The Claiming by Cooper
Chapter 104

The Council Chapter 11: Jara

Jara

The morning had been long and arduous. I'm beyond ready to take a break when they tell us to take time for lunch.

Mason takes my hand, looking at the others at our table. "Let's go replace a quiet spot and grab some lunch. I have something I want to share with our Lunas." Before we leave the conference room, Hana grabs me. "Jara, I'm so sorry. I really wanted to tell you first, but..."

"It's okay. I'm really happy for both of you."

"Thank you!" She looks at Seth and Mason, before lowering her voice. "Wouldn't it be great if you were pregnant too and our children were raised together?"

"We'll hope for that." I tell her and mean it. Our children will be cousins. They should grow up together as friends.

We all make our way to the dining room in the hotel. Thankfully, they have a table large enough to seat us all. I'm surprised when Mason asks for a table for ten rather than eight. "Mason, who else is joining us?" I ask, just as Alphas Davis and Quinton walk up.

"Alphas, please join us." Mason says and we all sit down.

He waits until we order our food and drinks before he turns to me.

"I invited Alpha Davis to join us because he is Layan's Alpha. I thought maybe you would all like to hear how she is doing. But I have to tell you," he says, looking at each of us, "it's not good."

I turn, looking at Alpha Davis. "Tell us." I say quietly.

He looks at all of us before starting. "Well, you know the condition she was in when she returned home?"

We nod.

"Unfortunately, word like that travels fast and my entire pack knew what had happened to her. They probably would have found out anyway, since she wasn't supposed to return to our pack. But the way she returned caused quite an uproar."

He looks up at me and I can see his sadness. Even if Mason hadn't prepared us, I would have known that she wasn't doing well.

"I told Alpha Mason and Alpha Seth that I got her a counselor, but he is a male."

"That won't work for her. Not after what she suffered." Annabel

says.

Alpha Davis nods. "And it hasn't. She isn't getting any better. I've tried, as her Alpha, to try to comfort her, help her feel safe and protected, but again, she won't accept it from me." He looks down and I can tell that he feels like he's failing her.

"An Alpha did this to her. She would shy away from you." Hana

says.

He nods, looking back up. "In talking with your mates, I was hoping that maybe, you'd be willing to come spend some time with Layan. We all know you developed a bond..."

"Yes." I say, cutting him off.

"Absolutely." Hana says at the same time.

"We should all go." Annabel says, looking at Antonio.

"It would be like it was in the claiming. We could have a movie night with popcorn and pizza." Mignon says.

"Baby, I'm not sure I'm okay being away from you for even a few days. My wolf wants to know his pup is safe at all times. Alpha Typhon is still out there, and we don't trust Alpha Gunnar and his crew." Asher says to her.

I see the tears welling in her eyes.

"We could replace space for the four of you as well. Or as many of you as want to come. My pack is small, but we have space for visitors. It's nothing fancy..."

"I'm sure it will be perfect." I say, looking at Mason. If he set up this meeting, he knows I will go to see Layan. He also knows it's part of the petition that I want to put into place. He's giving me the freedom to be the woman and Luna I want to be. Goddess, I love

this man.

He winks at me, having felt my feelings and my appreciation toward him.

"Maybe we can trade off." Antonio says, and I can tell he wants to do this for Annabel. It means a lot to her, so it means a lot to him.

"What do you mean?" Hana asks him.

"Well, we could do it two ways, depending on what Layan needs. But I'm guessing one movie night isn't going to be enough to help her. So, as Alphas, we could entrust the care of our mates to each other, sending one of us to look out for all the mates while the four of you go to see Layan. Or we could split it up and have you go two at a time, so it's only every other weekend, or something similar, until she's feeling more confident."

Dividing into pages now

The four of us look at each other. We know that Layan needs all of us, for different reasons.

"All of us, until she's feeling more confident then maybe we can begin to come in two at a time and maybe eventually one at a time." I say, looking around the room to see if everyone is okay with this.

"And we'll have our guards. So only having one of you to watch over us should be sufficient. We'll need an Alpha, because our guards aren't Alphas, but with our guards, you can rest assured that each of us will be protected."

I see Asher gritting his teeth. "I can't leave Mignon. Not right now."

"I understand that." Seth says. "So, maybe you and I switch off, knowing both of our mates are pregnant and carrying our pups. We will be extra protective of both of them."

"And what do we do when our mates become pregnant?" Antonio asks.

"If they still feel like all four of them need to go every weekend, we begin to split our time, two and two every other weekend."

I watch as our mates assess each other, determining if they can trust that their mates will be taken care of by the others.

"Let's try to remember that we're not helpless females." I say, giving them all a look to say that they are being ridiculous.

"We did, after all, give each of you a run for your money." Hana says, giving Seth a meaningful look.

I see Alpha Davis duck his head, but he can't hide his smile completely.

"We can't help it that we don't trust our mates' care to anyone but ourselves, love." Mason says to me.

"So, create an alliance. We're the four largest packs, build an alliance. Your mates are already friends, none of you seem to have an issue with each other. Why not?" I ask. All of our mates look at each other before shrugging. "Why not?" Mason asks.

"Can we get in on that?" Quinton asks as Davis nods.