The Claiming by Cooper

Layans Retum Chapter 28

McKenna

I have been so excited to go into the claiming territory, to be claimed, to find my mate. Of course, finding out what really happened to Layan gave me pause, but I felt better after speaking to Alpha Davis. I had spent some additional time with Alpha Quinton, Alpha Luke and Alpha Jonas as well. Which had also made me feel better.

Of course, Alpha Luke is no longer eligible for my claim, since he caught Katerina. And now, I’ll be entering the territory tomorrow morning.

I’m laying awake on this, my last night in this bed before entering the territory. I’ve been staring at the ceiling for hours and I know I won’t get a wink of sleep tonight.

The idea of being claimed was great, in theory. I realized that I had a romanticized notion of what being hunted meant. I saw it as a fun, flirtation between me and a bunch of males. But now that it’s my turn, now that it’s here, all I can think about is how alone I’ll be. Tomorrow, I’ll be alone for the first time in my life when I walk into that territory. And the hunt, that once seemed like a flirtation, now feels like, well, a hunt. And I’m the prey.

I’ll be alone, hunted, claimed, maybe by someone I really want to claim me and maybe not. I had to choose 50 men. The idea seemed crazy at first. How would I only choose 50 out of nearly 400. Now, I wish I had only had to choose a few. I mean, what do I really know about any of them?

Alpha Davis is a good dancer. Super, so what? Although he did talk to me and help me see that things are different than they were for Layan last year. So, he’s patient and kind. And he is a great kisser.

Those are good things.

Alpha Quinton is funny, although he takes his job as Alpha very seriously. He’s the youngest of the three and while he’s not a great dancer like Alpha Davis, he also seems patient and kind.

Alpha Jonas is the oldest of the Alphas. I know about his relationship with Katerina’s mother, and I asked him whether he intended to continue that relationship when he was mated. He said he did not. So, that’s good. He’s a bit more broody than the other two, and while I’m sure he would be a good mate and everyone. says he’s a great Alpha, I don’t think he’d be very patient with me and my fun-loving personality.

There’s Beta Jared, too. Jonas’s brother. He’s less broody than his brother, a bit more relaxed. But he too has had a relationship with. Isabella and accidentally let it slip that he and his brother have. been with her at the same time. He insisted that he would never want that with his mate, but the bad feeling it left in me never went

away.

There are others, warriors who seem very nice and are very attractive, but now that I’ve spent more time with them, thought about them more closely, I realized they aren’t smart and witty. Things that I want in a mate.

What if it’s one of them at that catches me? I won’t have a choice. I’ll wake up, marked by my mate. In our world, once I’m caught, that’s it, that’s your mate for life.

ve been thinking of it as a dating game rather than a battle for

sun finally begins to break over the horizon, I get up,

territory. Their legs and arms were scratched, some even had cuts on their faces or other parts of their bodies from running in the woods. Many were

it dawned on me. They won’t stop until someone catches me. I will be hunted non-stop for a week. I will have nowhere to go, no one to help me escape. I will truly be alone.

downstairs, the Lunas are there to have breakfast with me. That is something else I didn’t appreciate until now. They

about the claiming territory, I wasn’t even really paying attention. I didn’t think I’d need to know where all the hiding spots and caves and watering holes were.

up to this point. I’ve set myself up for failure and I’ll be lucky to last more than a

some breakfast with us?” Luna Jara asks me.

don’t think I’d be

four of them look at each other and as one, they come to me and wrap their arms around me. I begin to shake, fear gripping

so scared.” I say on a sob.

You’re okay. You’ll be fine.” I hear their voices as they hug me, hold me and

reach out, grabbing onto them, holding on in my last morning before

my tears away. “It’ s going to be okay. Yes, it’s scary. Yes, it’s a hunt. But

give yourself to someone if you know who you want. Find that person, or when they find you, let them mark you. It doesn’t have to be violent or

to climb trees. I’ve never

spots and waited them out, moving when it was safe to go to a new spot.

the cliffs. Double back on your scent trails

away from them. “I should

coming

up

want us to?” Jara says.

I’d like

let’s go.” Hana says.

claim is announced, I can’t even look at the men who will start hunting me in 24 hours. I’m terrified of what I might see in their faces. Instead, I ask Jara to walk me to

asks, pushing my hair out of my face.