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, closing her

the chairs in her room. By chair, I mean bean bag blob on the floor. I hate the things. Once I’m in, it feels practically impossible to get

“What’s up, Rowe?”

she’s sitting on before taking a d*eep breath and

my eyes at my sister. “Did you

younger than I am, almost a whole year. But he’s in the competition.” She says, looking

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

knew she was mine. I knew I had to have her and that being away from her was going to

he’s too young to feel it,” she

talk

looking up at me. “No,

are

eyes go wide at that. “Teagan

is about to turn

he can smell me, if he can sense the

and how he hasn’t told Jordan that he knows that they are mates, because he thinks she deserves someone stronger. Although,

don’t know, Rowe. Maybe your strength in the competition

I deserve better. And I doubt it anyway, he’s

I

me, debating if she

know

moment. “It’s Alpha

think for a minute. “You beat him in

that could be why?

reason, you’re right, he

only finished the race because of you,”

she dug d*eep inside

know Enzo very well, but I’ll pay more attention in the next round. 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 the mate bond then, he’ll have a harder time ignoring it when we meet

laying her

hug her a moment before pulling

me. Don’t you dare throw any part of this competition because of him. You

“Yes, big brother,

for what you want, I’ll see you at practice this

make it?” she asks me, like the

is getting in the way of me getting

Jordan POV

as h*ard as my one-on-one training. I was still feeling the workout from this afternoon during this

good. I’m already feeling stronger, and I have

at my door. I