Auraing Annie

I pressed a kiss to Annie’s forehead before burying her deeper into sleep with Luge’s aura before getting up to quietly open the door to let Giselda in. She tilted her head toward the bed where Annie slept seemingly peacefully, which wasn’t true. She had been in such turmoil since she got her memories back.

“Is she still asking you to aura her?” Giselda asked.

I ran my fingers through my hair agitatedly. “Yes! I never wanted to aura her. This is killing me. The very thing that she hated Gerald doing to her, she is practically begging me to do to her.”

Giselda hugged me. “It’s okay, cousin. She’s just struggling right now. And trust me, when you’re broken the way she is, there’s nothing that anyone can do to help. There are things that can help, but there’s no fixing it.”

I sighed as I took her in my arms. “I’m so sorry, Gilda. How are you doing?”

“I’m okay, Logan. I don’t even remember what I was upset about,” she told me softly.

I held her closer to my chest. “Fucking Bruin blood! I’ve never hated it as much as I do right now. You don’t have to be strong, Gilda. You can lean on me. Fuck being alpha. Fuck being beta. Fuck being bears. Right now, I am just your cousin and I care about you. Just let it out. I got you.”

She shook her head. “I’m fin–”

I gripped her face to force her to look into my eyes. “Let it out, Giselda! I know I don’t have the magical powers that Annie does to help you with your pain, but I can at least be the shoulder you cry on.”

“Logo, I’m fine! Seriously, everything is okay. We need to take care of Annie. She takes care of everyone else. Who is going to take care of her? She needs you more than I do right at this moment,” she told me.

I shook my head. “No, Gilda, you’re wrong. Everyone who knew Milton is going to need help. He was such a special guy that touched everyone he met. It’s okay to cry for him.”

“Logo, stop pushing this,” she snapped as she yanked herself away from me. “Just stop!”

“Giselda, I loved him too. Annie as well. We understand. Stop pushing us away. Let us help you heal,” I begged.

She shook her head, wiping her tears away. “No. When this thing with Gerald is over, I’m going to train Alicia on everything Bruin, and then Doctor Reyes is going to help me end my life.” She wiped another tear away. “When Milton came here, I didn’t love him. I didn’t know if I could ever get there with him. I knew I was settling for him. He knew it too, but he never loved me less. At the time of his passing, he was my everything. He meant more to me than Havana. He meant more to me than you and Annie. He meant more to me than Gerald. He stopped being the person that I just settled for. He had become the reason that any man after him would never be good enough. Everyone else would just be someone I settled for. I don’t want to settle, Logan. I want Milton, and the only way I can have him is to die myself. So, the answer to your request is no. I don’t want to heal. I can’t, so I won’t. Instead of trying to push it, think about how you would feel if our positions were reversed and it was Annie that had been taken. Would you want someone to tell you it’s okay. Just get over her? Or would you self-destruct like I am?”

I stuck my hands in my pockets. “Understood, Gilda.”

“Thank you. Now, what’s the game plan today? Are you going into the office or are you having all of your meetings in here again?”

I groaned. “I have a meeting with Alpha Curtis. He’s coming in at 3:30 PM. I really don’t want to leave Annie, but I won’t allow another alpha in our bedroom. Well, at least not him. He’s already made it clear that he wants to take her. I’m not even giving him a chance.”

She rolled her eyes. “Y’alls little childhood spat is so annoying, Logan. You need to make it right. We don’t need any more enemies right now. Gerald is enough.”

“Yeah and the most dangerous.”

My link with Lionel opened. ‘Alpha Logan, I am so sorry to interrupt you, but Alpha Osprey is here. You told me to inform you when he arrived.’

‘Thank you, Lionel. I will be right down,’ I replied.

I nodded my head at Annie. “Will you stay with her until I come back?”

“Of course. Go handle that. I’ll be listening through the link.”

“I wouldn’t think you’d do anything else,” I told her as I walked out of the room.

I quickly jogged down to the gate where half my warriors were in their shifted forms while the other half were in their hidden spots with guns trained on Osprey who was watching me from the other side of the gate. He raised an eyebrow as a smirk lifted his lips up.

“When you said ‘on alert,’ I didn’t expect this. Isn’t this a little extra, Logan?” He called out.

“Not when it comes to Annie or Giselda. I thought you of all people would understand,” I shouted back before looking around at my warriors. “Alpha Osprey is not a threat, and I don’t expect him to be treated like one when he comes. Stand down!”

My shifted warriors returned to their human forms as the gate opened. I walked over to shake Osprey’s hand.

“Hello. I hope the trip was easy, Osprey.”

“It was. Is my alpha sow safe to enter as well? Or is she going to have guns held on her too? Because if you think for even one second that I wouldn’t kill every single one of them, you would be very wrong,” he said, making me chuckle a little. “Scarlett, you’re safe. You may enter without my warriors’ suspicion,” I uttered, glancing at each of my warriors.

Moments later, she meandered through the gate to stop beside Osprey, immediately linking their hands together while offering me a dazzling smile.

“Logan, it is so nice to see you again,” she murmured softly. “May I ask where Annie is?”

I groaned, raised a hand to the nape of my neck, and began to massage it. “She’s in bed asleep. She’s been having me aura her to keep her under. I don’t understand why the vines gave her back her memories. She didn’t want them. I thought you said that Vine Keeper Annaria was her adopted mother of sorts. Why would she allow our vine keeper to destroy what little peace Annie had?”

Scarlett reached out to take both of my hands in hers, pushing peace into me. “Listen to me, Logan. I spoke with Vine Keeper Annaria. That’s why we’re here. She gave this to us,” she told me, unfurling her fingers from around the vial. She said they had to give her memories back to make her immune to Gerald’s aura. As Annie is watched over by Vine Keeper Annaria, none of the other vine keepers will give her anything to help with her pain. Only Vine Keeper Annaria will. She asked me to come and help Annie. Osprey came because of what’s going on with Gerald.”

“So you’re here to help Annie?”

“Yes. That’s one of the reasons.”

I hesitated as I studied her face. “Do you think you could help Giselda too? Annie tries so hard, but her pregnancy and fear of not being good enough keeps her from being as thorough as she wants to be. Well, and the fact that she is new to this whole Alpha Sow thing.”

She nodded. “Just lead the way. I’ll work with Annie and Giselda while you and Osprey talk.”

I gave her a grateful smile. “Thank you, Scarlett.”

I took them back to the sleuth house, leading Scarlett to my bedroom before taking Osprey to my office, where I ran my fingers through my hair again as I sat down behind my desk. I gestured to the chair in front of my desk.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Do you remember when I said that I would handle Gerald?”

“Yes. Have you?”

“Not yet. We’ve run into a slight problem. We can’t find him. Vine Keeper Annaria said that he is completely feral now, which I don’t understand how. She gave him a potion to not be feral anymore. I thought I made the right decision, but I was wrong. I put everyone in harm’s way because I chose wrong. And for that I am so sorry, Logan.”

“It’s going to be okay, Osprey. We just need to find him and eliminate him. Tell me what you need, and I will give it to you.”

“I need to know what he smells like, now. I know he was here for a while. Do you have anything that would give us his scent?” Osprey asked. “Or at least the start of the change of his scent? None of the sleuths that he has attacked hold it, and–”

“Wait! Backup! What do you mean none of the sleuths that he has attacked? He’s attacking sleuths?”

Logan nodded. “Yes, he is. They’re all sleuths where new alphas either are about to take over or recently have taken over. Elena said that based on the most gruesome attacks in those sleuths, the young alphas all went to Grimm Forest. A lot of them either participated in Annie’s vet program or came into contact with her at some point.”

“And you’re sure it’s Gerald attacking them?” I inquired.

“Yes. WIthout a doubt. Every sleuth that he’s taking out has a link to Annie in some way. One had a connection to Giselda. But it was only one. All of the others are linked solely to Annie,” he informed me.

“And the one connected to Giselda? Which sleuth was it?” I asked curiously.

“Realm,” he answered, grimacing.

“Realm? Are you serious?”

“Nope. Realm was the first one attacked. It wasn’t Corey that was most brutally attacked there.”

“Then who was it?”

“Milton’s family. They were torn apart to the point where there was no chance for the bodies to be identified. The only way I knew who they were was because of smell,” he said.

“Is he leaving any survivors?”

“No. He’s eliminating entire sleuths. Alphas are moving their sleuths closer to ours. They are hoping that our family can protect them. Our land is so overrun with bears that you can’t take a single step without running into one. My parents are useless. They are sure that it’s not Gerald, but the rest of us know better.”

“I don’t blame them, Osprey. This whole situation is a mess. No parent wants to believe their child is an insane little asshole who is intent on killing everyone who has even breathed his sister’s air. We just have to find him and kill that pathetic fucker. It’s the only way that Annie, Giselda, and Havana will be safe,” I told him.

He shook his head. “No. My parents just don’t want to admit that they caused this little obsession. They were always drilling it into our heads that we were the only boys and needed to protect our sisters. They missed all of the signs of his deteriorating mental health when it came to her, and because of that, this is all happening. I am not going to stop trying to convince them that he needs to be hunted.”

“So, if they don’t want him hunted, what do they think you are doing?” I asked.

“They think I’m out hunting a nameless feral bear. There is a small group of us that are supposed to be tracking this bear, but none of us can find the scent.”

I nodded. “I’ll make sure you have it before you leave.”

“Thank you. So, tell me, what’s new?”

I sighed as I leaned back in my chair. “You need to let your mother know that she will need to give Alice her bear back soon.”

“Why? Giselda is still here. We don’t need Alice,” Osprey said slowly.

“Not yet we don’t, but we will. Giselda won’t be here too much longer. She wants to die and when it comes time for her to do so, I’m going to kill her.”

He sat back in his chair with his eyes on mine. “Well, fuck.”

I nodded. “My sentiments exactly.”