The One He Claimed by cooper (Sophie and Hunter) novel Chapter 77

Chapter 77

“Shhh. You’re safe,” I say quietly, wrapping my arms around her. She snuggles into me, accepting the comfort I’m offering.

“I watched my sister beg Alpha Calvin not to do it, but he did and all those men, they cheered as my sister wept. I refused to allow that to happen to me. So, while everyone was busy watching the big event, I wrote a note to my family, packed a small bag and I ran.” Her eyes are lost in the memory, and I can feel her sadness, sharp as if it’s

happening again. I lean in, kissing the side of her head. “You’re safe,” I say again, just for her to hear.

She nods, taking another deep breath.

“How did Hunter get you to agree to let him mark you?” Alpha Robin

asks her.

She smiles and looks at me out of the corner of her eye. “Can I tell them the whole story.”

I shrug. “That’s why they’re here.”

She smiles, snuggling into me some more and putting her hands over mine as if she’s afraid her words will make me angry.

“I didn’t accept him at first. I rejected him, sort of, then I ran.”

“What do you mean, sort of,” Kayce asks her.

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“He didn’t know who I was at first. He just knew I was his mate. I was afraid that if I rejected him properly, using my full name, he would chase me down because I am an Alpha female.”

“Did it hurt?” Robin asks me.

“It hurt my pride,” I say, nuzzling Sophie’s hair.

She smiles and continues. “I ran and was almost caught by Alpha Owen. I thought I was doomed. He shifted when he couldn’t command me to do so, then his wolf had Hedda pinned to the ground.”

She begins breathing heavily, her heart rate increasing. I look and see the other girls in the room clasping their hands tightly in their laps, looking down so we can’t see the emotions on their faces. I’m sure Sophie is telling their worst nightmare.

“Luckily the rejection didn’t work, and I heard Owen’s howl of the hunt,” I continue while my mate collects herself. “Since Sophie is my mate, there was no way I was letting anyone, least of all him, have her. I got there in time and ripped him off of her.”

She turns and looks at me. “Then Hunter found me. I was….”

“Stressed,” I finish for her.

She laughs humorlessly. “That’s one word for it.” She smiles again.

“It was Shaw who won me over, actually,” she says, and my wolf begins purring at her, making her smile even brighter.

“I was in a lake, scrubbing off the feeling of Alpha Owen on my body,

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and I was freezing. Shaw offered to warm me and did the same purring sound he is now until I settled and fell asleep. When I woke, rather than Shaw, I had a naked Hunter wrapped around me.”

“I can’t imagine that went over well,” Kayce says.

She shrugs. “He could have marked me at any point while I was asleep, but he didn’t. He just asked me to give him time to talk, to get to know him, and to believe him that he had no intention of claiming me publicly. So I did.”

“And you believed him?” Robin asks.

“We had a lot of time alone and the mate bond if hard to resist.” she says, looking at Kayce and Allison.

Allison blushes and looks down, but Kayce scrubs his face with his hands. “Yeah, it really is.”

“How did you do it? How did you hold off for so long in marking her. Rodion is making my head hurt he’s being so loud,” Kayce says, looking at me.

“I had a vested interest in making sure Sophie believed me and trusted me. I knew she was mine and I’d never let anyone else have her, but I needed her to agree to be mine. She did,” I say, smiling at my mate.

My mate, who may never stop surprising me, leans in and kisses me gently, putting her hand against my cheek. She doesn’t deepen the kiss, so I don’t either, knowing she’s already a bit uncomfortable.

When she pulls back, her eyes stay on mine. “It was the best night of

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my life.”

“Mine too.” I tell her.

I hear a chair scraping and look to see that Robin is standing and is now pacing.

“You’re telling me that this,” he says, waving his hand at me and Sophie, “is for real?”

“It is for real,” Allison says. “We’ve been watching them for a couple of days. What you’re seeing now is mild.”

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Chapter 78

Chapter 78