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 muscula 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. "Come on, Eve. Don't be using my son as an excuse to lose to me," he says as we race up the first part of the arrowhead test.

"Eat our dust, Super Hotty," I say as I turn sharply around the first cone. In the few seconds that it takes for us to get to the top of the arrowhead, Jaxon is ahead of me. "Let's go, Evangeline!" He shouts as we race to the finish line. As soon as he crosses, he turns, scooping me into his arms as I cross the line a few seconds behind him. "That's my girl," he says, k*issing me and carrying me out of the way so the next group that includes Maggie can run.

He sets me down and we cheer Maggie on. Her time is close to mine, which is not as good as Jaxon's.

As the pairs run, the leaderboard updates in real time and I watch as our positions move, but we continue to stay 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 the competition.

Once everyone is done, we head inside to have dinner.

"It feels weird not being exhausted," Maggie says as we eat.

"Agreed. I feel like we should have done more today, or like it's not really part of the competition," Rowan says.

"What's everyone doing tonight?" Lazio asks.

"Jaxon and I are going into the claiming territory to practice our sensory skills," I tell them.

"Ohhh, that sounds like a good plan," Maggie says, looking at Caleb. "Can we do that too?" she asks him.

"Of course," he says, leaning in to k*iss her.

They're both just a few months away from turning 18 and the pull of the mate bond is getting stronger. I turn to look at Jaxon.

"I don't want to be anywhere close to them. I want to practice our sensory skills. We don't need practice 'other' skills," I say to him, gesturing to my protruding belly.

"What are you talking about?" Maggie says to me. "We're going to practice our sensory skills too, right?" she asks Caleb.

"Absolutely! I definitely need to see if I can sense any lemon balm in the air tonight," Caleb says, making my sister blush. I smell like honeysuckle, she smells like lemon balm.

"Sensory first, 'other' later," Jaxon says, giving me a mischievous grin.

I narrow my eyes, and point my f*inger at him, giving him a half-hearted, non-verbal warning. He grabs my f*inger and pulls me to him, k*issing me soundly. "Competition first, 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 can hear, see and smell the environment around us.

We call out what we sense and the sensory organ that we used to find it, like 'crow, ears' or 'mouse, nose'.

I realize quickly that my mother was right, my senses are much stronger now that I'm pregnant. I'm finding things that Jaxon has to search for once I've identified them.

We make a game of it and it's several 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 times are replaced on the leaderboard and everyone's position moves.

"I knew Tobias would be my biggest threat and that Taylor would be tough to beat, but I've underestimated Stefan," Jaxon tells me at lunch. The last sprint will be this afternoon. I'm feeling pretty good about my chances of moving to the next round, as I'm currently in 12th place. Jaxon fell from second place to third when Stefan beat his time in the second round.

After lunch, we head outside for the 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 get.

I

I'm called first and I get right, making me happy. I run my race and decrease my score by two seconds, putting me in 8th place.

Maggie is up next, 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 the top 10.

I watch Flavia run and I see that she's too far along in her pregnancy. She sprints well, but the agility, trying to move quickly with her belly in the way, pushes her out of the competition. Carter, Jordan's Beta heir also runs his last sprint and falls to the 40th position, putting him out of the competition.

I wonder if he'll plan to continue as Jordan's Beta now. He turns 18 in a few months and could take over from his father. Or, if he wants to move to a different pack, he can go into the Beta Trials and try to earn enough points to be chosen for another pack. It's a risk, though. If he puts himself into that competition, he will no longer be the Beta heir and Jordan could chose another Beta, even if he wasn't chosen by another Alpha.

Finally, Jaxon is up. He's running against Tobias in the last race of the day, and he's on the right side. This is the best possible option for my mate. He's ultra-competitive and he's on his best side. "Yeah, let's go Super Hotty! You've got this!" I yell at him.

I know he hears me, but he doesn't acknowledge me. He's in the zone and he wants to beat Tobias. When the gun goes off, the two of them shoot off the starting line. Tobias is a step ahead of Jaxon until they get to the arrowhead. Jaxon is more agile than Tobias and he moves around the arrowhead just fast enough to begin the sprint back two seconds faster than Tobias. When he crosses the finish line just ahead of Tobias, I leap into his arms, and he swings me around.

"Nice job!" I tell him, as he sets me down.

We turn, looking at the leaderboards. Tobias's time from yesterday is just one second better than Jaxon's so he technically wins the competition, with Jaxon coming in second. Heturns, shaking Tobias's hand and Flavia and I hug.

"I'm glad you made it through," she tells me.

"Thank you. I wish you had too."

"It's okay. Now I can focus on our little girl," she says.

"It's a boy for us," I tell her, turning to head back inside.

When I look up, I see my parents standing at the back of the packhouse. My father has a sad frown on his face as he looks at my protruding stomach. I feel Jaxon step up beside me and take my hand. "We'll see you guys at dinner," he tells Tobias and Flavia, but my focus is solely on my father. I haven't seen or spoken to him since the last competition.

He walks up to me, putting his hands up as if asking me to wait.

"Congratulations, to both of you," he says, looking from me to Jaxon.

He looks at me. "I've missed you, Evie. Your mother and I wanted to come see you and congratulate you on your win. It seems we have much to celebrate since your sister and brother are both moving forward, too," he says before turning to Jaxon.

"Alpha Jaxon, I was wondering if I could have a word."