The Claiming by Cooper Book 5
The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)
Chapter 81 (Nolan)
I watch as Taylor packs her bag, preparing to leave for the Beta Trials tomorrow. When she’s done, she comes and crawls into my lap, curling up against me. In the last couple of months, we’ve gotten to know each other much better. And while we haven’t marked and mated yet, my little mate has become increasingly vulnerable around me, and I love it.
I love how this strong, powerful woman, shares her insecurities with me, how she allows me to see her true fear of being an Alpha, her fear that she’ll fail, proving her father right in choosing Griffin as his successor, rather than her.
I love how she responds to me. How, when I think her assertiveness becomes aggressive, I can reach out to t*ouch her and she accepts my unspoken input and changes how she interacts. When she’s feeling insecure, I can tell her why she’s so much stronger than she sees, and she listens to me and accepts my input.
Join Our Telegram Group for Update Notification and Novel Query
And she brings out a side in me I didn’t know existed. Where I am stoic, reserved, she puts all of herself into everything she does. She’s no holds barred, no holding back, and I love it. It makes me give more of myself than I knew I had in me to give, but it’s all for her.
And now, as I sit stroking her back, I also know that if and when she accepts me as her mate, I’m ready to be a part of any pack that she belongs to. I never cared to be part of a larger group that might have expectations of me that I wasn’t willing to live upto. However, with Taylor, I not only want to meet her expectations, but I also want to exceed them. I want to be part of whatever pack she’s leading, hopefully leading by her side.
“I’ve been thinking…” she says and stops. I know this means that whatever she’s about to say, she’s not feeling confident about.
I k*iss the top of her head, stroking her back as she snuggles against me. I never thought I’d be the type of man who enjoyed snuggling, but I can’t get enough of Taylor wanting to be close to me.
“Thinking about what, in particular?” I ask her.
She sits back, looking me in the eye. “I want us to seal our bond before tomorrow. I want to go into the Beta Trials as co-Alphas, ready to choose our Beta together,” she says and I’m pretty sure my heart stops for a moment. I haven’t wanted to push her, needing her to decide if she wanted this relationship, but I’ve been honest with her that I’ve waited years to find her and I want her, no matter how long it takes.
“You want us to mark and mate?” I ask slowly, making sure I understand her.
She nods. “Tonight.”
I frown. “You know there’s a possibility that my mark with knock you out, right?” I ask her.
“Maybe, but for how long?”
“I don’t know. Maybe an entire day,” I tell her.
“Well, then, if that’s the case, you’ll just have to make sure that you get me to the Beta Trials safely.”
“Is this about wanting me as your mate? Or is this about your concern that one of the rogues will try to claim you? Because I won’t allow the rogues to do that, and neither will any of the elite fighters. They’ll all be there. You don’t have to rush this decision,” I tell her.
“I thought you wanted to mark me?” she says, and I can hear the hurt in her voice as she tries to climb off my lap.
I wrap my arms around her, holding her against me. “I do. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life. But I want you to want me for the right reasons. Fear or concern for being forcibly marked isn’t a right reason,” I explain.
She looks at me and her yellow-rimmed brown eyes are shimmering with tears. “I love you, Nolan. I didn’t realize that I could love someone like this. I didn’t realize how good it would feel to have someone who…who had my back, who supported me wholeheartedly. I want you to be my mate, my co-Alpha. Jordan and Jace are making it work and I want that too. It’s not about fear, it’s not about the rogues forcing their mark on me. It’s about me wanting you,” she says as a tear slides down her cheek.
I reach up and swipe the tear with my thumb, then I lean in, pressing my l*ips against hers and slowly deepening the k*iss. Then I lift her, carrying her to the bed, before slowly stripping her down and finally making her mine. Forever.
(Evangeline POV)
I look around the room, making sure I have everything for me and Jax Jr. packed for our trip to the Beta Trials tomorrow.
“I wish you’d reconsider, Eve. It’s not safe for you or Jax Jr. Those rogues are still out there. They are raping humans to have babies. Who’s to say they won’t try to kidnap you or our son,” Jaxon says to me. It’s the same argument that we’ve had several times over the past week. “I dare anyone to try and take my son from me,” I growl.
He sighs. “I can do this without you, love.”
I step up to him, wrapping my arms around his n*eck. “And what kind of co¬Alpha would I be, if I let you do this alone, Jaxon? Don’t start acting like the other Alphas, pushing me into a Luna role. If we do this, we both work h*ard for the pack, and we both protect our children.”
“Evangeline…”
“Don’t do that. Don’t use my full name, Jaxon. I know you’re technically the Alpha, but if you don’t respect me as your equal just because we’ve had a child, then you can expect a lot of arguments and fighting in your future.”
He pulls me against him. “You were never my equal, Eve. I could never come close to being the amazing wolf that you are.”
I growl at him, smacking him on the c*hest. “You say things like that just so I can’t possibly be mad at you,” I tell him. “Is it working?” he asks, nuzzling my n*eck.
I lean my head back, giving him the access to my throat that he’s looking for. “You know we have work to do tonight. We haven’t talked about the candidates yet and not all of them were here for the gathering.”
“Yes, Celine, Gabriella and Haley,” he says, k*issing my n*eck and making it h*ard to focus.
“Don’t forget Wade, Jake, Camille and Damien,” I say, my voice becoming breathy as his l*ips and t*ongue work their magic on my n*eck.
“Jake and Camille aren’t even 16 yet, so I’ m saying no to both of them,” he says, s*ucking on my marking spot, making me m*oan softly, trying not to wake Jax Jr. “Damien is 17,” I say, whimpering with my need for my mate.
“And Jake is 16, worth keeping on our radar,” he says, spinning me around and ripping my p*anties to my knees. “Good talk. Lots of work accomplished,” he says, covering my m*outh as he slides inside me.
I lean my head back against his shoulder, as his arms wrap around me, holding me to him as he begins t*hrusting inside me, making me arch in p*leasure.
I have a moment to be grateful that I’m not far enough along in this pregnancy yet for him to smell our pup because I know he’d never let me go to the Beta Trials if he knew I was. Then I forget about everything as I’m lost in the p*leasure of my mate.
(Gianna POV)
“What if they come for me again?” I ask him, watching as he packs his ridiculously small amount of clothes in his bag.
He turns to me, pulling me against him. “Then I kill them. I know that still frightens you, but it’s who we are. No one comes for what is mine and you are mine,” Ezekiel says to me.
I’ve had a couple of weeks to get to know Ezekiel and the man has been absolutely true to his word. He adores me and he doesn’t care who knows it.
Well, I take that back. He makes a point of making sure that EVERYONE knows it. It’s so different than my relationship with Daniel. He’s the only man I have to compare Ezekiel to, but I’ve seen other relationships. The human men I’ve known always seem concerned that they appear as if they don’t care, or maybe it’s that they don’t want other women to know that they are in a relationship. That is not the case with werewolves. Once you find your mate, that’s it.
Jordan warned me that a male who finds his mate would be very possessive and even after the marking they won’t want their mate t*ouching another man or smelling like one. I’ve noticed that Ezekiel bares his teeth to men he thinks get too close to me, but he doesn’t make a sound, or at least not one that I can hear. I think he’s worried about scaring me. “It doesn’t scare me as much as I think it should,” I say, feeling my little one moving around inside me.
According to Dr. Teresa, I’m only about six weeks away from delivering my son. I’ m excited and scared. But more than that, I find it fascinating how much my little one responds when Ezekiel is near me.
I have caught this man, who is incredibly intense, lying next to me in bed when I’ve fallen asleep. He talks to my son, telling him to be good to me, that I don’t have my wolf yet but we’re still hoping. I may be crazy, but I swear my son listens to him.
After falling head over heels for Daniel, I swore I’d never do that again when our divorce was finalized. Yet, here I am, two years later, finding myself completely enamored with Ezekiel.
The morning after our walk in the woods, I saw him outside during the morning training session. He’d had his shirt off and was going around helping the others in training. I was mesmerized by his b*ody. Seriously, no man should look at that good. I’d had a moment of insanity where I wondered what it would feel like to have my t*ongue running over his eight-pack abs.
I’m not sure if I made a sound or if it was something else, but his head had snapped up to look at me. He had smiled at me, as if he could tell what I was thinking. Then, he’d jogged over to me, pulling me against his sweaty b*ody that still somehow smelled deliciously of p*umpkin pie, k*issing me until I forgot everything around me, before jogging back and continuing with training, leaving me feeling lightheaded and woozy.
“You will be safe with me. All of the elite fighters will be there. No one will get to you,” he says, reaching down to stroke my stomach. “Or you, little one,” he says to my son.
I’m not really sure what gets into me, but I know that I don’t want to sleep in my bed alone tonight. If I do, I’ll never get any sleep. I’ll stay up, worrying about tomorrow. So, I take a deep breath and ask.
“Would you mind staying the night with me?”
“Staying the night…with you?” Ezekiel asks, as if the words don’t make sense. “I mean, I don’t want to do anything. I just…l know I won’t sleep if I’m alone and for some reason….I sleep better when you’re close by,” I say, not looking at him.
His face slides beside mine, his m*outh coming to my ear.
“Are you asking me to stay the night with you?” he asks, making me shiver. “Yes.”
“I would love nothing more than to curl up beside you and hold you all night long.”
My head snaps up to see if he’s being sarcastic, but there is nothing but honesty on his face.
I smile and take his h*and, leading him to my room and leaving him so I can get ready for bed. When I get back, he pulls the covers down and he lifts me up, getting me settled before pulling the covers back up. Then he goes around the other side, pulling his shirt off but leaving his running shorts on and crawling in beside me.
“You get comfortable, and I’ll curl up around you,” he says.
I adjust my pillows, supporting my stomach as I lay on my side with my back to him. Once I’m settled, I feel his strong, warm b*ody curl up around me.
I’m not sure I last a minute before I am sound asleep. It’s the best sleep I’ve had in years.