The Claiming by Cooper Book 4
The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)
Chapter 34 (Jaxon)
When we arrive on my sister’s pack lands, I’ m really excited for Evangeline to not only get to meet my family in a more in-depth way, but also to see her family.
As soon as we step out of the car, she’s surrounded by her siblings.
“Evie!” they say, engulfing her in a hug.
I go to the trunk pulling our bags out before coming around the car. I watch as her siblings step back frowning, Magdalena putting Eve at arm’s length.
“Is it me or are you more ripped than you were only a week ago?” she asks.
“Ezekiel is a drill sergeant! I hope you got him for our pack,” Eve says looking at Alejandro.
“Not for a few weeks, but he’ll be there.”
“He’ll practically bring you to your knees, but wow, I feel stronger after only a week,” she says to them.
“You look stronger,” Lazio says to her.
“Your sister was amazing. She held her own and never backed down,” I tell them, coming to stand beside them, smiling at my mate.
“I had a lot of encouragement,” she says, moving to stand beside me.
I wrap my arm around her. “You didn’t need it, you’re tough all on your own.”
“Alright, stand aside, let me see my daughter,” Luna Katerina says, walking up.
Eve pulls away from me before stepping up to her mother.
“Hi mom,” she says hugging her.
It looked like Eve had planned the motion to be a quick hug, but Luna Katerina wraps her arms around her, holding Eve against her and taking a deep breath.
“Your siblings are right, you’re more lean, more muscular,” Katerina says, stepping back. Similarly to Magdalena, she holds her away from her and looks her over.
“Wow! We should try to get Ezekiel twice,” Katerina says, looking over her shoulder at Alpha Luke as he walks up.
“He’s already booked up,” he says coming to stand beside his mate.
“Hello Evangeline,” he says before looking up at me. “Hello Alpha Jaxon.”
“Alpha, Luna,” I say greeting them, just before my twin comes racing out of the packhouse in a very un-Alpha way. “JAXON!”
She races into my arms, slamming herself against me. I grunt as she stands back, looking at me.
“Holy s*hit! What happened to you?”
“Ezekiel.”
“Whoa,” Rowan says, following Jordan outside. Teagan follows her, but she’s looking at Alejandro who is smiling up at her.
“Seriously, bro, you got all this muscle from a week with Ezekiel.”
“Yeah,” I look at Jordan. “Did you schedule him?”
“In a couple of weeks, now I can’t wait!”
“Make sure you have lots of food. We about ate Alpha Jonas out of his packhouse,” Eve says.
“Alpha Evangeline, it’s nice to see you again,” Jordan says, moving to hug her. “Come inside, I’ll show you where you’re staying,” Jordan says, hooking her arm through Eve’s.
“Isn’t she staying on our hallway?” Alpha Luke asks.
Eve turns to him. “I’m staying wherever Alpha Jordan puts me, father, just as you would expect any visitors to stay where you put them if this was your packhouse.”
Eve’s tone is sharp and there’s no question that she’s still very angry with her father. He presses his l*ips together but doesn’t say any more.
“Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough space, and I knew Alpha Evangeline was coming before I knew the rest of you were, so she and Magdalena are actually staying on our Beta’s floor.” She turns to Eve and
Magdalena. “I hope it’s okay that I put you in a room together.”
“Absolutely,” they both say, and I can see that Magdalena is excited to be able to spend time with Eve.
“And, Alpha Jordan, since your brother is my mate, please, feel free to call me Evangeline or Evie, or Eve as he calls me.”
“Nope, Eve is my name, you can call her Evie,” I say to Jordan.
“Greedy much?” Jordan asks, shaking her head at me.
“When it comes to Eve, yes,” I say, not caring that both our families are listening. I fully intend to make her mine as soon as she’s old enough and agrees.
Jordan looks back at Eve. “Well, if you’re claiming my good-for-nothing twin as your mate, then you must come to my Alpha ceremony in two weeks. We pushed it off when we realized we were able to get Nolan this week, but I’d love it if you’d attend.”
Jordan may have been acting like my sister rather than an Alpha when she raced out of the packhouse to greet me, but now she’s all Alpha. She’s letting both Alpha Luke and Luna Katerina know that she supports my mate bond with Eve. Goddess, I love my twin!
As she expertly begins to guide us into the packhouse, I see Alejandro subtly move next to Teagan. Since my sister is older than Alejandro, almost the same age as
Eve, she would be feeling the mate bond strongly. Not as strongly as I am, but definitely as strongly as Eve. And it appears that Alejandro feels it pretty strongly as well.
Since I’m bringing up the rear of the group, I see Luna Katerina take note of her son’s preference for my sister.
Rowan comes over and takes my arm. “Geez, muscle mania, how much stronger are you going to get?”
“As strong as it takes to win, little sister. How about you? Are you excited about having Nolan here this week?”
“Yes, and since you’re back, I’d like to speak to you this week.” She glances over at Luke and Katerina. Rowan turned 18 just before the competition.
I lean over, k*issing the side of her head. “We’ll talk,” I whisper into her ear. I was busy with my own mate, so I didn’t pay a ton of attention to the others around me, but based on how Rowan is acting, I’m guessing she found her mate during the race.
When we get inside, Jordan turns left to take Eve to her room. She’ll be on the same side of the house as I am, even if she won’t be on the same floor as me. My parents walk up, saying hello before turning to speak to Luke and Katerina.
“Evangeline,” Luke calls as Eve walks up the stairs. She turns and looks at him.
“When you’re settled, I’d like to see what you learned last week with Ezekiel.”
Eve looks at him a moment and everyone stays quiet, waiting to see what she’ll say.
“Come on, you know you want to hit me,” he taunts her.
It has the desired effect, and she smiles. “Actually, that’s a great idea,” Jordan says looking at me. “I want to see what new weapons you’ve got in your arsenal, Jax.”
“I’m happy to take you on any day of the week, Jordan,” I tell her.
“Maybe this time you’ll actually beat me,” she says sassily.
I snort. “As if it would be the first time,” I taunt her back.
“Oh, here we go. I’m out of here,” Rowan says, heading up to the Alpha floor, as I turn to follow Jordan, Eve and Magdalena to their temporary room.
Jordan opens the door, gesturing for the girls to enter. I step up beside Jordan as Eve turns. I pull her bag off my shoulder and hand it to her.
“See you in a few minutes,” I say, pulling her to me and k*issing her.
“Not soon enough.” She says as I step back. When she closes the door, I race to my room to change.