Chapter 200
The iming by Cooper Book 3
Layan’s Return by Cooper (Jara & Mason)
Chapter 44 (Epilogue 2)
Jara
Thirteen yearster
Title of the document
“Jaxon, your father and I want you to attend the Alpha meeting today.” I tell my son. He’s fourteen now
and all those problems that I said could wait for another day? Well, that day has arrived.
“Why would I bother, mother? It’s not like I’m going to ever have a pack to run.” He says angrily,
stomping out of the room.
Mason kept his promise and we stuck with the decision that Jordan would take over the pack. We,
however, had been the only ones to decide to have our daughter lead the pack. In the end, all of the
other packs had sons and they decided that their sons would take over as heirs. So, Jaxon is the only
one who won’t. To say he’s bitter would be an understatement.
I move to follow him. “Let him go, mother.” Jordan says. Even though there is animosity between Jaxon
and me, he and Jordan remain very close, thankfully.
“He’s right, you know. It’s not just hard for him. I know why you did it and I appreciate the reasons
behind your decision, but it’s hard for me too. I never know if the guys who want to date me want to
because they truly like me or if they are just hoping to be my mate one day so they can have a pack of
their own.” She says.
I sigh. I understand that it’s hard and it’ s not just hard for my children. We’ve had a baby boom over
thest decade. Alpha Quinton imed Sophia, Katerina’s sister in her im several years after
Katerina’s. Jared, Jonas’s brother had imed a warrior the year after Elijah imed Layan. And other
ranked members and warriors had imed their mates. That is until seven years ago when we did
away with the annual iming.
Once we allowed females to choose their imants, we realized that they were drawn to certain males,
simr to how I was drawn to Mason. We began to believe in the fated mate bond again. So, we started
having social gatherings amongst the packs. Now, mates can choose each other once they turn 18.
And so far, it’s working.
But now, our packs are overflowing with pack members and, as with Jaxon, there are many ranked
members that have nowhere to go and no role to y in their packs. It’s bing more and more of a
problem as they get older and their limited options be more obvious.
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Rather than annual Alpha and Luna meetings, we now meet quarterly, and we rotate which packs host
the meetings. This month, Mason and I are hosting the meeting.
I walk into the kitchen, seeing Layan and her daughter E. When Layan first got pregnant, everyone
was excited. We were all so happy for her. Elijah was over the moon but insisted that they would only
have one. Layan is very private about her intimacy with Elijah, but I knew she had struggled taking his
knot. So, after the birth of their son, no one expected Layan to have another child, except Layan
apparently.
A year after Carter’s birth, Elijah and Layan had the worst fight they’ve ever had, before or since. Layan
finally confided in me that she sneakily seated herself onto Elijah at just the right moment and had
managed to take Elijah’s knot again. He had been angry that she had allowed herself to be hurt as she
had torn and bled, and she promised him that she would never do it again. Thankfully, five months
later, E was born.
“Good morning,dies.” I say to them. Both of Layan and Elijah’s children are the mix they hoped for,
Layan’s blond hair and Elijah’s curls. On E, they are big fat curls hanging down her back. On Carter,
they are the messy curls Elijah has if he lets his hair grow too long.
“Are we all set for breakfast? Everyone should start arriving soon.” I say.
“We’re all set, Luna.” E says to me.
I walk into the conference room, seeing Mason and Elijah setting up. They look up and Mason winks at
me before narrowing his eyes at me.
‘What’s wrong?’ He asks through the mind link.
‘Jaxon. He doesn’t want to attend today.’
Mason sighs. He and the other Alphas have been talking about ways to take the pressure off the ever-
increasing pack sizes and finding alternate options for ranked members who will have no ce in the
packs. It’s one of the agenda items for this month’s meeting. Mason wanted Jaxon to be here to
participate.
‘I’ll talk to him.’ He says.
I nod, turning as I hear the sounds of people at the entrance of the packhouse.
“Oh, Alpha Jonas, wee. Come in, breakfast will be served soon. Would you like some coffee while
you wait?”
“That would be great, thank you, Luna.” He says.
Alpha Jonas is the only Alpha to never get his mate. While his brother has been happily mated for
years, Jonas never imed a mate during the iming process. And then, once we reinstated mates
choosing each other, no one has shown much of an interest in him, even though he’s an Alpha. I had
heard that after Katerina’s iming, he had stopped having rtions with Isabe or any other female.
However, it didn’t change that Sophia also declined having him in her im and for whatever reason,
he never found a mate.
Mason says that he’s mated to his pack now. And thankfully, Jared is an Alpha male and has a son that
can take over the pack when Jonas retires. Only, he refuses to retire. He has no one to share his life
with, so he continues to spend all his time with his ‘mate’, his pack.
As everyone arrives, Layan, E and I bring breakfast into the room. Everyone grabs a te, and we
all sit to start the meeting. Since we are hosting the meeting, Mason is in charge of running it. I sit
beside Jordan as Mason stands.
He wees everyone, then gets down to business. “I’d like to start off today by talking about the
issue that we know is going to be a real problem in the next few years. We have too many ranked
members now that have no position in our packs. Not only that, our packs can’t continue to handle the
massive growth that has urred over the past decade. Even though our numbers of adult females are
still low, we’ve managed to increase our numbers significantly.”
Most of us have 4-5 children each in our families. Mason had insisted that we stop after five. He told
me that I was not a baby making machine and that he wanted to have some time in our lives when I
wasn’t pregnant. So, after the first three years, we stopped, even though Jaxon was our only son.
Mason didn’t care, all of our children are happy and healthy and that was all that mattered to him.
“Many of our children will reach maturity in the next 3-4 years and have no role to y in the pack
unless we begin making Alphas into Betas, Betas into Gammas and moving Gammas into warrior
status. Quinton, you and Sophia have three boys. If all of them were to remain ranked members, you’ d
have to push your Beta and Gamma’s children to warrior status. None of us have openings for ranked
members and too many heirs to fill the positions.”
“What do you suggest?” Jonas asks him. Of all the packs, only his has some openings since he doesn’t
have any heirs. Jared’s sons can take over as Alpha and Beta.
Mason looks around the room. “We have ten packnds that have no packs on them. They are
overgrown and need work, but they are there, just sitting idle.”
“We have more than ten heirs that would need positions.” Asher says, leaning forward. He’s another
one that has two boys. One will be Alpha, but the other would either have to push his Beta’s heir aside
or have no rank.
“Yes, and so, what I’m proposing is that we set up a contest.”
Jordan sucks in a breath. She turns to me, and I nod at her. She’s already figured out what this means.
Jaxon would have too, if he’d have shown up.
“What kind of contest?” Antonio asks, sitting forward.
“A contest for each of the packnds. We can decide our Alphas first and from there, they can choose
their Betas and Gammas.”
“Do you intend to allow both males and females topete?” Hana asks. I have to smile. I told Mason
that question woulde up.
He looks at me. “I think that anyone who wants topete, should be eligible.”
“You’re saying warriors and omegas, too?” Alpha Saul asks.
“Yes. Anyone, any age. Of course, that is up for debate and we have a couple of years to figure out the
logistics and decide what criteria will prove that one person is eligible to have a pack over another.”
We take a vote, and, in the end, it’s decided. We will have a contest to determine who the next ten
Alphas will be.
Jonas POV
I’m walking out of the Alpha meeting on thest day of our quarterly conference. As much as I
appreciate the work that we do, I can’t be around all the other Alphas and their mates and children.
I’ve long since gotten used to the fact that I’m meant to be alone. Maybe the Moon Goddess is
punishing me for having had a rtionship with someone who wasn’t my mate, or maybe my mate died
in during childbirth as many children did years ago. Either way, I’m alone. And while I can handle that
most days, I can’t when it’s right in front of my face.
I’m nearly to my car when I hear a sweet voice behind me. “Alpha Jonas?”
I turn. She’s a pretty little thing, always has been, even when she was a young child.
“Hello, Melinda. What can I do for you?”
“Alpha Jonas, I wanted to tell you something.”
There’s just something about Melinda. Everyone says so. She has the ability to get anyone to do
anything with a simple smile, myself included. I know Mason’s pack members fall over themselves to
make her happy, they always have. And don’t get me started on Jace. The man has walls so tall and
wide he’ll be lucky if anyone can crack that exterior. Except Melinda. No one keeps Melinda out if she
wants in, it’s utterly impossible.
I close the door to my car, giving her my undivided attention. “What’s that, Melinda?”
She steps closer to me and something inside me lights up. Something that I tamp down instantly.
Melinda is too young for me. “I want you to know that I intend to im you when I turn 18 next year.”
My heart skips a beat, but I quickly pull myself together. “What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been watching you for years, Alpha Jonas. I think the reason you never found your mate is
because I’m your mate.”
I take a breath, trying to keep my voice even. “Melinda, you’re a beautiful youngdy, you’re intelligent
and from everything I’ve heard, you’re a very intuitive woman. You deserve a man who can appreciate
those things about you, someone closer to your age. I’m old enough to be your father.” I say gently. It’s
true, I’m 18 years older than she is.
She steps up to me, invading my space. “Are you saying that you don’t appreciate those things you just
listed off, Alpha? You wouldn’t appreciate my intelligence, my beauty, my intuition?”
“Of course, I would, I’m just saying…”
She cuts me off. “I know what you’re saying, Alpha Jonas. And if you know that I’m intuitive, then you
know that when I believe in something, I won’t stop until I have it. And I’ve set my sights on you Alpha.
You will be mine.”
She turns and walks back into the packhouse. I can only stand there and watch.
Just before she closes the door, she looks back at me giving me a smile. It’s the kind of smile that
melts your heart and fills it with hope. But I gave up on hope years ago. I can’t afford to hope that she’ll
choose me when she turns 18.
But that doesn’t change the new spring in my step or the lightness in my heart as I get into my car and
drive away.
The end.
Coming soon: The Contest – a next-generation book on the children of the Alphas and Lunas of The
iming.