The Claiming by Cooper

The Council Chapter 2 Jara
Jara
As Mason and I return to our seats, Elder Colton address- es the group. He’s the oldest of the Elders and since his mate passed away last year, he looks every bit his age.
“Good evening, everyone.” He says, raising his glass to the room. I look around and realize there are fewer Alphas that I expected. I know there are 20 packs in the country, so there should be 20 Alphas here at the meeting. However, I know that several Alphas are dead or missing, which makes me wonder about the others. There can’t be more than 15 packs represented here tonight.
“Welcome to this year’s Alpha meeting. We’re excited to have everyone here. As you all know, we have a lot to go over in the next couple of days. We lost several Alphas during this year’s claiming, and we have several packs with no leadership at all. We will need to evaluate the packs that still have leader- ship, officially verify the new Alphas that have been elected into their packs and discuss the redistribution of packs for those with no leadership and for those who no longer have enough pack members to sustain their pack status.”
“How many pack members have no leadership?” One of the Alphas calls out.
“There are nearly 300 pack members that will need to be assimilated into new packs.”
I look at Mason and his lips are pressed tightly together. This is a direct result of the claiming and all of the deaths that occurred during this year’s event. Three hundred. That could
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easily be why the number of Alphas here is so low.
“In addition, the Elder Council has decided that in order to be considered a sustainable pack, you must have 50 pack members.”
There is a lot of grumbling among the Alphas, and I look at Mason. “How many were required before?” I mouth to him.
“Twenty-five.” He mouths back.

I frown. I wonder why they are changing the requirement for the size of the packs. Is it to force them to take some of the ones that are now packless or to reduce the number of packs in the country.
“And, of course, since we just had our claiming, we will need to document the packs that now have a young, adult fe- male. In this case, all four of our claimants became Lunas in their packs.” He says proudly, as if he had some part in the four of us becoming Lunas.
“Actually, there were five of us, but one was injured under the Elders’ watch.” I say loudly, irritated that they were just going to skim over what happened to Layan.
“Yeah, imagine if another Alpha had been able to catch her, claim their mate and assist their pack. But, of course, no one thought about that, even though the issue was brought to the Elder in charge.” Hana says.
“Lunas, I understand that you are upset about what hap- pened to the omega, but this is not the place…”
“Isn’t it?” Annabel speaks up. “That could have been any of us. I was lucky to have been caught by my Tony. He’s a
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good man and a good Alpha. But what if I’d have been caught by an Alpha like the one that had to be put down?”
“Or like Alpha Typhon? How is it okay that an Alpha who was responsible for the death of his Luna is still eligible for the claiming?” Mignon says.
I look out over the Alphas. “All of you should be angry about that. The rules, as they stand today, limit your ability to claim a mate, giving Alphas who don’t deserve the chance or are too close to going feral the same opportunity as you. It’s only a matter of time before you go feral because of those missed opportunities.”
I can see I’ve hit a nerve, especially with the Alphas that are closer to going feral.
“Those are all of our announcements for the evening. En- joy your dinner and afterward, stay and socialize amongst each other.” Elder Colton says hurriedly, ending the conversa- tion before sitting down. It may be over for now, but it will be coming back up.
I turn my attention back to my friends. “Has anyone heard from Layan, or heard anything about her?”
“I don’t even know what pack she’s from, do you?” Hana
asks us.
“Didn’t she say she was from Ironclaw Pack?” Annabel asks, looking at Mignon.
“That sounds right.” Mignon turns to look at her mate. “Asher, do you know who the Alpha of Ironclaw Pack is?”
“Are you thinking of changing packs, love? You know you’
re mine. You wear my mark.” Asher’s gaze is intense, and I rec- ognize the blend of possessive and seductive tone in his voice. I’m not surprised to see Mignon blush.
“You know that’s not why I’m asking Asher.” She says, bat- ting her eyes at him and I swear I hear a low growl coming from him.
“Why are you interested?” Antonio asks, looking at Annabel.
“We think that is Layan’s pack.”
Mason looks at me.