The Claiming by Cooper novel Chapter 200

The Claiming by Cooper Book 3

Layan’s Return by Cooper (Jara & Mason)

Chapter 44 (Epilogue 2)

Jara

Thirteen years later

“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 the last decade. Alpha Quinton claimed Sophia, Katerina’s sister in her claim several years after Katerina’s. Jared, Jonas’s brother had claimed a warrior the year after Elijah claimed Layan. And other ranked members and warriors had claimed their mates. That is until seven years ago when we did away with the annual claiming.

Once we allowed females to choose their claimants, we realized that they were drawn to certain males, similar 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 play in their packs. It’s becoming more and more of a problem as they get older and their limited options become more obvious.

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 Ella. 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, Ella was born.

“Good morning, ladies.” 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 Ella, 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.” Ella 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 place 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, welcome. 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 claimed a mate during the claiming 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 claiming, he had stopped having relations with Isabella or any other female. However, it didn’t change that Sophia also declined having him in her claim 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, Ella and I bring breakfast into the room. Everyone grabs a plate, 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 welcomes everyone, then gets down to business. “I’d like to start off today by talking about the issue that we know is going to become 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 occurred 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.