Letting Go [complete - expanding chapters during rewrite]

Chapter Twenty One

"We're sending him to the council for trial," the Alpha told us.  "He won't confess, so the WereCouncil will take over from here."
"What about the video?" Mason asked.  "Shouldn't that be a slam dunk?"
"You'd think so, but videos can be tampered with so they're not indisputable evidence, and he brought up the possibility that someone could have been wearing a mask to frame him.  Masks have gone pretty high tech.  We don't have DNA evidence to prove he was there, and we can't disprove the mask argument.  As a purist he has enemies.  So, this is not as cut and dried as you'd think."
"When does he leave?" I ask.
"He left this morning with a guard. He argued successfully to the council that we were biased against him, and because of that he was in danger here."
"So what happens next?"
"He'll argue to get the video thrown out.  If that happens we don't have anything but motive to fall back on.  There's no other evidence."
"That's depressing."
"That's the law."

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Mason and I curled up together in bed that night.  He was laying against the headboard, and I was between his legs laying back against his chest.  He held my hand playing with my fingers.
"Mason, do you think he'll get away with it?"
"If the video get's played in court, even with his arguments, the jury will most likely find him guilty.  If it get's thrown out he'll probably go free from lack of evidence."
"Do you think it will get thrown out?"
"There's a chance.  The video surveillance wasn't okayed with the council, and he's already got them believing that we're biased."
"So he might go free?"
"Possibly.  There are purists on the council, but they don't out weigh the others."
We sat in silence for a while, both thinking about what may happen.  I thought about Jessa.  She'd been manipulated by her father her whole life.  She'd done what she felt she had to in order to keep her mate.  I was both glad she was gone and sad for her.  Mason loved her once and mourned her loss.  Even after all she'd done to him, this still had to hurt.
"I'm sorry, Mason.  I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's okay."
"You're allowed to be upset.  She was going to be your forever once.  You're losing her all over again."
He was silent.  I felt his pain, but I could also tell he tried to keep it from me.  I wasn't jealous of her.  She was dead, and Mason loved me now.  I pitied her...and him.
We lay there in silence from then on, I moved to go to my side, and he put an arm around me.  As I was drifting off, I heard him say, "I love you."