The Claiming by Cooper Book 5
The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)
Chapter 55 (Jace)
After dropping Jordan and Gianna off at the pack hospital, I head back to the packhouse. I want to check in with Elijah and Victor before Jordan meets with her parents.
I walk to my office and hear Victor and Elijah talking in Elijah’s old office. We decided that Victor would take his office and I would keep mine.
I knock on the doorjamb as I walk in. “Hey, you’re back,” Victor says.
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“How was it?” Elijah asks. “I hear we have a human in our midst,” he says.
“Yeah. A pregnant human, showing signs of feral fever and the claiming haze,” I tell them, sitting down.
“The vaccine?” Victor asks.
“She’s taken it, but it’ll be a day or longer before we know if it will work and if it will save the fetus.”
“Where is she now?” Elijah asks. “The hospital. Dr. Teresa and Jordan are with her.”
‘Jace, she knows. She knows what we are,’ Jordan mink links me, panicking. ‘Calm down, Jordan. Deny it. She’s been exposed to a lot. You could make her think she’s hallucinating.’
‘She’s smart, Jace. She’s figured it out. And I’m going to tell her that this is why her baby is growing so quickly.’ ‘Jordan, the Council…’
‘Will have to get over it. They trusted me to go get her and bring her back. What did they expect, Jace? That she’d live here for three months and never see a wolf?’ ‘You know the Council isn’t going to like it, Jordan.’
‘I’ve promised her that nothing will happen to her or her baby if I can help it. She may not be a wolf, she may not be part of my pack, but she’s under my protection and I take that very seriously.’
I sigh. ‘Then, she’s under my protection too,’ I tell her. ‘Do what you have to do. I’ll support you. I’m with Elijah and Victor. I’ll let them know.’
‘Thanks, Jace.’
‘Don’t thank me yet. I’m guessing we’re going to have a battle on our hands,’ I tell her as I stand, going to close the door to the office.
Elijah sits back, getting comfortable. “Well, this can’t be good.”
I tell them what Jordan told me.
Elijah whistles long and low. “S*hit.”
“Yeah,” I say.
“Okay, I’m new to all of this. Can someone fill me in?” Victor asks.
Elijah gestures to me. “Go ahead, Beta.”
I lean forward, putting my elbows on my knees and running my f*ingers through my hair before looking up at Victor.
“It’s long been known that mating with humans causes craziness in werewolves. Now, we have a human that not only is showing signs of feral fever and the claiming haze but knows our secret. If that secret gets out, all of us are in danger,” I say, but I can see that he’s not quite getting it.
“So, what does that mean? I mean, I understand that her knowing about us is bad, but if I understood it right, this woman is happy to be pregnant, even if it is due to a rape. She wouldn’t betray us. She’d be betraying her own child.”
Elijah sits forward. “If the Council decides that this human is a danger to us because of the viruses that she’s carrying, or because she might tell other humans about us, the Council could decide to take her and her baby out,” he tells Victor.
“Take them out? You mean kill them? But why?” he asks, appalled.
“We’d never be safe again if the humans began hunting us. Can you imagine what would happen if they tried to experiment on us and we basically became lab rats forthem?” I say.
“Oh s*hit!” Victor says, putting his head in his hands. I look at Elijah and we both wait for the other shoe to drop for Victor.
“But wait, if Alpha Jordan has sworn to protect her and keep her safe then “
Victor looks between us. “Oh s*hit, we’re talking about a war, or at best a battle, maybe even losing our pack because they all leave since that’s an option right now… Oh s*hit!”
“I see you understand the gravity of what we’re dealing with,” Elijah says to him. “So, what do we do?” Victor looks at me, then to Elijah and back again. “How do we support our Alpha?”
I look at Elijah and we both smile.
“That, kid, is the right question,” Elijah says.
(Gianna POV)
I watch as Jordan’s eyes go unfocused after I ask her about being a pack of wolves. I’m not sure what it means, but I’ ve noticed a lot of unspoken conversations between her and the others around her. I was in foster care most of my life. I went from home to home, and I had to learn unspoken cues from adults. I’m very good at reading others.
When her eyes refocus, she looks at me and sighs, sitting on the edge of the bed I’ m lying on, waiting for the doctor to return.
“What I’m about to tell you could cause me and everyone here a lot of problems. You talked about trust earlier and I understand that you are putting a lot of trust in me, so now, I’m putting a lot of trust in you.”
She looks at me a long moment, and my heart begins to stutter with fear, before she sighs. “What do you know about werewolves?”
I frown, the wolf pack thing was a guess based on what I heard between her and her mother, which wasn’t a lot. But I’d heard the howls as we came past the guard gates and her mother said something about a pack. The guys who kidnapped us talked about my baby being a pup and then they call the leaders by their rank, not a human or military rank, like president or admiral, but an animal’s rank.
“You mean like Stephen King s*hit?” I ask, getting more scared by the moment. Do I have to be worried about going out at night?
“I don’t know who that is.”
“He’s an author that writes horror stories, one is about a person who turns into a werewolf and kills people,” I say, trying to subtly look around so I can get out of here if I need to.
The door opens and Dr. Teresa comes in. She looks at Jordan and both of their eyes go unfocused. Maybe they have telepathy.
Dr. Teresa nods and then comes over to me. “I’m going to attach some monitors to you so we can get some information about your heart rate and your baby’s heart rate.”
“What are you?” I ask and I’m proud that my voice stays steady. I pull my knees up and wrap my arms around my stomach in an attempt to protect my baby.
Dr. Teresa looks at Jordan, and I guess since she’s the Alpha, that makes sense. The doctor is deferring to her in this. “Calm down,” Jordan says and reaches out to lay her h*and on my arm. I jerk away from her.
She pulls her h*and back but keeps her eyes on me. “We’re shape shifters, humans with a wolf spirit.”
“So, less Stephen King, more Twilight?” I ask her. She must know that book and movie reference.
“I’m not sure why you’re comparing the time of day to a person, but twilight has nothing to do with our shifts. Unlike what you may think, we aren’t bound by the moon phases, or the time of day,” she says.
Wow, she really has no clue about modern-day movie culture.
“So, what happens when you turn into a wolf?” I ask her. There has to be some sort of catch here.
“Nothing. I mean, if you’re wearing clothes, they shred and then you’re n*aked when you shift back. We have advanced senses, like vision, hearing and smell, and we’re probably more instinctual than you humans are,” she says.
“Don’t forget the mates and the mind linking,” Dr. Teresa says.
“Right. We have fated mates, given to us by our deity, the Moon Goddess who created us. Fated mates to you would probably be similar to love at first sight, only much stronger, almost unavoidable,” she says.
“So, you and Jace? Mates?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says and Dr. Teresa glances at her. There must be a story there.
“And when your eyes go unfocused, that’ s you talking in your ‘mind link’?” I ask, using air quotes.
“Yes.”
“Prove it,” I tell her.
“Excuse me?”
“Prove it. Prove that you’re a wolf, that you have heightened senses or that you can mind link. Otherwise, you’re just a creepy cult that isn’t any better than the men who kidnapped me.”
I watch her eyes go unfocused, but Dr. Teresa pulls my attention away from her. “I knew you needed to calm down the moment I entered the room and heard your heartbeat,” she says to me. “Too easy. Anyone could see that I’m uncomfortable being in a place where I know no one after being kidnapped, raped, and held hostage,” I say.
They look at each other and Dr. Teresa nods. “That’ll work,” she says before turning to me. “Can I get you hooked up while we wait for your proof? I’d like to check your baby and make sure he or she isn’t in distress because you are,” she says.
Because I’m afraid of losing my child, I agree. If I have to rip the monitors off of me to escape, I can.
She’s just gotten them all set up on me, and is turning on the machines, when there’s a knock at the door. Jordan turns to look at me.
“Come in,” she says and Jace walks in. He looks at her and she nods, then he turns to me.
“Jordan says the mind link is real and wants to know if you believe her now.”
Ho-ly s*hit!