The Claiming by Cooper

The Claiming by Cooper Book 4

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 4

Jaxon

“Talk to me about the three guys I shouldn’t underestimate.”

She taps the paper. “Cillian, Enzo and Reid. Cillian is the youngest son of Alpha Asher and Luna Mignon. Both his sisters, Flavia and Gabriella, will be in the contest, but he’s the biggest threat. Not as high, in my opinion, as the others we’ve discussed, but you need to watch him.

She taps the next name. “Enzo is the son of Alpha Antonio and Luna Annabel. Alpha Antonio, as you know, is a true Alpha, so don’t underestimate Enzo, even though he’ll be under 17 when the competition begins.”

“What about his sisters?”

“Noelle and Valentina. Noelle is already 18 and Valentina is almost 18,1 think their focus will be elsewhere.” She says.

I

like Lazio, will just be turning 16 and making the minimum cutoff. He’s

make the list?”

heir. So, I think she’ll drop out before the contest ends. Phoebe and Haley are strong, but not strong enough to be on this list, by my standards.”

who may give you a good run, but they didn’t make my list for one

to be Jordan’s Beta when

an Alpha? I’m surprised Beta Elijah and Beta Layan aren’t angry at him

Gammas are ready to compete. I would never be angry at someone having their chance to become an Alpha. Ella will be competing too. I

put together for me. “You’re amazing, you know that?” I

I said, just being my brother’s biggest cheerleader.” She says, wrapping

going to make a great Alpha,

looking at me. “So

with me. Teagan and Rowan surprise me and join us every day. They even join my meetings with Jordan to strategize how to run longer, slow and steady wins the race, and in our discussions of the other competitors, going over their strengths and weaknesses. Jordan spars with us long after afternoon training ends

Claiming territory. I’ve heard stories of the old claimings. It sounds archaic. I can’t imagine Jordan having to basically run for her life against 200 men like my mother did just so she could choose her own mate. And rather than me being able to find a she-wolf that I want to spend my life with who also wants to be with me, I would have had to hope that my name was drawn from a lottery just to be eligible to claim a mate, whichever ones came of age that year. The idea of it is

those of us that are running that need a place to stay. In order to make sure that everyone makes it to the end, there will be stations where they will have water, food, bathrooms and areas to rest

part of the rest stop crew, so she could root for me. She got herself assigned to the first rest

understand was built specifically for the year my mother, Aunt Hana and our Beta Layan were in the claiming. It was a dangerous year. Back then they still had a virus called feral fever and something called a claiming haze. We haven’t seen it in my generation, but the doctors still test

area. Hundreds of contestants are pouring out of the packhouse. I’m sharing a room with Jace, so we walk out together. When we get outside, we stay toward the back.