The Claiming by Cooper

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline) Chapter 56 (Jaxon)

I wake, curled up with my mate on the morning of day two of the sparring battles. Hopefully, if all goes well, we'll both wake up tomorrow, having moved on in the contest. Both of us had a fairly easy time with our opponents yesterday. Joanna was a tough competitor, but I'm ready to win, today and in the last three events of this contest.

When we get to breakfast, it's the same as yesterday. Everyone is quietly eating, contemplating today's events and what they need to win. When we're done, we head out to the leader boards to see who we are paired with today.

The first thing I notice is that they now have a "1" next to everyone that won their match yesterday and a "0" next to anyone that didn't. So, now, it's obvious to everyone who needs to win today to move on, and those that, if they lose today, will be done with the contest overall. A make a note that Jace lost to Tobias yesterday. He has to win the next two days or he's out of the competition.

I start hearing people calling "Alpha" and I turn to see Jordan striding up to me.

I turn, pulling her into a hug. "Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask her.

"I took a couple days to come root on our pack." She walks around me to hug Eve before looking up at the scoreboard. I see her frown. I turn and look back, quickly going over the list of our pack members that lost and I can't imagine she'd be surprised by anyone except Jace.

I turn back to her. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just surprised to see several of our pack members with zeros next to their name."

"Our pack did have the most contenders of any other pack," I say.

"By one," she says, giving me a look like I'm exaggerating things. "Griffin's pack has eleven in the competition."

She makes a face, still looking at the leaderboard. "I see Taylor beat Lazio, Evangeline."

"Yeah, he said she's pretty tough."

"She is. She'd make a good Alpha," Jordan says, and her tone has gone sad.

I'm about to question her when the leaderboard changes and our competitor's names for today are flashed on the board. As soon as I see mine, I turn, heading for the tables. "Well, I guess.... Jaxon? Jaxon! No, Jaxon!" Eve says, having seen my name next to hers and hers next to mine.

I've just walked up to the tables, when I see Tobias from the corner of my eye doing the same thing.

"I forfeit," we both say together.

I turn, looking at him. "You got put up against your mate too?"

"I told Flavia I refuse to fight her," he says and I nod. We're both asked if we're sure as our mates come rushing up.

"I'm sure," I say, just as Eve catches up to me.

"Jaxon, don't. If you insist on doing this, let me forfeit. You're only doing this for me," she says, as her number turns to "2".

I take her face in my hands. "It's done. And it was my choice. You're moving on, so let's decide who we want to watch today. I know I want to see Jace. He lost to Tobias yesterday and there is a real possibility that I will have to fight Tobias tomorrow since he also just forfeited to his mate," I tell her.

She looks past me, seeing Tobias and Flavia in the same situation that we're in.

"I wish you hadn't done that," she says, leaning into me.

"There's no need for me to fight you, not ever Eve. We're partners. We've talked about this. We're both Alphas, we'll run our pack as co-Alphas. I don't care what our names are. You can be the TF and I'll be the TM," I tell her.

"TF?"

"Top Female," I say smiling at her and k*issing her nose. I'll have to postpone our congratulatory love making until tomorrow now. I'm still planning to win this competition, but to do so, I'll need to keep my head in the game.

"So, TM is Top Male?" she asks me.

"Yep, that's me. I like being on top," I say, trying to get her out of the frustration that I feel coming through the bond. I knew she'd be upset but I won't fight her.

"Well, I tell you what, Alpha. If you win tomorrow, I'll let you be on top. How about that?"

I growl softly. "That's the kind of incentive I'm looking for,” I say, k*issing her.

When I pull away, I look at her. "Better?"

"No, but I will be. I understand why you did it, and I love you for it. I'll feel better when you're through to the next round after tomorrow."

"Okay, for today, let's go see who is battling whom."

I take her hand and walk back to where Jordan is talking to some of our pack mates.

"Well, I guess my reason for being here just got more exciting. I didn't know you were going to forfeit, Jax."

"I won't fight my mate, Jordan."

"Good for you."

"Don't encourage him, Alpha," Eve says to Jordan.

"He wouldn't be the man you love, if he wasn't like that Evangeline. Okay, so how does this work?" Jordan asks.

"There are five rounds with ten competitions in each round," I tell her.

"Okay, I'm going to go check out the ones who lost yesterday to see if they win and be there for them if they don't," she says. It doesn't escape me that Jace lost yesterday and he's up first.

"How about you, Eve? Who do you want to go watch. When are Lazio and Magdalena fighting?"

"Lazio is in the second round and he's fighting Ainsley. Maggie is first thing this afternoon, and she's fighting Collin.”

I make a face. "Collin is tough. He was supposed to be Alpha Jonas's heir until he and Melinda had their son, so he's trained to be an Alpha his entire life, expecting to take over for his Uncle. We should definitely watch that match. And I know you want to watch Lazio since he didn't win yesterday."

"I do, but Jace is up now, and it works out that Rowen's match is in between Lazio's and Maggie's, so we can watch all four of their matches today."

"Who is Jace battling?" I ask, looking at the leaderboard.

"Valentina, Alpha Antonio and Luna Annabel's daughter," Eve says.

"Isn't she wearing a mate mark these days too?" I ask Eve.

"Yes, she and Cillian are mates," Eve tells me.

"There's a lot of that going around," I say.

"Maybe that's a good thing. Most of the Alphas will get a chance to have a pack in some capacity. I don't know if all of them will do what we're planning to do and be co-Alphas, but it makes sense to have two Alphas leading the pack."

"It does, and it also makes it more likely that at least one of the pairs will win the contest and gain a pack," I say as we move to Jace's ring.