The Claiming by Cooper

The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)

Chapter 02 (Jace)

I’m looking over the pack’s financials while Jordan is away when Carter comes in.

“Hey, what’s up?” I ask him.

He comes and flops into a chair across from me. “Are you joining the Beta Trials?” he asks me.

“No.” He nods, looking around the office.

I watch a moment before setting down my pen down. “Are you?” I ask him. “I don’t know. I’m not sure how I feel

about being Beta to a female Alpha.”

I narrow my eyes at him, keeping hold of my temper. If he’s another one that will undermine Jordan, he needs to go

and I’m more than happy to help him find the door.

“Is there something in particular that Jordan has done, or are you just basing this decision on her gender?” I ask.

“Come on, Jace. You can’t tell me that you wouldn’t rather be a ranked member to one of the other Alphas,” he

says to me.

“Actually, I can. I’m perfectly happy in this pack, which is why I’m not joining the Beta Trials.”

“Says the man who joined The Contest. Besides, you could always end up getting Taylor to accept you as her mate

and then you’ll be a co-Alpha,” he says.

“If you’re going to second guess and undermine our Alpha, better to resign now and let us choose your

replacement,” I say.

“It could be good for you, Jace. You could move up into my position and then Jordan could take Victor as her

Gamma. Win-win all the way around.”

“Victor has already entered the Beta Trials and if you don’t care enough about this pack to stay in it, then don’t

bother trying to figure out our ranked members. We’ll manage just fine without you. And, by the way, how are your

parents feeling about this change of heart?” I ask, positive that he hasn’t told them yet. There’s no way Elijah and

Layan would be okay with this.

He flinches and stands. “Well, I haven’t made any final decisions yet,” he says, as he walks to the door.

“Do me and Jordan a favor, resign from your position. If you aren’t 110% with her and this pack, we deserve

someone that is.”

“Again, says the man who competed in the contest. Why did you resign anyway?” he asks.

I’ve only told a handful of people about Jordan being my mate. I won’t make it public until she accepts me. If she

accepts me.

“I have my reasons.”

“Right, we all have our reasons for the choices we make, Jace,” he says as he walks out the door.

I grit my teeth, getting up to grab the list of people who are currently signed up for the Beta Trials. The

announcement came out a week ago and Jordan has been gone ever since. She said she was going to let Jaxon

know, since he doesn’t yet have electricity at his pack, but I know the real reason. She needs a break. A break from

me.

Well, not only me, I hope. Nolan has been sniffing around ever since I told him he isn’t pack material. Suddenly, it’ s

like he’s trying to prove that he can live in a pack, except, I’m pretty sure he can’t. He still seems like a lone wolf

trying to fit in.

We still have a couple of months before the Beta Trials begin, so the pool of candidates should continue to grow.

There are very few Alphas who have signed up to participate, most of them either getting their own pack or finding

mates that are either Alpha heirs or Alphas who won their pack in the contest.

The council lowered the age for the Beta Trials, knowing that it wouldn’t be as grueling as the contest for Alpha.

Now, anyone over the age of 14 at the time of the announcement can enter. As I look over the list, I see several

female Alphas who have signed up for the Beta Trials. The most surprising is Celine. She is Alpha Aiden and Alpha

Stefan’s sister, and she’s 22, the oldest of the remaining Alpha females. I’m wondering why one of her brothers

didn’t snatch her up. Aiden may already have a Beta heir, but Stefan doesn’t.

She’s not the only one. There are three other Alpha females in the Beta Trials ranging in age from just over 14 to

18. I’m not sure how Taylor would feel, but I know Jordan would have no problem bringing in a female Beta. It might

even be better than having Carter. A female Beta would support Jordan in a way that I’m not sure Carter will. Of

course, there are also the three male Alphas that weren’t old enough to compete in the contest, both of Alpha

Quinton’s boys and Alpha Jared’s youngest. Technically, Jared is his brother, Alpha Jonas’s Beta, but he and his

children, are still from Alpha blood.

I look over the current candidates for Beta and I rank my top 10 options. Once that’s done, I go back to pouring

over the financials. Jordan, like every other Alpha, provided a start-up fund for each of the new Alphas. It’s a loan,

collected by the council and given to each of the newly appointed Alphas. They will be responsible for paying back

the loan and then the loans will be repaid to the current Alphas.

According to Jordan, no one can build a pack off of $50,000, but since all of the Alphas come from existing Alpha

families, they were all given money by their families, some more than others. Thankfully, our pack has been

thriving for years, but it takes time and attention to ensure that it continues and to make sure that no one decides

to try and take advantage of Jordan being a new Alpha, not that her father would let her fail. She’s been trained to

be an Alpha for years.

I’m pouring over the figures, making sure that everything matches up when there’s another knock at the door. I

look up and it takes everything in me not to roll my eyes.

First Carter, now Nolan.