The One He Claimed

The One 35

Chapter 35: Another Surprise Hunter When Sophie and her mother leave, Carter looks at me. “I know it’s early, but I could use a drink. Want one?” “Sure. I’m sorry for the secrecy…” “No. You were right not to tell me ahead of time. And you’ve done right by my daughter. I’m not sure I can ever repay you for that,” he says, handing me a glass of bourbon before clinking his glass against mine and downing his in one go. It’s a bit early for me, but I follow suit and take the shot. I watch as Carter takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment. “I was so worried when I first saw her…” he says quietly. “I know. That’s why I wanted you to hear it from her that I marked her in private.” He nods his head and takes another deep breath. “Alright, let’s get my Beta in here so we can reinforce your borders. You said your Gamma left?” “Well, technically, I kicked him out for ogling my mate in front of me and assuming that I was going to mark and mate her again in front of him and the pack. So, I cut off his airways until he passed out then threw him off my pack lands.” He looks at me a moment. “You might have been better off if you had killed him.” 1657D I sigh. I know he’s right. “I’d just brought Sophie home, had literally just introduced her to the pack. I didn’t want to mar that by killing my G**a.” He nods and his eyes go unfocused. A moment later there’s a knock at his door. “Matthew, this is Alpha Hunter. Hunter, this is my Beta, Matthew.” “Nice to meet you,” I say. “Same.”

“Alpha Hunter has mated my daughter, Sophie, and brought her home to see her family.” I watch the Beta press his lips together before he forces a smile. “Congratulations.” Then he turns to Carter. “I didn’t realize little Sophie was here. I can’t wait to see her. My mate will be thrilled as well.” Carter watches his Beta as he delivers the news. “My new son- in-law marked and mated my little girl in private, Matthew.” Matthew turns and looks at me, his gaze intent. “In private?” “That’s correct,” I say. “But…” he begins, looking back at Carter. “Alpha Hunter is going to take a stand against our laws, Matthew, and I intend to join him. I need to know now if you’re with me.” “I have always been and will always be with you, Alpha,” he says, 16.575 turning back to me. “Alpha Hunter, you have my respect for what you did, but you do realize that this means war.’ “I do which is my second reason for being here. My first was for Sophie to see her family again. The second was to ensure that your Alpha would support me in this fight. I’ll be looking at other Alphas as well,” I say and the three of us sit down as I go through it again. In the end, the three of us look at their patrols and evaluate how many of their warriors they can send to assist. “I don’t think we can afford to send thirty, but we can make do with sending twenty, especially knowing that the heat we’ve been under for the last two years is about to end and refocus on you.” “I’m okay with that and I’d appreciate as many as you can safely send. I don’t want you putting your pack at risk for me. But I also believe I’ll be able to give you most of your warriors back once I have she-wolves entering my pack. They’ll all be ranked members, and my guess is, they’ll be willing to fight to maintain their freedom. I have warriors who aren’t ranked pack members who are fierce fighters. I’m anticipating that these will be as well.” “I would agree with you,” Carter says, and his eyes go unfocused again. © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

When they refocus, he looks at me. “We may as well tell that girl that was on the run with Sophie? She’s here. We brought her into our pack.” “Penny?” you, 1288 wouchers “Yes. She accidentally crossed onto my borders and my patrols brought her to me. After she told me that she’d been with Sophie, she practically begged me to help her,” Carter says. “There’s no practically about it, Alpha. She did beg,” Beta Matthew says. “Sophie said she’s underage,” I say, looking at them. “Yes. Amy says she’s sixteen,” Carter says. “And she was practically starving. I’ve never seen a wolf eat that much before,” Matthew adds. “Sophie said she stuffed herself the night before. I’m guessing she hadn’t eaten for a long time before that. Do you know what pack she’s from?” “She’s the daughter of Alpha Elias’ G**.” I nod. Alpha Elias is one of the Alphas who believes strongly in the old ways. His daughter is one that didn’t put up a fight against the public claimings. It was as if she had been trained to understand her fate and she accepted it. However, to my knowledge, she’s been mated for several years and still has yet to produce a pup. The thought brings a smile to my face. I wonder if Sophie will be carrying my pup soon. I wasn’t joking when I told Luna Amy that I was trying my best. “I hope you intend to tell Sophie. She’ll be thrilled to know that her friend is here.” “I just told Amy to let her know. Perhaps we should make our 200 Nouchers way out to see them. My daughter Amelia and her mate should be here soon,” Carter says. “I’ll see to the patrols,” Matthew says. I had already called Lucas to warn him that we had some of Carter’s warriors come to assist with protecting our borders. Carter and I walk out of his office and follow our mates’ scents to the kitchens where I find Sophie hugging a young she-wolf.

I smile, feeling my mate’s happiness that Penny is safe. “Sophie, who is your friend?” I ask from the doorway. She turns quickly at the sound of my voice, her stunning smile sending shockwaves through my heart yet again. I have a moment to wonder if that will ever change before she pulls Penny up beside her. “Hunter, this is Penny, the one I told you about. Penny, this is Hunter, my mate.” “Your….oh, Sophie. I mean…” she says, clearly distressed at what she thinks happened to Sophie. “It’s okay, Penny. Hunter isn’t like the others,” Sophie says, releasing her friend and walking toward me. If she wasn’t talking to her friend, I might forget that there was anyone in the room but us. “He marked and mated me in the mountain, just the two of us,” she says, her eyes never leaving mine as she walks into my arms. I wrap my arms around her and she lifts up onto her toes, pressing her lips to mine. I hear the gasps around us, the surprise that my Luna is so 16:57 Chapter 35: Another Surprise openly affectionate with me, but don’t care at the moment. Right now, all I care about is that my mate has once again made me feel like I’m the king of the world. I wouldn’t trade this feeling for anything. Every battle to come, every war I have to fight, every battle scar that I’ll have will be worth it because of how my mate looks at me, how she responds to me, how she loves me. She gives herself to me freely and I take what she’s offering, not caring that others see how in love we are. I pull her to me, kissing her deeply, loving it when she wraps her arms around me and leans into me. I get lost in my mate, still careful not to let it go too far, but willing to show everyone what it should be like in a mate bond. “Sophie?” I feminine voice says, breaking through our haze. Sophie pulls away and turns in the direction of the voice. “Amelia?” she says, her smile breaking out across her face. “Oh my goddess, Sophie!” Amelia says, rushing to her sister. The two of them hug and I once again

step back allowing Sophie the time to reunite with her family. I can feel my mate’s happiness at seeing her sister again. I got the distinct impression when I met Sophie two years ago that she thought very highly of her sister, so I’m a little surprised when Amelia steps back and looks a little put out. “Da**it, Sophie. You just had to return today and rain on my parade?” “Ummm…” Sophie turns and looks at me and I step up to 16 571 Chapter 33 Another Surprise comfort her. 288 Wouchen “Amelia, your sister has been gone for two years. This is a joyous moment, especially when it looks like she and Alpha Hunter are now mated,” Alpha Calvin says. I nod at him. “You would be correct. Although, it’s something that I would like to speak to you about later.” “Amelia, what parade is your sister’s return raining on,” Luna Amy asks, trying to placate both daughters. Amelia steps back and wraps her arm around her mate, as he does the same to her. “Well, I had planned to do this differently, but…. Calvin and I are going to have a baby.”