The Claiming by Cooper

The Claiming by Cooper Book 4

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 40 (Jaxon)

It took me a couple of hours to recover from the morning training session, but by lunch time, I was mostly back to normal.

“Are you gonna make it, Super Hotty?” Eve teases me over lunch.

“If you had asked me a couple of hours ago, I’d have said no, but at least now I feel like I can walk.”

“That was brutal,” Alejandro says, having come to sit with us.

“If you think that was brutal, just wait. If he is anything like Ezekiel, we’ll all be barely standing by the end of the week,” Eve says.

“Yeah, it was about two days before we were all struggling to get through both classes each day and by the end of the week, none of us were able to hold our heads up to eat dinner.” I tell him, enjoying my lunch while my body still can.

“Was it really that brutal?” Magdalena asks.

“Yes,” both Eve and I say together.

After lunch, Eve looks at me. “I was going to spend some time with Maggie this afternoon.”

“Perfect, I wanted to speak to Rowen. She mentioned wanting to talk to me while I’ m here.”

Eve comes over, wrapping her arms around my neck and looking up at me. “See you for afternoon training?”

My arms rest perfectly around her waist, pulling her against my body. “I’ll see you there.”

Her lips start twitching and I raise my eyebrow.

“I’m sure it will get easier for you,” she says, a full-on smile spreading across her face.

“You,” I say, pecking her lips, “are lucky I love you.”

“Every minute of every day,” she says, before leaning in for a d*eeper k*iss. This one lingers until someone, presumably her father, loudly clears their throat. I pull away. No since kicking over the beehive.

Eve shoots a glare at her father before heading out with Maggie. I turn and go in search of Rowen. I follow her scent to her room, where I knock.

“Come in,” she says from inside her room. I open the door to see her sitting on her bed looking out the window.

“Oh, hey Jax.”

say,

hate the things. Once I’m in, it feels practically impossible to get out of it. But I’m here to see my sister, who said she

“What’s up, Rowe?”

on before taking a d*eep breath and

narrow my eyes at my sister. “Did you find your

am, almost a whole year. But he’s in the competition.” She says, looking down before looking back up at me. “How

scent. I picked her scent out of every other one that first day of the contest. She was like nothing I’ve ever smelled before,” I say, smiling as I remember honing in on my mate. “And then she made eye contact

to have her and that being away from her was going to

too young to feel

you talk

up at me. “No,

are pretty sure

at that. “Teagan is going to

is about to turn 18, Alejandro is still a year

looks down, frowning again. “If he can smell me, if he can sense the mate bond, then why didn’t he approach me?”

that they are mates, because he thinks she deserves someone

Maybe your strength in the competition intimidated

the case, then I deserve better. And I doubt it anyway,

I ask her

looks at me, debating if

won’t tell anyone. You know I

at me another moment. “It’s Alpha Enzo. Alpha

think for a minute. “You beat him in the race,

“Do you think that could be why?

you’re right, he doesn’t deserve you. He’s an Alpha and I can tell you, as a mate, I love

only finished the race because of you,”

of an Alpha, because she’s strong and because she dug d*eep inside herself, just like

If you want, I’ll give you my impressions. Plus, he’ll be older. If he wasn’t sure he was feeling the pull of

forward, wrapping her arms around my neck and laying her head on my shoulder.

hug her a moment

Don’t you dare throw any part of this competition because of him. You fight for what you want. Do

me. “Yes,

And speaking of fighting for what you want,

snorts. “Are YOU going to make it?” she asks

sis, nothing is getting in the way of me getting my

Jordan POV

evening training even h*arder than the morning and nearly as h*ard as my one-on-one training. I was still feeling the workout from this afternoon during this

already feeling stronger, and I have overnight

at my door. I