The One He Claimed by cooper (Sophie and Hunter) novel Chapter 170

Chapter 170

He closes his eyes and I see the pain written all over his face. “I feel like your sister did this for me. I know that sounds crazy, but I’m here, in your pack, her old pack. Margot smells like the jasmine that Diana planted in my pack. It’s too coincidental, don’t you think?”

“It does sound that way. Who knows how these things work, or why some get a second chance mate, and some don’t,” I say, taking a sip of whiskey. “You know she’ll try to reject you.”

“I do. Joshua is an asshole who never treated her well. Her father wasn’t any better. All I can hope is that she gives me a chance.”

“What are you going to do?” I ask him.

“I’m going to ask you if I can stay for a while and get to know my new mate, give her a chance to get to know me.”

“You know you’re always welcome here. But I will not allow you to forcibly mark her and definitely not publicly,” I tell him.

He laughs humorlessly. “Trust me, I learned my lesson the first time. I have no intention of losing another mate.”

It isn’t long before I hear a soft knocking on the door and smell Sophie’ s orchid scent.

I smile, getting up to open the door. As soon as he sees her, Ezra jumps up. “How is she?”

Chapter 170

“Shocked, as I’m sure you can imagine.”

“Yeah, a week ago we were in the same room, and she was mated to someone else. Now she’s here, rejected her mate, and found her second chance mate, another Alpha. Fuck. She must be terrified,” he says, dropping back into his seat.

“She is, but she didn’t allow herself to show it for long. She’s…she’s quite a strong woman,” Sophie says and something about the way she says it, has me pulling her into my arms.

I kiss the top of her head, trying to understand the emotions going on inside her.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

She nods, sighing and relaxing against me.

“Do you want to sit with us?” I ask her. I know Ezra probably won’t want that, but my mate seems to need to be close to me right now.

“No, you two talk. Margot has gone to her room. She’s planning to stay there for the rest of the evening, in case you thought to look for her, Alpha Ezra,” Sophie says to him.

“I’ll give her the time and space she needs,” he says, finishing off his drink. “I should probably go to my room. I could use a little time to think as well.”

He stands, setting his empty glass on the table and walking to the

door.

Chapter 170

“Thank you for letting me stay. I will not betray your trust by doing anything with Margot. I just want to get to know her. And I still do want to reaffirm our alliance.”

“We have some time now that you’ll be here a few days. We’ll see you tomorrow at warrior training?” I ask.

“I’ll see you then.”

After he leaves, I spend some time talking to Sophie about the emotions going on in her mind.

“It’s like she had a mask and I watched it fall over her face. How many times must she have had to do that for it to fall so easily, to transform her from a terrified, sobbing woman, into a stoic, put together Luna?”

I hold my mate, stroking her back until I felt her calm.

“I think we all know that Joshua is a terrible mate. He either expected her to hide her emotions or…he made it easier for her to hide them than suffer his response to them,” I say carefully, wanting to shield my mate from the terrible things I’m sure happen in some packs.

“Kinsley said she was hyperventilating when she got out of the safe room. I put her in one thinking that she would be okay, but…”

“You didn’t know. You can’t blame yourself. We were under attack. She wasn’t strong enough to fight,” I reassure her.

Lucas had told me the same thing already. I’m guessing that dark, enclosed quarters were a punishment for Margot. Something that she’ll hopefully be able to work through with time and maybe, if she allows

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Chapter 170

it, Ezra can help her with that.

I decide to take the rest of the afternoon off and spend it with my mate. We’ve been working hard, and the pack has been recovering from the first battle, so I tell Sophie that I want to have dinner with her in our room, just the two of us.

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