The Claiming by Cooper Book 5
The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)
Chapter 92 Gabriella
Today’s the day! The day I become a Beta in my own pack. I love my family, but I didn’t want to live in their shadow all my life. I was glad when Alphas Jordan and Jace asked me to be their Beta. They were my first choice. I love how Alpha Jordan has overcome the stigma of being the only female Alpha. Of course, Alpha Taylor won her spot as well, but Alpha Jordan has known since she was born that she was going to become Alpha, and she has fought her way through this male dominated world to make sure she’s the best Alpha she can be.
I have a lot of respect for that. And being the youngest in my family, I understand having to fight to be heard. Both of my older sisters are Lunas, and both of my brothers are Alphas of their own packs. I’m okay that it wasn’t my destiny to have my own pack. I like the idea of being a Beta in an established pack. A pack that isn’t run by my family so I can make my own way.
It was a long goodbye at my brother’s pack. Paolo wanted to talk to my new Alphas before I left, but I warned him that I would never come to visit him again if he embarrassed me that way. My mother cried and my father wished me well and told me that he had faith in me, but if things didn’t work out, I’d always have a place at home.
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I have no intention of failing and maybe I’m the only one in my family, but I’m excited to be starting a new adventure.
I packed everything that I wanted into my car, knowing anything else could be shipped, brought by family later, or replaced. Then I got in my car, waved goodbye to my family and my pack and drove off. I had a moment of nostalgia, a moment of realizing that these people, this family that I had grown up around my entire life, would no longer be my family, but then I remembered that it’s not like I won’t ever see them again. I’ll still visit, and I’ll see them at pack events.
I turn the radio up and the roll the windows down, pulling my hair into a ponytail and singing at the top of my lungs as I drive to my new home. The late fall day is perfect, the temperature just cool enough that I have to turn the heat on in the car so I can keep the windows down.
It’s several hours later when my GPS lets me know that I’m coming up on the turn off. I’m in the middle of nowhere, so I look around, sniffing the air, trying to set this point into my mind for the future. Since there are no street signs or ways of knowing that the pack exists here, I need to remember by sight and smell where the turn off is.
I turn right and turn the radio off as I begin bouncing over a bumpy dirt road. Several miles in, I see the gate that I’m looking for. I pull up and wait for the man to come out. “Hello, I’m Al….Beta Gabriella. I’m here to meet with Alphas Jordan and Jace.”
“Beta Gabriella, we’re very excited to have you here,” the man says, looking at my n*eck. I haven’t found my mate yet, so my n*eck is bare. A sure sign to unmated males that I’m available. As a Beta, I’m positive that I’ll have my share of men chasing after me. It’s been that way most of my life, I’ve just had my father and brothers to chase them off before.
“If you follow this road for about a mile and a half, you’ll find the packhouse. Nearly half of our pack lives there, so you can’t miss it. There are houses and shops around as well, but I’m sure Alpha Jordan will make sure you get the tour.”
He looks at his watch. “It’s still lunch time at the pack house, so you can get some food when you get there and probably meet a lot of the pack members. I’ll let Alpha Jordan know that you’re on your way.”
“Thank you very much….” I leave the question hanging.
“Warrior Dale.”
“Thank you very much, Warrior Dale. I’m sure I’ll see you very soon,” I say.
“I’m sure you’ll see me tonight at your Beta ceremony, Beta Gabriella,” he says, and I nod. Jordan told me she wanted to make me a member of the pack right away, given my role as Beta.
He opens the gate and I drive through, taking deep breaths of the unfamiliar air, catching the scents of multiple wolves as I go. I take my time, watching the pack dynamics, as they go about their afternoon on the pack lands.
When I pull up, I see Alpha Jordan and Alpha Jace standing on the front steps waiting for me. I pull up, and get out, taking a deep breath of the air around the packhouse.
Mmmm, chocolate cake. I love chocolate cake! I hope they made it for my Beta ceremony.
“Gabriella, it’s good to see you again,” Alpha Jordan says, coming up to me.
“Hello, Alpha. It’s great to be here,” I say, surprised when she pulls me into a hug, or as much of a hug as she can with her pregnant belly between us.
“I got some warriors to help you with your things,” Alpha Jace says, as he and three other large warriors come over to grab some of my things.
I grab my duffel bag from the front seat and Alpha Jordan puts her arm through mine. T ve put you on the Beta floor. Right now, it’s only you, but hopefully soon you’ll find your mate soon,” she says.
As we walk up the steps of the packhouse, the scent of chocolate cake gets stronger.
Damn it smells good.
“You must smell lunch. Are you hungry?” Alpha Jordan asks me.
“I ate before I left, but I could eat. Plus, Warrior Dale said that there are probably a lot of pack members still eating. It would be a good time for me to meet them.”
Because I’m walking slower with Alpha Jordan, the warriors and Alpha Jace pass us, taking my things upstairs. I’ll take time later to get settled, but right now, I desperately want to see this incredible chocolate cake that they are baking.
As we step inside, I lift my nose, sniffing the air.
“I really hope that chocolate cake is for my Beta ceremony tonight. It’s my favorite, and it smells delicious,” I tell Alpha Jordan.
She looks confused and is about to answer when we hear the sound of shoes slapping against the tile floor as someone comes rushing up to us.
The moment he rushes into the room, the scent of chocolate cake floods my senses. I look at him. He looks tall and strong, and he’s currently got a large turkey l*eg in his h*and. He stops, staring at me like he’s dumbfounded.
“Victor?” Jordan asks beside me.
I smile, looking at him.
“Did you bring that food for me….mate?” I ask him, stressing the word.
He growls and Jordan steps back as he rushes to me, tossing the turkey l*eg aside, pressing me against the wall, and k*issing me as his delicious scent and taste overwhelms me.
“Dammit Jace! We just had our ranked members finalized and now we’re going to have to find ourselves a new Gamma!” I hear Jordan complain.
“Yes, we are,” I hear Alpha Jace say, and it sounds like he’s smiling.
That’s the last thing I hear, see, or smell, other than my mate, for a very long time.
Jordan POV
We had to postpone Gabriella’s Beta ceremony for another day since she and Victor marked and mated right away. In the end, it worked out. We were able to make Victor our official Beta as well and Jace is thrilled to have his brother as his Beta. We were also able to include Gianna and Ezekiel, and they are official members are of our pack now too.
Gabriella settled into her role and this pack right away. She’s as perfect for our pack as I knew she would be and with Victor by her side, she’s learned everything she needed to know in a very short amount of time.
It’s good that I’m due to deliver any moment now, because not only is Gabriella pregnant, but Gianna is pregnant again as well. It didn’ t take either one of them any time to get pregnant. Gianna has continued to be a huge help to me while I was pregnant, but now that she’s also pregnant, it’s impacting her plans to go visit Jaxon’s pack.
In the two months since the Beta Trials, we realized that the rogues had moved back to Jaxon’s pack lands. He had gone to check on things and had smelled them. When he sent up the howl of alarm, Tobias, Balor and Darryl had responded, chasing them off. The council has created a hunting group to solely search for the rogues, but we’ve also divided up the packs so the new packs can begin to build while the council goes into election time. Once the new council is elected, we’ll begin planning for the Gamma Tournament.
It was late in the night when I went into labor and Jace had rushed me to the pack hospital. We knew we were having a boy and a girl, which made me smile. I hope my twins are just like me and Jaxon were. We also found out that Jaxon and Evangeline are having a boy and a girl, so now I’m also hoping that the four of them can be best friends.
Jace and I had gone back and forth with names for our pups. He wanted to honor his father for giving his life for the pack, so we decided to name our son Joseph. Jace still holds some anger towards his mother, so we decided to name our daughter after my grandmother, Nina. She couldn’t have been more excited.
Once my grandparents met Gianna and had seen the resemblance to Mila, they had decided to retire in my pack. They wanted to be close to their grandbabies, but I also think that being around Gianna has healed their hearts a bit from the loss of their daughter.
Gianna hasn’t shifted yet. She might have if she hadn’t gotten pregnant so quickly after her wolf recognized Ezekiel as her mate, but she’ll have time once this baby is born.
Ezekiel has begun training her, modifying it for her pregnant state, but the stronger she gets, the more everyone around her can sense her wolf. She’s very excited to have her first shift after this baby is born. This baby will be a girl.
On the morning that my babies were born, my family was there to meet them. Luke and Brynn also came to meet their grandbabies as well. I think that Brynn’s relationship with Melinda is finally healing. It’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting better.
At some point after delivering my babies and while my family was still there, I fell asleep, exhausted from the lack of sleep for weeks and from giving birth. When I woke later than evening, it was just Jace, me, and the twins.
I turn, seeing Jace with both babies in his arms in a rocking chair that someone must have brought in. He’s humming to them as they snuggle against his warmth.
“I always knew you’d be a perfect father,” I say, watching him.
He looks up at me and his love for our children is blatant in his eyes.
“That’s because I have the perfect mate,” he says.
He stands, coming to put Nina in my arms. “Another female Alpha. I don’t know what poor Joseph will do, but the girls in your family just push your way out first, don’t they,” he asks, cooing at our daughter.
“We know what we want, and we go for it,” I say, looking at him.
He leans in, his lingering k*iss is soft and full of love.
“You’ve made me happier than I ever thought that I could be, Jordan. I didn’t know that my life could feel more complete after you accepted me, but here I am, feeling like the luckiest man on the face of the planet with mate who is as beautiful on the outside as she is on the inside and two gorgeous, healthy babies.”
I reach down, stroking a f*inger over Nina’s cheek, her face turning toward my f*inger. “We’ve had a lot thrown at us Jace, a lot we’ ve had to overcome. Maybe now, it’s time for us to be happy, to just enjoy our life and our family, together.”
“I love the sound of that, and I love you, my most perfect mate,” he says, k*issing me again until Nina begins to fuss.
I help her latch on to my b*reast as Jace goes back to the rocking chair with Joseph and I realize that, like Jace, I’ve never been happier in my life.
***
A/N: This is the end of The Beta Trials. The story will continue in The Gamma Tournament as part three of The Contest.
Many of you have asked in the comments about why I start new books when I haven’t finished ones like this. I wanted to take a moment to answer that question.
There are several reasons why I do that.
First, I have contractual requirements to complete a certain number of new books each year. Spin-offs do not count toward that number. I do those primarily because I want to know more about those character’s stories or because readers ask for them. In addition, I have books that are part of an on-going series, and I don’t want to stop writing those books without finishing the overall storyline.
If I were to focus on one or two books at a time, stories like Melinda and Jonas, Balor and Kyra and Weston would most likely never be told, and I never would have started The Contest or The Beta Trials because those are a spin-off of The Claiming. I wouldn’t have time in between my contract books to write those. So, I’d rather give slower updates, tell the stories and still meet my contract requirements.
My primary book will always be the one I’m under contract to write (currently The Trial). The other books are a bonus for me (because the characters tend to become loud in my head when I don’t write their stories) but also for you because many readers have asked to hear their stories.
So, that is the answer to the question. I hope this helps.
-Cooper