The Claiming by Cooper Book 5
The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)
Chapter 82 (Jordan)
I know Jace is nervous about me being at the Beta Trials now that I’m pregnant and honestly, I feel like I now have so much to do to prepare for these babies in the next four months that the two weeks here feels like time I should be preparing a nursery or buying baby stuff. But this is important. Ever since Carter left me in a lurch, my pack hasn’t been at full strength. I need all three ranked members for that.
Similar to our first night at The Contest, the first night of the Beta Trials will be a banquet dinner where the rules of the competition will be explained, and the competitors will have a chance to meet the Alphas that are choosing Betas.
When we arrive, I ask how many competitors there are for the Beta positions. There are eleven open positions, so I’m surprised to find out that there are 300 competitors. Unlike the contest where the competition goes to the strongest competitor, the Alphas and their Lunas or in my case, co-Alpha, choose the Beta that they feel best meets the needs of their pack. So, no matter how they do in the competition, if they aren’t seen as beneficial to the pack they won’t be selected. And since there are so many competitors, there will be a lot of contenders going home without a new rank.
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“Jordan, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but you’re carrying my pups and I need to know that you and they are safe. Please stay close to me while we’re here. That way, if something happens, I can protect you,” he says, saying what I already knew.
“How about, I agree to stay close to you or Gianna, knowing that Ezekiel isn’t going to be far away from her. And in truth, neither is my mother or my Uncle Seth, which means my father and Aunt Hana will also be close by.”
He takes my face in his hands and k*isses me. “Thank you.”
We get dressed for dinner and then we head downstairs. There is a c*ocktail party before dinner where we can mingle with the contestants. Since Ezekiel is getting paid to work as a guard this week, Gianna is staying close to me and my family.
I had expected it to be h*ard to get to talk to the handful of individuals that I wanted to talk to, and it is, but not because they are surrounded by people talking to them. It’s because the 300 individuals competing want an opportunity to speak to me and Jace.
Early on in the evening, Jace starts telling everyone that he was not the Alpha, that we both are and if they don’t like the idea of being held equally accountable to me as they are to him, then they need to move on.
It cleared several of the contestants, but not as many as I would have thought. Also surprising is the number of females contestants in the Trials. There are many more than I had expected.
The c*ocktail party goes by quickly and we didn’t even come close to talking to the three Alpha females. They are obviously key to all eleven packs that are looking for Betas, so they were in conversations with other Alphas and Lunas during the party.
Jace and I did get to talk to Damien, Beta Jared and Juliet’s youngest child. At seventeen, I expected him to still act like a teenager, but he didn’t. I was pleasantly surprised at his maturity and his willingness to become part of a pack with a female Alpha.
As we walk into the dining room, my arm linked with Jace’s, I tell him my thoughts. “I didn’t know what to expect of Damien, but he’s now on my short list of contenders,” I say.
“He was great!” Gianna says, and both Jace and I turn to her. “I mean, I don’t know what qualifications you need to be a Beta, but his attitude and his maturity is exactly what you want in a leader,” she says.
“Spoken like the Alpha female that you are,” Jace says, pulling out a chair for the two of us at a table where most of our family will be sitting. I know my mother intends to spend as much time with Gianna as possible and I can already tell that her protective instincts have kicked in for my cousin.
Gianna looks down as we sit, stroking her stomach.
“Is everything okay?” I ask her.
“Yeah, it’s just…l guess I’ve always felt out of place, not wanted or welcome throughout my entire life. And now, I’m not sure how to take all this in. I’m loved, welcomed with open arms and told that I’ m some sort of important position in the packs, which truly means nothing to me.”
I reach out and take her h*and, just as Ezekiel comes jogging over, reaching down to k*iss the top of her head. “You are loved, very much,” he says, before getting back to his guard duty.
Gianna turns and smiles at him. He winks at her as he gets back into position. “Man is he sweet,” she says and both Jace and I look over at Ezekiel.
“Yeah, that’s not how anyone else has ever described him,” Jaxon says, coming over to sit with us. “Personally, I thought he was going to kill me when we were training for the Contest,” he says, pulling out a chair for Evangeline, before sitting down.
She glances up at me, then glances away quickly. I narrow my eyes at her, waiting for her to make eye contact again. When she does, she very subtly shakes her head at me, telling me that she doesn’t want to talk about whatever is going on. “Oh please. I mean, I’ve seen him in training and woooo,” she says, fanning herself, “he’s incredible, but he’s not that strict,” Gianna says.
“Oh no, he really is. When he’s training you for real, believe me, all you want to do at the end of the day is go to sleep,” Evangeline says, then begins laughing as she looks at Jaxon.
“How many times did we fall asleep in our food at dinner?”
“Too many,” he says, smiling at his mate. “Where’s J J?” I ask them.
“Right here,” my mother says, walking up with my nephew in her arms. “What am I going to do when your Aunt Jordan has her twins? I won’t have enough arms,” my mother coos at him.
“Maybe then you’ll start sharing him with his other grandmother,” Luna Katerina says, coming up and holding out her arms.
My mother passes JJ off to Luna Katerina, after scoffing at her.
“Of course, my Magdalena is going to be giving me a grandbaby in about four months, so at least I’ll have my arms full of my grandbabies, won’t I?” she coos at JJ.
“What? My sister is pregnant and didn’t tell me?” Evangeline asks, starting to stand.
“I didn’t have time and you know how mother is. You could have at least pretended that you didn’t know, mother,” Magdalena says, coming upto our table, Caleb right behind her.
“Congratulations,” I say to her.
“Thank you. I hear congratulations are in order for you, too, Alpha,” she says to me. “Twins?”
“Yes,” I say, smiling at Jace who keeps a protective arm around the back of my chair.
Luna Katerina lifts her nose in the air, frowning.
“What is it mother?” Evangeline asks her and everyone turns to look at her. Katerina descends from royalty, so her senses are a bit better than the rest of ours.
“Evangeline, I don’t believe you have any room to be upset that your sister hasn’t shared her pregnancy with you, when you obviously haven’t shared your pregnancy with her,” she says, and I can instantly tell by the way my brother’s b*ody goes rigid that he didn’t know.
He turns and looks at Evangeline who has the grace to blush at his scrutiny. “Oh, your mate didn’t know either?” Luna Katerina asks, barely looking upset.
Jaxon narrows his eyes at her, leaning forward. Then he looks down and reaches out to stroke her stomach.
“How long have you known?” he asks her quietly.
“Just a few days. I tried to go for a run in my wolf form the other day and I couldn’t shift,” she tells him quietly.
“We’ll be talking about this later,” he says, pulling her into his lap.
“This is nice and all, but pregnant women got to eat, is all I’m saying,” Gianna says beside me and begins eating her food. “I’ll second that,” I say, digging into my food as well.
“Time to feed my mate and pup,” Caleb says, taking Magdalena’s h*and and walking her back to their table.
I know my twin and I narrow my eyes at him. “If you’re planning on feeding your mate her dinner, take her to your room. I’ m already nauseous enough with this pregnancy. I don’t need to watch that.”
He and his mate, only laugh at me.
As dinner winds down, Councilwoman Gia takes the stage.
“Good evening, everyone. Welcome to The Beta Trials,” she says, and the room erupts into cheers.
“First, I’d like to thank Alpha Caleb and Luna Magdalena for allowing us to have this competition on their new pack lands,” she says, and the crowd erupts into applause again.
“My name is Gia, and I am the council member that is assigned to preside over this competition. Tomorrow, we will start the drills for the Trials. All contestants will be placed into a team of 10. If you haven’t received your team assignment, please make sure you stop at one of the sign-up tables right outside the dining hall.”
She looks at the group before continuing. “There will be thirty groups that will be competing and over the next week, each of you will have a chance to show that you are Beta material. Of the 300 of you that are here to compete, there are only 11 spots, so the competition is fierce.”
She stops, letting everyone digest that information.
“Each day, the teams will receive an assignment from an Alpha. One lead will be assigned from each group per day. That lead will take the Alphas assignment and practice it for the first half of the day with your group. Then in the afternoon, you will compete, showing the Alphas how you followed through with their expectation. Be aware, if you are found to intentionally try to sabotage your lead for the day, you will be immediately eliminated. You are expected to perform to the best of your ability each day, whether you are the lead or not. Do not think that these Alphas will be fooled by you if you try to make your lead look bad. They won’t.”
She pauses again, letting that sink in.
“After each group has completed their task, the Alphas, Lunas and co-Alphas will have a chance to ask questions of the lead and the lead will have a chance to explain why they chose to follow the Alpha’s instruction the way they did.”
“There are no points given. Alphas and their partners will be making notes and deciding on who is the best choice for their Beta. Any questions?”
There are basic, general questions. Once she has answered them all, Councilwoman Gia wishes everyone good luck and the evening socializing begins.