The One He Claimed by Cooper novel Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Legend
Sophie
The thing about buses is they stop a lot. I had about four solid hours before the first stop around 4:30 AM. It had taken me a long time to be able to relax enough to fall asleep. So, I only slept an hour, two at the most before we reached the first bus
stop.
I hadn’t seen the Alpha wolves following me, but that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t have been able to figure out where this bus was going if they realized I was on it. So, I hop off at the first stop. Because of the early hour, there is nobody selling bus tickets. Instead, I ask the bus driver where the next nearest bus stop is. He gives me a funny look, reminding me that my ticket took me past this stop.
“I got a message from my family. I need to get back home,” I tell him, making up an excuse on the fly.
“The nearest bus station is going to be about an hour east of here. I’m not headed that direction, otherwise I’d drop you off,” he says kindly.
“That’s okay,” I tell him. “Do you know what time the bus station opens?”
“It usually opens around 6:00 AM. You could find an all-night diner, grab some breakfast and be back here in time to grab the next bus, or if you’re in that much of a hurry, about 20 miles from here, there’s a train station.
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“They have passenger trains here?” I ask.
He looks around to make sure no one’s watching us. “I didn’t say it was a passenger train. But the trains go in all directions. You could hop a train, get off in a city somewhere, and grab a bus to your destination. I’m not saying that’s what you should do, I’m just saying that I know people who do it, especially if you’re in a hurry. But be careful, they do periodic checks for stowaways.”
Thank you,” I say, and he points me in the direction of the train station.
I carefully make my way from the bus station, sniffing the air to make sure there are no werewolves nearby. As soon as I’m far enough away, I strip down, put my things in my bag, and shift. Hedda runs the 20 miles quickly and easily. Before long, we can hear the sounds of the train tracks, the whistles of the trains, and the sounds of large cargo being loaded onto the train beds.
Hedda carefully slinks closer to the train tracks, keeping her body low to the ground. When we’re close enough, I can see that all of these trains are cargo trains and my bus driver was correct, they’re heading in all different directions. I had been heading east and if the Alphas figured that out, that’s where they’ll be going to look for me. So instead, I find a train that’s going west, and I wait until the cargo is loaded.
Hedda carefully begins making her way west outside of the train. station. We’ll have to jump into a train car, hopefully a train going this way will have a covered car that can provide us some protection from the sun or rain, and hopefully that train car isn’t filled with animals going to slaughter.
Once we’re far enough away, she begins jogging more quickly,
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keeping the train tracks on our right. We hear the sound of a whistle behind us, and she turns, seeing that there is a train heading in our direction. She finds a place where she can hide in the tall grass, and we wait to see what this train looks like as it passes.
The sky is starting to lighten as the sun begins to rise. Soon it will be too light out for us to try and jump on the train without someone seeing us. So, I’m hopeful there’s a covered car on this train.
‘If not, we’ll catch it for a while and then I can jump off and we can wait for the next train,’ Hedda says.
‘We’ll have to be careful. We don’t want to inadvertently stop in the middle of someone’s pack lands.”
‘We’ll be careful.’ she says, as the train begins to make its way past us.
It’s a long train and it’s taking a while for it to get up to speed. While we wait, we watch the cargo cars passing us by.
‘There,’ Hedda says. Through her eyes I can see that there are several covered cars coming our way. She begins running alongside the train, easily maintaining a pace so that we can allow the covered cars to catch up to us. When we do, I can see that there are some that have sliding doors that are open. The cars themselves are empty and that’s where Hedda heads.
She picks up her pace, pushing herself to the same speed as the train as she moves closer, gauging the distance between herself and the open door. As the train picks up speed, so does Hedda, but I know that we’re running out of time. She’s going to have to leap soon or we’re going to miss our chance.
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‘We’ll make it,” she says confidently.
‘I trust you as always,’ I tell her.
I give her control. My wolf is strong, powerful, and intelligent. I know that I can put my life in her hands, and I do that now. I feel. the muscles in her legs and her body tighten as she begins to run even faster, closing the gap between us and the open car door.
Just as I think she won’t make it, she leaps, sliding into the car and slamming into the other side, safely inside.
She pants, catching her breath as she gets to her feet. It takes us a moment to realize we’re not alone in this car. The moment she does, her hackles go up and she takes a defensive stance, ready to attack if necessary.
“Please.” There’s a girl huddled in the corner, pleading with me. “Please just let me be.”
Hedda stands up out of her defensive stance. ‘She’s running too,’ she says, sniffing the air. ‘Ga**a,’ she says, identifying her rank.
She’s small for a Ga**a, either that or she’s still very young.
‘She’s still a pup,” Hedda says and takes a step towards her. The moment she does, the girl begins running for the open door.
There’s no way this girl could make the jump, given the speed that the train is going, without breaking multiple bones in her body. Hedda, instinctively wanting to protect her, leaps and pins her down.
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“NO!” she screams. “I’m still a pup. I’m still a pup.”
Hedda steps back but puts herself between the open door and the girl. As the girl begins scooting backwards into the corner, I pull the shift.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I tell her.
“You’re a she-wolf?” she asks. “I thought you were one of them, one of the Alpha’s or other ranked wolves hunting us. Your wolf is so big, I thought… I didn’t look…. I mean….” she stammers.
“It’s okay, you’re okay. I’m running too,” I tell her, putting my hands up in front of me. “You don’t need to run from me. You don’t need to jump from the train. You’ll hurt yourself for sure. What’s your name?”
“Penny,” she says softly.
“Penny, I’m Sophie. My wolf says you’re a Ga**a. Is that correct?”
I watch as her eyes go wide. “Sophie? THE Sophie? Sophie Meyers?”
A
‘Hedda, how does this girl know our name? And why does she look so excited?’
‘I have no idea.’
“Yes, my name is Sophie Meyers,” I say to the girl. “Have we met before?”
“Oh my goddess. I can’t believe it. We weren’t really sure if you were dead or alive, if you’d survived after all these years. It’s been two years, right? You ran two years ago?” she asks,
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ignoring my question.
Now I’m getting a little freaked out.
“How do you know about me? I ask her.
“Sophie Meyers. You’re the legend. You’re the reason that all the ranked females have started to run. We found out about you, and-we realized that there was another option out there, that we didn’t have to accept what was being pushed on us, that we didn’t have to accept these public claimings. When you ran, your started a revolution. You started it all.”