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.

accept her rejection

to face him. “You mean move on with you, don’t you? Isn’t that what this is

by her side, support her

dinners aren’t what Jordan needs. She needs someone who understands 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. It isn’t one and it’s not one that she’ll want, I can guarantee you that. So maybe

nothing about me or my intentions, pup,” he says

week or two in any pack, much less

is sharp. I take a step back, my eyes

I say

Evangeline POV

sure what I was expecting, but the complete disarray of these pack lands wasn’t it. They are a disaster and all I can

front of us. The second one

to the third one two days later, the excitement in our group is gone. We’re all overwhelmed by the sheer amount of work that will need to be done once 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. Why would you go from a fully functioning pack to this? We couldn’t even find clean water in the first two. So, well have pack lands but

packhouse is just as dilapidated as the first one was. Jaxon comes up behind

it will look like when we’ve made this place

the first time he’s said something like

this land is the pack lands. Personally, I think it was foolish to put the packhouse way out here. I much prefer having it like it is in Jordan’s pack, closer to the mountains. So, rather than rebuilding what is falling apart, we start fresh, new, making these

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

put a small town where we could have pack members open their own shops, making it easier to get things that we need without having to go into

ear. “I love that idea, and I love you. So,