The Claiming by Cooper Book 6
The Gamma Tournament by Cooper (Ezekiel & Gianna)
Chapter 7 Gianna
I was nervous about going to my old apartment. Ms. Canning is the apartment manager of the building, and her room is the first one on the first floor by the entrance. No one goes in or out of the building without passing her door. She was always very nice to me, but I always paid my rent on time. Now, I’m worried that she’ll be angry that I just up and left.
However, when she throws her arms around me, I realize she must have heard that I went missing.
“Oh,” she says, stepping back and looking down at my pregnant belly. Then she looks up and her eyes go wide. “Oh my,” she says looking at Ezekiel.
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“Ms. Canning, this is my fiance, Ezekiel,” I tell her.
“Oh, well, hello there, young man. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you before,” she says, eyeing Zeke in his arms.
“Hello, Ms. Canning,” Ezekiel says in a charming purr that has the elderly Ms. Canning quivering. My mate’s smile is charming and renders her speechless for a moment.
“And this is our son, Zeke,” I tell her.
She tears her eyes away from Ezekiel. “Your son?” she asks, frowning, looking once again at my pregnant belly.
“Well, I was actually pregnant when I was kidnapped, I just hadn’t told anyone,” I say. “Not even me,” Ezekiel says, and somehow it seems to endear Ms. Canning to him even more.
“Oh, you sweet girl, you must have been terrified.”
“I was, but thankfully, Ezekiel found me and well, we’ve obviously been celebrating, and we got engaged,” I say, rubbing my stomach and showing her my brand-new ring.
I can feel Ezekiel’s pride that I’m showing off my ring.
“A moonstone,” she says, looking more closely at Ezekiel. “An unusual, yet powerful choice. Not many understand the power of the moon,” she says.
“Those who do, are well informed,” he says to her.
“On that, we agree young man,” she says looking at my ring for a moment longer.
Then she looks up at me. “You’ll be looking for your things, and I held on to them as long as I could, Gianna. I’m sorry, but I had to put them into storage.”
“Oh, that’s okay. Just let me know how much I owe you,” I tell her.
“We’re happy to pay the back rent that she wasn’t able to pay while she was being held hostage as well,” Ezekiel says to her. She looks at him and something passes between them.
“That won’t be necessary. I made the choice to hold it once the police came asking questions. I did have to let them in, you know, so they could see if there were any clues to your whereabouts. But then, I finally had to put your things into storage. Give me a moment, I’ve got the key here somewhere,” she says and goes back into her apartment.
She comes back out a moment later and hands me a key along with the information about the storage facility.
“Will you be looking for a place to live now? I have a vacant apartment if you need one,” she says.
“No, we’re moving back to the country,” Ezekiel tells her.
“Well then, I wish you luck and if you ever need anything, come see me,” she says. I thank her and we head out.
“What was that about?” I ask Ezekiel when we leave.
“She knows about shifters. She knew what I am, what we are. She told me I’d better take care of you, or she’d hunt me down like a dog,” he says smiling.
“No she didn’t,” I say, looking at him.
“She whispered it when she went into her apartment. Once your wolf is fully forward, you’ll be able to hear that well too. Plus, we’ II practice once you deliver our little girl,” he says, taking my h*and. “I like that grumpy old woman.”
“She apparently liked you too,” I tell him.
He pulls my h*and to his l*ips, k*issing it.
“Where to now?”
“Let’s go to the storage place and see how much stuff you have, then we can rent a truck for tomorrow. After that, I have a surprise for you,” he says, smiling. “What kind of surprise?” I ask, excitedly. Last night was perfect. I wasn’t expecting anything else.
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise. But I did tell Zeke and he agrees that you’ll like it,” he says, k*issing our son’s head. Zeke’s in a baby carrier strapped to his c*hest.
“How far is this place?” he asks.
I look at the address, then grab my phone, pulling it up on GPS.
“Twenty minutes walking distance,” I tell him.
“Are you good?”
“I’m perfect, it’s a beautiful fall day,” I say.
We walk to the storage facility and find the spot where my belongings are being held. The facility is air conditioned, but it has an internal door and a back garage style door. When we open the garage door, Ezekiel looks at everything I own, all in one space. “Is this everything?” he asks me.
“Yeah, my entire life in one small storage space,” I say. It’s actually kind of sad.
He wraps his arm around me, pulling me to him. “We’ll create a life, baby. A life that has everything you and I have ever dreamed of,” he says.
I look up at him and smile.
“My life already does,” I tell him.
He growls, turning to me and pulling my face to his. His t*ongue swipes into my m*outh, as he dominates my m*outh until I’m whimpering.
“Goddess, you are perfect,” he says to me. then, he grunts, stepping back, his arousal plainly on display between us, making me smile.
“Tonight,” he says, taking my h*and and adjusting himself with his other h*and before turning back to the storage facility.
“Is there any of this that you don’t want to keep?” he asks me.
“Well, I’m not sure how the packhouses work, but we seem to have everything we need there,” I say.
“Unless you decide you want to stay at Jaxon and Evangeline’s pack. Then we’ll need to start from scratch,” he says.
“So, let’s keep it all for now. Do you think we can store it in Jordan’s pack?” I ask him. “I’m sure we can, this isn’t a lot of stuff but if not, we can add it to what I have, which honestly, isn’t much more than this,” he says. “Let’s get back to the hotel. We’ll get some dinner, change clothes, and I’ll order the truck for tomorrow.”
After dinner, Ezekiel tells me to put on some comfortable clothes. I put on a pair of leggings and a light sweater. When I step out, I see that Ezekiel is wearing blue jeans and a t*ight-fitting black t-shirt that clings to his b*ody and boots.
My m*outh waters, and a low rumbling growl comes from my c*hest, making his head snap to me. I begin stalking him, recognizing the wolf in me prowling toward my mate.
“Something on your mind, mate?” he purrs at me.
“Do we have a reservation somewhere?” I ask him.
“No, we can arrive whenever we want to,” he says.
“Good,” I say, running my hands under his shirt, over his h*ard stomach and c*hest.
“You are gorgeous,” I say, and then l*ick my way from his belt to his n*eck.
He grabs me by the back of my n*eck. “You already had me on edge, baby girl.”
“And now you have me on edge, my s*exy mate,” I say, undoing his belt and his jeans.
He pushes me over the back of the couch and pulls my leggings down, sliding his hands over my soaked, lower l*ips.
“You are on edge. Here, let me take care of that for you,” he says. He slides inside me, his h*and in my hair, dominating me and my b*ody until I find my first release. He continues t*hrusting inside me as the sun sets and we find our p*leasure together multiple times.
When he pulls me up, pressing his c*hest to my back, he nips my n*eck.
“Better?” he asks, still fully seated inside me.
“For now/’ I purr, feeling like I can never get enough of this man.
He slides out of me and smacks my a*ss.
“Go get cleaned up, we still have your surprise for tonight,” he says.
I pull away from him, leaning over much lower than needed to get my leggings before slowly pulling them back up.
His low growl of warning and p*leasure is all I need to send me laughing into the bathroom.
I wipe myself off and when I come out, he’s dressed and has Zeke strapped to his c*hest again.
“Ready?” he asks, holding out his h*and to me.
“Ready!” I say as we go to the elevator. “Are you telling me where we’re going yet?”
“Nope,” he says. We step out of the hotel lobby and begin walking up the busy city street. This weekend has been perfect. There were things we needed to accomplish, and I feel like those are mostly done. And now, I get to spend a perfect fall evening with my mate.
As we get closer, I realize where he’s taking me.
“The fair?” I ask him, bouncing on my toes. “Yes. You said you never really got to enjoy it with anyone, so tonight, we’re going to enjoy it together,” he says.
Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones, but my eyes prick with tears.
“You are so perfect,” I say, my voice trembling.
“No tears, love. Tonight is about having a good time together, as a family,” he says, pulling me against him.
I nod and when we get there, he gets our tickets, and we walk into the fair. “What is that smell?” he asks.
“Elephant ears. Fried dough with cinnamon, powered sugar, maybe some other stuff. Basically, your typical fair food.”
“What else is there to eat?” he asks as we walk past the food stations.
“Corn dogs, candied apples, churros, popcorn, fudge,” I say.
“Where’s the steak and potatoes?” he asks. “They don’t usually have that at fairs. This is cheap, fattening food and it’s delicious. Or it used to be. I’ll admit, the only thing that smells good to me in my pregnant state is the elephant ears,” I say.
“Do you want one now?” he asks me.
“Let’s wait. What I really want is to ride the Ferris wheel,” I say, excited.
“Then lead the way, my love,” he says.
I take Ezekiel’s h*and and I’m so excited that I almost run into him. Daniel.
“Gianna?”
“Daniel? What are the odds?” I ask, watching as he jerks his h*and out of the h*and of the woman he’s with.
“What are you doing here?” he asks me.
“Enjoying the fair, Daniel, just like everyone else here,” Ezekiel says, wrapping his arm around me.
I hear Daniel’s girlfriend gasp, her reaction to Ezekiel similar to Ms. Canning’s.
However, unlike Ms. Canning, this girl is closer to Ezekiel’s age and my wolf doesn’t like the way she’s staring at my mate. A low, menacing growl rumbles in my c*hest.
Ezekiel pulls me to him, k*issing my head. “You ready, love?”
“Yes,” I say, snuggling against him, rubbing my face against his side as best I can with Zeke strapped to his c*hest.
We move to step around Daniel when he reaches out to grab my arm.
A moment before his h*and t*ouches me, Ezekiel grabs him by the wrist.
“You’ll want to keep your hands off of what is mine,” he snarls.