The Claiming by Cooper novel Chapter 100

Mason

My mate is so fucking hot when she goes all Alpha on the Council Elders and the Alphas who don’t appreciate what it means to be a true Alpha.

I give her the space to make her point, but much like she calmed me earlier, it’s time for me to do the same for her. I don’t care if the Alphas in this room hate us. There isn’t much they can do. My pack is stronger than most of theirs and my mate is stronger than most of them.

Elder Jason takes control of the meeting after that and while we catalog the total number of she-wolves and what packs they are in, we avoid the discussion of childbearing ages, pregnancies and planned pregnancies.

That night, our group decides to go out to dinner, to get the girls away from all of the frustrations of the other Alphas. Jara feels comfortable including Alpha Luke and Alpha Zaire and Zaire asks me about bringing Alpha Saul. He is another Alpha that claimed his mate several years ago. He and his mate have an underaged daughter and there is another female in their pack who has an underaged daughter. Alpha Zaire felt that he would fit in nicely with our group and since we’re trying to get as many Alphas on board as possible, we agree.

Dinner ends up being an enjoyable affair. Our mates sit with us, and it changes the dynamics of the conversations. Both Alpha Saul and Alpha Zaire say that their mates would like to participate in these types of events when Annabel asked them. And somehow, Alpha Saul recognized that Mignon was pregnant.

“There are signs, differences in how we treat our mate when she is

pregnant.” He turns to Alpha Zaire. “Wouldn’t you agree, Zaire?”

“Yes, I had noticed the same thing.”

“What kind of signs?” Jara asked.

Zaire, who is sitting next to her, leans toward her. “See how he’s always leaning toward her, in a protective stance? It’s not just protective, but instinctively, he’s listening for his pup’s heartbeat. And his arm always around some part of her body? That’s in case something happens, and he needs to get her out of harm’s way quickly. Eventually, probably once it’s more well known that she’s carrying his pup, he won’t be able to keep his hands off her stomach, always wanting to touch not only his mate, but his pup as well. And she, the pup, will respond to his touch.”

“Why do I feel like you’re giving all of my secrets away over there?” Asher says to Zaire and Jara.

“Maybe he is, but it’s good knowledge. Something that might be helpful with our petition.”

“Your petition? What petition?” Alpha Saul asks.

“We still have to finish writing it up tonight, but we’re going to petition to have a Luna council that looks out for the she-wolves in the packs. We want to make sure things like what happened to Mila don’t happen again. And that Alphas like Alpha Gunnar can’t mistreat their she-wolves.”

“I heard a rumor that he was putting in a petition.” Alpha Luke says. “Has anyone heard what it might be about?”

None of us have.

“I guess we’ll find out tomorrow.” Seth says. “Tomorrow is petition day.”

“Yes, and based on your petition, it’s going to be a long day.” Antonio says.

“Add to that the petition our mates are putting in, and we may be here an extra day.”

“What’s your petition?” Saul asks.

“I’m so glad you asked.” I say and Jara and I go over our petition for changes to the claiming with him.

“We hope you’ll support us.” Jara says to him when we finish.

“Tessa would have my balls if I didn’t. She hated that process. She’ s been dreading the day our daughter has to go through it. It’s still a few years away. Maybe by then, some of these changes will have become commonplace.”

“Well, we still have to get them passed.” I say.

“Then, let’s work on that first.” Alpha Saul says.

Later, when we get back to the hotel, the men all go to the reception, while our mates go to mine and Jara’s room to write up their petition.

I can see that Gunnar is trying to recruit a couple of the newer Alphas to his way of thinking, or at least, that’s the way it looks to me. Alphas Davis and Quinton have both been in their position for less than two years. Both were the last remaining ranked members of their packs, and both are small packs, even after the

redistribution. If I remember correctly, one will only be 60 strong and the other will only be 70 strong.

I see the two Alphas look up as we walk in. Getting into an alliance with Gunnar is a bad idea, especially if he plans to go against us. Gunnar’s pack size is still small, only 60 after the redistribution

ding into pages now

today. The combined power of mine and Seth’s packs are

significant. If you add in the new size of Antonio’s and Asher’s packs, we could demolish any other pack easily. And even if all the other packs unite and rise against us, we’re still stronger than they

are.

I get a drink and an idea comes to me. I look at Seth. “Want to join me?” I ask him.

“Where are we going?” He says, coming to stand beside me.

“We’re going to make our mates happy while we ensure that Gunnar isn’t steering some of these new Alphas in the wrong direction.”

“I’m intrigued. Lead the way.” Seth says and we turn, heading over to where the group is standing.