The Claiming by Cooper novel Chapter 76

Chapter 76. Jara
Jara
I’ve never seen two Alpha wolves fight before. It’s as terri- ble as you would imagine, worse because one is my intended mate, and one is my sister’s murderer.
When I realize that Mason’s wounds are weakening him, I prep myself. Typhon won’t claim me, but he also won’t be leaving this cliff face alive. One of us will kill him.
When Mason tosses him to the edge of the cliff, I know what I have to do. I send up a silent prayer to my sister. ‘This is for you, Mila’ I think before tossing him into the air, letting him fall to the ground below.
I immediately turn back to Mason, expecting him to try and claim me. Instead, he drops to the ground, his eyes falling closed.
I take in his wounds and realize he’s losing too much blood. I race over to him, checking his pulse. It’s faint, but it’s there.
I grab him under his front legs and begin dragging him closer to the watering hole. His wolf is huge and if I wasn’t an Alpha wolf myself, I’d never be able to move him.
When I get him close enough, I grab my shirt and dip it in the water, beginning to wash his wounds. He’s still in wolf form, so it’s hard to see exactly where’s he’s bleeding. As the blood starts to wash off his body, I can see multiple injuries, but the worst is the stomach injury.
I focus there, washing the wound and pulling the skin to- gether until I see it starting to heal. Once I feel comfortable that his worst wound is healing and he won’t bleed out, I start washing off the rest of his body.
When I get to his neck, I hear a low growl coming from him. I lean down, putting my mouth close to his ear.
“Mason, it’s Jara. I’m trying to help you heal. Be still and don’t attack me.”
I’m not sure he understands me until his growling sudden- ly cuts off. “There we go. I’m just going to see how bad your neck wound is. I’ve gotten the stomach wound to start heal- ing.” I’m giving him a running dialogue of what I’m doing, hoping he can understand me through the haze.
The neck wound is harder to see because his fur is black, and his neck is covered with it. I feel around until I find the ar- eas that are still bleeding. I pinch them together with my fin- gers as I continue to wash the blood off his coat.
I’m so focused on what I’m doing that it takes me a mo- ment to realize that his eyes are open and that he’s watching
me.
“Hey big guy.” I say to him softly. “You’re doing great. You’ re healing. I think I have the worst spots put back together.”
I gently run my fingers over his face, searching for more injuries while I soothe him. “You were amazing. So fierce and strong.” I tell him, moving around to see his back.
There is another gaping wound here and I lean over him, telling him that I’m going to work on that injury now. I clean it before holding the skin and torn flesh together, watching as
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they start to heal.
“How are you going to get down from here, Mason?” I ask him as I work. I look over at him as he lifts his head to look at
me.
“I mean, I don’t know how you got up here in wolf form, but there is no way you can get down without shifting. I know the haze has taken you, but you can’t stay up here. Tomorrow is the last day. If I can’t get out of here unclaimed, Mason, it has to be you that claims me. You can’t do that from up here.”
I watch as he tries to sit up. I help him, making sure none of his injuries reopens. I return to sit in front of him.
“You have to shift back to your human form, Mason. You have to. It’s the only way down from here. I need you to do that for me.”
He begins whining and I can tell that he’s trying to force the shift, but it’s not coming.
“Okay, let’s give it some time.” I look up at the sky. The sun is already starting to set.
I begin to shiver as I’m still naked and now my shirt is soaked. “I’m going to lay down with you for a while. Be a gen- tleman, Mason.” I say smiling.
I get the wolf equivalent of a snort. I lay down, intending to curl up beside Mason but he moves, putting his body over mine in a protective and warming position. I’m not squished, but I am surrounded by his warmth and his scent.
He lays his head across my chest and begins purring. I have to chuckle.
“You’re the one that’s injured, Mason. Shouldn’t I be soothing you?”
He lifts his head, chuffs at me, then licks my face before laying his head back down.
“Yeah, yeah. Big, bad Alpha, protecting his mate. I get it.” I say to him.
I look up at the stars, letting his heat soak into my body. “Two more nights, Mason. We only have to survive two more nights. Then we can choose each other as mates.” I say quiet- ly, running my fingers through the fur on his large face.
His purring gets louder, the vibrations of it calming my fears. I remember what Elijah said about how powerful he felt when his purr soothed Layan. I wonder if Mason feels the same way right now.
I fall asleep, listening to the sounds of Mason’s purring, feeling warm and loved and safe for the first time since enter- ing this territory.
When I wake, the sun is just starting to rise and instead of a wolf laying on top of me, Mason is laying curled up behind me in his human form. His body is warm, and I want nothing more than to stay here with him. But I made a commitment to myself. I want to leave this claiming territory on my own, and then I can claim Mason as mine.
I carefully untangle myself from him. I know I have to get out of his grasp before he wakes up. If he catches me like this, he will mark me, I have no doubt. I want him, but I want him on my own terms, not in the claiming territory. And definitely not when I’m this close to getting out unmarked.
Carefully, I pull away from him. I slide out from under his arm and leg that is thrown over mine. Then I quickly and qui- etly walk to my shirt, pulling it over my head. It’s still damp, but it will have to do.
I turn, to look at him and make sure that he’s completely healed, and I see him starting to sit up.
“Get off the cliff before the haze takes you again, Mason. I’ll see you tomorrow and if I don’t make it out unclaimed, it better be your canines in my neck.” I tell him before preparing to leap into my tree.
“You’ll see me before then, beautiful.” He says as I leap. I turn and see him watching me. A smug smile on his face.
“Thanks for snuggling last night.”
I scoff at him. “Quit wasting time, Mason. You need to get down before you’re back in the haze.”
He looks around. “I feel pretty good. You are the antidote to my haze craziness.” He looks back at me, and there is a deep hunger in his eyes.
“Maybe I should follow you up in the trees. It might be easier for me to catch you that way.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “If you get injured, I’m not stop- ping to fix you up again.”
He growls low in his chest, prowling closer to where I am. “And you know there’s no way you’re walking out of here with- out my mark on your neck, mate.”
His tone, his dominance and his absolute confidence that
he will defeat me, sends a shiver of excitement down my spine. He may consider me his prey, but Alphas love nothing more than a challenge.
“Then, may the best Alpha win.” I taunt him.
“Oh, I will.” He says, before he bolts to the side of the cliff, rushing to get to the bottom before I’m out of sight.
I take off like a shot, racing through the trees to find a new hiding spot until I can make my exit tomorrow.