The Claiming by Cooper
Chapter 63

Chapter 63: Mason Mason

Then next morning when I wake, everyone is moving around. No one slept well last night, since we could still here the sounds of the hunt and of killing in the night. "What's the plan, Alpha?" Elijah asks as we head out.

"Let's head to the lake and check the hiding spots that we replace along the way." I tell him.

As we move through the territory, it's quieter than it has been since this started yesterday. Those that tried to replace Jara overnight, have finally settled or fallen asleep. Elijah and I replace several hiding spots, some with Jara's scent and some without it. She found a lot of them, but not all of them. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. We also replace some of the dead bodies that we heard yesterday. We pull the aside, knowing their bodies will begin to rot before the claiming ends.

When we get to the lake, we're on the far side, away from the waterfall.

"What's that?" Elijah asks pointing to the other side of the lake.

"Let's go see. But keep your eyes open. It could be a trap."

We walk around the lake. I use the time to sniff to see if I replace Jara's scent. It isn't until we're close to the bodies that I smell her. When we get to them, I can see that they're dead and have been for a while. "Do you think she killed them?" Elijah asks, having smelled Jara's

scent on them.

I look around, then up at the cave above us. "No. I think they were in the cave and were killed, possibly tossed into the water. Maybe Jara went to check on them and pulled them out of the water, thinking they had drowned. But either way, she was here, and I think she's the one that pulled them out.

I shift and begin sniffing around the area where the dead bodies are lying.

'Typhon's Beta." I tell Elijah through the mind link.

Elijah is looking around. He crouches down at the water's edge. "Look at this." He says.

I walk over and look at where he's pointing. There is a set of footprints that walk into the water. The footprints are small, either Jara's or an omega's.

I look back up to the cave. 'She was here when they were killed.' I say, knowing I'm right.

"That's my take. She must have done a d*mn good job of hiding. That or Typhon's Beta was just on the hunt to kill and wasn't paying attention.

I shift back and put my clothes back on. "I want to see the cave." I tell him.

He nods, standing. We climb up the side of the waterfall until we get to the top. We sniff the air before walking into the cave.

"They were here because her scent is strong." Elijah says.

"Yeah. I'm guessing she spent the first night here." I say, turning in a full circle to look around. I'm hoping to replace any clue as to where

Jara might be. As I'm looking, I see something on the wall. I walk over to have to chuckle.

"What is it?" Elijah asks, coming to stand beside me.

We read the words of the others from this year's claiming. Then, at the bottom, Jara has left her own words.

My girls. My sisters-in-arms. We will prevail. Jara

Elijah slaps his hand on my shoulder. "One hell of a f*cking Luna.”

"Yeah. Come on. I don't want to get caught up here and have to fight our way out. Let's see if we can follow her trail."

We head back down, and I have to shift back into my wolf to even replace her scent. She was definitely in the water, and my guess, she was soaking wet last night. It was a cool evening. I hope she didn't get too cold.

Elijah stays in human form and follows my wolf as I track Jara's scent. I follow it to a tree and look up, before turning to look at Elijah.

"Another tree? Maybe we're looking in the wrong places." He says, smiling.

I shift back. "Let's see if we can figure out which tree she slept in last night." I tell him.

I follow what I think is her trail, but it's hard to catch from this far down. I realize the trees are a good spot for her. Most of her claimants won't expect her to be up in the trees. And most of the trees don't look strong enough to hold someone my size. An omega might be able to manage, if they could climb that high, which is doubtful.

As we're searching, looking up into the trees, I catch her scent. I turn, sniffing the air and replace the tree she exited this morning. I look back up and to where we found her entrance and I begin retracing my steps. If she's going to be spending a lot of her time in the trees, I need to know what her parameters are for replaceing a place to stop.

I walk back slowly, looking at each tree before replaceing the one where I think she slept last night.

"This one." I say to Elijah.

"Why do you say that?" He asks.

"It has a large branch that juts out. She wouldn't be visible from the ground, but she would also have room in case she started to roll off."

"And it's got other branches to catch her if she did actually fall off." He adds.

I look at the tree for another moment. "So, now we know what to look for." I say to him.

We begin to follow her scent, only to lose it in her scent trails. As frustrated as I am, I can't help but smile.

"D*mn, she's smart." Elijah says.

"That she is. Pick a trail, any trail and let's see what we replace." I say to him.

When he chooses a trail that has a stronger scent than some of the others, we follow the trail to a nearly sheer cliff face.

"Her trail leads up." I say to Elijah. So, we begin to climb. When we're halfway up, I smell it. I turn to look at Elijah and I see he smells it

too.

Blood.

I begin to climb faster. My heart constricting that I may replace Jara injured or worse....

When we get to the top, I see them. Three of them, all dead.

We finish pulling ourselves up and move to the two that are closest to the edge of the cliff. On them, Jara's scent if very faint. I move to the third and her scent is much stronger. "Do you think he tried to claim her?"

I turn, looking at the other two that are dead, then turn back to look at the one that smells like he was a G*mma.

"I think he lured her here. I think he knew she'd come to see if they were okay, and he thought he could claim her. He didn't respect that she's an Alpha and he paid the price for his arrogance."

I turn, looking around. It's a great spot to see what's going on in the territory. I can see several groups of males and some individuals moving through the territory among the trees, some following scent trails, some searching for hiding spots. I don't see anyone looking up in the trees. Good.

As I move around, I look out all around me. In the distance, I can see the lake. So, that's why she was at the lake. It wasn't because she was trying to hide.

I turn and look at the blood covering the G*mma. She was trying to wash his blood and scent off of her.

As I turn back around, I see her. She's darting through the forest, using the shadows to hide. I smile, watching her.

That is, until I see that Typhon has caught her scent and is hunting her.