The Claiming by Cooper

The Claiming by Cooper Book 4

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 63 (Evangeline)

Jaxon and I are leaving today for the next competition. This time, it’s only a two-day event. They will be running agility sprints in pairs. Eighteen people will be eliminated in the next two days, nearly half of the remaining contestants. Two more females have dropped out finding their mates who have either taken over as the Alphas of their packs or will take over once they turn 18.

“Remember, with two out, you only need to be faster than eighteen other people, Eve,” Jaxon says to me as we arrive. I’m watching as most of the people walking into the now familiar packhouse look muscular and sleek. I, on the other hand, have started showing. If this competition had been one month later, I’m not sure I would have had a chance to win. As it is, my stomach is causing me some difficulty with agility. Hard to be agile when there’s a baby sitting between your hips and starting to push on your diaphragm.

As we walk inside, I see I’m not the only one that is going to be doing this pregnant. Flavia, Tobias’s mate, is also showing, and based on her size, she was pregnant at the last event.

“Seventeen,” Jaxon whispers in my ear, before k*issing the side of my head. He saw Flavia as well and he’s saying she won’t be able to make to the next round.

As we’re checking in, she comes over to me. “Well, you have a better chance of getting to the next round than I do,” she says, looking at my stomach. “Two months?”

“Yeah. What are you, three?” I ask. “Yes, I was pregnant at the last event. Tobias wasn’t happy that I competed, but when I won by default when I was paired with him, he felt better. I only had to fight the one day and I protected my stomach really well.”

Tobias and Jaxon come over, talking about us, their pregnant mates. Both of them come up behind us, wrapping their arms around our waists, and putting their hands on our bellies. “We’ll see you tonight. Good luck,” I say to Flavia.

“Thanks, I’m going to need it! Good luck to you, too,” she says.

We have a couple of hours after we arrive to get settled in. Then it’s time to head out to the first of three chances to get your best time in this competition. Everyone will run one sprint tonight and two tomorrow.

We walk outside with Lazio, Rowen, Jace, Carter, Maggie and Caleb. They are allowing five minutes per sprint to give time for each team time to get set up and get off the track for the next pair. It will take two hours to complete tonight’s event and then we’ll have dinner. I don’t expect to be as exhausted tonight, so Jaxon and I talked about going into the old claiming territory to begin practicing for the next competition, sensory.

When the leaderboards flash up, I see that Jaxon and I are paired together again. This time, it doesn’t matter. We’ re fifth up and I’m on the left and he’s on the right. I’m stronger on the right, but so is Jaxon and right now, he has the better chance of winning this competition. So, I’m glad that he’s on the right.

Twenty-five minutes into the competition, it’s our turn to sprint. We get into position and when the gun goes off, we take off. Both of us are extremely competitive, but we also want the other one to do well.

lose to me,” he says as we

In the few seconds that it takes for us to get to the

as he crosses, he turns, scooping me into his arms

me out of the way so the next group that

Maggie on. Her time is close

in the top thirty. At the end of the night, Jaxon, Tobias, Stephan and Taylor are in the top four positions. Rowan, Maggie, Lazio and Jace are all in the top twenty with me. Flavia isn’t in the top thirty and she’ll have to work harder tomorrow to move up to stay in

we head

being exhausted,”

like we should have done more today, or like it’s not really part of the competition,”

everyone doing

into the claiming territory

that sounds like a good plan,” Maggie says, looking at Caleb. “Can

course,” he says, leaning in to k*iss

just a few months away from turning 18 and the pull of the mate bond is getting stronger. I

practice our sensory skills. We don’t need practice

are you talking about?” Maggie says to me. “We’re going to practice

sense any lemon balm in the air tonight,” Caleb says,

Jaxon says, giving me

but there will be plenty of time for ‘other’ later,” he says. As the sun sets, we go to the claiming territory and find a comfortable spot away from the lake so we

out what we sense and the sensory organ that we used to find it, like ‘crow, ears’

stronger now that I’m pregnant. I’m finding things that Jaxon has to

hours later when Jaxon calls a halt and says it’s time for us to head back in. The next day, they begin the contest after breakfast. We run our sprints again and watch as better

last sprint will be this afternoon. I’m feeling pretty good about

final attempt to get a high score. I can tell Jaxon wants to have the fastest time. The top four are all within seven seconds of each other, and Jaxon was on the left side in this morning’s run. It’ s his weaker side. This last run is a random selection of which side you

me happy. I run my race and decrease my

and she takes 7th place, ahead of me. Jace runs and pushes to 5th place behind Taylor and then Lazio runs, also ending up in