You could decide for yourself if it is consistent with her side of the story."

"I'l... oh now what?" the Councilman said as some doors outside of the Council chambers slammed and the interior doors opened.

A man and a woman strode into the room with a definite air of authority. Everything from the custom Italian business suits to the embroidered handkerchiefs to the loafers that cost a semester's tuition just to have shined, these two screamed Power Couple with capital letters. He was build like the quintessential college football quarterback, with a few streaks of silver in his otherwise dark hair, but it just added to his allure.

The woman was beautiful to be sure, though she had this look that would have sent Cruella DeVil scurrying for cover. She was lean as a snake, and her rich brown hair flowed halfway down her back. Her adornment was subtle but screamed of wealth and class at the same time. But what Heda noticed first, oddly enough, was the woman's mouth. She had full lips that might normally be kissable, but that mouth was stuck in a borderline sneer, and that looked to be its normal state.

“Mr. Hannity?" the Councilman said.

“Dad?" Alvin let out with a yelp.

"Shit!" was Heda's contribution.

“Because you're not what I would have you be, I blind myself to who, in truth, you are."

~ Madeleine L'Engle ~

Madison Sloan had never wanted any of this. She had wanted to go to college, make a few friends, maybe (with a big emphasis on maybe) go on a few dates, and then be out with her Communications and Journalism degree in four years before taking off to the great wide world of grad school, complete with funding from the North American Shifter Council. Being persecuted for a year and a half by another changeling had not been part of her plan. Being supported by her hot girlfriend and her hot girlfriend's hot-and-famous mother had been unexpected. But getting caught in a complaint hearing between the Hatfields and the McCoys? That was way out of her things-to-do-this- year list.

Alvin Hannity had already refuted the charges, then Madison and Heda had pled Madison's case. A young man who had been working at the medical center the evening that Alvin had mugged her outside of her dorm room had been prepared to talk about the injuries that she had suffered when Alvin Hannity's parents had made their entrance.

William and Meghan Hannity were the very definition of "power couple" in the shifter community, and actually in the human community beyond.

Mr. Hannity was the president of Global First Bank, an international financial institution and preferred bank of shifters, magic-users, and other magical beings worldwide. He also apparently had made a number of very wise investments over the years, and was rich to the point that he had Bill Gates on speed-dial. His wife Meghan was from old money. She had inherited her family's entire tobacco legacy, though had sold it off to purchase a pharmaceutical company. And looking at them now, they were not happy.

After bursting in, the Councilman overseeing the proceedings had done everything but offer both Hannitys oral sex and his first born to keep them calm. Mrs. Hannity demanded that the entire hearing be called off, while Mr. Hannity just kept asking what was going on.

Madison was confused. The worst that was going to happen to Alvin, assuming anyone believed the DM (short for "Darwin's Mistake," and a grave insult against shifters that had been cast at her many times) over the son of the university's biggest donors, was that Alvin would be slapped with a restraining order. In the shifter community, that kind of restraining order was taken seriously, to the point that Alvin could not take a class that Madison was in, or even enter the food court if she was already there. And shifter's punished violators severely. Changelings were not supposed to treat each other as prey, which is exactly what Alvin had been doing all this time.

Mrs. Hannity had started throwing disparaging remarks at the defendant and then, probably without realizing it, at Heda Adler.

That was when Jessica Adler, war hero and eagle shifter, had taken offense. Then, the yelling had really started.

Strangely, Mr. Hannity was not doing much yelling and quite quickly moved to prevent his wife's head from exploding. Thomas Adler, Heda's father, knew better than to try to physically restrain his wife (who would kick his non-shifting ass all the way into next week), but did stand between her and the other woman, exuding a sense of calm that his wife did not possess.

"Everyone, QUIET!" shouted a voice from the corner. The Reptile King and tenured professor, Neil Reichert, had decided that enough was enough. He may not have been presiding over the dispute, but he was damn well not going to let it get derailed any further. And when someone who could turn into a fifty-foot now-extinct crocodile told you to shut up, you shut up.

Jessica Adler still had her chin up and looking somewhat defiant when she said, "I'm sorry, your Majesty."

Reichert looked noticeably more relaxed after that. He was a badass, but you did not mess with Jessica Adler unless you were planning on having one hell of a fight. She had a reputation for a reason.

William Hannity gave his own wife a stern stare. She gritted her teeth, then let out a low, "I apologize your Majesty."

Reichert nodded tot he Councilman.

"Mr. Zine, I think we may need a few minutes before continuing. Let everyone settle down."

"Dad," Alvin said, moving toward his parents, “what are you doing here?"