The Claiming by Cooper

Chapter 14 Jara Jara

I asked Hana what she was wearing tonight. And, once again, she and I are thinking along the same lines. Total glam tonight. It takes hours to get ready, but when I'm done, I will definitely be intimidating unworthy males.

Tonight, I decide on a strapless, hunter green floor length dress. This one has a black-beaded applique on the left side of the torso from breast to waist, and a black sheer V between the breasts with additional beads. The rest of the dress looks like it is wrapped around my torso and hips in layers before falling straight in crepe skirt with a slit to mid-thigh. I've matched it with a v-shaped diamond necklace and dangle earrings.

When I meet up with Hana, she's wearing a strapless floor-length light taupe dress. Her dress also has a beaded torso, but her beads are silver and cover the entire top of her dress, dipping down below her waist on the left side to connect with the top of the slit which comes to mid-thigh. Her top will cause some turmoil among the males again tonight as it is sheer between her breasts and waist. Where I have my hair up again to show off my jewels, hers is down, showing off her glorious, thick, light-brown locks. We're both sporting stilettos to make us as tall as possible, again to intimidate as many of our suitors as we can.

Tonight, there is definitely more tension in the air. Two of the females have had their lotteries pulled, leaving only one more before Hana's. Hana's lottery will be large but won't encompass all of the claimants. There are those that haven't been pulled into a lottery, haven't been pulled for sparring or a social event and the

frustration is palpable in the air when we walk into the main house.

We're separated into our groups and our 'social gathering' begins. I say hello to the omegas and warriors in my group tonight, thinking of Annabel's request to know which males Hana and I like. I make note that there is only one warrior that I would give second chance before I move toward Alpha Antonio.

"Good evening, Alpha." I say to him.

"Good evening." He says, taking my hand and kissing my knuckles. It's strange that every male I spend any time with gives me the same possessive look. As if they have already won my claiming.

We haven't been talking long when we hear a scuffle outside the door to our room. Luke is instantly by my side and the guards in the room move toward the door. Surprisingly, Alpha Antonio pushes me behind him, ready to protect me. The door bursts open and two males come rushing in, throwing punches as they slam through the door. There are two more behind them and I realize it's mayhem out in the main

room.

My first thought is to protect the omegas. I move to go find them when Alpha Antonio's arm sweeps behind him, pressing me to his back, keeping me in place. "The omegas...."

"Will be protected by other Alphas, but for now, you are my responsibility. Stay where I can protect you. I wouldn't want you getting marked by one of these wolves." Just as he finishes speaking, one of the males leaps at me. He's in mid-shift and before I can react, Alpha Antonio has extended his claws and ripped the man's throat out.

I hear him curse low. "This whole f*cking process is sending these wolves into rut. We'll eliminate our entire species at this rate."

I look at Alpha Antonio with a new respect. He's right and while I hate that I'm being auctioned off like livestock and was perfectly happy to let these males kill each other off, I hadn't taken the overall state of our species into account. From the perspective of an Alpha, a true leader of a pack and not just someone that wants the title, this entire process is just as terrible for them. They run the risk of losing pack members to a rut or even in the claiming process. No good Alpha would want their pack members to die needlessly.

It reminds me of my conversation with Alpha Mason earlier. He believes that having a strong mate will strengthen his pack and keep his pack members from going feral. It could be true. Alpha Typhon's pack has suffered significantly since my sister's death. I didn't pay close attention, but I don't remember her telling us that his pack members were going feral while she was there. However, once she died, his pack began going feral at an alarming rate, almost as if losing their Luna triggered the pack's shift to

becoming savage.

As the fighting settles down, the guards having killed or subdued the attackers, I realize that if I want to be the kind of Alpha I intend to be, the kind of Luna that a pack needs, then I have to choose one of these Alphas as my mate. I don't plan to be claimed, but I will still need to pick one of these males before I leave the claiming this year.

When I finally walk out of the room where my social gathering was happening, I see that Hana's room was also attacked. Seth has pushed his way through the crowd. He checks on Hana first before pulling me into a hug.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"I tried to get to you..."

"It's okay, Alpha Antonio made sure I was safe." I tell him.

He looks over my shoulder. "Thank you, Alpha."

Alpha Antonio nods at him. "It's nothing more than any of us should be doing."

Seth wraps his arm around my shoulders, turning to guide me to the dining room.

"I need to check on the others." I say, as I see Hana walking out of her room.

"Are you alright?" I ask her. She looks over her shoulder and I see Typhon watching us. "Yes. You?"

"Yes." I can feel Seth's need to wrap his other arm around Hana.

"I was going to check on the others, would you like to walk with us?"

She looks at Seth, but I can see her shoulders relax. "Yes, I'd like that."

Seth moves his arm from around my shoulder and takes her arm.

"I can escort you, Jara."

I look up into stormy blue eyes. Alpha Mason. And based on his wolf's presence in his eyes, he was worried about me.