The Claiming by Cooper Book 5
The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)
Chapter 56 (Carter)
There’s a buzz all around the pack that we have a human staying with us. A pregnant human.
We all got the mind link from Luna Jara ordering us to keep our wolves out of sight, not that she’s the Alpha and can command us, but she is a councilmember, so we have to listen to her.
“Mom, what do you think of this human situation?” I ask as I sit with her in my parents’ new home. They moved here after Jordan made Jace Beta and Victor Gamma.
Join Our Telegram Group for Update Notification and Novel Query
My dad, who has refused to speak to me since he found out I withdrew as Alpha Jordan’s Beta, is at the packhouse working with Jace, teaching him the position of Beta. Jace should thank me, but I doubt he will. Without me, he wouldn’t be Beta, his parents are only Gammas after all.
My mother works to fold my father’s clothing as she carefully puts his things away while hers sits waiting for her to get to it. She’s always been this way. I guess it’s the omega in her. She always puts my father’s needs first. It almost makes me wish my mate could be an omega. Almost.
But, if it turned out that my mate was an omega, I’d have to reject her. I have plans for this life, plans that don’t include folding laundry or cooking food. I need a strong mate to give me strong children. I love my mother, but I want to wipe the omega out of our bloodline. Ella is mated to an Alpha, so I’m surprised that I wasn’t as well.
My mother stops, her eyes going unfocused. “I think that this poor girl needs our help. I know Alpha Jordan will help her, it’s who she is. Whatever she and the others decide, we’ll support them.”
“Yeah, but what if this human gets all of us sick and kills us with her human diseases? I already heard she’s carrying feral fever and the claiming haze viruses. Her little leech baby probably is too. I can’ t believe Alpha Jordan would bring someone like that into our pack,” I say. To me, it’s just more proof of Jordan’s inability to lead a pack. She’s endangered everyone bringing that human here. I mean, her own mate didn’t want her. Even he knew that she wasn’t worthy of her title.
“Carter! Alpha Jordan did what she thought was right. Dr. Braxton has already seen this woman and they are assessing her child now. This woman has been through a lot at the hands of werewolves. She deserves to see that we’ re not all that way and for us to try to save her and her child.”
“But why, mom? At best, she’ll get healthy, have her sickly hybrid baby, leave, and tell the world about us. At worst, she’ll get us all sick and we’ll die with her mutated germs,” I tell her. Truly, sometimes I don’t understand my mother. As long as she’s been mated to a Beta, you’d think she’d have more self-preservation, or at least a sense of pack preservation.
“You are not the Beta or future Beta here any longer, Carter. There are things happening that you are not aware of. Maybe after the Beta Trials, when you’re picked up by another pack, things will be more clear.”
Now that just pisses me off. My mother is making it seem like she has knowledge that I don’t have. I narrow my gaze at her. “What are you talking about mother?”
“Nothing. I shouldn’t have opened my m*outh, sweetheart. Why don’t we change the subject. Have you decided which Alphas you’re going to talk to at the gathering this weekend?”
I want to push my mother, but I know that if this is a secret my father told her, nothing will get her to tell me. She’s as dedicated and devoted to my father as any woman I’ve ever seen. Again, it makes me wonder if I shouldn’t consider an omega mate. Devotion like this could be good for a Beta. I could leave the menial work for her while I do the real work. If I take a ranked mate, she’ll expect to work and have someone else do these things just like me.
I shrug. That’s what omegas are for anyway. Better to have a strong mate and bring the omegas in to clean up for me. “Yeah, I have my top three. Well, I wanted to be Jaxon’s Beta, but he basically said if I turned down his sister, then he doesn’t have a position for me.”
My mother stops and looks at me. “I would guess that Alpha Caleb would be the same, but you could talk to your sister. Have her put in a good word for you, since she’s mated to his brother,” she says, looking like it pains her to say it. As if I would ask my sister to speak for me. Hell no, but I can’t say that to my mother.
“That’s okay, mom. I know Taylor is out, too. My top three are Tobias, Stephen and Reid. They are the strongest Alphas next to Jaxon.” I say. I see her clench her teeth at my familiar use of their names. She thinks it’s disrespectful for me to not use their title. It’s not like I’m talking to them, I’m just talking about them.
I hear the front door open, and my mother looks up, a smile on her face.
“Layan,” my father calls and I stand. Time for me to head out.
“I’ll see you later mom,” I say, moving to k*iss her cheek goodbye.
“Carter, you and your father should talk,” she begins, but a moment later, I feel the oppression of my father as he enters the room.
“Maybe some other time, mom,” I say as my father glares at me.
I nod at him as I pass and then head outside. Just as I close the door, I hear my mother begin to plead with my father. “Elijah…” she says, but I close the door on the conversation. I don’t want to talk to him any more than he wants to talk to me.
I begin making my way back to my room in the packhouse. My pitifully small room. I can’t wait until I can get out of here and into a real packhouse with a real Beta’s quarters, something worthy of me and my future mate.
As I walk, an idea begins to form in my head. The Beta Trials are coming soon. What if I could show my value to the other Alphas before the Trials, give myself a l*eg up. What if someone were to let the rogues know that one of their pregnant humans was here, in this pack? And what if that human was kidnapped right out from under Jordan’s nose. Then everyone would see that she was incapable of running a pack, and I would be the one who saved us all from the diseases of the human and her hybrid baby.
An idea begins forming in my mind and when I get to the packhouse, I jog to my room. I quickly write out a note and get a hammer and nail and then I head out.
I go through Taylor’s pack, following the path that we were told the rogues took when they ran.
When I get to the borders, I’m stopped by a patrol. “Carter? Is everything okay?”
Thank goodness this isn’t one of my father’s patrols, this is a younger guy that I went to school with.
“Hey Charlie, all is good. I was asked to come out and see if there are any recent trails for the rogues nearby. Have you guys seen anything?”
“Nah, but we stay on the patrol route. Be careful and howl if you find anything.”
“Will do,” I say and take off at a jog. It isn’t long before I pick up the scent. The rogues have been coming here frequently, probably watching the packs. Once again, Jordan is proving that she’s not worth her title.
I find an area where their scent is stronger, an area where, as I look back, they have a clear view of all three packs. I nail my note to the tree and turn, feeling eyes on me.
“My message if for the rogue Alpha,” I say, before putting the hammer back into my jeans, covering it with my shirt and jogging around a bit longer before returning to the pack. I wave at Charlie as I pass and when I’m far enough away, I turn and look back.
If I didn’t know where to look, I wouldn’t be able to see him, but the rogue Alpha is there, reading my note. I smile, heading back to the packhouse. The first step of my plan has been put into action.