At Dawn, in the Forest
Chapter 31

Dawn snapped her head up, making eye contact with Aiden. She stood there in shock. Slowly her body filled with relief seeing her mate after all that time. Her anger faded away. Even in her wolf form, a tear escaped from her eye. Dawn noticed how she wanted to shift back to her human form and fall to her knees, grateful the torture finally ended. Exhaustion crept into her limps, her paws were buckling and wobbling.

A grunt put Dawn, however, on full alert again. It was Draven. He tried to escape from under Dawn’s stance. The werewolf didn’t think twice and snapped her jaws at the CEO, making Draven shriek.

Aiden carefully stepped forward and held a hand out. “Dawn? We will take care of him. We will put him into custody. You have done great so far. Come to me, darling.”

Dawn looked at Aiden and then faced Draven again. She felt conflicted. This might be her only chance to kill one of these wicked bastards herself.

“Come to me,” Aiden repeatedly whispered.

Dawn’s body acted on its own as she slowly crept forward to her mate. It was when her snout made contact with Aiden, that four warriors ran around the couple and cuffed Draven. Dawn put her full face into Aiden’s chest and he petted her in the most loving way. Dawn’s body gradually started to change into her human form, staying glued to Aiden.

After a couple of seconds, Aiden held her fully to his chest as Dawn was shivering and trembling from trauma and shock. He caressed her hair and spoke softly sweet-nothings to her. “You are safe, you are safe,” Aiden repeated often.

Then everything went black to Dawn.

***

Dawn woke up to the sounds of beeping machines and soft whispers. With a gasp she sat right up when she fully regained consciousness, afraid she was back in that horrible place. Her eyes were wide and her breathing erratic, sweat trickled down her forehead and back.

“Dawn, Dawn, you are safe,” She heard her mate say to her. Hesitantly she turned her face around and was met by Aiden’s eyes. “You are safe,” He repeated.

Tears welled up in her eyes and she flung her arms around Aiden’s neck, crying her heart out. “I thought I lost you!” She managed to say between her cries. “I thought- I thought-”

“I know,” Aiden shushed her gently, trying to calm her down. “I know.”

The couple stayed there for a while, the medical staff left the room.

When Dawn was at ease, the medical staff of the Moon Valley Pack started to check up on her. She had been transported to their hospital as it was better equipped and seeing Dawn’s history nobody wanted to take any risks.

Aiden never left her side, not this time. He was fully on guard and whenever he heard even the faintest grunt of pain coming from Dawn caused by the examinations he growled loudly. He didn’t care if he was rude. He only had eyes for Dawn.

After the examinations the medical staff concluded that Dawn was in good health, the only thing that worried them was her exhaustion. Dawn seemed to be sleeping almost twenty hours a day, which was too much for the state of health her body was in.

Nobody knew why. Dawn tried to give them every piece of information she could give from her time there, but it didn’t lead to any explanations.

Everyone was in a slight state of panic.

After two weeks, however, Dawn slept less with each passing day. She walked around more, getting her exercise and her eating pattern improved greatly.

After a month of her release, she was in top shape again and everyone visited her. Her parents, brothers, Sarah, Aiden’s parents, and the Alpha’s of the Redwood Pack. Everybody was glad Dawn had made it somehow through everything. And then, when she was in tip top shape, Dawn was invited to Alpha Mateo’s office.

Dawn knocked and entered upon hearing approval from the Alpha. As she stepped inside she saw her father, Aiden, Larisa, and Thomas. “What is this about?” She asked.

“Please sit down,” Mateo signaled to one of the empty chairs in front of his desk, next to Thomas.

Dawn did as she was asked and saw stacks of documents lying down on the desk. From her first quick glance, she recognized them as legal documents and court papers.

“Thomas, you have the floor,” Mateo announced.

The lawyer cleared his throat and turned his body to Dawn. “We are going to reopen your case against Dr. Willow and at the same time you and the other victims will go against the lead doctors and Draven in court and this time we are going to win.”

Dawn furrowed her brows. “How is that possible? I thought the case against Dr. Willow was a loss cause.”

“Dr. Klein testified against him and she is willing to be a witness in your case during court.”

She shook her head. “Why? Why would she do that? It doesn’t make any sense. They were two peas in a pot.”

“According to her testimony, she said it was never her intention to hurt any werewolves to achieve her goal to cure some of the deadliest human diseases. She pleaded for the use of anesthesia but AlphaGenesis was against it.”

Dawn was surprised to hear these revelations. Dr. Klein, she could remember, was always distant towards her, and often heard her going against Dr. Willow. But she didn’t know this was the cause of it. “They had often arguments,” Dawn muttered to herself.

“What did you say?” Thomas asked.

“Well, they often argued before procedures, now I think about it. I don’t know the full extent of it, but that I know.”

Thomas nodded. “That is certainly something I could use… So what I want to do is review the case fully together with you Dawn and then later I am going to review everything with other lawyers who represent the other victims. Together we have decided that we can be the faces of the case, so it will only be us sitting up front, but all the others will be present during court. Together we will show a united front against these wicked humans, and if we are lucky we can plead for a werewolf only conviction. This means they won’t go to human court and will be punished by only our laws and this can result in the death penalty for at least Dr. Willow and Draven Delano.”

Dawn’s head snapped up in surprise and made direct eye contact with Thomas. “Really?”

“Yes, I think we have a very strong case here,” Thomas replied while patting one of the piles of documents.

“Let’s do this,” Dawn said with much anticipation.

***

In a stylish outfit and on high heels Dawn entered the courtroom with Thomas at her side. Sarah had picked out her outfit, wanting to give Dawn the most confidence during the trial. Sarah also told her to keep her chest and chin up and only look at the doctors at the end of the trial. She didn’t want Dawn to give them any power over her.

So, with her chest and chin up she made big strides in her heels to the court benches. Dawn had to mask her surprise as she saw how packed the courtroom was. Hundreds of people were present. The left was filled with the survivors and their lawyers, in the middle was an audience, on the balcony as well, and on the right were the doctors on trial.

From the corner of Dawn’s eye, she could see Dr. Willow sitting amongst them. He looked terrible and so did Draven. A small smile settled on her lips.

The trial first started with the reopening of Dawn’s case against Dr. Willow. All the evidence Aiden, Mateo, and the others had gathered during the raids was being presented. The only wish of Dawn during her case was for her not to be put on the stand. She didn’t want to be interrogated again like last time.

Also because it wasn’t only about her. Others were hurt as well by these people.

Then the other case was opened, the one from all the survivors. It was heartbreaking. Multiple of them either were put on the stand, others were given the opportunity to speak to their captures.

And Thomas was merciless against the doctors. Every piece of evidence he could use, he did use. He dissected the doctor’s wrongdoings like they did on the werewolves. Not sparing one bit.

Dawn looked at Aiden a couple of times for reassurance every time she got flashbacks. He would wink at her, or nod his head, giving his silent support. Dawn would wink or nod back, take a deep breath, and continue listening to the horrors.

When everything was said and done one of the councilmen spoke up. “We thank you all for coming here and sharing your stories despite how difficult it was. We honor your courage. We will have a recess of two hours as we will review both cases and come up with our verdict. The reason as to why we give our verdict today is because we don’t want to remind all the survivors again and again of their trauma and as this cause has great urgency.” The council stood up and left.

Many left the courtroom as well to catch some fresh air. Dawn and the others did as well. They all sat down outside sitting under a tree, shielding themselves from the late summer sun. Dawn lay comfortably with her head on Aiden’s lap as he caressed her hair. She closed her eyes and listened as her friends and family engaged in small talk.

Then silently Aiden whispered into her ear, “I love you.”

Dawn opened her eyes and turned her head to face her mate. She smiled. “I love you too.” They shared a kiss.

The two hours quickly passed by and everybody sat back in their place in the courtroom. “The council likes the begin with the verdict of Dr. Willow. Dr. Willow, if you could stand up.” The doctor stood up but with great difficulty. As he finally stood on both his feet the councilman continued. “After reviewing the latest evidence and hearing and reading the testimony from Dr. Klein we have decided to change our former verdict. We no longer believe it was Mr. Sullivan who conducted the horrible experiments on Miss Carson. After seeing the direct evidence ourselves we deem Dr. Willow and Dr. Klein as the perpetrators as Miss Carson also testified.

“The extent of their horrendous acts is unspeakable and we strongly condemn these actions. Therefore, we believe that a possible human trial would be unfair as these actions were done against werewolves. No humans were harmed by them. And it is because of this decision we come with a standing verdict that can’t be tampered with by the human court system… We sentence Dr. Willow with the death penalty on multiple counts of medical torture and kidnapping of a minor. Dr. Klein will be sentenced with imprisonment for life, seeing as she testified.” The councilman continued further but Dawn didn’t listen anymore.

She tilted her head up and closed her eyes. A silent tear streamed down her cheek as she smiled. Finally, she got the justice she deserved.

When the ruling of Dawn’s case was finished, the other ruling started. One by one, the doctors had to stand up for their verdicts. All of them were exempt from a human trial and almost all of them were sentenced to death. Draven broke down hearing his verdict.

Pathetic, Dawn thought.

Then when all was said and done one of the councilwomen spoke up. “Miss Carson, you are the only one from all the survivors who have suffered the longest under this evil organization. Are there any last words you want to share with this courtroom?”

Dawn was surprised by the offer. She didn’t know what to say, not being prepared for this. Slowly she stood up straight and looked around the courtroom and ended by Dr. Willow. Then something popped up in her head.

Dawn opened her mouth and sang [would recommend starting ‘Can’t Catch Me Now’ by Olivia Rodrigo],

“There’s blood on the side of the mountain

There’s writing all over the wall

Shadows of us are still dancin’

In every room and every hall

There’s snow fallin’ over the city

You thought that it would wash away

The bitter taste of my fury

And all of the messes you made

Yeah, you think that you got away

But I’m in the trees, I’m in the breeze

My footsteps on the ground

You’ll see my face in every place

But you can’t catch me now

Through wading grass, the months will pass

You’ll feel it all around

I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere

But you can’t catch me now

No, you can’t catch me now

Bet you thought I’d never do it

Thought it’d go over my head

I bet you figured I’d pass with the winter

Be somethin’ easy to forget

Oh, you think I’m gone ’cause I left

But I’m in the trees, I’m in the breeze

My footsteps on the ground

You’ll see my face in every place

But you can’t catch me now

Through wading grass, the months will pass

You’ll feel it all around

I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere

But you can’t catch me now

No, you can’t catch me now”

By then other survivors had joined Dawn as well and together they sang ‘you can’t catch me now’ to all the doctors.

“You can’t, you can’t catch me now

I’m comin’ like a storm into your town