The One He Claimed by cooper (Sophie and Hunter) novel Chapter 451

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Chapter 451

When he comes in, he’s sweating.

“What happened to you?” I ask, frowning.

“Jacqueline,” he says, smiling.

I raise my eyebrows at that. “Run that by me again.”

He chuckles, sitting down. “I told her I wanted her to help me train the warriors in the morning while you’re adjusting to having a newborn, but I wanted to test her skill. She told me she’d been running warrior training in her pack for years before she left.”

He looks at me a moment, the hint of a smile still on his face. “She’s good, Alpha. Really good.”

“Better than you?” I ask, curious.

“Almost. And that’s why I wanted to talk to you. I don’t know which pack goes up next in the competition. I hope it’s Aiden’s, but I think Luna should talk to Jacqueline about competing for it.”

I lean forward, intrigued. “She’s that good?”

“She’s that good,” he confirms.

I lean back. “Do you think she wants to be an Alpha?”

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>“I don’t know. And I’ll be honest, I’m bummed that she’s not my mate. I

like her a lot and now, knowing how strong and adept she is at fighting … damn Falmost don’t want to let her meet the others in case she meets her mate. But I wouldn’t do that to her. However, if she doesn’t meet her mate… Alpha, I may just ask her to be my mate.”

I lean forward, focusing on my Beta. “You’re still young, Reese. I know Jacqueline is a fantastic woman, and I would be thrilled to have her as my Beta female, but finding your fated mate is everything. There are others out there, still on the run. Others that we haven’t met

or found yet. Give it some time. If neither of you finds your mate, then you have my blessing, but honestly, I want more for you. You deserve to have the love that Nikki and I share.”

He looks down at his folded hands. “I want that too. But it’s hard, you know. Everyone around me seems to be finding their mate, and I’m…” he breaks off, not finishing his sentence. He doesn’t have to. I know it’s lonely.

“I know it’s hard to be alone, Reese. I do, trust me. I was there with you.”

“I know,” he says.

“Please, give it time. If I’d have taken a chosen mate, I wouldn’t have Nikki, and I can’t imagine my life without her now. You know it got really bad for me while she was gone,” I say softly.

He nods. “Yeah, I know.”

“That’s how much I love her. That’s how much she means to me. So,

give it some time. Please. For me.”

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I wait until he nods before continuing. “And you’re right, Jacqueline deserves to meet the others and see if she can find her fated mate. But, in the meantime, I want to test her. If she’s as good as you say she is, she’ll give me a good fight.”

“She’ll give you a good fight,” he agrees, standing and walking to the door.

“Reese,” I call out before he leaves. “If neither of you finds your mate, I meant what I said. I’ll be happy to have her as my Beta female. Nikki would be thrilled, too. But whether she finds her mate or not, when, because I believe that you’ll find her, when you find your mate, she’ll be worth the wait.”

He nods and walks out. I sit back staring at my door. I do understand the need, the desire to have your mate. I waited a long time for Nikki. But knowing what I have now with her, I also know that I’d have waited twice as long, three times as long, just have whatever time I could have in this life with her. Because no matter how long I’d had to wait or how short our time is together, every minute with her makes the time I spent waiting for her worth it.

Nikki

“Here, these are the laws saying that only males can be Alphas. Why don’t you start there, and I’ll get back to these,” I say to Jacqueline.

Over the last couple of days, I’ve started getting into a routine again. It feels good to have some normalcy back in my life. I’m exhausted, as Rory is still up every couple of hours to nurse, but Robin is amazing, taking every other shift for me as long as I have enough milk to pump. And of course, reconnecting with him every night is worth every

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-minute of sleep I don’t get.

“Which laws are you looking at?” Jacqueline asks curiously as she pulls the laws toward her, getting herself organized before reading.

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