two hundred pounds, the man was pretty smoking. Especially the close cropped beard. The scruffy look was damn good looking on the man and made Pauly wonder how it would feel, scratching against his thigh. As a vision of Nash down on his knees, sucking Pauly’s c**k entered his mind, Pauly jumped and blinked his eyes, then internally shook his head from his thoughts. Where the hell had all of that come from? Groaning to himself, Pauly shifted in his seat and hoped his hardening c**k would go down. The last thing he needed was his boss to smell his arousal and get the wrong idea. Yeah sure, he had just been thinking about having s*x with Nash, but it was only because it had been so long since he had gotten laid. He hadn’t gotten lucky since before the shelter fire that had killed the mayor’s wife Nina Abruzzo. Since then, his time had been consumed with finding out who had set the fire, and who was trying to frame Daytona for the crime. Then looking for Levi’s body once it was discovered that he was the one responsible. Then there was Angelo taking Manny in and them trying to find out who was responsible for the second fire at the shelter that had taken the life of Manny’s mother, then blah, blah, blah. It just kept going. Once Avery Madison and his asshole father were arrested and brought to the council, then he was working his ass off to find every little piece of evidence he could to help the prosecutor’s case against them. He had been so consumed by work over the past four months, that there had just been no time to go out and find a hottie to f**k. Suddenly Nash’s voice broke through his thoughts, and Pauly met his captain’s gaze. He could see by the light in the man's eyes that the news was good. “So?” he asked with a raised brow. “That was Angelo. Everything went great. The council decided that Avery would stand trial there and not with the humans. Then they threw out Jinx’s motion to represent his kid, so Avery chose Fisher as his lawyer.” Pauly sighed in relief, then said, “Damn, that’s good news. Angelo must be happy as hell.” “He is. But that brings up more work for us,” Nash said. “And why is that?” Pauly asked. “Ryder wants to make sure we leave no stone unturned. He wants even the smallest piece of evidence to be found so that he can throw everything at the kid and make sure he doesn’t get free. Ryder is worried that if Avery is released, he will come back for revenge against Manny, Angelo, and anyone else he thinks is responsible for Levi’s death.” “Okay so tomorrow we start digging through everything again, but this time we look closer. It will be a lot more work, but worth it if it keeps this kid locked up, and Manny and Angelo safe. As well as all of us.” “The council gave them one week until the trial starts,” Nash said. Pauly sat up straight in his seat and his brows rose high on his forehead. “One week? How the hell does this guy expect us to find more s**t on this kid in one week?” “I don’t know, but that’s our job. He has to go by the council’s rule.” “Yeah, well, I’d like to see him come and get his hands dirty and look around for s**t that may not even be there. We already gave him a s**t-ton worth of evidence. I don’t mind going back and taking another look, but one week is a lot of pressure,” Pauly protested. “Well then, it’s a good thing Ryder has decided to come to Crystal and lend a hand as much as he can. He’ll be staying with Justice while he’s here,” Nash explained. “So I guess that means I have to show the man around and have a shadow for the week, seeing as Angelo isn’t allowed to touch any of the evidence anymore because of conflict of interest?” Pauly asked. “And you would guess right,” Nash said with a laugh. “It’s late. Go home and get some rest. You and your new partner start first thing in the morning.” Pauly groaned and slumped back in his seat.