The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 166: Seeing Friends

Sophie

It's so good to see Margot again, even better because she seems to be healing emotionally. Spending twith

Ezra, unlike Jocelyn’s twith Zahn, seems to be helping Margot get stronger.

“How is your mother?” | ask her.

Margot snorts. “Once a Luna, always a Luna, | guess. She’s got Ezra’s pack eating out of the palm of her hand.”

“And how about you?” | ask her.

“I'm settling in. It’s...different. | can feel the pack’s desire to have a Luna again, forto accept Ezra. | can also

feel their need to feel whole. It’s different than what | felt from the pack when | was with Joshua. They valued me

as their Luna in sways, but it’s not like it is with you and your pack. There's almost a desperation in Ezra’s

pack, a need to fill the gaping hole that Diana left. It makesnervous to try and fill those shoes.”

“Those aren't your shoes to fill, Margot. You're not Diana, you are you. You shouldn't try to be her. Be the person

you are. You and Ezra have been given second chance mates because you are both what the other needs right

now. What he needed, the woman he needed when he met Diana, isn’t the sas what he needs now,” | tell

her.

“Yeah...” she says, her eyes moving to Ezra. Instead of smiling, she frowns. Just as | turn to see what she’s

frowning at, | hear it.

“MATE!”

I suck in a breath, turning quickly to see Letti shifting from her wolf in front of Jake. “Mate.”

He takes a step toward her, and | see Letti’s eyes go wide a moment before Kayce steps in between them. “Letti

is part of my pack. We do not allow public claimings in my pack,” he says forcefully.

Jake blinks at him, then looks at Letti. “I'm Alpha Ezra’s Beta. We don’t allow public claimings in our pack either.

That's not.... just...”

“Kayce, let them get to know each other,” Allison says, coming to take her mate’s hand.

“My Beta is an honorable man, Kayce. He won't mark your pack member publicly, will you Jake?” Ezra says,

stepping up his Beta.

“No. | wouldn't. I intend to win this pack and when | do, | won't allow it in my pack either,” he says to Letti.

“Well, that’s funny. I'm here to win this pack too,” Letti says, making Jake smile.

“Letti did you want to put a shirt on, then you and Jake can get to know each other?” | ask her.

She looks down as if just noticing that she’s naked in front of her mate. Before she can move, Jake rips his shirt

off and tosses it at her.

“Yeah, I'd like that,” she says, smiling at Jake.

too,” he says, waiting for her to put on his shirt and then extending a hand.

“Don’t go too far. We're going to start soon once everyone is here,” Ezra tells him. I'm pretty sure he’s warning

him to not go off and mark and mate her or they'll miss their reason for being here.

“So you're here to win the pack, huh?” Jake asks her as they walk off, holding hands and staring at each other.

“Yes.”

“Maybe we can win it together, lead it together, would you like that?” he asks her.

She smiles and nods.

“Da***it, Robin!” Nikki says from behind me. | turn in tto see her smack her mate on the arm. “Now they're

becoming trend-setters! When are we going to start blazing trails and leaving our mark in this world?”

“Why don’t you write up this new law, like you did for the one where women can becAlphas, baby. Then

your stamp is on all of the changes that are being made,” he coos at her.

She narrows her eyes at him. “You just don’t want to do all that work.”

He shrugs, unperturbed. “That doesn’t change the fact that it will be your non the petition for the law

change. That information stays on record forever.”

She presses her lips together tightly. “I guess so.”

“It must be you, Sophie. That's the only thing | can figure out,” Margot says still frowning as she watches Jake

and Letti walk away.

“What's that?” Hunter says, focusing on Margot.

“You're like the mate fairy, or something. Every tyou're around, people find their mates. It's crazy! I've never

seen anything like it,” she says, looking atlike | might sprout wings and a wand.

I shrug. “I think the changes we're making are allowing people to find their mates more easily,” | say honestly.

“No, | think it's you,” she says, as Ezra walks over and wraps an arm around her waist. | notice she doesn’t

flinch. She doesn’t lean into him, but she doesn’t pull away either. Progress.

“I think Margot’s right, Sophie. There is something special about you, something that brings people together,”

Ezra says.

| smile at the praise, as Hunter wraps his arms around me. | can feel his pleasure at their admiration ofand

also his pride that HE'S my mate.

“Are Amelia and Dutton coming?” Hunter asks.

“Calvin is here, actually, as is Amelia's G**a, Caleb.”

“Interesting,” Hunter says, just as we hear another howl. | turn and see a dark brown wolf running our way with

two women on his back. Dutton with Tiffany and Tammi. There are several other wolves that have cfrom

Dutton’s pack to see the pack lands.

“Oh the twins came!” Allison says excitedly.

When the twins climb off his back, Dutton shifts quickly, checking on both women, kissing them, before turning

to the rest of us. Nikki, Allison, Kinsley, and I say hello, then rush to the twins, hugging them and catching up.

“I can’t believe we're all pregnant,” Tammi says excitedly. | look at Tiffany and I'm glad to see that she doesn’t

look upset. Having been in the room when they discussed it, | know that Tiffany wanted to be the mother of the

Alpha heir.

“Do you know what you're having yet?” | ask them.

“Not yet,” they both say.

either,” Nikki pouts.

“You can’t be far off, Nikki,” Allison tells her.

“No. Our pack doctor says we should be able to tell next week.”

Allison’s baby bump isn’t as big as mine, and Nikki and the twins still have flat stomachs.

“We probably have a couple weeks to go. We're pretty sure we got pregnant the snight,” Tiffany says.

“I want to hear all about that. | can’t imagine how that dynamic works,” Nikki says. The twins smile at each

other.

“It took a bit, but Dutton is amazing,” Tiffany says.

“He’s mated to twins for a reason,” Tammi confirms.

We barely have a moment to talk before Hunter and the others call us together. My friends and | stand back,

watching the pack members and others congregate as Hunter, Dutton, Kayce, Robin, and Ezra talk to the group

about the plan for today, explaining the rules of the competition, and that the competition will be scheduled

after tomorrow when those in attendance can decide if they want to participate or not.

The rest of the day, the Alphas give a tour of the packhouse and the pack lands, marking off the territory as they

go. The group of contenders is quite large, over 200. I'm surprised, but pleased to see that there are several

omegas and even more females in attendance getting the information about participating in the competition.

Since we're here and don’t have a lot to do, my friends and | begin straightening up the packhouse. The pack

members were responsible for bringing their own food, so we don’t have to cook, but we do go through the

pantry, cleaning out old food and setting it aside to dispose of later.

It’s nearly dark when the group returns, and Hunter finds me. “Did you eat today?” he asks, looking around the

space as he pullsto him. “Wow, | can’t believe how much you did while we were gone.”

“It looks great in here,” Kayce says appreciatively.

“Wow...” Robin says, pulling Nikki to him.

“Don’t get any ideas,” she says, smiling up at him.

“Oh, | have a lot of ideas,” he says, scooping her up and carrying her out of the room.

“As do I,” Lucas growls, scooping Kinsley up and walking her out as well.

“Did you happen to straighten up any of the rooms, Soph?” Hunter asks in my ear.

“We didn’t get that far,” | say.

“D**n, we'll have to find a secluded area then,” he says, scoopingup.

“Hunter!”

Instead of answering, his mouth latches onto mine as he walks.

‘I've been missing you all day, Sophie,” he says in my mind, and | get the feeling that all of our mates have been

talking about us and missing us all day.