The Claiming by Cooper

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 69 (Jace)

Jordan immediately steps out of my grasp. F*uc*king Nolan, this is twice he’s interrupted a conversation I was having with Jordan.

“Nolan, what are you doing here?” she asks him.

“I came to see if I could pry you away from your work and take you to dinner,” he says, eyeing me.

“Yes, absolutely,” she says, turning to me.

“We’ll talk later, Jace.”

I take a step back. “Remember what I said, Jordan,” I say, holding her gaze until she nods.

I walk past Nolan, nodding my head in greeting before walking out. As I get to the end of the hall, I hear him. “So, he’s the mate, huh?”

So, Jordan told him about me, or at least that she has a mate. I’m guessing that he also knows that she rejected me.

I walk downstairs, going to the kitchen to grab something quick to eat before heading back upstairs to my room. On my way out of the kitchen, I hear his voice.

You should accept her rejection and let her move on with her

him. “You mean move on with you, don’t you? Isn’t

and her. She needs someone that will stand by her

how to help her run a pack, someone who is here to have her back, who understands the difficulties she faces on a daily basis and runs interference on those difficulties, so she doesn’t have to fight for herself and her position every f*uc*king day. You know nothing about what Jordan needs. And what do think will happen if she accepts you as her mate? That you would just continue to go off and train people around the world? Leaving her here to run and pack AND raise her pups? What kind of life is that for Jordan? I’ll tell you.

intentions, pup,” he says condescendingly, getting in

don’t back down. “I know enough to know that you have no idea how to live in a pack. When’s the last time you spent more than a week or two in any pack, much less your own? You’re a wanderer,

sharp. I take a step

Alpha,” I say

Evangeline POV

complete disarray of these pack lands wasn’t it. They are a disaster and all I can think about is,

crumbling to the ground, literally falling apart in front of us. The second one had vines and trees growing inside the packhouse, looking like something out of

we claim our packs. Well, let’s be honest, no one is going to move to any of these pack lands while they are in this state.

we get there, the packhouse is just as dilapidated as the first one was. Jaxon comes up behind me and wraps his arms around

we’ve made

I ask. It’s the

think it was foolish to put the packhouse way out here. I much prefer having it like it is in

look at the space differently as I listen to Jaxon, seeing his image

could have pack members open their own shops, making

that idea, and I love you. So, do you agree, we can put this