The Claiming by Cooper

The Claiming by Cooper Book 4

The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)

Chapter 38 (Jaxon)

Okay, so Eve has a point. My sister seems perfectly fine with Nolan. More than fine, actually. My usual

protectiveness seems unnecessary, but I suddenly have a bit more understanding of Alpha Luke and his reasons

behind being protective of his daughter.

After the tour, I steal Eve away from the group, getting her in the forest for a few minutes of alone time. I press her

against a tree and k*iss her, making sure to put every moment I’ve missed her into the k*iss.

“Is it terrible that I’m worried I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I’m not sleeping in bed with you?” she asks when we

finally pull apart. 

“Honestly, I had the same thought. My bed doesn’t smell like you, and it’ll feel huge and lonely.” I say, keeping my

forehead pressed against hers, my eyes closed as I take in her scent and just enjoy our closeness.

I feel her f*ingers toying with the collar of my shirt. “I could always sneak into your room.”

I open my eyes, seeing hers looking back at me.

“Are you planning to be naughty Evangeline?” I ask her, my voice rumbling at the thought of my mate sleeping

beside me tonight.

She shrugs. “I sleep better beside you, Jaxon.”

“I’ll leave my door unlocked. Come in whenever you want or can get away.”

“Yeah?” she asks.

“And if I’m asleep, just crawl in beside me. I’ll leave room for you. But we’re only sleeping. We both need our rest

for tomorrow. I have a feeling Nolan is going to make us work as hard as Ezekiel.”

“I hope so. I’d hate to feel like I wasted a week of training,” she says, making me smile.

Later that night, when she sneaks into my room and crawls into my bed, we spend some time kissing and t*ouching

each other, enjoying the feel of our naked bodies pressed against each other again. But, soon enough, we curl up

together and fall asleep. I set my alarm to give her plenty of time to get back to her room and shower before

training.

When I walk her to my door, I press her against it, devouring her mouth and her taste before stepping back and

checking the hallway. Once I see that it’s clear, I send her back to her room in nothing more than my t-shirt. I watch

until I see her duck into her bedroom before closing my door and heading to the shower.

While I got less sleep than I would have liked, the sleep I get with Eve lying beside me is much better than the sleep

I get on my own.

When I step out into the hallway, ready for training, my sisters, Eve and Magdalena all come out at about the same

time. Only Jordan and Eve look awake. The others look half asleep.

“Good morning, ladies,” I say cheerfully, knowing my sisters hate it that I’m a morning person.

Rowan and Teagan grumble as they pass me, Magdalena looking about the same. “Good morning, Jaxon,” Jordan

says, kissing my cheek as she passes.

“Mmm, honeys*uckle,” she says, giving Eve a side-eye.

Eve blushes but doesn’t look away from her. “I think he smells like sandalwood,” she says, taking the hand I offer to

her.

Jordan snorts. “Yeah, he usually does.”

Eve and I follow them down the stairs, joining the warriors and other ranked members that are joining the training

session today. I note that many of the omegas are joining the class too. I’m glad Jordan opened it up to everyone.

Less than an hour in, I realize that this week is going to be as brutal as last week, at least for me. Eve and my

sisters seem to be having a bit of an easier time.

We spent the first 30 minutes stretching and when I say stretching, I don’t mean the easy shit. Nolan practically

wanted us doing splits by the time our stretching was done. My mate is very flexible, I already knew that, so for her,

this was easy. For me, not so much. My inner t*highs felt like they’d been beaten with a cane before we even

started sparring and let’s not even talk about my groin. At this rate, I won’t ever be able to give Eve those children

we briefly talked about. 

Then, we had to do the same kick over and over. Have you ever done repetitive motions that your body isn’t used

to? It causes your body to cramp, your muscles complaining at the cruel workout you’re giving them.

So, an hour in, my groin feels like it’ll never work again, my inner t*highs feel like they are in shreds and my right

outer t*high feel like I’ll never get it out of this cramped position that it’s in. And, oh goody, now it’s time to switch

l*egs. How the f*uc*k am I supposed to walk after this?

“Come on, Super Hotty, you’ve got this,” my nimble, incredibly flexible mate says as her l*eg swings high enough

that she could actually get it over my head and never t*ouch me. My l*eg is barely high enough to come even with

her face.

“My body wasn’t made to do this,” I grunt. The only positive is that I’m not the only one. Most of the men and some

of the women are having the same struggles that I’m having. 

“You’re an Alpha, Super Hotty, s*uck it up,” she says as we work the second l*eg for the next 30 minutes.

We finally get to punch for fifteen and I take out my frustration on the punching bag that I’m assigned to. That is,

until the normal motion of punching has my h*ips and t*highs cramping.

“Son of a b*itch,” I say, hopping away. When punching time is over, we go back to, you guessed it, stretching.

As if it wasn’t bad enough the first time, this time, I’m supposed to put the soles of my feet together, my l*egs in a

diamond shape and I’m supposed to lean down to get the ‘full stretch’. The f*uc*k kind of cruelty is this?

I watch as my mate leans over, her head resting on her feet, her eyes rolling closed. “Oh, this feels so good,” she

says. 

I frown at her like she’s some sort of masochist. I literally can’t move. I could barely get the soles of my feet

together and once I did, I’m not sure I will ever be able to get myself out of this position. “Alpha Jaxon, the stretch

would be deeper if you leaned forward,” Nolan says, walking up.

“If I lean forward, my l*egs will snap off. This is as good as it gets,” I retort.

“Something to strive for tomorrow. When we stretch, hopefully you’ll be able to push forward, even just a bit. I

expect that by the end of the week, you’ll look like Alpha Evangeline here,” he says looking down at her. “Nice job,

Alpha.”

“Thank you, Nolan. That was a great workout, but this stretch is the best!”

My mate literally looks like she’s going to take a nap in that position.

Nolan claps his hands. “Alright everyone, nice job! For those of you interested, please come back tonight at 5pm.

We’ll get into a more intense workout.”

MORE intense? How much more intense can it get?

“Come on, Super Hotty,” Eve says, putting her hand out to me.

“I don’t think I can move,” I tell her, not reaching up to grab her hand.

Her lips twitch and she puts her hands on her h*ips looking down at me.

Jordan comes over, looking like she’s going to talk to Nolan, but stops when she sees me.

“What’s up?” she asks, frowning down at me.

“He’s stuck,” Eve says, losing the battle with her mirth.

“It’s not funny. My body wasn’t meant to move that way,” I grumble. 

“On the contrary,” Nolan says, and I feel his arms come up under my armpits, hauling me up. “Your body just needs

to be conditioned properly. Stretching is no different than building muscle. It takes time, but eventually, your body

will not only be able to do it, but it will also crave the stretch. And then, your reach and your ability to make physical

contact with your opponent will give you the advantage in a fight.

My l*egs feel like mush. I’m not sure I ever remember feeling this week. Nolan’s hand comes down on my shoulder.

“Be glad you have Alpha healing. You’ll be fine in a couple of hours.”

“Yeah, just in time to go to your evening class,” I say sarcastically, taking a tentative step away from him.

Now both Jordan and Eve are battling against their laughter.

“Hey, what happened, Alpha Jaxon?”

Makayla comes bouncing up. “Did you get hurt?”

Without waiting for an answer, she turns to Eve. “That class was amazing, wasn’t it?” Again, she doesn’t wait for an

answer before turning to Nolan. “Thanks so much, I can’t wait for tonight,” she says before bouncing away.

“How does she still have so much energy?” I ask, frowning at Eve’s sister as she races off toward her parents.

“There’s something wrong with her,”

Magdalena says walking up. “What happened to you?” she asks me as Eve comes and wraps one of my arms

around her shoulders, wrapping one of hers around my waist, helping me to limp off the field. “Jaxon’s not limber.

At all.” Eve says to her. “Huh, I thought it was a great class,” she says, gliding away as if she wasn’t just in the same

class I was in.

I look around and see that most of the men in the class are limping off the field. That makes me feel a lot better.

I look back at Eve, who pecks my lips. “Nolan did say that kickboxing is the great equalizer.”

Great equalizer indeed.