The Claiming by Cooper (Jara & Mason)
Chapter 60
Jara
On the morning I wake to go into the claiming territory, I can’ t eat. My stomach is in knots. So, I head over to the stage. Elder Jason is there to meet me, and we walk up on the stage together.
I may be terrified, but I’m an Alpha, a true Alpha. I won’t be showing this pack of savages any fear. But maybe I can instill fear into them. I make my threat to kill the ones that 1 don’t want claiming me I can see Typhon’s smirk at my comment. But as I turn, I see Mason’s smile of pride and it warms my heart.
When I start walking toward the claiming territory, my confidence starts to wane. I’m almost there when I hear her. I turn and Hana runs into my arms.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper against her shoulder.
“I wouldn’t let you go in there alone. I told Seth I had to be here. Listen, I don’t have long, but find the cave tonight. You can sleep there, at least tonight.”
I nod and see Seth over her shoulder. I see that he doesn’t have her mark yet.
“You haven’t completed the bond yet?” I ask.
“He told me I could take my time, claim him when I was ready to accept him as my mate.” She pulls back as she turns and looks at Seth, her shy smile lingering as she turns back to me. “I expect now that we’re alone in the house, that it will be soon. Thank you for your guidance, or rather your father’s guidance.”
“I’m glad it worked.” I say as we walk toward the claiming territory.
“So did our plan.” She whispers to me. “Stick to it. It gives you a couple of days and by then, they’ve started eliminating the competition for you. I hate it, but it helps us in the end.”
I turn, looking at Mason. My eyes lock onto his for a brief moment. I hope he can figure out my strategy. But not too quickly. I need to make sure I give him a good chase. Of course, there are the others I’d be willing to accept, but it’s him that I want to claim me or me to claim. I’m still hoping to walk out of the territory with no mark on my neck.
When the gun goes off, I begin to implement our strategy. First, I need to know the outskirts of the claiming area. It takes me a couple of hours to run around the claiming territory. While I do, I find some decent hiding spots, but I won’t use them unless I have to. Here, I’ll have my back against the outskirts of the territory which is barricaded with a ten-foot concrete wall and barbed wire across the top. I can’t leave and I’ll be boxed in. So, I’ll only use these hidey- holes in a pinch.
When I wrap back around toward the front of the territory, I begin the second part of our strategy. Confuse them with scent trails. My goal is to leave it in as many directions as possible, crisscrossing to cause confusion and send these savages on a wild goose chase, or, in this case, a wild Jara chase.
When I find the cave, I head up to see what to expect. I have to climb up the side of the waterfall to get there. It’s a terrible place to hide. I’d be stuck with nowhere to go inside the cave and with the rush of water down the falls, I’d be lucky to hear them coming. There is a left-over campfire with a couple sticks of wood. I’ll have to get more while I’m out. I turn around, looking over the space. I take a deep breath and through all of the other male scents, I can smell them. All of them, Mignon, Layan, Annabel and Hana. My girls. We’ve bonded over this entire process, and they were all here. I’ll make sure to come back here tonight to sleep, but I want to finish leaving my scent trails before I do.
I go back out into the territory, finding places I can hide, places either me or my wolf can fit or can escape if we’re caught by someone other Mason or the very few I’m willing to bond my life to.
When I finish leaving my trails, it’s after dark. I climb back up to the cave, looking out over the territory. From here, it looks beautiful, serene. Come tomorrow, it will be anything but.
I go inside the cave, exhausted and knowing I need a few hours of sleep. I caught a rabbit earlier and I want to eat it before I go to sleep. I light the fire and put the rabbit on a spit. I get it cooking over the fire and I look around at my makeshift home for the evening.
As I look, I see something on the wall. I stand going over and my heart constricts. There, on the wall it says:
Mignon was here
Layan too
And Annabel
We were all here and we are here in spirit for you now, Jara. Hana
I feel tears prick my eyes. They were here and whether they meant to or not, they have supported everyone that came after them, including me.
I sit down by the fire and when I’m finished with the rabbit, I lay down, looking at the words on the wall. They are here for me, and I need to make sure that I am there for them, after this claiming is over.
As I drift off to sleep, an idea comes to me. I’ll have to be up early to see if I can make it work.
When I wake, I’m tired, but determined. If this works, I may have found my new sleeping place for the week. I head back toward the front of the claiming territory. I had wanted to make sure that Mason didn’t get killed first thing. If he does…if he does, I know I’ll lose it. This pack of savages thinks they’ve seen feral? If Mason is killed, I’ll show them what feral really looks like.
When I’m as close as I’m willing to get to the entrance of the territory, I find a tree that meets my needs, and I begin to climb.
When I’m high enough, I find a limb that is strong enough to hold my weight and I move through several more trees, just in case someone catches my scent at the bottom of the first tree. I stop when I find a tree that has an opening that gives me a perfect view of the starting line of the territory.
I can see Mason, sitting with his Beta, eating breakfast and talking. It helps to soothe me to see him, knowing that as of this moment, he’s alive and well.
I watch as the others begin making their way to the territory. Even from here I can feel the tension, the excitement of the hunt. There aren’t as many wolves as I was expecting, maybe my threat worked. I watch as Typhon looks at Mason. I don’t know what Mason did, but he looks very proud of himself.
His pack members and Seth’s surround him. I see Alpha Luke and his pack not far away. The packs seem to be grouping themselves together.
When the gun goes off, it’s like it was in Hana’s claiming, except I can see that the focus is on Mason. Part of me wants to jump in and help him, but I can see that he and his pack are holding their own. Mason is incredible. I’ve sparred with him, so I know he’s strong, but this? I realize that he was holding back with me. He could have taken me down at any time and he didn’t. He let me appear strong in front of everyone else.
My love for him grows even greater with that realization.
I see Typhon’s Beta move to try to attack Mason from behind.
Alpha Luke slices his claws down the Beta’s back, leaving him bleeding. He yells something at him before heading into the territory. One by one, they finally start heading into the territory. A couple of omegas catch one of my scent trails and raise the howl of the hunt. That seems to pull the rest back into the purpose of why they are here.
As he passes, I take a deep breath and get the scent of Typhon’s Beta in my nose. I’ve refused to meet with any of Typhon’s pack mates. I have no respect for a pack that let my sister, their Luna, be killed at their Alpha’s hands. But this guy just made himself my enemy #2. He’d be number one but that is reserved for Typhon.
As Mason and Elijah begin jogging into the territory, I see that there are at least double the number of injured and dead laying at the start of the claiming territory. I watch Mason, seeing that he has some claw marks down his chest. They are already healing, thankfully.
As I watch him, I see him looking around, a*s*sessing. I’m wondering what he’s trying to figure out when he looks up and spots me. A slow smile spreads across his face, and he winks at me, but he doesn’t stop. I wait until he’s out of sight before I begin climbing down. He somehow figured out where I was, but he didn’t want to stop when the others were so close. But he’ll be back, and very soon.
Time to give him a hunt and while I’m at it, I think I’ll take out Typhon and his Beta.