The One He Claimed by cooper (Sophie and Hunter) novel Chapter 261

Chapter 261

I open my eyes and look at Calvin who is standing naked in the shower with me. “What are you doing?”

“You are taking care of the pack. I could feel it the moment I arrived. But who is taking care of you, Amelia? Who is looking out for you?” he asks gently.

I feel hot tears prick my eyes. No one. That’s the answer. My mate left me, and I’ve had no one to help support me through the roughest days of my life. This time since my parents‘ death has been even harder for me than the days after mating with Calvin. I’d felt alone then, but his pack had been so happy to have me that it had gone a long way to helping me not feel lonely.

Here, my pack may love me, but I’m their Alpha. I’ve realized that there’s a loneliness that comes with that level of responsibility. Beta Matthew and Beta Caroline are great, but at night when I get in bed, it‘ s just me and my thoughts.

J

He pulls me into his arms, and I lose the battle of my tears. “Oh Amelia, I’ve screwed up. I don’t know how to fix this, but I want to try. I’m so sorry I left you.”

I nod, wrapping my arms around him and releasing the hurt and pain that I’ve been holding on to since the day he walked away from me.

Calvin

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I’ve been miserable ever since the day I mentioned taking over Amelia‘ s parents‘ pack. Why had I said it out loud? It had just occurred to me that she is the heir and that the pack shouldn’t go to someone else.

If I’d been smarter, I’d have paid more attention to Hunter’s response, but I hadn’t been thinking. I’m not even sure what happened. One moment I was saying that Amelia is the rightful heir to the pack and the next moment she’s renouncing me as her Alpha and taking over her pack.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t think she’d last a day.

But then, she’d refused to take my calls, refused to answer my texts. I knew she was alive because our mate bond was still intact and I’d felt her struggles, even from the long distance. After a week, I couldn’t take it any longer.

I intended to walk into the pack, tell her I was sorry, that we’d figure it out, and I’d take her home. I drove all night, anxious to see her, to be with her, to feel my daughter moving inside her stomach. But instead, I’d arrived, just as they were returning from killing Alaric. My mate, my sweet, gentle mate, had been walking back with armor on, holding Alaric’s head in one hand and helping one of her injured warriors with the other. She’d looked so much like a fucking Amazon returning from battle that I’d felt pride and lust flare inside me, followed very closely by terror that I could have lost her and my daughter, and I would have had no fucking clue what happened.

The moment she’d looked up at me, all that had wiped away. The hurt, the distrust, the anger was all right there in her eyes. The anger I expected. The distrust and hurt were painful to see. And if that wasn’t

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enough, when I asked about her not contacting me, her mate, to help her, she said she didn’t need me.

She didn’t need me? Who the fuck is this woman?

I’m furious with Hunter and Dutton. Either one of them could have given me a courtesy call to let me know they were going to war with my mate. But they hadn’t and that, more than anything, gives me pause. They hadn’t contacted me because they knew that they would win. They knew that in the battle with the three of them, one a pregnant she–wolf, they would win. She was right, she hadn’t needed me, not for the battle at least. But when I carried her to the shower. I realized that she’s wrong. She does need me.

She’s exhausted, the heavy responsibility of being an Alpha weighing on her. She wasn’t raised to carry this burden, but she’s taken it on completely, even after renouncing me, even while carrying my pup, and the toll of that weight comes crashing down on her when I pull her into my arms, telling her how sorry I am.

I hold her as closely as our daughter will allow, rubbing her back in the way I know she likes and kissing the top of her head while she cries in the shower. Her stomach seems to have gotten larger in the short time that I’ve been gone. How could I have missed so much in such a short time?

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Chapter 262