The Claiming by Cooper Book 5
The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)
Chapter 47 (Jordan)
When Jace pulls back, he looks at me smiling. It’s the same smile from this morning and I know that this is what he was thinking of earlier, how to show me that there is nothing romantic between him and Taylor any longer.
“Did you need something?” he asks, and I shake my head, still a bit dazed from the k*iss.
“Okay. Victor is doing great, by the way,” he says, before jogging back.
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Taylor watches him go, a thoughtful look on her face. “Nolan k*isses me like that. The mate bond is a crazy thing, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is,” I say.
She turns and looks at me. “He never loved me, not like that. Jace, I mean. He and I are close, and I hope that won’t present a problem in the future for you or Nolan. He’s a great guy and we were and still are great friends. But he never loved me like he loves you. He never looked at me like he looks at you. And I know that I never had the feelings for him that I have for Nolan. It’s uncomfortable all the way around, Jordan. But,” she huffs, “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I get it now. I understand the power and the pull of the mate bond. You have nothing to worry about with me and Jace.”
“Thanks Taylor,” I say. It’s close enough to what Jace told me earlier but it feels good to hear it from Taylor too. “Nolan has always wanted his mate, his fated mate. He would never choose me over you, and honestly, I agree with you about the mate bond. Even after the rejection, I still felt so drawn to Jace. Now that it’s rescinded…”
“You rescinded your rejection?” she asks, smiling.
I nod.
“Good. You and Jace make a good team, you would make great mates and leaders of your pack.”
“We’re working on it,” I say.
“I get that too. My mate thinks it’s a great idea for me to wear dresses,” she says, rolling her eyes.
“Tay, you’re thinking about this all wrong. You’re giving Nolan the power because he won the bet. You need to make him rethink his bets in the future.”
“What do you mean?”
“You need to go all out s*exy. Make sure every man in the room is going to look at you. Nolan will be half thrilled to be with you and half crazed with jealousy that everyone else gets to see you that way. And, depending on where you are at with your relationship, s*exy lingerie is always fun too.”
“Do you have a dress that fits that criterion?” she asks me.
“It just so happens, I do.”
We turn and walk back inside. I get the red dress for Taylor as she makes note of Jace’s belongings in the room. She doesn’t say anything about it, and neither do I. When she leaves, I head back to my office to call Griffin to begin making arrangements for the gathering.
Just as I’m about to contact him, I get another call.
“Alpha Jordan,” I answer.
“Alpha, this is Gamma Luke. You need to get back up to bear country.”
“What’s going on? What happened?” I ask. There are so many possibilities of things that could be wrong, the bears didn’t take to the vaccine and are going feral, something happened between Balor and Kyra causing a rift in the packs, another rogue attack that injured the bears or has them angry with the wolves in general.
“We found a woman. A pregnant human. She said she was raped and being held against her will. She said she got away but there are others. Alpha, they’re still breeding, the rogues. I can smell them on her. This woman is terrified. Brynn is doing what she can, but we’re surrounded by large men here and she doesn’t trust any of us. We also need to get a hunting party out there. Balor and Apollo are out following her scent, but we need to get to these humans before the rogues move them, or worse, kill them.”
“I’m on my way/’ I say, hanging up and linking Jace as I call my mother. If the rogues are still breeding, it means that there are humans that are recently missing. If the humans find them, especially if they are pregnant, it could mean that our secrets will get out. We, the werewolves, would never be safe again.
I race upstairs, throwing clothes into a bag as I fill my mother in on what’s happening.
“Jordan, I’m still on your pack lands. I can go with you,” she says.
“No mom, I’ve already linked Jace. I need you to get the council together and figure out how we’re going to find these humans. And mom, there are two packs. My guess is they are both breeding. If it were us, we wouldn’t have our females together, the packs would keep them separated, so it’s very likely we’re looking for two hiding spots. I need you to work with Dad to see if we can narrow down how many missing women there are. Once I talk to this woman, maybe we’ll have a better idea of where they are finding these women. But we need to move fast,” I say, just as Jace comes rushing into the room.
When he sees me throwing clothes into a bag, he rushes into the shower and quickly bathes. I begin throwing his clothes into a bag and when he comes out, we’re ready to go.
“Mom, I need to go. I need to let Elijah and Victor know that they are in charge while we’re gone. Talk to the council and let me know what they want to do. I’ll keep you updated on what Balor and Apollo find out.”
I hang up and mind link Elijah and Victor, letting them know that I need them to run the pack, and giving them a quick update.
He hop in the car and Jace pulls out, racing back to bear country and to this human that somehow escaped the rogues.
(Durai POV)
I snarl as I finish slamming things around the room. I’m covered in the blood of those that I eviscerated for letting the pregnant human escape.
The women in front of me stopped screaming long ago. Now they are just hovering in a corner, sobbing quietly.
Curtis comes rushing back in, taking in the scene with barely a glance. “They found her. The bears found her, and they’ve taken her in. They have my pup, Alpha!”
I look at the women huddled on the floor in front of me. They have moved as far away from the blood and guts as they can, but there is so much that the blood is making its way toward them. “Alpha!”
“We need to move, Curtis. They’ll be searching for the others.”
“But my pup!”
“Two of these females are yet to be impregnated. If you don’t want one of them, we’ll find you another one. You’ll have your pup and if we can get the other one back, we will. But for now, we need to move,” I say and walk up to the females who flinch away from me.
I grab the one that is carrying my pup by the arm.
“Let go of me, you monster,” she snaps.
I smile at her. I chose her for this very reason. I love her spunk.
“Time to go, little human. No crying wee, wee, wee all the way home for you,” I tell her.