The Claiming by Cooper

The Claiming by Cooper Book 4

The Beta Trials by Cooper (Jace & Jordan)

Chapter 31 (Jordan)

I leave Kyra and Balorto figure things out between them. They have a lot to work through, not the least of which is

a large age gap, although Jonas and Melinda have managed theirs just fine. But this is also a mating between

species. If the two of them are going to be together long-term, either Kyra would move to the clan or Balor would

have to move to a pack, and I don’t see Balor moving and giving up his clan leader status.

As I go to find Dr. Braxton, I reach out and connect with Jace. Even though I broke the mate bond, I’m still his Alpha

and I still have a connection to him. 

Now, something inside me is pulling me to ensure that he’s safe. If I’m being honest with myself, it’s not the Alpha

in me that’s worried. The Alpha knows that Jace is more than capable of handling this wolf pack, especially with his

family and the bears with him. It’s the woman, the mate, that’s worried. I don’t know how he’s doing it, I wouldn’t

have thought it possible, but he’s slowly working his way back into my heart.

I shake that off as I walk up to Dr. Braxton.

“Doctor, give me some good news,” I say, looking over to where Darryl and Jasun are monitoring the sedated

bears. Brynn is staying close, but as a precaution, Darryl agreed to sedation. We don’t need six large bears going

berserker all at once.

He turns and looks at me, pushing his glasses up on his face. “That depends on your definition of good news,

Alpha,” he says.

“Tell me you can treat these bears,” I say.

“Yes, then it’s good news. I can treat the bears.”

“I take it there’s bad news?” I ask, not wanting to know, but knowing that I need to.

“As we expected, these are strains of feral fever and the claiming haze. And, as we expected, these are strains that

come from last generation, so we can hypothesize that the banished wolves that were sent away from the packs

did, in fact, mate with humans and produce hybrid children. These children carry the various strains of the viruses

that we’ve seen before.”

“Okay, if I’m following you, none of this is unexpected, it’s what we thought, and the strains maybe haven’t

mutated? Is that right?” I ask, trying to follow along.

“Yes and no,” he says, looking at me a moment. “What do you know of your female Beta’s first claiming?” he asks.

I frown. “Layan? I know that she was attacked, that the Alpha that caught her had gone feral and the claiming haze

overtook him. I know that it was…bad,” I say. It’s not a well-known story, for the obvious reason that Layan is our

Beta female, and my parents didn’t want rumors going around about her, making her uncomfortable. But as the

next Alpha, I was told so that I would understand the importance of ensuring that we never again had to deal with

feral fever or the claiming haze. “He was put down at the claiming, but samples of his blood and tissue were sent to

me. At the time, it was to create a case against the Elder who didn’t stop her claiming quickly enough. But it

provided me with important information. Now, what do you know about your mother’s attacker? Your Aunt’s

mate?”

“Typhon? He went crazy too. He didn’t catch my mother in the claiming, but he somehow got out of the territory

without anyone realizing and then he went on some crazy, psychotic hunt for my mother.”

“A pretty accurate assessment. After his death, I was given the opportunity to also test his blood and tissue. Both of

them were Alphas. Both of them had packs that they led. Much like your ability to create a vaccine, keeping your

pack stable, the Alphas back then that were sick caused their packs to become sickly. They spread the virus, a

pack-specific virus, if you will.”

I look at him, not understanding what he’s trying to tell me.

“You’re going to have to spell it out to me, Dr. Braxton. I’m not Kyra.”

“The virus strains that I’m seeing are variants of the ones that came directly from Alphas Camden and Typhon.”

He’s watching me, waiting for me to connect the dots that he feels should be easy to connect.

“Are you saying that the Alphas of these two rogue packs are the sons of Alphas Camden and Typhon? The

attackers of my Beta female and my mother?” I ask.

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“But how? At least in the instance of Typhon, he wasn’t alone for more than a year before he went into my

mother’s claim,” I say.

“I don’t know the age of Alpha Typhon’s son, but it’s possible that he was with a human before he claimed your

Aunt, or possibly that he was with a human when your Aunt couldn’t conceive. It was a time when many were afraid

of losing their humanity and not having an heir to leave for their pack. Many Alphas were desperate. Alpha

Camden’ s pack lands are the ones that Alpha Tobias is taking over. It’s very possible that he and Alpha Typhon

were close and decided to mate with humans to conceive, keeping each other’s secrets.”

I think about what he’s saying. I know that my Aunt didn’t have a lot of contact with her family once Typhon took

her to his pack. They never saw her again and only rarely spoke to her on the phone, so, it’s possible.

“So, it’s possible that the females survived as well? The humans? Maybe after the Alphas were killed, they were

able to get away?” I ask.

“I don’t think so, Alpha. My guess is that they would have been infected with the feral fever or claiming haze

viruses. The claiming haze is a variant of distemper and while not necessarily deadly to humans in the distemper

form, we don’t know how they would have reacted to this strain of the virus. The feral fever, on the other hand,

descended from rabies and would have been deadly to the human females.

That, of course, is also dependent upon whether they survived the birth of their children and possibly, once they

saw that they had sons, the Alphas could have killed them to keep their secret,” he says.

“You’re describing a bad horror movie, doc.”

“I know, but it’s all very possible and would explain how these two men have become Alphas of their packs,” he

says.

I nod, looking out to where Jace and the others are hunting for this pack. “They’re descended from Alphas,” I say

quietly.

“Yes, Alpha.”

I reach out to Jace in the mind link.

‘Jordan?’

‘Come back, Jace. Bring the others. We need to reconvene and talk to the Elders before we continue this hunt.’

It’s quiet a moment, then he’s back. ‘We’re headed back now.’

I turn back to Dr. Braxton. “We need a council meeting. There’s a hotel not far from here. I’ll get us some rooms so

we can set up a conference call. My parents and the others in their generation need to know what we’re dealing

with. But doc, you said you can heal these bears, right?”

“Yes, Alpha. As it happens, your mother had the antibodies in her blood for these particular strains of virus. You and

your brother both inherited them from her. I’m using that and will be giving the bears their first vaccination

tonight.”

“Thank you, doctor.”

When Jace and the others return, I fill them in on the status of what’s going on and that we need to have a

conference with the others.

“Brynn, Victor and I will stay here, Alpha, if that’s okay with you and the bears. I’d like to set up a perimeter patrol,

even if it is only the three of us. These wolves are our problem, and we should help protect the bears from further

attacks,” Luke says.

“Thank you, Gamma,” I say.

I wait until Dr. Braxton injects all of the bears with the vaccine, including Balor, before heading to the cave where

I’m ready to collapse.

“Alpha, may I speak with you a moment?” Victor asks me.

I’m exhausted, but an Alpha’s work is never done.

“Of course, Victor.”

“I won’t keep you. I can see that you’re tired. I just wanted you to know that now, without Carter, I don’t know what

you plan to do with the Beta position. But, if you were thinking of moving Gamma Jace into that position, I’d be

honored to take on the Gamma position. That is if you feel that would be appropriate,” he says.

“Victor, aren’t you in the Beta Trials?”

“I am, I have entered. I’d like to be a ranked member, especially knowing that I descend from Beta blood. But I love

our pack and I respect you as an Alpha. I would be honored to remain in our pack as the Gamma.”

“You wouldn’t rather have a chance to become a Beta?” I ask.

“If the choices are to have a place as a Gamma in your pack, or possibly win a Beta position in another pack, I’d

rather take the Gamma position in our pack, Alpha,” he says to me.

It’s the exact opposite of Carter, and it’ s so refreshing. I hadn’t considered moving Jace to a Beta, but maybe I

should. Or…maybe, I should consider what it would mean if I rescind my rejection.

“You’ve given me a lot to think about, Victor. I’ll consider it.”

He smiles. “Thank you, Alpha.”