The Claiming by Cooper

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 67 (Evangeline)

I didn’t sleep well. Or, I should say, I wouldn’t have slept well if it weren’t for Jaxon purring everytime he realized I was awake. So, I wake much more rested that I expected to be and after a good breakfast, I’m feeling ready for today’s challenge.

I’m third in the queue, meaning I have about two and a half hours before it’s my turn. Caleb is first up this morning, so we go outside to stand with Maggie while her mate runs through the course.

“I hope he does better than I did,” she says after the gun goes off and he races into the territory.

“It’ll be fine Maggie,” I tell her. And when he emerges, I’m proven right. Caleb exits the territory with eight flags.

Maggie runs into his arms, and he swings her around. It’s very likely that Caleb just made it through to the final round with that many flags.

I begin getting nervous as the second contestant enters the territory. I begin to fidget and move around, I’m getting myself really worked up when Jaxon wraps his arms around my waist, putting his h*ands on my stomach. “Relax, Eve. You’ve got this. Your senses are so much stronger right now.”

“I know, but…”

“Shhhh, close your eyes.”

“Jaxon…”

at my ear.

do as

back against me,” he says as he begins purring

l*ips so close to my ear that

Jaxon, so he’s not right next to my ear. He pulls his head back, so I can continue to lean against him. I tune out the purring from Jaxon and focus on the

lion. It’s on a loop, running for a few seconds every

like the mountain lion, it’s

mole, or some other animal burrowing into the earth. Just like the bird, I wouldn’t have paid

nose, quickly finding the deer. That one must be close. No deer would come

out of the territory, running from

off in this territory, the scent of sunflowers in

I catch a faint scent of blood. I’m really hopeful that it’s just a small amount of blood, because in my current pregnant state, the scent of

up and I’m feeling calm and ready for

I take off, heading for the deer scent first. I snatch my blue flag and keep going, following the sound of the mountain lion. On the way, I see the squirrel. He’s

what it is, and then I realize that it’s a dead squirrel that has been stuffed by a taxidermist. I look around and find the flag before continuing on my way. I’m not as fast as I would be if I wasn’t three months pregnant, but I’m still able to get to all of the stations for scent and sound before the gun goes off letting me know that my hour is up. I jog out of the territory, Jaxon waiting for me. I drop off my flags, get the announcement

out with seven flags. Since we’re about halfway into the contest, it’s becoming clearer that anyone under seven is

last of our group today and he emerges with eight flags as well. We all head inside

consoling Maggie, since she’s pretty confident that she’s out of the competition. Jaxon, while still making sure