The Claiming by Cooper

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

The Contest Chapter 55 (Evangeline)

I know Jaxon is worried about our names getting drawn together, but he needs to get over it. This is about our pack

and one of us has to win.

Truthfully, now that we’re mated, I don’t care as much about which of us it will be, as long as one of us does. We

both have the desire and the bloodline to run a pack.

We wake on the first day of the competition. Both of us know we have to win today. It’s best if we win today and

tomorrow and then we move into the next round of the contest, but if not, it’s best to win today to at least go into

tomorrow knowing we have two more chances to move forward.

We walk downstairs to get breakfast and you can tell that room feels edgy since everyone is battling today and only

half of us can win. Breakfast is a quiet affair while all of us mentally prepare for our first battle.

As they finish, people begin moving outside. The council has placed the leaderboard up again and everyone’s name

is on the board. I find my name and Jaxon’s name on the board and then, like everyone else around us, we wait for

the competitors to flash on the board along with our sparring times.

A few minutes later, the names flash up on the board. Haley’s name flashes up next to mine. She’s one of Alpha

Davis and Luna McKenna’s daughters. She’ll be tough, but she’s about a year younger than me, so I think I can win.

Then I look to Jaxon’s. He’s got Joanna. She’s Beta Jared and Juliet’s oldest daughter and she’s also younger than

me, so Jaxon should be able to defeat her easily, as long as he doesn’t have a problem with battling a she- wolf.

I look at him. “Are you okay battling a woman?”

“As long as it’s not you, I’m good. You’ re up first. Come on, I’ll walk you over.” I glance up at the boards. “Oh shit,” I

say.

“What?” Jaxon says looking back up at the leader boards.

“Lazio is battling Taylor.”

“Uh, no offense, but I don’t think your brother will defeat her. She’s very strong and fast. A great fighter.

“I’ll check on him after my fight,” I say.

There are 10 fights scheduled each hour, so the battles will take place over five hours today and tomorrow.

As we walk toward the sparring area, we see Joanna’s sister Ainsley chasing after Alpha Reid, Davis and McKenna’s

son. “Reid, what are you doing?”

I look at Jaxon.

He shrugs. “See, it’s not just me.”

“Well, I’m thankful that you and I aren’t scheduled to spar.” I say as we walk up to my sparring ring.

I watch Alpha Davis giving Haley last minute pointers, and Jaxon turns me to face him. “You’ve got this, you know

that. Use what you’re learned, stay focused.”

I smile at him. “I love you,” I say, k*issing him quickly before entering the ring.

Haley tries, I’ll give her that. She fights hard, but in the end, my experience and age overcome hers, and I win the

battle.

After she tapped out, I helped her up and hugged her, knowing it’s hard to lose. Then, I ran to Jaxon, leaping into his

arms.

“Congratulations my amazing mate!” he says, swinging me around. “Thank you,” I say, looking around. “How did

Lazio do?” I ask has he sets me back down.

Jaxon shakes his head. “Come on, we’ll go check on him before my match.”

We walk over to where my family is. Maggie is getting ready for her match, and she hugs Lazio quickly before

rushing past me, Caleb with her. Like Jaxon, his match is later.

“You’ve got this Maggie!” I shout at her as they jog off.

“Congrats on your win, Evie!” she yells back.

I turn back to Lazio. “Hey,” I say.

He looks up at me then at Jaxon. “Your cousin is a beast! I had no idea!”

“Yeah, she is.”

“Well, I hope I can win tomorrow. I’m thankful now that they changed the plan. If I had Taylor again tomorrow,

there’s no way I’d win. At least now I have a chance to win.”

“I think that’s why they changed the rules, so someone like you isn’t eliminated because they were defeated by one

person,” Jaxon tells him.

We go watch Maggie, who defeats her opponent, a warrior, easily and then we go watch Rowan. She had to battle

her cousin Brooke and it was a tough fight, but in the end, Rowan won her match.

Then, it’s time for Jaxon’s match. When we get to the ring where he is scheduled to spar, Joanna is already there. I

assess her, not having ever seen her spar before, but she’s lean and muscular.

Jaxon is stretching beside me, and I turn to him. “Okay, Super Hotty,” I say making him smile, “she looks tough, but

I think you can take her. I say use a combination of Ezekiel and Mateo.”

“Aikido and Savate?” he asks, standing to look at me.

“Yeah, she looks like she gets into her head space and then can’t shift gears quickly.”

He looks at me, frowning. “Why do you say that?”

I shrug. “Women’s intuition.”

“Give me a k*iss for good luck,” he says. I pull him to me and k*iss him deeply. “I didn’t say distract me,” he growls

softly.

“I just gave you all of my good luck. Use it well, Super Hotty,” I tell him, smacking his a*ss as he walks into the ring.

I watch as my mate focuses, the distraction that I gave him falling away and the Alpha male coming forward. Damn

my mate is hot.

He and Joanna face each other. I close off our mind link, not wanting him to feel my worry for him while he’s

sparring. When the referee calls the match to begin, he waits for Joanna to make her move. She’s fast, really fast.

She gets the first hit on him and then the fight begins. Jaxon has become more agile over the last few months, so

even though Joanna is fast, Jaxon counters her, getting into the rhythm of her moves. I quickly see that I was right.

Joanna has a favorite method of fighting, kickboxing. 

Jaxon begins to counter with his Savate moves, using her movements against her. Surprisingly, Joanna begins to

counter the Savate moves, and the battle continues.

As I watch, I see my mate getting the pattern of her moves, starting to find her weaknesses. Twenty minutes later,

I’m cheering for my mate and his win. He’s a gentleman and helps Joanna to her feet, before jogging over to me,

spinning me around and this time it’s him that takes my mouth in a fiery k*iss. When the battles are done for the

day, we have the evening free. Dinner is a quiet again as everyone reviews their battles today and begins mentally

preparing for tomorrow. Once dinner is over, people begin heading to their rooms. Tomorrow will be just as intense

with some people being eliminated completely and some moving into day 3