The One He Claimed by Cooper novel Chapter 110

Chapter 110: Hunter’s Request
Sophie
Kinsley and I rush inside to shower quickly before returning downstairs to meet with the new individuals needing our protection. When we get downstairs, I can feel and smell their fear before I see it on their faces. Thankfully, Kinsley joins me almost immediately. I mind link Brooklyn, and the other two safe room leads to join us before addressing the group.
“Good morning, everyone. I am Luna Sophie, and this is Beta Kinsley. We know that a lot has gone on in your lives in a very short amount of time. Many of you have lost mates, now your are being moved away from your homes, and there is a pending war. I see a lot of pups here and we want to make sure that we are able to keep everyone safe. We have bedrooms for all of you, but we need to know how many people in each room. We will also need to know how many of you are able to fight and how many need to be in a safe room. We have already asked our own pack members to volunteer to fight, rather than stay in a safe room and we have many, but it’s still not enough to accommodate all fifty of you,” I say, seeing their eyes shift behind me as several of them gasp.
I turn and see Brooklyn walking in. I smile and open my arm to embrace her, feeling her shame that this group of women saw what she suffered in their pack.
“Many of you know Brooklyn. She and her mother, Leah, returned to our pack and have been living here with us under our protection. Brooklyn is a strong young woman who is
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making a name for herself in our pack hospital and is also going to be a Lead in one of the safe rooms. We will be putting together rosters for the three safe rooms and we will be running drills starting today. Our goal is to get to two minutes. That’s for everyone’s safety. The Leads for each room have been instructed to close and lock the safe room doors if the packhouse is breached by attackers. We do not want to leave anyone outside the safe rooms who needs to be inside, so while I know you all must be exhausted, we cannot wait until you are more rested to practice. We’re going to get everyone settled first, get you something to eat, find out who needs to be in a safe room, get you assigned and introduced to your Lead, and then we’ll begin drills. Any questions?” I ask.
Lanswer questions, then turn to the Leads and Kinsley. “Do you mind starting to filter through who needs to be in a safe room and who can fight? I need a final list so we can put them into a room based on number of pups in each safe room, and we need to make sure that we have enough supplies in each room if we have nursing and young pups still in diapers.”
It takes most of the afternoon to make sure all of the new pack members have rooms and are fed. Kinsley and I, along with the three Leads, went around and tried to calm the women and pups, making them feel welcome. Many of our own pack members came to sit with them during lunch and talked to them. The feeling in the pack is nervous, concerned, and anxious and the pups are picking up on that, most of them becoming fussy and crying.
As expected, our first drill was a mess with the new pack not knowing where to go, pups running around and getting lost, but after the third drill, things were getting better. Kinsley and I did have to make some tough decisions, telling some new
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members that they needed to stay outside the safe rooms and help to fight. That was tough, but not all of them have lost mates or have young pups, and those individuals were not given the choice to stay inside a safe room. They balked at that until they heard that Kinsley and I would also not be in a safe room.
At four o’clock, we went back out for more training. I was already exhausted, but as Hunter said, war doesn’t wait for you to have a good night’s sleep and he needs to know that Kinsley and I can fight, even if it’s the middle of the night. This time, all of the women and omegas who will remain outside the safe rooms are out here. The new individuals are quickly paired up and our warriors are fantastic at helping them to learn to work together to fight. I see Leah and her partner practicing with Brutus guiding them in the fight.
I have a moment to be proud of our pack, before Hunter tells us to get ready. We have Nathan and Chris coming at us again, only now, I get Chris and Kinsley gets Nathan head on. Their styles of fighting are different, and I can see why Hunter mixed it up. But Kinsley and I are fast learners and strong fighters. We remember what we learned this morning and stay back-to-back. I throw more punches since Nathan said my punch was strong and this time, Hunter sends more than the three other warriors at us, having some remain in human form and some in wolf form.
We take a lot of hits, the warrior’s careful to not hit our stomachs too hard, and by the time Hunter calls it, I’m aching all over, but I can tell that both Hunter and Lucas are happy with how we sparred and if the applause of the warriors is any indication, they are feeling good about it too.
“A couple more days and we’ll be ready,” I tell Hunter as he lifts
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me up, carrying me to what I hope will be a hot bath to relieve my aching body.
“Let’s hope we have that long,” he says.
He gets in the tub with me and we soak in the hot water, letting our muscles relax. His arms wrap around me from behind as I sit on his lap, my hands intertwined with his on my stomach.
“I need you to stay alive, Sophie,” Hunter says, his forehead pressed to the back of my head, his voice thick with emotion. “No matter what happens, no matter how injured you might be, I need you to fight and to stay alive for me. Can you do that?”
I turn and look at him over my shoulder, seeing the shine of his eyes which is more telling to me than anything. Hunter is terrified of losing me.
“Hedda is strong, Hunter. Me and your pup will both stay alive.”
“No matter what happens, Sophie. If Joshua gets to you, if he forces his mark on you…” I turn in his arms as a tear rolls down his cheek.
“Now you listen to me, Hunter Reynolds. There is only one man in this world for me and that man is you. No one is ever going to take me from you. No one. If Joshua comes for me, he’ll see just how serious I am about that. I am not his mate. I will never be his mate. I am yours and you are mine. So, I’ll say this to you. You better stay alive as well. I don’t want to be in this life without. I would live for our son, but don’t make me live half a life because you die on that battlefield. Do you hear me? I mean it, Hunter.”
He reaches up, stroking his wet hand over my cheek. “Goddess,
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I love you so much Sophie.”
“And I love you. So, when the fight comes, we fight, we protect our pack, and we live. That’s the deal.”
A small smile spreads across his face as he watches his hand stroking over my cheek. “What do I get if I keep my end of the bargain?”
“Hmmm, unlimited access to your mate in bed?”
“I already have that,” he says, looking at me. I can feel him settling as we talk.
“Then, how about another pup?” ask him quietly.
His eyes burn with desire and fierce determination.
“Only one?”
I smile at him, stroking my fingers over his growing smile.
“An unlimited number of pups.”
“Now that’s worth living for,” he says before showing me just how much he wants to fill our packhouse with pups.
I was hoping we’d have more time to practice fighting, but the next morning, before the sun had risen, we were awakened by the howls of alarm.
Joshua and his pack are here.