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.”

Rowen,” I say,

the floor. I hate the things. Once I’m in, it feels practically impossible to get

“What’s up, Rowe?”

before taking a d*eep breath and looking up at me. “How do you know Evangeline is your

at my sister. “Did you find your mate, Rowan?”

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

She was like nothing I’ve ever smelled before,” I say, smiling as

knew she was mine. I knew I had to have her and that being away from her was going to be impossible.” She nods,

to feel it,”

talk to

frowns, looking up at me. “No,

Alejandro are pretty sure that

go wide at that. “Teagan is

while Teagan is about to turn 18, Alejandro is

looks down, frowning again. “If he can smell me, if he can sense the mate bond, then

thinks she deserves

your

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

it?” I ask

at me, debating if she should tell

won’t tell anyone. You know I can keep

me another moment. “It’s Alpha Enzo. Alpha Antonio and

for a minute. “You beat him in the race, didn’t

“Do you think that could be

the reason, you’re right, he doesn’t deserve you. He’s an

only finished the race

and because she dug d*eep inside herself, just like you and everyone else that finished had to

the bed beside her. “Listen, I don’t 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 up

laying her head on my shoulder.

a moment before

you dare throw any part of this competition because of him. You fight for what you want. Do you hear

me. “Yes, big brother,

of fighting for what you want,

to make it?” she asks me,

Alpha, little sis, nothing is getting

Jordan POV

training even h*arder than the morning and nearly as h*ard as my

good. I’m already feeling stronger, and

knock at my door. I look up