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.

climbs over the side of the cliff, pulling himself to the top. I couldn’t see him from where I am crouched

landscape below us. I see him smile and I wonder if he sees Mason, or maybe

the wind shifts, I can smell you.” He

much for me being hidden

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

crouches to attack, I shout

surprise at my outburst. He

them have their claws and canines out snarling and snapping at the other. As I watch, the Beta pins Elijah to the ground,

man possessed. The Beta, however, is strong and manages to throw Elijah off of him, nearly tossing him over the cliff. Elijah catches himself just before he rolls off the edge, jumping back to his feet,

is splattering all over the ground, making it slippery on the stony surface. When Elijah loses his footing,

left hand punches into his back. As I wrap my hand around his still beating heart, he stops, startled at having been attacked and now being

forward putting my lips to his ear. “How do you like this little baby maker now?”

his body seize in pain and the realization of his pending death. Before

back,

as I watch Elijah push

me a moment before putting his head back on the ground, closing his