The Claiming By Cooper

The Claiming by Cooper (Jara & Mason)

Chapter 69

Jara

On the morning of Day 4, I wake up hungry again. Perhaps today I can find a food source that won’t require me to eat raw meat. There have to be nuts and berries around here somewhere. Just as I think it, I see a chipmunk running through a tree a couple over from where I am. Even from here, I can see his cheeks are full of some sort of food.

Good.

Title of the document

I begin to carefully make my way through the trees moving toward the back of the territory. From up here, I can see most of what is going on below me. I periodically have to stop when wolves or men come crashing through the forest. Sometimes I hear the sounds of fighting, sometimes I hear howling, as if someone has caught my scent and sometimes, I hear the sounds of dying.

Occasionally, those beneath me actually do catch my scent and I have to stay absolutely still until they give up and move on.

It’s mid-afternoon before I finally get to a spot I haven’t been before. On the first day, I passed several of these small cliff faces without taking the time to climb them. Today, I find myself close to one that I haven’t been on top of yet.

not to jump down from my tree and see what I can see from the cliff face when Elijah climbs over the side of the cliff, pulling himself to the top. I couldn’t see him from where I am crouched on my tree limb, and I couldn’t smell him. If he’d have come up five minutes

He’s patient, like Mason, surveying the landscape below us. I see him smile and I wonder if he sees Mason, or maybe one of his pack

shifts, I can smell

for me being

stands, beginning to look for me in the trees. I’m debating my escape, when I see Typhon’s Beta quietly climb over the top of the cliff behind Elijah. Elijah is too busy searching for me to realize that he’s about to be

Beta crouches to attack, I shout the

my outburst.

the other. As I watch, the Beta pins Elijah to the ground, but Elijah bites into his arm, ripping his bicep from his body. The Beta howls in

advantage and gets on top of the Beta. He begins punching and clawing at the Beta like a man possessed. The Beta, however, is strong and manages to throw Elijah

slashing at each other, leaving gaping wounds. The sweat and blood from their fight is splattering all over the ground, making it slippery on the stony surface. When Elijah loses his footing, the Beta jumps on him, pinning him

I leap, landing on his back. My claws extending while I jumped and as I land, my right arm wraps around the Beta’s neck, while my left

lips to his ear. “How do you like

pain and the realization of his pending death. Before his heart finishes its last beat, I rip it from

jump back, tossing

as I watch Elijah push his body

before putting his head back on the