Chapter 237
The iming by Cooper Book 4
The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)
Chapter 37 (Evangeline)
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I’m already doubting that my father will behave this week, but he did agree to have Jaxon join us for
dinner.
“It’ll be fine, Eve. He’s your father. Yes, he’s being a bit overprotective, but that’s his job. You’re his first-
born child, he’s going to be more strict with you and I.”
“How are you so calm about this?”
“I’m calm because he’s not actively trying to keep me away from you. If that changes, so will my
attitude. I’m just saying, if he’s trying, let’s give him a chance. And….I may have called in the big guns.”
“Big guns? What do you mean?” I ask him as we walk into the dining room together. “I asked my
mother to sit with us,” he says smugly.
“Why, Alpha Jaxon, how very conniving of you,” I say to him, already seeing Luna Jara seated at our
table talking to my parents.
As we get closer, Luna Jara stands. “Jaxon, sweetheart, you didn’t evene say hello to me when
you arrived home.”
“Sorry mom, Eve and I went outside to show everyone what we learned from Ezekielst week.”
“I heard it was impressive,” she says, turning to me. “Alpha Evangeline, how lovely to see you. I look
forward to getting to know you better this week. I hope you’ll enjoy your time in our pack.”
“I’m sure I will, Luna, thank you.”
I nod at my parents and siblings before sitting down in between Luna Jara and Jaxon. I know he seated
me here on purpose. It’s a way for Luna Jara to say she supports our rtionship.
“I do want to hear all about Ezekiel, but first, how are Jonas and Melinda doing? I miss Melinda now
that she refuses to visit.”
I’m not sure if the conversation is intentional, or if Luna Jara really does miss Melinda since she
originally came from this pack.
“She’s good. She’s pregnant with her third child.”
Luna Jara’s eyes go wide. “That’s wonderful. I’ll have to let Brynn know. Such a shame that there is a
rift between Melinda and her mother. I hope they can work it out some day. Melinda is a special
woman,” she says looking at me.
“Did you know, Evangeline, that I lost a sister?”
“Jaxon told me. He said one of the territories in the contest was the packnd where she was Luna,” I
say.
“That’s right. She died without ever having a child,” Luna Jara smiles sadly. “And then, I lost my first
child, a girl.”
I turn looking at Jaxon, but he’s watching his mother. I turn back to her. “I didn’t know that.” I say to her.
“Why would you? At the time, your father hadn’t even imed your mother yet. But a young Melinda
came to me in my darkest hour. She told me that my sister hade to her in a dream and wanted her
to thank me for giving her the child she never had. Melinda was maybe two or three at the time, young
as I said. She insisted that Brynn allow her to tell me what she needed to say because my sister came
to her in a dream and wanted her to give me the message.” Luna Jara’s eyes are far away,
remembering the time.
“So, you can see why I feel close to Melinda. I’ll definitely have to go see her soon. I haven’t even met
her little girl yet,” she says.
“Molly,” I say. “Grandma Isabe adores her.”
“She’s really cute,” Jaxon says. “Looks just like Melinda. They both do with their blond, curly hair.”
Luna Jara smiles. “Now, I’m sure we all want to hear more about Ezekiel. Your sister has himing
here soon.”
“I guess we’ll see if Norman is right about making Ezekiel look like a weakling or if that is a bunch of
bravado and good-natured ribbing, butst week was pretty intense,” Jaxon says as our food arrives.
“Their fighting styles are different, so I expect that if you foundst week to be difficult, you’ll find this
week to be equally as difficult. The difference is that both of you have a bit of an advantage over the
rest of us, having started your intensity training a week early,” Lazio says.
“I didn’t realize that it was having such an impact. Truly, it was so exhausting that it was all we could to
get through the days. At night, we’d just copse and fall asleep, waking up in time to do it again. Eat,
fight, sleep, repeat,” I tell them.
“That sounds like the schedule that Jordan has nned for this week. She has morning training with
the pack and afternoon training with anyone who would like to attend, which I’m assuming is everyone
still in the contest.”
“I’ll be joining both as well,” Al says. “I should hope so,” I tease him.
“I believe Jordan ns to do the same, as do Mason and I. I’d like to see if I can still keep up with these
young ones.”
My mother startsughing. “That’s pretty much what I said to Evangeline.”
Maggie rolls her eyes. “Like either of you won’t be able to keep up. I mean, I can’t exactly speak for
you, Luna Jara, but I know my mother has never stopped training and you look like you’re still in pretty
good fighting shape yourself. I know I’m hoping to be able to keep up with both of you,” she says.
It continues like that for the rest of dinner. My father doesn’t say much, but that’s not unusual when
there are a bunch of us at the table. He listens and pays attention.
As dinner begins to wind down, Jordan goes to the front of the dining room, whistling loudly to get
everyone’s attention.
“Hey everyone!” she says as the room quiets down. “As all of you know, this week we have Nn, one
of the best warriors of our time here to train us on the art of kickboxing this week. Nn will be having
two training sessions a day for the next seven days. The first one will be open to everyone in the
morning from 5am – 7am. Then there will be another one in the evening from 5pm – 7pm. This one is
avable for everyone but will be more intense than the morning ss and will be specifically geared
toward those individuals participating in the contest. I rmend that all warriors n to attend the
morning sessions, and anyone wanting to have their butts kicked, join the evening sses as well.
That’s all, see you in the morning!” she says, before the chatter of the room begins again.
When we’re done, Jaxon and I stand.
Although I wanted to have some alone time with him before this next grueling week starts, I also know
that my siblings will probably be as excited as I am to see another packnds.
“Jaxon was going to show me around the packnds. Does anyone want to join us?” I ask.
Maka jumps up. “I do!”
“I’d like to as well,” Al says.
“I’ming too,” Maggie says.
They all stand, including Lazio. “I’m going to check and see if Nn and Jordan want to join us. I’ll be
right back,” Jaxon says, kissing me quickly before stepping away.
My father grits his teeth but says nothing.
Luna Jara stands. “Thank you for letting me join you for dinner. It was nice to catch up, Katerina, Luke.
If you or your family need anything at all while you’re here, please don’ t hesitate to let me know,” Luna
Jara says before turning to me.
“And you let me know if you need anything from me,” she says before kissing my cheek. I’m not sure if
she means because I’m her son’s mate, or because my father is giving us a hard time. But either way,
the message was clear. She is supportive of our rtionship.
Jaxones back with Jordan and Nn in tow, taking my hand and looking at everyone.
“Ready?”
We all walk out of the packhouse, and Jordan and Jaxon spend the next hour walking us around their
packnds. The packhouse is seated at the foot of a mountain range. It’s absolutely gorgeous,
surrounded by lush forests. They show us the housing that has been built, where families with young
children prefer to live. “It wasn’t always this way, these houses have all been built in our generation,”
Jordan says as we pass what looks like a main street with storefronts.
“Even as recently as your parents’ generation, females were extremely rare. It’s why they used to have
the iming. And even then, sometimes there was only one female from all the packs that hade of
age. Things have definitely changed, for the better, in thest two decades,” Nn adds.
Maka snorts. “I’ll say. Now there are almost too many females,” she says.
“On the contrary, the females of the pack, while rarely given the opportunity that Alpha Jordan has
been given as the leader of her pack, have always held all the power. It was generations of arrogance
that forgot the value and importance of the females in our species that nearly caused our annihtion.
No one should ever forget that it is the females who give us the next generation. Without you,” Nn
says, turning to Maka, “we don’t exist.”
Maka blushes at the attention.
“But we’re more than just baby making machines,” Maggie says to him.
“Indeed. Some could argue that you are the stronger of the genders. While, physically, men are
stronger, women have a tolerance to pain that we do not. For instance, if the fate of our species
depended on men giving birth, I fear we’d die out in one generation.”
All of the girlsugh at that.
“Our father said that our mother broke his hand each time she gave birth. He said that was as much
pain as he could take. I can only imagine how much pain my mother was in to literally break his hand,”
Jaxon says.
“Our mother was the same, ording to our father,” I tell him.
As we walk, I notice that Jordan seems quite taken with Nn. Honestly, he’s not what I expected. I
didn’t spend any extra time with Ezekiel, so maybe I’d have liked him too, but Nn is just personable
and kind.
“Why did you decide to focus your training on kickboxing, Nn?” Alejandro asks him. “Ahh, a good
question. You’d expect that, like mypetitors, that I’d focus on a male dominant fighting style.
However, as I exined to Jordan earlier, kickboxing is the great equalizer.”
I look at Jaxon and realize that he caught the same thing I did. Nn called Alpha Jordan by her name,
and she didn’t even flinch. She’s already given him permission to drop her title. Interesting.
I feel Jaxon tensing up beside me and I squeeze his hand. “Don’t be a hypocrite,” I whisper to him.
He frowns, looking at me.
“Your sister is an adult. She’s obviously given Nn permission to be familiar with her. Let it go,” I say
to him.
He looks at Nn before looking back at me and nodding in agreement.