The Claiming by Cooper (Jara & Mason)
Chapter 75
Mason
I don’t know if it’s because she’s a female and this is a claiming or if it’s because she’ s my mate, but Jara talking to me helps alleviate the haze. I feel better, more in control of my wolf I feel reason return and I’m not just going on straight instinct to kill and claim.
I still refuse to let her out of my sight but instead of just killing because other wolves get too close to her, I give them a warning. I only have to kill one. I’m not sure, but I think it’s another one of Typhon’s pack members. He’s down to three, at the most.
I watch as she skips through the trees as if she’s a squirrel shifter, not a wolf shifter. When she gets to the cliff, I start feeling the haze getting stronger again. I can’t see her, I don’t know if she’s safe.
I begin pacing back and forth, looking up trying to find her, waiting for her to return to the safety of the trees. When she doesn’t, I begin looking around the cliff face, trying to find a way up. I need to see her. I need to know she’s safe. And if I can capture her on the cliff, she’s mine.
As I’m circling the cliff, I catch the scent, the very recent scent of Typhon. He saw Jara leap to the cliff and he’s after her. He’s after what is mine!
I begin scrabbling up the side of the cliff. My claws slip, the rocks cutting into my paws. One of my claws gets caught and rips out, but I don’t care. I am miming on adrenaline alone. I have to get to her. I have to claim her before someone else does, before he does.
As I get closer, still slipping and sliding my way up the cliff face, I hear him talking to her. He has somehow managed to shift into his human form. I try to pull on my human form, but I’m too angry. I want him dead, I want to kill him for trying to take what’s mine.
“Don’t fight me, Jara. You’re caught and thank you for already being n*ake*d. Up here, I don’t see a problem with us completing the bond. It’s not like I have to worry about anyone else getting up here to fight me.”
“I’ll kill you if you try to touch me, Typhon.” My mate spits out.
“Now, Jara. Don’t be like that. You know that I’ve caught you, fair and square. I need a mate. I need an heir. And you are just the woman to give me both.”
I hear a scuffle, just before I reach the top. When my head breaches the surface of the cliff, I see that Typhon has Jara on the ground. He’s bleeding where she clawed him across the face and neck, but he’s still going after her, snapping like he’s on the verge of shifting to his wolf form.
I pull myself up, and race to pull him off of her. I grab him by the back of his neck, yanking him off. As he goes flying, he shifts into his wolf form. He skids to a stop at the edge of the cliff, his claws digging into the ground, stopping his momentum.
He turns, baring his teeth at me. I move to stand in front of Jara, protecting her, willing to die for my mate.
Typhon leaps at me, I jump to meet him, sending our wolves tumbling in a ball of teeth and claws, snapping and snarling. We are both intent on killing the other. I feel a chunk of fur being ripped from my body as I slash at his hind leg, causing him to fall backward.
I snap at his neck, but he’s faster than I gave him credit for, or he’s desperate. He leaps at me again, ignoring the pain he must be feeling in his leg. I move, reaching to grab side of his neck, but he’s able to get mine. He thrashes his head back and forth, pulling me off balance and tearing my skin and flesh again.
He tosses me aside and in the moment it takes me to get back up, he’s racing toward Jara, who is sitting stunned watching us. I have a moment to realize that she’s been scratched and is bleeding from multiple wounds on her body, before jumping into action.
My hatred for Typhon has me seeing red, wanting his blood. He hurt my mate. And he’s still trying to claim her. As Typhon approaches her, Jara stands, her claws extending.
However, I leap, tackling him to the ground before he can get to her. My teeth snap against his back, trying to get to his spine so I can break it. But he rolls, using his claws to scratch my soft underside, slicing through my stomach.
I leap off of him, feeling this injury, blood pouring from my wound. He turns again, going after Jara. I bite down in his flank, ripping a huge chunk of flesh from his leg. He howls m pam before turning back to attack me again.
Once again, we are locked in a battle of teeth and claws, rm snapping at any part of him that I can get, and he is doing the same. My injuries don’t have time to heal as he continues to scratch and bite me, opening new wounds.
I’m getting weaker as the fight goes on, but I can feel that he is too. hi a last-ditch effort to kill him, I push my strength forward, grabbing hold of the back of his neck. I thrash my head back and forth, but I’m too weak to snap his neck now.
When that doesn’t work, I toss him toward the edge of the cliff. He’s able to grab hold just as he gets to the edge. As he starts to get to his feet again, I see Jara stalking up behind him.
“This is for my sister, you a*ssh*ole.” She says. She extends her claws, slamming them into his chest before tossing him over the edge.
I hear his cry of surprise and pain as he falls through the air, until I hear the sickening crunch of his body hitting the ground below.
I look at Jara, and collapse, my vision narrowing until the darkness overtakes me.