The Claiming by Cooper Book 5
The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)
Chapter 77 (Ezekiel)
I heard my mate questioning if I was leaving, as if that’s an option for me. After making sure she knows I’m not going anywhere, I walk outside with Levi. Of all the elite fighters, he and I are the youngest, having just turned 30, and maybe because of that, we have always been close.
“So, you found your mate,” he says. It’s a statement, not a question.
“Yes.”
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“And I didn’t get a sense that she has a wolf,” he says, looking out at the car as the others pack up.
“It’s complicated and I don’t know the entire story, but what I do know is that she’s the daughter of Luna Jara and Alpha Seth’s dead sister.”
That gets his attention. “Luna Mila? Does that mean…”
“Typhon is her father? Yeah, that’s what the doctor says, anyway.”
“And she’s pregnant,” he says.
I clench my teeth, getting my fury under control before answering. “The rogues had her for a while.”
“Which one?” he snarls.
I look at him and I know the smile on my face isn’t a pleasant one. “One of the dead ones.”
He nods. “Good.”
He’s quiet a moment before turning to me. “If she’s your mate, then she’s one of ours now. Let me know if you need anything from me, you know, like someone to help you torture someone,” he says, slapping me on the shoulder. “Will do,” I say as he jogs down the steps. “Levi,” I call. He turns to me. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.”
I turn, heading back inside. I follow Gianna’s toffee scent to an office with the door standing ajar. When I step in, I see that both of the Alphas in this room have pulled their mates into their laps. If I didn’t think it would terrify her, I’d do the same to Gianna. I’ve only recently heard about the mate bond, this being the first generation that it has returned after our near annihilation as a race. But now, feeling it? It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt in my life. My draw to Gianna, my need to be near her, t*ouch her, smell her, it’s almost impossible to resist.
But I do. Because I know enough of what that rogue put her through to know that me forcing any contact with her will be unwanted and will only damage our mate bond. Without a wolf, Gianna’s draw to me will be based solely on our interactions and if I can get her to fall in love with me.
I’m used to dedicating myself to a task, to persevering until I achieve what I want. I did it to become an elite fighter and I will do it again to win my mate’s love and affection.
I take the chair beside Gianna, smiling at her when she gives me a tentative smile. I desperately want to reach out and at least hold her h*and, but instead, I clasp my own hands in my lap and my knee begins bouncing.
I watch her frown at the movements. “You don’t have to stay. If you want to leave with your friends, I understand.”
Now it’s my turn to frown. “I don’t want to leave. I want to t*ouch you and I’m struggling to not do it.”
“T*ouch me how?” she asks me. “Any way you feel comfortable. Hell, I’ll hold your pinky if that’s okay. You see them, they both have their mates in their laps. That’s the mate bond, wanting to be close, wanting to t*ouch. I know you don’t feel it and I know…” I cut off as a growl starts to erupt from my c*hest.
“I know you probably don’t want me t*ouching you after what happened to you,” I finally get out. It’s uncomfortable having the others in here listening to what should be a private conversation, but if it makes her feel safe and allows me to be close, then I’ll deal with it.
She stands and I’m terrified I said too much, but instead of leaving, she moves her chair closer to mine. Then she smiles holding out her h*and, her pinky extended. My mate has a sense of humor.
I extend my pinky, ready to link with hers. “Just kidding,” she says, and opens her h*and. I take it, holding her one h*and in both of mine, taking a deep breath as the contact relaxes me.
I watch as she tilts her head, watching me. “It really does relax you?” she asks. “Yes. We’re only just learning about the value and importance of mate bonds. There are journals about them at the council, but it’s been a long time since we had enough she-wolves to feel the bond. This is really the first generation where the mate bond has returned. But I’ll tell you, and I’m guessing that Alphas Jordan and Jace would agree, that the draw to your mate is extremely powerful,” I tell her.
“It’s true,” Alpha Jordan says. “Their smell, their taste, their t*ouch, it all draws you in.”
“And the feeling never goes away, never lessens. The bond between you will only grow stronger the longer you are together, the more you nourish the bond. As Ezekiel said, it’s very powerful. What happened between you and your husband, would never happen with Ezekiel,” Luna Jara says.
“Husband?” I ask, fighting to keep the growl out of my voice.
“Yes. Just like I’m sure you’ve had lovers or whatever it is with werewolves, I was married. That’s the human version of the mate bond, I guess.”
“And you still have a husband?” I say, looking between her and Luna Jara. Jara implied that something bad happened between them.
“He and I got divorced because I couldn’t have children.”
I feel my eyebrow raise into my hairline as I look at her obviously pregnant belly. When I look back at her, her l*ips are twitching.
“Apparently I needed a werewolf to get me pregnant,” she tells me.
I’m still not happy about how she got pregnant or that she was forced by that rogue, but I do like that she wants pups. “How old are you? I wouldn’t have thought that you were old enough to have a husband and now be divorced.”
“We got married young. I was in foster care my entire life. I may have latched onto to the first man that showed me attention and affection. It didn’t take long to realize it was a mistake.”
“Luna Jara is right then. You’ll never have any reason to think that being with me is a mistake and I would never leave you if you couldn’t have pups. I want them, I’m thrilled you do too. But nothing you could do, short of rejecting me, would ever make me leave you.”
“I don’t know what you mean by rejecting you. It feels like something more than me saying I don’t want to date you. But so far, you’ve been really sweet,” she says, looking down and blushing a pretty shade of pink.
I stroke my thumb over her h*and. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only person who has ever called me sweet. I have a pretty h*ardcore reputation of being a badass,” I tell her.
She looks at me through her lashes. Damn I want to tilt that chin up and k*iss her. “You’re sweet to me,” she says, making Alpha Jace snort.
“That’s also the mate bond. Mates treat each other very differently than they treat others,” he says, k*issing the side of Jordan’s head as she leans against him. “Why don’t you start at the beginning, get me caught up on why you were raised as a human.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell on my end. All I know is that I was left at a fire station as a baby with a blanket and an amulet. Like I told the others, the blanket has long sense fallen apart with my multiple moves through the foster care system. But I’ve had the amulet, or what I thought was a n*ecklace, my entire life. It’ s the only thing I had from my parents, or what I thought came from my parents. That’s a big question now, I guess. If my mother was Mila and my father was Typhon, it sounds like my mother snuck me out to get me away from my father. But we don’t know if she got the amulet for me or not.”
“From everything I’ve ever heard of Alpha Typhon, your mother would never have wanted him to have access to you. And he wouldn’t have wanted you. He would have only wanted a boy to take over his pack.”
“That’s true. Even if he wasn’t sick when Mila was there, he was before and afterward, and he wasn’t a nice man. He tried to claim me in my claiming. I thought I killed him, but he got away.”
We can all hear Gianna’s heart rate increase.
“It’s okay. They did away with the claiming years ago and Dr. Braxton has a vaccine for the feral fever and claiming haze. I’m sure, compared to your human life, our life sounds very violent. It probably is. We have an animal spirit inside us that allows us to shift into a wolf. It makes us predatory, it enhances our senses, it makes us more instinctual than humans. Our rules are different than the humans’ but that also means that when we bond ourselves to someone, it’s for life.”
“Not for my father. He went after my Aunt Jara after my mother died,” she says. “He was sick, honey. There’s a difference between a sick werewolf and a healthy one,” Jara tells her.
She looks thoughtful, and I keep catching her glancing over at me before looking away. I don’t look away. I’m entranced by her beauty and all of the different emotions flittering across her face. “Tell me about your life,” I say to her.
She finally looks me in the eye. “You’re intense, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I’m sorry if that’s overwhelming to you. I can try not to be, but I’m used to fighting for what I want, and I want you.”
“You don’t even know me,” she says, looking down again.
“That’s why I’m asking you about your life, so I can get to know you.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
She smiles, raising her eyebrow at me. “That could take a long time.”
“I have the rest of my life,” I say seriously. She looks at me a moment before turning to look at her family.
“Do any of you have concerns about me being alone with Ezekiel?” she asks them. I turn to look at them, then look back at Gianna.
“You’re probably as safe or safer with him as you are with any of us,” Alpha Mason says, and the others agree.
She turns and looks at me. “Would you like to go for a walk? I like the outdoors and I’m guessing you do too?”
I stand, helping her to her feet. “I do like the outdoors, and I know I’ll like it a lot more sharing it with you.”