The Claiming By Cooper

The Claiming by Cooper Book 3

Layan’s Return by Cooper (Jara & Mason)

Chapter 26

Luke

It’s been nearly a week, and no one has found Katerina yet, much less claimed her. I take a moment, a very brief moment, to appreciate how good she is at evasion. When the shot rang out that we could enter the territory, the Alphas had all headed to the cave.

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I had moved slower than Davis and Quinton. I knew she’d been there, but I wanted to try to catch her scent somewhere else, possibly get to her more quickly. What I realized almost

immediately is that her scent was amazingly absent from the claiming territory. When I’d gotten to the lake, I had caught a scent trail. It was short and led to the lake in one direction and in the other, it just stopped. I looked around before looking up. I walked closer to the tree, lifting my nose and just catching the scent of creme brulee.

I stood under the tree then walked the 20 long steps to where her scent began. She had literally leaped off the damn tree, leaving as small of a scent trail as possible. It was at that moment that I realized, this was going to be harder than I had realized. Jara’s hunt was difficult because she’d left so many scent trails, all of them leading to dead-ends. However, Katerina was leaving us nothing.

I had moved the rest of the way down the edge of the lake, not getting another whiff of her scent until I reached the cliff face. I got down on all fours, sniffing the ground and finding the spot where she had exited the water.

Then I began sniffing the area around the cliff face. When I didn’t find another scent, I knew she had jumped from the top of the cliff into another tree. Now I just have to figure out which one, so I know which direction to go to follow her.

cliff and enter the cave. Here, her scent is

that the females had started writing on last year. Sure enough, she had signed the

future for all.’ That’s exactly the kind of thing a

I noticed she left enough firewood for both McKenna and Layan. Another thing a Luna would do. Look after the others around her. I really need to catch this woman. If I hadn’t already been extremely attracted to her,

the little minx. I’ve hunted her in both my human and wolf forms,

no breeze. I lift

around but down here on the ground, I can’t see much. I walk around the cliff face until I see an area that looks like I can climb up. I may not be able to climb a tree and leap through the branches like she’s obviously doing, but if I can get to the top of the cliff, maybe I

it. Suddenly, I’m overwhelmed by her scent. She’s been hiding up here the entire time. I

this seems to be where she’s been staying, I tuck myself back into the shadows, crouching down to remain hidden. I only have one more night to catch her. If she doesn’t return here tonight,

my feet and knees are cramped and tired. However, the moment I hear the soft thud of feet hitting the top of the cliff, all of that falls away and I know

quietly turn my head to watch as she sniffs the air before deciding that it’s safe. When she

gave me a good

standing quicky

Even in the darkness, I can see her eyes

behind me. I’m blocking her path to the trees. There’s nowhere for her,

at her. “You’re not getting

you find me?” She asks, almost in a

determined Alpha who knows what he