The Claiming by Cooper
Chapter 261

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 61 (Evangeline)

It's been a month since Jaxon and I left the second competition of the contest.

I hadn't wanted to see my father again and I haven't answered his calls either.

He continues to call me at least once a day.

Jordan had come home and given us the rundown of the next phase of the competition, agility. The competition will be in one month's time, two months from the date of the last competition. This time, there will be 20 individuals eliminated, bringing the pool of contestants to 30.

Of the remaining 50 that are still currently in the competition, there is an equal distribution between the packs, ranging from four to six individuals from each pack that are still competing. In Alpha Jordan's pack, she has six, including Jaxon, Rowan, Jace and Carter, her Beta's son. In addition, she also has two warriors who made it through the last competition.

From my pack, there are five remaining, including me, Magdalena and Lazio. I was happy to learn that Lazio won his competition after I left. I had called to congratulate him.

Ever since she's returned, Alpha Jordan has been running agility drills with us. She has set up the arrowhead agility course as this is what we will be tested on in the competition. She times us, pushes us and gives us pointers on how to become more agile, how to shave off a second here or a second there.

Jaxon is keeping an eye on me, but overall, the agility part of the competition is pretty easy. Yes, you have to sprint, but overall, the competition only takes about 10-15 seconds. At first, it took longer. Most of us had difficulty at first, taking about 20-30 seconds, losing precious second on the cuts, but we've all gotten faster with the daily sprint workouts that

Jordan puts us through.

We have to practice our agility on both our left and right sides, as the competition will be run in pairs. Everyone will get three chances to run, and the best score is what is used to determine the top 30 that will move on in the competition.

Jordan is a great instructor and from everything I've seen, a great Alpha. She's tough, strong and compassionate. Even though both her Beta heir and Gamma are competing for their own packs, she's out here everyday training them, trying to make them better, trying to help them achieve their goals, which ultimately means she could have a deficit or deficits in her pack. She's a true Alpha, and living here in this pack, watching how she runs the pack is inspiring.

Today, as we finish up our training, Jaxon hands me a bottle of water and we wipe the sweat off our faces.

"Are you ready?" he asks me excitedly. "Perhaps not as ready as you are," I say, taking his hand as we walk back to the packhouse. "I do want to shower first."

"Oh, yeah, sure, right," he says, as we climb the stairs to the Alpha floor. We've basically moved into Jaxon's room for now. I'm not sure how much longer we'll need to be here. I guess that depends on if or when one of us wins the contest and gets our own pack. Of course, most of those packs are in a complete state of disrepair, so it could be months before we're able to move out.

We shower together and for once, my mate is too excited to about something other than me to take advantage of our naked, wet bodies. So, our shower is much quicker than normal and then we're dressed and heading to the pack hospital.

Today is the day we get to see our little one for the first time.

"We probably need to have a conversation very soon about our first-born child," I say to him.

"What about him? He'll be perfect," Jaxon says.

"He or SHE will be perfect, of course. But you and I have very different experiences with becoming an Alpha heir. If we're going to be running our own pack, I think we should decide now, before we know if this is a boy or girl, if they will be the heir to our pack, regardless of their gender."

He stops, turning me to look at him. "You're right. We do have very different experiences. I hate that I'm the only first-born male Alpha that has to fight for his position as Alpha. But I can accept it, because my sister was born before I was, even if only by a couple of minutes. You, however, were passed over based solely on your gender, and I know that has never sat well with you, understandably so."

The wind is blowing my hair around my face, and he tucks it behind my ear. "My sister is an incredible Alpha. You, my love, will be an incredible Alpha, whether that is because you win your own pack, or you stand at my side as a co-Alpha. So, to me, it doesn't matter if we have a boy or a girl. They will be our heir and we will raise them to take over the pack for us. I don't know what that will mean for our son if our first born is a girl, unless you and I both win a pack and then we can give each of them a pack," he says smiling.

I lean into my mate, looking up into his grey eyes with are always sparkling with merriment, intelligence and love.

So much love. "You, my dear mate, are the most amazing man I've ever met."

His arms go around me. "Yeah?"

"I'm so lucky to be your mate," I tell him, wrapping my arms around his neck and lifting up on my toes to kiss him. Maybe it's the day, maybe it's the missed shower opportunity, or maybe it's just because he loves it when I tell him how amazing I think he is, but before I know it, he's devouring my lips, dominating my mouth with his tongue, and overwhelming my senses. "Get a room!" someone shouts from somewhere nearby, and Jaxon pulls away from me. I realize I've practically wrapped myself around him while we were k*issing.

"We should definitely celebrate after this," he says.

"Definitely!" I say, feeling a throbbing need for my mate between my thighs.

He growls low, doing nothing for my current state of desire, and steps back, taking my hand and beginning our walk to the pack hospital.

When we arrive, I'm taken into a room and given a gown.

When the doctor comes in, he looks at Jaxon.

"Alpha Jaxon, I will need to touch your mate in order to do the ultrasound and see your child. Do you understand?"

I look at Jaxon and frown. Of course, he understands, we knew this was coming.

"I understand," Jaxon says to him.

The doctor continues looking at him. "I experienced your father's snaps and snarls every time your mother was in this hospital while she was pregnant, so I'll ask you again. Do you understand that I will be touching your mate solely for the purpose of a medical examination and to see your pup?"

"Jaxon? He has to do his job," I say, reaching out to take Jaxon's hand.

Jaxon grits his teeth and nods, looking at me.

"It'll be fine. This won't take long, and you've been so excited about this," I console him.

However, as soon as the doctor moves the gown, exposing my stomach, Jaxon's growl reverberates around the room.

The doctor stops, looking at him, making sure he's in control before putting a baby heart monitor around my stomach and then continuing to squirt a bunch of goo on my stomach. I pull Jaxon closer to me, stroking his arm and trying to send calming waves through our bond as we hear the sound that can only be our baby's heartbeat. The doctor makes some notes, then begins moving the wand over my stomach "Look here," he says, watching the monitor beside us.

He looks back at my stomach, puts the wand where he wants it, pressing it against my not-quite-flat stomach, before turning back.

"Here you are," he says, and I can see the shades of white, grey and black forming into what looks like a little baby head.

He stops, holding the wand still. With his free hand, he points to the screen. "This is the head, the heart, and the feet," he says before moving the wand some more.

"I'm guessing you want to know the gender?" he asks, looking at us. "Yes," Jaxon says as I nod. Jaxon's eyes are glued to the monitor.

The doctor moves the wand around a bit more, pushing into my stomach. Then, on the screen, I can see my little one begin to move, the little fists and feet shifting around.

"Ah, there it is," the doctor says, freezing the frame on the screen and pulling the wand away.

"There what is?" Jaxon asks, the same thing I was wondering.

"Alphas, congratulations! Your baby is healthy and in about four months, you will have a baby boy."

"WOOOOO! YES!!!!" Jaxon yells, startling me as he pumps his fists into the air, and begins dancing around the room, like some sort of boxing champion.

"Seriously, Jaxon? I thought you said you were fine as long as our baby is healthy," I say, scolding him as the doctor hands me a towel to wipe the goo off my stomach.

"I would be, but I'm just REALLY happy that we're having a boy," he says, coming to k*iss me.

I finish getting cleaned up and dressed, and then we walk back to the packhouse, hand in hand. Well, Jaxon is practically skipping he's so happy. I truly wonder if he'd have been this happy if we'd have found out we're having a girl.

As soon as we step into the bustling packhouse, Jaxon stops.

"WE'RE HAVING A BOY!" he announces to the entire pack, before scooping me up into his arms and spinning me around, as the pack cheers, making it impossible for me to be upset with him

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