The Claiming by Cooper novel Chapter 274

The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)

Chapter 01 (Jordan)

One Month Later

I pull onto a dirt road, heading to my brother’s new pack. The drive out here, alone, is helping to clear my head. Ever since Jace slapped that piece of paper down on my desk, letting me know that he’d resigned from the contest, my emotions have been all over the place. In the last year, I’ve gone from wondering if he could feel the mate bond, to thinking he chose my cousin over me, to now, finding out that he entered the competition just to prove to himself that he’s worthy of being my mate.

And then there’s Nolan. After walking in on me and Jace, with Jace practically ready to kiss me, Nolan has been spending a lot more time around the pack. I’m not sure if he’s keeping an eye on Jace, or if he’s trying to show me that he’d make a good mate for me. Either way, it’s making everything more awkward and so, I decided to get away, just me, to come see my brother. After this, I may even stop in and see my sisters in their new packs.

I continue down the long road, passing the old dilapidated packhouse and other buildings that are in various states of disrepair. I’m not sure what they plan to do with this land, but the area is gorgeous. It’s similar to my pack lands with a mountain in the backdrop, framing the sky.

As I pull up, I see a very pregnant

Evangeline directing some construction guys and pulling branches and tree limbs away from the construction site. I hop out of the car, rushing over to her and taking the brush from her hands.

“What are you doing? Where’s Jaxon?” I ask her, concerned that she’s doing manual labor in her advanced stages of pregnancy. Thankfully, her pregnancy has been easy, but that doesn’t mean that she won’t strain something working out here.

“Hey Alpha Jordan!” she says, wiping the sweat from her face as I pull the brush over to where I see a pile that she must have already started.

I toss it on the pile and turn to her. “I thought we agreed that we’re sisters and I’m Jordan, Luna,” I say, giving her a look.

“Sorry, pregnesia. I don’t remember anything.”

“Pregnesia?” I ask.

“Pregnancy amnesia. It’s like Jax Jr. is sucking the brain cells right out of my head. He better be the smartest wolf I’ve ever met to be causing me such problems,” she says as I reach out to hug her.

“And your brother is over at Tobias and Flavia’s pack. Tobias took her back to her home pack to have her baby. They lasted as long as possible, but we agreed to watch over their pack lands while they’re gone if they would do the same for us,” she says, rubbing her stomach.

“How much longer before you come home?” I ask her.

She smiles at me. “I am home. But only two or three more weeks before Jaxon brings me back to your pack” she says, reminding me that Jaxon is no longer part of my pack. It makes me sad. I miss my twin.

I look at the construction site. “Wow, this place is really coming along. I’ve heard that most of the other packs barely have a foundation, and some are just breaking ground, but you guys already have walls going up,” I say, truly amazed at the progress they are making.

“I know! It helps that we are working together with Tobias. They’ve been great to have as neighbors. We agreed to work together and try to get discounted rates for everything and have the companies we contract with do both of our lands at the same time.

So, Tobias worked on getting pipes laid and Jaxon worked on construction. The pipes are done, and the buildings are going up. It’s a win-win all around.”

I look at Eve, knowing they’ve been living out here. “So, the pipes are laid. Does that mean that you have running water now?” I ask her.

“It does! We don’t have hot water yet, but I usually try to shower in the middle of the day when I’m so hot that the cool water feels good. But I’ll tell you this, it’ s a lot warmer than the pond we found with run off from the mountain snow. That water was cold!”

“You’re a better woman than I am,” I say, watching the construction guys as they lay one concrete block on top of another.

“Come sit,” she says, guiding me to a picnic table and chairs. There’s a cooler beside it and she opens it looking inside. “We have water, soda and beer,” she says turning to look at me. “Any of that sound good to you?”