Beta Challenge

I walked confidently into the arena, staring daggers at my Uncle, who warningly let out his aura, which triggered Gerry’s to come out and protect me. I raised my eyebrow at him, making him frown deeply at me when I didn’t cower like before. He jumped to his feet at my obvious disrespect, making me smirk at him.
‘Oh, yeah, fucker! First, I’ll come for you, and then I’ll come for my mate,’ Angel growled in our head before turning my head to meet my sister’s terrified eyes.
My father stepped between us, his anger evident in the tenseness of his shoulders. I ignored him as I reached for my sister’s link. ‘What’s your decision, Alicia?’
Her eyes flickered toward our father before coming back to me. ‘I don’t want to die, Giselda. Do you swear that I will get my bear back?’
I glanced at Alpha Sow Natasha. ‘Yes.’
She gave me a tiny nod before touching her throat. ‘Right here.’
‘I got you, sis. Make it look good,’ I told her.
‘I will.’
‘I love you.’
‘I love you, too, Gelly,’ she replied back to me.
“You may remove your clothes and shift,” my father’s loud voice ordered, pulling me back to focus on the challenge.
I immediately started disrobing while Alicia did the same. I licked my lips nervously while I sent up a prayer to the Goddess, begging her to let our plan go right so everything could go back to being right. I took a deep breath before letting Angel take over, effortlessly shifting into her true form. She walked forward with her head bowed until she stood still with Analia, Alicia’s bear, mirroring Angel’s stance, making our snouts touch. Our father put his hands on our noses, pushing down until our foreheads were against each other. He pinned me with a furious look before lifting his hand. Angel waited until our father cleared the challenge arena, breathing heavily, before rearing back on her hind legs as the bell that signaled the start of the challenge rang out.
Angel and Analia instantly started slashing at each other while dodging each other’s deadly claws. Angel backed Analia to the edge of the arena before lunging at her. Analia ducked, forcing Angel to twist in the air, landing a millisecond before jumping onto Analia’s back, grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, and rolled both of them. Angel landed on top of Analia before opening their link.
‘I’m sorry, sister,’ she whispered as she moved her mouth lower on Analia’s throat to rupture the paralytic packet already in her neck. ‘I’ll see you soon.’
‘See you soon,’ Analia replied, her words becoming drowsier.
Once she was completely out of it, Angel moved off of her, still clamped carefully down on Analia’s neck before shaking her head, swinging Analia’s head around while keeping her spine protected from injury with the way she had bitten down. After a few seconds, Angel dropped Analia onto the ground, seemingly lifeless, before taking a small bite out of her shoulder and taking a few gulps of her blood. When my mother’s scream of “no” echoed in the arena, Angel stepped away from our sister’s body.
Angel spun around, growling angrily at our parents as they rushed toward Analia. She snapped at them, holding them at bay as the vines came inching out of the forest to collect Analia’s body. When our mother tried to dart around me and Angel grabbed her wrist to fling her to the ground, she cried out again, both in pain and heartbreak. When she whimpered, Angel looked over our shoulder to watch as the vines finished wrapping around Analia’s body before dragging her back into the forest. Angel pulled back, letting us shift back, only for me to be immediately slapped by my mother hard enough to turn my face to the left. I stood frozen as Angel surged forward, urging me to attack her.
“HOW COULD YOU, GISELDA?! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU’RE SO MUCH BETTER THAN ALICIA?! YOU ARE A HORRIBLE DAUGHTER! I DISOWN YOU! IF I COULD RESCIND YOUR DNA TOO, I WOULD!” She screamed before jumping at me as my head whipped around to glare at her.
My father caught her around the waist, trying to keep her from attacking me, but didn’t catch her fast enough to keep her nails from scratching my face. I straightened up tall, narrowing my eyes on her.
“You are a pathetic excuse for a Beta Sow!” I snapped. “You are a failure!”
I stepped around my parents to go over to where Alpha Terrence and Alpha Sow Marnie sat next to future alpha Osprey and his family. I knelt in front of them with my arm balanced on my knee and my head down.
“Alpha Terrence, Alpha Sow Marnie, and future Alpha Logan, I pledge my allegiance to you and the Havana Sleuth. I vow to upload our laws and punish those who break them. I vow to always put the Alphas’ and sleuth’s needs above my own. I vow to always protect my alphas and my sleuth. I vow to be the perfect example of what and who our sleuth is. And above all else, I pledge to give my life, if asked, for my alphas and sleuth.”
“I accept your pledge of loyalty and accept you as the future beta for my son, Logan,” my uncle seethed as he stood up. “Rise.”
I got up, reaching for the clothes that I had dropped on the ground when I stripped so I could get dressed.
“Is there anything that you want to say now that you have been victorious in claiming the betaship?” My uncle asked.
I pulled my shirt over my head before meeting my uncle’s eyes, defiantly holding his gaze. “Actually, there is! Well, before the challenge, Alpha Terrence came to my room and aura’ed me to forfeit the challenge!”
My words hung in the air for a moment before everyone’s eyes landed on the sputtering Alpha in question.
“Don’t you think if I had aura’ed her that she would have forfeited? She is just a beta! I’m an alpha!” He spat before pinning me with an angry glare. “If I did, explain how you were able to fight it! You can’t because I didn’t.”
I held his gaze for a moment before pulling my shirt up and showing them the fading imprint of Gerry’s teeth on the underside of my breast.
“My fated mate marked me. I hadn’t realized he had until you aura’ed me. It made his aura come out to protect me from yours. It’s just one more reason why I’m stronger than you!”
He took a step toward me before Alpha Falcon jumped to his feet.
“STOP! Is this true? Did you aura her to forfeit?” He asked.
“No! Of course not! I—”
“I, Logan, heir to the alphaship of the Havna Sleuth, do hereby challenge Terrence, the current Alpha of the Havana Sleuth, for alphaship!” Logan said as he climbed to his feet, making his father spin around to stare at him in shock.
“You can’t do this! You know she’s lying! You can’t possibly believe that I aura’ed her to forfeit!” My uncle told him angrily.
“I can and I do, Dad. The challenge has been issued. Either accept it or turn over the alphaship!” Logan told him calmly.
“I, Terrence, the current Alpha of the Havana Sleuth, accept your challenge,” he growled before grabbing Aunt Marnie’s hand and dragging her away.
Logan came down to me to take me in his arms. “I won’t allow him to continue threatening you, Gilda. I need you. Our sleuth needs you.” He sighed. “Most of all, my mate needs you.”
My heart started pounding as I tilted my head back to look into his eyes. “Y-your mate?”
“Yes, my mate. Finding and losing her is the only possible reason I could have to cause me to feel so empty inside. And I have a feeling that you are the only one that knows who she is.”