The Claiming by Cooper
Chapter 211

The Claiming by Cooper Book 4

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 11 Evangeline

I'm exhausted and everything hurts, but I'm actually enjoying myself. Jaxon is funny, intelligent and he never breaks the pace. He sets it and sticks with it. He's a great running partner. I had thought that I might need to shift into my wolf, but at this rate, I think I can do the entire run in my human form. I'd be willing to push it anyway, just to continue talking to Jaxon.

When we hit the last rest stop, I ask again what time it is. It feels like the night is only about halfway done when they tell me it's 5am. I've been running 23 hours straight. Ten miles to go, three to four hours left, and I've done it. I've passed the first cut.

"Who's ahead of us?" Jaxon asks as we pass through.

This time it's Alpha Paolo, Alpha Asher and Luna Mignon's oldest son who is stationed at the rest stop.

"Tobias is a few minutes ahead of you, and Taylor is only about a minute ahead of you. She's out of steam. I was surprised she didn't stop."

"Not her style." Jaxon says as we run through.

As we run back out into the darkness, I look at Jaxon. "Almost there "

"Almost! We can do this."

"Definitely." I say.

"Okay, when you're ready, it's your turn to ask first." He says to me.

I'd been thinking about it, so I'm ready. "If you win..."

"When I win." He corrects me.

"When you win," I stress the 'when', "how will you choose your Beta? Are you planning to go with the family lines or choose from those competing in the Beta trials?" I ask him.

I watch him as he thinks over his answer. "I've been thinking about this for a while. There is obvious benefit to choosing family to be your Beta and Gamma, but there are also many out there that would be really great at it. Not only that, if I take a Beta and Gamma from another family, I've just strengthened my alliances with those packs. For me. I'll already have an alliance with Jordan, then, let's say your brother Lazio doesn't win in this tournament. If he were to compete in the Beta trials and I chose him as my Beta, well, now I also have an alliance with Alejandro. And your cousins from Alpha Quinton and Luna Sophia's pack aren't even eligible to compete for the Alpha spot, but I'd be shocked if they didn't compete for the Beta positions."

He stops, taking a few breaths as we run. "Let's say I took their son, Wade, as my Gamma, well now I've also created an alliance with your cousin Nathaniel when he takes over the pack from Alpha Quinton." "So, then you will have an alliance with three of the 20 packs, your pack being the fourth." I say. It's not necessarily needed, but in wolf packs, it's always good to have allies and it's actually a brilliant strategy. "Then, let's just say I end up mated to Noelle, Alpha Antonio and Luna Annabel's oldest daughter. Now, I'm also allied with her brother, Giovanni. So, I'd be allied to a quarter of the packs. And that doesn't include if Taylor gets a pack and my alliance with her brother Griffin. As cousins, we're already family. It's not really important, since the packs all get along now, but things change over time and setting up alliances now can only help my children in the future."

Of all the things he just said, the one sticking in my head is Jaxon being mated to Noelle. "She's not your type." I blurt out.

In the dawning light of morning, I see a smile breaking across his face.

"Why do you say that?" He asks.

I shrug a bit. "She's that uppity Alpha female type you spoke of before."

I don't now why it bothers me to think of Jaxon with Noelle. I mean she's okay, I barely know her, but I just don't like the idea of him with another woman.

"Well, I'm pretty sure that she's mated to Alpha Paolo anyway. He's nearly 18 and I saw them huddled together the night before the race. I think he and Griffin are the same age, so he'll be 18 in the next couple of months. If she makes it to the top 100, I'm guessing she'll drop out before the second event." He says.

I feel a lot better knowing Noelle isn't an option for Jaxon.

We've just rounded a bend in the path when we see Taylor standing on the side of the road.

Jaxon slows. "Taylor, are you okay?"

"Winded." She says, leaning over and sucking in air.

"Shift to your wolf, Tay." He tells her but she shakes her head. "No, I can do this." She insists.

"You ARE doing this. The rules are the same no matter what form you cross the finish line." He tells her.

"You haven't shifted, neither of you have." She says, stubbornly, looking at me.

"I'd be farther behind if it wasn't for Jaxon. He's been my pacer almost the entire time. He's a great running partner." I tell her.

"He is. We've run together before. Go on you two. We're all so close I can taste it. I just need to catch my breath and then you'll be seeing my dust again."

Jaxon chuckles and turns to me, nodding. I nod back and he picks up our pace again, back to where it was.

We're quiet for a while and I can feel my anticipation of finally being so close to the end.

"Do you know how they are doing points for the race?" I ask him.

"Yes, they are giving points in groups of ten. Top ten group to finish gets 100 points, next group gets 90 and so on until the last group gets 10."

"So, coming in this early has it's benefit?" I ask, knowing that the points are most valuable at the end when it decides your spot for choosing your pack lands.

"Exactly. "

We round another bend, and the sun has come up enough that I can actually see the finish line ahead of us. I can't believe we're almost there. I replace myself speeding up again. "You want to go faster?" Jaxon asks me.

"How far away do you think it is?" I ask him.

"Two miles, maybe."

"Yes, let's go faster. The sooner we get there, the sooner we're done!"

He's just picked up our pace when a wolf goes racing past us.

"Show off!" He shouts at her.

"Taylor, I'm guessing." I say.

"Yes, she's so competitive. I'm guessing she's trying to beat Tobias. It looks like he's almost there."

As we watch, we see Tobias turn and seeing Taylor racing up behind him, he picks up his speed, crossing the finish line just a moment before she does.

The sun is still low in the sky, but the end is right there for the taking.

Suddenly, I realize Jaxon didn't ask me his question.

"You have one more question. Alpha Jaxon." I say to him.

He smiles, looking at me. "Will you go on a date with me?"

I stumble and would have fallen if he hadn't caught me. He turns and sees some others racing to get to the finish line.

"Come on. we have to hurry."

We race to the finish line, crossing at the same time. I lean over and suck air and he does the same.

"So, was that a yes?"