The Claiming by Cooper novel Chapter 286

The Claiming by Cooper Book 4

The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)

Chapter 13 (Jace)

It’s late in the evening when I step out back behind the packhouse and see my sister sitting on the patio looking out over the pack pool and the forest.

“Is this seat taken?” I ask Melinda. She’ s nursing Kaiden and I’m assuming that Jonas is upstairs with their other two. “It is if you sit in it,” she says, and I take the seat.

“So, am I getting another niece or another nephew?” I ask her.

“Don’t know yet, it’s too soon. We should find out next week.” I turn and look at her. “I saw dad leave. How was that?”

She shrugs and I smell the salt of her tears. I reach over and lay my hand on her arm.

“It was good to see him,” she says, and I can tell her throat is tight with emotion. She looks down at Kaiden, stroking his head of dark hair. He, like Ryder, is going to look like Jonas.

I stroke her arm, not saying anything. She swipes her face with the back of her hand. “He says mom’s sorry, that she misses me and wants to meet her grandchildren. I just… how do I trust her after what she did? How do I even begin to forgive that? You know?” she says, turning to look at me.

“She kept me from my mate, the father of my children, making us both think that we didn’t want to see the other. Who does that? What kind of person keeps their child away from her mate because you don’t agree with the age difference?”

“I’m probably not the best person to answer that question, Mel,” I say, turning and looking out over the forest.

She’s quiet a moment.

“It looks like you finally came clean and told Jordan that you know that she’s your mate.”

I glance at my sister. “I’d ask how you knew, but you’ve always known things that others didn’t.”

“Especially when it comes to you, Jace. I’m glad you finally told her.”

“She rejected me,” I say and now it’s time for my throat to tighten.

Surprisingly, Melinda chuckles. “I bet she did. You DID date her cousin, you moron.”

“So much love for such a tiny person,” I say jokingly, feeling my chest loosen as I talk with Melinda.

“Seriously, you didn’t think that she’d really ever be okay with that, did you?” she asks.

“I didn’t ever expect to believe that I was good enough for her,” I say quietly. “Your mother dying had nothing to do with your worthiness, Jace,” she says. “It’s not about that.”

“Isn’t it? I may have been young, Jace, but I remember how closed off you were after your parents’ death. You tried to shut everyone out, and you did a damn good job of it,” she says.

“Everyone except one, small, annoying little girl who wouldn’t let me be,” I say, but I smile at the memory of Melinda, who was like a beacon of sunshine in my dark and stormy life.

She shrugs, not at all apologetic. “You said yourself that I see what others don’t. And what I see in you, Jace, is the same thing I’ve always seen, someone who is strong, compassionate and deserves to be loved more than he thinks he does.”

Kaiden finishes nursing and I reach out my hands. “Here, let me,” I say, taking him and putting him against my chest, rubbing and gently tapping on his back until he burps, then keeping him there, enjoying the quiet calm that always comes from being around Melinda.

“So, what are you going to do, big brother?” she asks, turning to face me, pulling one leg up in her chair and leaning her head on her hand.

“I’m going to prove to her that I can be a good mate to her, that I’m worthy of being her mate.”