Chapter 246


    The iming by Cooper Book 4


    The Contest by Cooper (Jaxon & Evangeline)


    Chapter 46 (Evangeline)


    Jaxon and I spent the eveningughing and dancing together, celebrating his sister bing the


    pack’s Alpha. It felt a lot like we were already a mated couple. No one else asked me to dance, not that


    Jaxon gave them the chance, but there were no jealous she- wolves hovering around us either,


    moring for a chance to dance with


    Jaxon. It was a great night and now, I’m heading to my room to shower and change before I sneak up


    to Jaxon’s room for the night.


    When I get out of the shower, Maggie is just walking in.


    Title of the document


    “Hey Maggie, did you have a good time tonight.”


    “Hey, Evie, yeah I did,” she says distractedly, going to her bed.


    “You okay?” I ask her.


    “Yeah, I’m good. You headed to Jaxon’s room?”


    My sister and I have been best friends our entire lives. We know everything about each other and right


    now, I know something is bothering my sister.


    I finish getting dressed in my pajama shorts and top and I sit on my bed. “Spill,” I say.


    “Is it that obvious?”


    “Well, I mean, you’re not like Maka and bouncy all the damn time, but you’ re usually more upbeat


    than this, especially when we’ve juste from such a fun night.”


    She begins chewing on the inside of her m*outh. A sure sign that something is bothering her.


    “I found him, Evie.”


    I wait, thinking there’s more. She doesn’t say any more, she just looks at me.


    “Found who?”


    “Him. My mate.”


    I jump up, pulling her into a hug. “Maggie, that’s wonderful!” I say, before stopping and pulling back.


    “Wait, why aren’t you more excited?”


    “Dad, obviously.”


    “Oh shit.”


    “Yeah, oh shit. If he’s struggling this much with you, imagine how he’s going to act with me. I’m six


    months younger than you are.”


    “How old is your mate? WHO is your mate?” I ask, watching as a smile spreads across her face.


    “Jaxon’s cousin, Caleb. And we’re the same age.”


    “Caleb,” I say thinking. “Griffin is the oldest male, right? He just took over as Alpha. And that would


    make Caleb


    Taylor and Harper’s brother too, right?” I ask, making sure I understand the family tree. I need to know,


    not only because I’m Jaxon’s mate, but now my sister is going to be mated to one of them.


    “Yeah, Caleb is the youngest and there’ s another sister, Brooke, but she already found her mate. She’s


    your age, not quite 18, but her parents let her go spend time in her mate’s pack and let hime to


    visit theirs. I guess they are splitting the time going to where the trainers are best since they are both in


    the contest.”


    “So, Caleb is in the contest too, right?”


    “He is. I saw him at the race, and I felt the pull, but things were so crazy with dad that I didn’t approach


    him, and he didn’t approach me, or he didn’t have a chance since dad rushed us out of there so fast on


    thest day. But Evie, now I want to spend time with him, I want to get to know him. I could do what


    you’re doing with Jaxon. We could split our time between the packs and decide which trainers we want


    to


    train with while still getting to know each other. I know that, unlike you and Jaxon, I won’t be 18 before


    the nextpetition, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other reasons for us to spend time together


    that still include prepping for the contest.”


    “What do you want to do?” I ask her. “I’ll support you in any way you want, Maggie. If you want toe


    with me to grandmother Isabe’s pack, I’ll support you. If Alpha Jonas won’t take both of us, then we’ll


    contact Aunt


    Sophia, and if that doesn’t work, we’ll eithere stay here with Jaxon and his family or we’ll go find


    our own ce to live until we’re adults.”


    She raises an eyebrow at me. “You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?”


    “I have no intention of letting dad or anyone keep me from Jaxon. And


    Jaxon agrees. If Alpha Griffin agrees, maybe you could even stay there if mom and dad try to keep you


    apart. Did you talk to Caleb about this, about Dad?”


    “Yeah,” she looks at me, a sheepish smile spreading across her face. “He’s actuallying here


    tonight so we can talk.”


    I snort. “Yeah, Jaxon and I did a lot of ‘talking’ that first night,” I say using air quotes.


    She and I are still giggling together when there’s a quiet knock on the door.


    I open the door and Caleb’s eyes go wide. “Oh, uh…”


    “Come in, Caleb. I’m Evangeline. I’m mated to your cousin, Jaxon.”


    “Hey, Evangeline. I heard about you.”


    “Good things, I hope.”


    “The beautiful woman that stole Jaxon’ s heart,” he says, turning to Maggie. “I guess it runs in the


    family, since your gorgeous sister has stolen my heart, too.”


    I shake my head, smiling. “I’ll see you in the morning. Keep your ears out for dad. We’ll figure things


    out.”


    “Thanks, Evie.”


    “Tell Jax, I said hi.” Caleb says. “Will do.”


    I sneak upstairs, and I’ve just lifted my fist to knock when the door swings open and Jaxon pulls me into


    his room and into his arms, closing the door behind me.


    “What took you so long?” he asks me. “I was getting good gossip.”


    “Care to share?”


    “My sister is mated to your cousin,” I tell him.


    He frowns. “Griffin?”


    “Caleb. He was just arriving as I was leaving.”


    “How is your father going to take that?”


    “Not sure, but Maggie and I will have to talk more this weekend. You and I may have a plus two from


    now on.”


    “As long as I have you, I don’t care how many more there are. We’ll figure it out.”


    He leans in and kisses me and that’s thest I think of Maggie, Caleb or my parents for the rest of the


    night.


    Jace POV


    I watch as Jordan walks out of the room. Taylor rushes to me, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.


    “Jace, what happened?”


    This isn’t how I nned to tell Taylor. Well, I guess I never really figured out how to tell her that Jordan


    was my mate. I guess I figured Jordan would reject me early on and it would nevere up. But she


    didn’t.


    “Jordan rejected me.” Better to just say it.


    “She rejected you as her Gamma?”


    I look at Taylor. “As her mate.”


    Taylor looks like I pped her across the face.


    “Jordan is your mate?”


    “Yeah.”


    “And you knew? All this time?”


    “Yeah.”


    Her hand goes to her mouth. “Oh goddess, did she feel it when we’d kiss, when we made out?”


    “I didn’t know she could feel it. I just found outst week when… when she kissed someone.”


    “Jace, what the f*uc*k were thinking? I’m her cousin!”


    Property ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    “I wasn’t thinking, Tay. Well, I thought she would reject me, you know, before now, and that would be it.


    But she didn’t.”


    She sits back, giving me a calcted look.


    “This is why you’re in the contest isn’t it? I never understood it. You loved being Uncle Mason’s


    Gamma.” She looks at me, her eyes narrowing. “You don’t think you’re good enough for her, do you?”


    “She’s an Alpha, she needs an Alpha for a mate.”


    “I’m an Alpha, asshole.”


    “But you’re not taking over your pack, Taylor.”


    “I will be when I win it, idiot. Or…”


    She tilts her head looking at me. “You never intended for us to stay together, did you?”


    “Honestly, I’m surprised itsted as long as it did. I thought you’d find your mate and that would be it.


    You didn’t, Jordan didn’t reject me and here we are.”


    I look at her. “You know I care about you, Taylor. Truly I do, but you and I both know that we’re not in


    love with each other. We both know that this has been convenient for both of us.”


    “Why me?” she asks.


    “You didn’t want to take our rtionship any farther than I did. I knew I couldn’t have any kind of a real


    rtionship until Jordan rejected me anyway. It was mutually beneficial. You weren’t pursued


    relentlessly by guys wanting to be with an Alpha female, and I got to love my mate from afar.”


    She looks at me for a long moment. “You’ve made a real f*uc*king mess of this, Jace.”


    “I know.”


    “So, did you ept the rejection?”


    “No.”


    She raises her eyebrow. “She finally gave you what you wanted, and you refuse to ept it.”


    I look at her. “It’s not what I want anymore. I want her. And if I have to win thispetition to prove that


    I’m worthy of being her mate, then I will.”


    “Oh Jace. You never had to prove yourself to Jordan. The only person who doesn’t know that you


    deserve your mate, is you.”


    She stands, extending her hand. “Come on, I’ll help you up.”


    I take her hand and she helps me to my feet. “Just so you know, when you’re healthy again, I’m going


    to kick your ass for all of this. No wonder Jordan and I have such a crappy rtionship.”


    “Don’t me that on me. You and I both know you’ve been jealous for years that she’s taking over her


    pack. You’re just lucky that you have a chance to win yours.”


    She shrugs. Taylor and I may not be in love with each other, but we’ve be really good friends over


    the years. “Thanks Tay.”


    She nods and I limp back to my room, the pain of rejection still a dull ache throughout my body.