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Giselda
I hit the off button on my alarm clock before eagerly climbing out of bed. Today was the day that my challenge against my sister would take place. I merrily bounded out of the room, stopping in front of Logan’s room. He almost immediately pulled the door open for me to enter. I smiled at Osprey, Scarlett, Alpha Sow Natasha, and Alpha Falcon.
“Good morning,” Logan said.
“Good morning. I’m sorry for being late,” I apologized.
“Late? You’re not. Osprey and Scarlett just arrived themselves,” Logan told me.
“Perfect.”
Alpha Sow Natasha eyed me before moving across the room to sit on the couch, followed by Alpha Falcon, who put his hands on her shoulders as he looked at the rest of us expectantly. We walked over to them, and Scarlett took a seat next to Alpha Sow Natasha, while Osprey hovered protectively at her side, partially blocking her from sight. I took a seat on the chair across from them while Logan leaned against the fireplace with his arms folded. Alpha Sow Natasha and Scarlett kept their eyes on me while Alpha Falcon and Osprey watched Logan.
“Why are we here?” Alpha Falcon finally asked.
“Because your daughter is to be my Alpha Sow. I wish to reassure you that even though my sleuth is having minor problems, she will be safe here.” Logan’s hands fell on my shoulders. “This is Giselda, my cousin and chosen beta. The rest of the information is hers to tell. Giselda?”
I smiled nervously at them as I straightened up. “Well, let me first start off by saying that Annie is such a wonderful person. She’s so sweet.”
Alpha Sow Natasha narrowed her eyes on me. “Are you pressuring her to be your Alpha Sow?”
I recoiled into my seat as my hands flew up to my throat. “NO! Logan sent me to the college to protect her. I swear that is the only reason I know her. Young males and alcohol, even for a bear, is a dangerous situation for a young future alpha sow. I was given strict orders to be respectful of her, no matter what happens. I haven’t gotten in between her and her—” I paused as I struggled to figure out how to tell them about Gerry without triggering a punishment. “Her boyfriend,” I finished.
Scarlett sat forward on the couch. “She has a boyfriend?” She asked excitedly. “Could he be her mate?”
Logan’s hands tightened on my shoulders, and I could feel his anger. I cursed silently for even mentioning it. I shook my head.
“No. He’s not her mate. She told me he wasn’t,” I lied. “She just doesn’t want to be alone, and he was nice to her. When she comes to Havana, she will never be alone. Logan already cherishes her as his Alpha Sow.”
Scarlett sat back defeatedly. “Well, damn.” She glanced at Logan. “No offense. It’s just the mate bond is incredible,” she said as she took Osprey’s hand.
“None taken. Just because Annie is not my fated mate doesn’t mean that I won’t treat her as well as I would treat my fated mate. And if she did find her fated mate and wanted to be with him, I wouldn’t stop her,” Logan informed them sadly before clearing his throat. “Giselda, tell them. We are running out of time.”
I sighed as I began to twist my hands together anxiously, glancing at Logan over my shoulder before sighing. “Have you heard of the Bruin family line?”
Falcon stood up straighter, peering at me differently. “The Bruin family line? They are all dead. What about them? What do they have to do with this?”
I folded my hands in my lap before meeting his eyes. “We’re not extinct. We are hiding. It is safer for us to be out of the public eye. We were hunted almost to extinction by the wolves. They were tired of being subservient to the bears. My mother was the only surviving Bruin when her sleuth was exterminated. She barely made it out alive and the wolves chased her to Havana. My father was on border patrol when she crossed the borders. When his team scented a rogue, he didn’t. He found her before his team did and marked her as his mate before the team got there so they wouldn’t kill her for trespassing. After she explained to him and the alpha, my uncle, what happened, they vowed to protect her with their lives. They killed all the wolves that were hunting her. They then eliminated all known information about us and spread the rumor that the last of the Bruins died in Havana.” I reached up to take Logan’s hand. “When I issued the challenge two days ago, my mother gave me a diary that has been passed down from generation to generation. While I was reading it, I learned a lot about our family.”
I paused as tears filled my eyes as I thought about what I read. “Logan, where is it?”
His hands left my shoulders as he crossed the room to his bedside table. He pulled out the weathered, black leather journal that I had given him the day before. I took it silently, turning to the second-to-last page.
“‘If all the Bruins are exterminated, the bears as a whole will go extinct with them. There must be at least one Bruin descendent on Earth at all times, or there will be no bear shifters. The Goddess won’t recreate us. We must ensure the survival of our family line at all costs,’” I read.
“What does that mean?” Scarlett asked.
“It means that I cannot kill my sister. It means that one of us has to survive, and my mother cannot have any more children,” I said.
“Wait! I’m confused! It says that only one of you has to be alive. Why can’t you kill your sister?” Alpha Sow Natasha asked.
Before I could answer, Osprey spoke. “Because she is worried that she is going to die too. I’m more curious about why she thinks that.”
I glanced up at Logan, who nodded, giving me permission to give them Havana Sleuth information.
“Logan was aura’ed by a strong male. He couldn’t fight it, and neither could I. Our sleuth depends on me unlocking my Bruin DNA,” I said.
“I’m still confused,” Alpha Sow Natasha piped up. “If Logan couldn’t fight his aura, what makes you think that even with unlocking the Bruin part of your DNA, you would be able to fight it?”
“Because my family were the original bears. We are stronger than all the rest of you. We choose to be Betas. It wouldn’t take much to take over. But it was never our dream to be alphas. So, we chose one to lead us. With our support,” I told them, reaching for Logan’s hand again, “our chosen alphas are undefeatable. Not only that, but the man we’re fighting against, I should be immune to, but I’m not,” I admitted softly, and Logan’s hand gripped mine tighter.
“What are you saying, Giselda?” He snarled.
I took a deep breath as I tilted my head to look into his eyes. “The man who aura’ed you is my fated mate. I didn’t know when I met him that he would do this. I swear.”
Angel raised her head as she struggled against the pain that was tearing through our head. I got up to go kneel in front of Alpha Sow Natasha. I held my hand out to her.
“May I?”
She put her hand in mine curiously, and I pulled on her aura, using it to push Gerry’s back, but it was only enough to lessen the jackhammering to a bearable throb.
“Who is it?” Logan growled.
“It’s—” A violent shock of pain went through my body, making me cry out. I shook my head. “I can’t. He aura’ed me not too. That’s why I need to do this. I need to protect not only my sleuth but every bear in existence.” I looked up at Alpha Sow Natasha. “That’s why I asked Logan to have you come here. You are the best doctor that we have. You are the only one that can perform the surgery.”
“Surgery? What surgery?” She asked.
I got up to get the diary, flipping to the page with the diagram of the Bruin family line brain. I laid it in her lap before touching the small spot on the brainstem that looked like a tumor.
“There are three ways for me to become the true beta. One: I kill Alicia and consume her. Two: The current Alpha names the beta, which he won’t. And three: She gives up her bears.”
“Give up your bears? We can’t do that,” Alpha Falcon immediately said.
“You’re right. You *can’t.* But the Bruin family can. Where your bears are integral, ours are not. To ensure the survival of our family line, the Goddess built in a safety net. Our bears can be transferred. If you remove this part of our brain and put it into someone else, our bears will attach themselves to that person. With that being said, I really don’t want to kill my sister. She is the only one that knows about our family. And if I am not successful with solving our problem, she will need to be the one that survives.”
“So, you want me to remove her bear? How does that work if she is the one that needs to be the Bruin bear?”
“Logan, can you retrieve the two vials that the vines gave us?” I requested.
He walked back over to his bedside table to get a small box before handing it to me. I pulled the two vials before holding one up to the light. Alpha Sow Natasha looked at them, frowning deeply.
“It’s empty.”
“No, it’s not. Touch it.”
I popped the cork, took her hand, and dumped black goo into it. She watched it in awe as it moved over her hand, almost as if it were searching for something. She met my eyes again.
“What is it doing?”
“It’s looking for Alicia’s bear. It will nurture Analia while she and Alicia are separated. It will feed her and breathe for her. It is very important that Analia is put inside as soon as you remove her,” I said.
“And when am I supposed to give it back to her?”
I sighed. “If I die, immediately. If I don’t die, then after Logan becomes Alpha, she will be allowed to come back to the Havana Sleuth. Also, we will need you to hide her for us. Logan will pay for her care. We just need her to be safe until then.”
Alpha Falcon nodded as I put the goo back in the vial, making Alpha Sow Natasha gasp in shock as it turned clear again. “Okay. I will take her to my cousin, Arianna. How do we get her from the sleuth to be able to do this surgery?”
“We are going to go through the challenge, but this vial holds a paralytic. It will make her seem like she is dead. I will take a bite of her and drink some of her blood for show. She will be taken by the vines, and our keeper has already agreed to transport her body to your sleuth. I know that we are asking a lot of you, but there is no other sleuth that we can trust like we can trust you. This isn’t your sleuth or ours. This is about us as a species. Please say that you'll help us. Without your help, lives will be lost. Possibly even lives that matter to you.”
“Are you talking about Annie?” Osprey asked.
I nodded. “Yes. That’s why I’m fighting so hard. The bear that we’re fighting,” I paused to take a deep breath. “He is starting to go feral and has set his eyes on Annie. I can’t protect her, or the rest of us, without your help.”
Alpha Sow Natasha closed her hand around the vial that would hold my sister's bear if she agreed. She nodded. “When you unlock your Bruin side, I want to know exactly what’s going on. Do you understand me?”
“Yes. I promise.”
“We’ll help you.”
“Thank you. We really appreciate it. I promise to fix this.”
“Giselda, it’s 7 AM. You should probably go talk to Alicia. I’ll finish up here,” Logan told me softly.
I grabbed the second vial and stood up. I hugged my cousin before leaving the room. I stopped outside of my sister’s room, listening to her sniffle for a moment before entering and climbing into her bed next to her. I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tight while she clung to me.
“Alicia?”
“Yes, Gilda?”
“You know I love you, right?” I asked.
“I love you too.”
“I have a question for you.”
“Okay?”
I lifted my head a little to look into her eyes. “Do you want to live?”