The Claiming By Cooper

The Claiming by Cooper Book 4

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 67 (Evangeline)

I didn’t sleep well. Or, I should say, I wouldn’t have slept well if it weren’t for Jaxon purring everytime he realized I was awake. So, I wake much more rested that I expected to be and after a good breakfast, I’m feeling ready for today’s challenge.

I’m third in the queue, meaning I have about two and a half hours before it’s my turn. Caleb is first up this morning, so we go outside to stand with Maggie while her mate runs through the course.

“I hope he does better than I did,” she says after the gun goes off and he races into the territory.

“It’ll be fine Maggie,” I tell her. And when he emerges, I’m proven right. Caleb exits the territory with eight flags.

Maggie runs into his arms, and he swings her around. It’s very likely that Caleb just made it through to the final round with that many flags.

I begin getting nervous as the second contestant enters the territory. I begin to fidget and move around, I’m getting myself really worked up when Jaxon wraps his arms around my waist, putting his h*ands on my stomach. “Relax, Eve. You’ve got this. Your senses are so much stronger right now.”

“I know, but…”

“Shhhh, close your eyes.”

“Jaxon…”

nips at my ear. “Close your eyes,” he

do as he

he says as he begins purring

to my

focusing first on my hearing. I lean away from Jaxon, so he’s not right next to my ear. He pulls his

mountain lion. It’s on a loop, running for a few

it, but like the mountain lion, it’s on repeat and once I’ve heard it several times, I recognize that the sound repeats

the rustling of a mole, or some other animal burrowing into the earth. Just like the bird, I wouldn’t have paid attention except that identical sounds keep

finding the deer. That one must be close. No deer would come this close to

I smell the bear and since no one has come racing out of the territory, running from a giant bear, I’m pretty sure that’s one of the stations to get a

this territory, the scent of sunflowers in a place where sunflowers don’t grow, so

just a small

the hour is nearly up and I’m feeling calm and ready

up and the gun goes off, I don’t hesitate. I take off, heading for the deer scent first. I snatch my blue flag and keep going, following the sound of the mountain lion. On the way, I see

to it, not sure what it is, and then I realize that it’s a dead squirrel that has been stuffed by a taxidermist. I look around and find the flag before continuing on my way. I’m not as fast as I would be if I wasn’t three months pregnant, but I’m still able to get to all of the stations for scent and sound before the gun goes off letting me know that my hour is up. I jog out of the territory, Jaxon waiting for me.

about halfway into the contest, it’s becoming clearer that anyone under seven is out, anyone over seven is in and those who have seven flags are at risk of having to do

with eight flags as well.

since she’s pretty confident that she’s out of the competition. Jaxon, while still making sure to t*ouch me, is