The Claiming by Cooper (Jara & Mason)
Chapter 83
Mason
The next time we wake up, I know I need to feed Jara. She didn’t eat enough yesterday, and I need to meet with Elder Jason today. Most everyone will have left or be leaving as this year’s claiming is over. I sent Elijah back already, knowing I have a different plan that I still need to discuss with Jara.
When I open the bedroom door, prepared to go downstairs to get food, I see there is already some waiting for me. Thank you, Hana.
I get the food set up at the table and I’m just finishing as Jara wakes up. She sits up in bed, letting the sheet fall to her waist. She’s so sexy that I feel myself getting hard, just looking at her. She rubs her eyes with the heel of her hand before pushing her messy hair out of her face.
I walk over to her, knowing that she isn’t quite awake yet. Her eyes move to me and go wide before she reaches for the sheet.
“Don’t. Don’t ever hide from me.” I say, as I get to her, taking her hand in mine and kissing her knuckles.
My sexy mates stands in front of me, naked in all her glory. I lean down, kissing then gently nipping her marking spot. “Time to eat.” I whisper.
“What are you offering me. Alpha?” Oh, my mate. She is definitely going to keep me on my toes.
“Real food. If you’re still hungry later. I’ll give you something you can put in your mouth.”
I take her hand, pulling her to the table. “I’ll definitely be hungry later.”
I grab my t-shirt and pull it over her head, before sitting her at the table.
“Eat.” I say before taking the seat opposite her.
The minute she takes her first bite, she realizes how hungry she is, and she begins devouring her food.
I watch her for a moment before beginning to eat mine as well. “So, Jara, I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things.”
I begin watching as she looks up at me, chewing her food and swallowing before responding. “What kind of things.”
“First, I need to meet with Elder Jason today. He wanted to meet with me, and I have some questions for him as well.”
She shrugs. “I can come with you.” I didn’t really want her to, not until I knew for sure if Typhon was alive, but I had told her no lies between us and I wouldn’t keep this from her.
“I need to find out if Typhon is dead.” I say, watching her closely. She nearly chokes on her food before grabbing her water and washing it down.
“Why wouldn’t he be dead. You nearly killed him and then I threw him off that cliff.”
I look at her a moment before responding.
“Mason, tell me.”
“When I raced down the cliff, I had intended to follow you. But when I got to the bottom, he wasn’t there. His body was gone.”
She frowns, putting her fork down and giving me her undivided attention.
“I followed his trail to the stream. He wasn’t there either. I finally found where he exited the stream and I hunted for him until I lost His scent among everyone else’s.
“What are you saying?”
I’m saying, I want to ask Elder Jason if he was found. Maybe he died from His injuries after crawling away, but I want to be sure.”
She picks up her fork before continuing. “It doesn’t matter if he’s alive or dead. You marked me and I’ve marked you. You re my mate, not him.”
“I would still like to know. Typhon wasn’t exactly in his right mind when we saw him last.”
She thinks about that for a moment. “What else?” She asks me.
I give her a quizzical look.
“You said ‘first’ that usually implies that there is a second.”
“Right. Well, I know what happened to Mila. And I want to make sure that your family knows that it won’t be the same with you. So, I thought we could stop by Seth’s pack on our way back to mine. I could meet your parents and a*s*sure them that they are welcome to visit you any time, and that you can come to visit them any time you’d like. I think that would go a long way to making them feel better.”
She’s staring at me, and I see the tears form in her eyes before she’s out of her seat and throwing herself into my lap. I wrap my arms around her as she buries her face in my neck.
“Thank you. Mason.” She says, her voice muffled against my shoulder. I hold her as I feel hot tears dripping on my chest.
“Shhh. It’s okay, love. It will be okay.”
She nods before finally sitting up. “You are an amazing man, Mason.”
I wipe the tears off her face and kiss her nose.
“Are you done eating?” When she nods, I pick her up, carrying her to the shower. “Then let’s shower and head downstairs. I’ d like to know when your brother and Hana are leaving, and I’d like to leave today or first thing in the morning.”
After we shower, we see Seth and Hana downstairs.
“We’re heading out, Jara.” Seth says but he’s looking at me. “I expect to hear from you soon.” It’s a clear threat to me and I might take it personally if I didn’t know the story’ of his other sister.
Jara takes my hand. “You’ll actually be seeing me soon, Seth. Mason and I are stopping by to see mom and dad on our way to Mason’s pack.”
He looks at me, his eyes searching, wanting to know if it’s a lie. “Depending on how things go with Elder Jason, we’ll either leave this afternoon or early tomorrow.” I tell him. confirming what Jara said.
He nods, and we walk them out and Hana and Jara hug. I’m so glad we’ll be sisters.” Hana says to Jara.
“Me too! We’ll definitely have to get together soon. The packs are only about a couple hours apart, right?” Jara turns, looking at me.
“Yes, and there is a human town in between the packs, so you could meet for lunch, and it wouldn’t be a long trip for either of you.”
They squeal their delight and hug again. I nod at Seth before he tucks his mate into the car. “See you soon, Seth.”
“Take care, Jara. You too, Mason.” He says before taking off, honking as he leaves. We wave goodbye and make our way to the main house.
When we get there, I can smell that most everyone has gone home. Jara and I head to the office where Alpha Jason has been working. I knock and wait for him to call us in.
When we walk in, I can tell that things aren’t good. He looks up at us. “Alphas, have a seat.”
We sit down and he shuffles through the papers on his desk, before putting his head in his hands and rubbing his face roughly before sliding his hands into his hair, making it stand on end.
“Only seventy-seven individuals have come out of the claiming territory.”
I watch as Jara looks from him to me and back again.
“How many went in?” She asks.
“One hundred and fifty-three.” He says.
Jara sucks in air. “You mean that half of the unmated males from this year’s claiming are dead?” She asks.
“That’s what it looks like. We’re still combing through the territory, but we’ve found close to seventy bodies, so, it’s pretty close.”
“Were any of those bodies Alpha Typhon? “ I ask, needing to know.
He gives me a sharp look. “No, and he isn’t among the ones that have walked out either. Why do you ask?”
I look at Jara. “We fought on a cliff. He was injured pretty badly, but then he went after Jara, and she threw him off the cliff. When I got to the bottom, his body was gone. I followed him as far as I could, but I never found him.”
“We haven’t found him either. We did find his Beta, or I should say, his Beta’s body.” He says.
“I killed him.” Jara says. I already knew this. “He was trying to kill Beta Elijah, and I jumped on him.” She looks down before looking back up at Elder Jason. “He had threatened me earlier. He and Typhon caught me, and he had threatened me. So, when I saw him fighting Elijah, I jumped.”
“You ripped his heart out?” He asks her. “Yes.”
He nods, looking down. “We are going to have some packs that are almost wiped out completely. They were small to begin with and now… now, there’s barely anyone left.”
“What about the Alpha you shot at the end? Was that a kill shot or a tranquilizer shot?”
“It was a kill shot. He one of the seventy that we’ve accounted for. We didn’t know it at the time, but he was Beta Asher’s Alpha.’’ He looks at us. “Beta Asher is now Alpha Asher. “
“Wait, so Mignon is now a Luna too?” Jara asks.
“That’s correct.”
Jara turns and looks at me. “Every female claimed this year is now a Luna.”
I take her hand. “Well, you’re technically still an Alpha, you’re just MY Luna.”
I lean over her hand, kissing it, my eyes never leaving hers.
Elder Jason’s throat clearing brings us back to reality.
He shuffles his papers around a bit before looking back up at me. “Alpha Mason, we had spoken about initiating change for the claiming process. Are you still interested in proceeding with that?”
“Yes, Elder, I am. I want to take Jara to see her family before introducing her to her new pack and officially making her our Luna. But after that, I think we both will want to petition the Elder Council for changes to the claiming process.” I say, looking at Jara, knowing she has her own ideas for things that need to change.
“Good. Then we are in agreement. Things need to change. We can’t continue to lose this many of our eligible males. Our species will be obsolete in a couple of decades, if that, if it continues this way. When you’re ready, send your petition to me.”
I stand, extending my hand to Elder Jason. He is an honorable Alpha and Elder. “I will Elder. Thank you, for everything.”
“You’re welcome.” He says shaking my hand and turning to Jara. “I’m very happy for you, Alpha Jara. I know you’ll be happy.”
I pull her against my side, wrapping my arm around her waist.
“Yes, I think we both are going to very happy together.” She says, looking up at me with eyes full of love.