The Claiming by Cooper Book 3
Layan’s Return by Cooper (Jara & Mason)
Chapter 12
Jara
The difference between this year’s claiming and last year’s is evident on the first night. Like last year, we have a welcome dinner where everyone attends. However, rather than wearing their finest gowns, this year is a more casual affair. Everyone still dresses up, but not to the level that we did last year. This isn’t a pageantry.
Layan had been terrified of walking into the dining room alone, so Mignon and I had held her hands and walked in with her. Unlike Katerina and McKenna who decided to sit at a table with a bunch of claimants and begin to get to know their possible contenders. Layan chose to sit with us. ‘Us’ just happened to include Elijah and Davis.
Annabel arrived earlier, but being very pregnant, she decided to skip the dinner tonight and rest in their room.
I look over at Layan and Mignon. “I heard from Seth. Hana had her little girl a few hours ago. They named her Harper. Momma and baby are healthy and doing well.” I tell them.
That gets the expected ‘ahhhs’ from both Mignon and Layan “I hope we get to meet her.” Mignon says, gently rocking the baby carrier in the chair beside her.
“You guys should all start planning play dates for your daughters to play together. They will all be around the same ages. They should grow up as friends.” Layan says.
“That’s a great idea.” Mignon says.
“We should build a multi-pack school.” Davis says, leaning over and joining our conversation. He had been talking to Asher, but he got distracted by a dirty diaper and had to leave for a moment.
“What do you mean?” Mason asks him, joining in the conversation as well. “Well, now that we have six pups, not including the roughly 20 juvenile females and several hundred juvenile males in all of our combined packs, maybe we should start considering a community education program. Most of us live within an hour or so drive from each other. We could find a place somewhere centralized to most, if not all of the packs and build one.”
“That is a great idea. The pups in our pack are all different ages. Trying to educate them all at their different levels is really hard. If we had a centralized school, we could probably find enough teachers to have real cla*s*srooms and educational courses.” Mignon says.
“We just went through a buying phase, rebuilding my packhouse. It doesn’t seem like it would be a stretch to build a school. We could figure out transportation, especially from the packs that are farther away, to make sure all pups have access to an education.” Davis says.
“We should talk to the council. They can put together the project, interview staff interested in becoming teachers, it could be a good alternative for omegas that aren’t strong enough to be warriors but want to do something other than cook and clean.” Asher says, rejoining us.
“I could lead the project.” Layan says and we all stop and look at her. She shrugs. “All of you have pups, and/or you’re busy running packs. I have time and it would be something positive for me. Tessa says I need something positive to keep me busy.
“I thought you liked cooking.” Davis says, frowning.
“Oh, I do. But there’s only so many different ways that you can make chicken.” She says.
“Are you sure about that?” Mignon says, smiling. “My mother was a cook. She found all sorts of ways to make variations on food. If she didn’t have a name for it, she called it a blah-blah. So, if she mixed whatever was in the kitchen together using chicken, her pack would rant and rave about it and ask what it was. ‘Chicken blah-blah.’ She’d tell them.”
“I’m not sure I’m that creative.” Layan says.
“Of course, you are.” Elijah says, watching her intently. “But, if you feel passionately about helping to build a school, then you should do that.” He says.
“Absolutely. You should definitely follow your heart, find what you want to do in this life and make it happen.” Davis adds.
I’m not sure Layan feels it, but there is an underlying current of competition in the words being spoken by Elijah and Davis. It’s almost as if they are trying to prove that they are more supportive of her than the other.
“So, tonight there is dancing.” I say, cutting off whatever they were going to say next.
“Is there?” Mason says, looking at me.
“Yes, maybe even a tango.” I tell him, thinking of our first dance together. His eyes get dark and he takes my hand, kissing my knuckles, his eyes never leaving mine. “Do you dance, Layan?” Mignon asks. “I was so preoccupied by Asher last year that I don’t really remember.”
“I was laying my claim on you early, my love.” He says, smiling at her.
“Yes, you were.” She says, smiling prettily.
“So, Layan, do you dance?” Elijah returns the conversation back to Layan.
She looks at Davis. “Alpha Davis has been teaching me.”
I see the muscle in Elijah’s jaw tick. “Has he?” He says and I can see that it’s taking every bit of effort he has to keep the smile on his face.
“I have. I promised to teach Layan how to dance if she promised me the first dance while we’re here. Isn’t that right, Layan?”
“Yes. I’m not sure I’m any good…”
“You’re an excellent dancer.” He says, watching her as intently as Elijah.
“I hope you’ll save me a dance as well, Layan.” Elijah says to her.
She nods, blushing.
We hear laughter at another table and I look up, seeing that McKenna and the table of men that she’s sitting with are all laughing. She has their undivided attention, and she seems to be enjoying herself immensely.
I look over at Katerina and see a similar situation at the table where she’s sitting. The males around her are laughing and joking, their attention solely focused on her. I look around the room, seeing that while the other claimants are looking on as if they wish it was them at the table, there isn’t the feeling that their emotions are out of control this year. There is definitely a feeling of competition, but there isn’t an underlying feeling of danger or of overexcitement.
Mason wraps his arms around me. “What a difference a year makes.” He kisses the side of my head.
“We had a hand in this. In making this year better for them than it was for us.” I say, looking around the room. Even the camaraderie among the men is better than it was last year.
“Yes, we did, but mostly, it was you and the other Lunas. You all made this happen. I’m so proud of you, baby.”
I’m proud too. Proud that I have been part of this important change and knowing that it will only get better with time.