The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 28: Pack's Reaction Sophie
As I walk hand in hand with Hunter, I can't help but feel nervous. I trust him. Everything he has told me up until now, everything
that has happened, has proven to me that he's the real deal. He cares about me, and he refuses to share me with anyone. But,
I'm still walking into his pack on faith alone. Faith in him.
I notice that Kinsley doesn't take Lucas' hand as easily and readily as I take Hunter's and I think about what Hunter told me about
their struggles. I feel the mate bond so strongly, the pull to Hunter is almost impossible to resist, I can't imagine how. frustrating
or upsetting it would be to have your mate and not be able to trust them. Or, on Lucas' side, to have your mate but they distrust
you so much that they don't even want you to touch them.
I'll admit, I tensed a moment when Hunter bent down to kiss me in front of the two of them, but that's all it was. A kiss. He was
showing his love and adoration of me to his Betas. He has no problem expressing his love for me in front of others, and I know
that it won't take long before I don't tense up and I just accept his public displays of affection, knowing that's as far as it will ever
go. He told me so, that he has no problem letting others see our love, but he will never share me with anyone, never share our
intimacy with anyone.
Kinsley's response, however, was telling. I heard her gasp, heard her heart rate increase as Hunter reached down to kiss me.
She still struggles with what happened to her. I don't know if there is Chapter 28 Pack's Reaction
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anything that I can do to help her get past that, but I will try, not only as her Luna, but also, hopefully, as her friend.
The patrols hear us first, howling their hello for the return of their Alpha. Perhaps it's my scent that has the patrols continuing to
head our way rather than continuing their patrol, but I can't be sure. When they arrive at the border, the leader shifts, but the
others stay in wolf form.
The leader looks at me, quickly noticing that I'm wearing his Alpha's clothing.
"Alpha, welcome home. We smelled a new scent, and I just wanted to check to see who it was," he says, his eyes continuing to
glance at me.
"Nathan, let me introduce you, all of you, to your new Luna. This is Luna Sophie," Hunter says to him and the other wolves. They
shuffle around and just based on their body language, I feel pretty confident that I can tell which ones are for and which are
against the public claimings. The ones who are acting excited think they're going to watch me get claimed tonight.

“Alpha Hunter will be making an announcement to the pack, isn't that right, Alpha?" Beta Lucas says, stepping up.
"That is correct, and we will be having our Luna ceremony tonight. I'm going to make an announcement in a few moments, make
sure you hear it," he says, causing the patrols to howl their excitement. I'm pretty sure they think this means that the public -claim
on me will occur tonight, but they couldn't be farther from
the truth.
However, their howls alert the pack and as Hunter leads me farther into the pack lands, the pack begins congregating our
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way, surrounding us and murmuring about me.
I feel Hunter squeeze my hand and look down at me, smiling his encouragement. I smile back at him, pulling on all my strength
and training as an Alpha not to crumble at the pressure that I feel building within the pack.
"Do my eyes deceive me, or has our Alpha captured our Luna?" a man with dark hair says, sauntering out of the packhouse.
"You would be correct, Ga**a Koden, although 'capture' may not be the correct word," Hunter says.
The man's eyes look over my body hungrily. I'm thankful for the bagginess of Hunter's clothing which allows this man to see -
nothing of me or my body.
Hunter growls a warning growl at his Ga**a. The man lifts his chin in submission, but it's almost a placating gesture, not a true
submission.
"And do we get the name of our Luna?" he asks, his neck still raised. Hunter hasn't released him yet.
"Your new Luna is Sophie Reynolds."

"Sophie.... You mean our Alpha has captured Sophie Meyers? Well done, Alpha. It's about time. Now we can put this so-called
revolution to bed," Koden says. His neck is still bent in submission, and he doesn't seem to realize that he's only making Hunter
more and more angry with every word.
Hunter releases my hand and steps up to him, grabbing him by the throat and lifting him off the ground.
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"Now, why would you say that, Koden?"
He frowns, finally turning his attention away from me and focusing on Hunter.
"Well, you'll claim her properly now that you've got her back to the pack, I'm sure. Once that's done, the ranked she-wolves on
the run will no longer have their martyr. They can all return home back to life as usual," he chokes out.
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Hunter pulls Koden's face close to his. "Do you really think that my stance on public claimings will change now that I've found my
mate?"
“It has to Alpha. It's the law. If you don't claim her properly, we can't accept her as our Luna,” he sputters.
Hunter continues to hold him off the ground as he looks at the pack members who have surrounded us. I notice that Kinsley and
Lucas move to stand on either side of me, ready to protect their Luna if a fight breaks out. They don't seem to understand that
I'm the other Alpha wolf here. It's my job to protect them.
'We should kill the a**hole. I'd be happy to, except my mate looks so s**y snarling at him,' Hedda says admiringly.
"You all know me. You know my stance on public claimings. I have forbidden them in this pack for over a year. My belief that the
public claimings are wrong and should be outlawed hasn't changed because I found my mate. You're all werewolves. You can
smell my scent on Sophie. She is already claimed."
He turns and looks at me. "Show them, my love," he says, and I pull his shirt away from my neck, turning in a circle so everyone
can see his mark on my neck. Chapter 28:Pack's Reaction
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"There will be no public claiming. will never share my mate with anyone, law or no. You have until tonight to decide if you will give
your allegiance to me and to Sophie as your Luna. If you do not, you are free to pack your bags and leave this pack before.
sundown when her Luna ceremony will occur. If you choose to stay, you will swear your allegiance to me and to Sophie and any
disrespect to her after that will result in your death. I am giving you the choice, the choice that our ranked she-wolves do not
have. If you decide to leave now, there will be no penalty, other than you will need to find another pack to live in. Questions?"
He still hasn't released his G**a who has begun turning blue and is flailing around, scratching at Hunter's hand. Hunter acts as if
he doesn't even feel it, as if holding a full-grown man off the ground is simple. 'For him it seems to be, Hedda purrs in my head.
'Focus, Hedda.'
"Alpha, how can we possibly find a new pack in less than a day?"
"You knew my stance long before now. You know me. Have I ever wavered in my decisions? If you didn't agree with me before,
you should have left sooner," he says, resolutely.
"What about the pack? The other packs will shun us at best, declare war on us at worst," someone says.
"Yes, I expect a war," Hunter says. "The war has been coming for a long time, long before Sophie ran two years ago," he says,
holding his arm out to me. I immediately walk into his embrace. He holds me tightly to one side, still holding a flailing Koden by
the throat in his other hand away from his body. "But, I don't
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believe it will be us against everyone. I believe that there are others who will stand beside us. Sophie and I know that we have a
tough road ahead of us..." "Tough? Try impossible," someone says.
"I don't believe it's impossible. Change only happens when people make a stand. Well, it's time to make a stand, past time really.
Our she-wolves have been making a stand for two years. Shame on me and shame on us for not making a stand with them
sooner," he says.
"I've seen my share of public claimings," an older woman says, stepping forward. "Most of us have, at one time or another." She
turns and looks at me. "Tell me the last time you saw a new Luna walk into the arms of her mate so willingly? When's the last
time you saw an Alpha or any ranked member's mate look at him with love in her eyes like our Luna's doing with our Alpha, no

offense Betas," she says, glancing at them, then back at me. "I don't think we have to worry about our Luna jumpin' off a cliff any
time soon, do we Luna?" she asks me. She has a slight accent, as if her family descended from a European country.
"No ma'am. You don't, and I won't, ever. I absolutely love your Alpha, my Alpha now too," I say, smiling up at him. "As you all
know, I've been away for two years and honestly, I had no idea what was going on in the packs. But now that I do, now that I'm
back, I intend to stand beside Alpha Hunter and fight this injustice, not just for me, but for all the ranked she-wolves out there.
They deserve to find the happiness that I've already found with my mate. I want to stop these senseless deaths. I want everyone
to have what I've found with my mate."
I pause, looking at all of them. "I saw my sister's claiming. I saw
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the horror on her face and the tears in her eyes." I look up at Hunter. "The tears that I cried last night were the tears of love, so
strong that it made my heart hurt. There was no part of the night where I was afraid, or embarrassed. We sealed our bond, given
to us by our Moon Goddess, and he claimed me under the moonlight honoring and thanking her for this gift. We both did. This is
what it should be like to be claimed. It should feel like this, like nothing in the world can come close to comparing to your love for
your mate, that nothing is more important than your mate."
Hunter drops Koden on the ground and slides his hand into my hair. His lips come to mine and he kisses me, his tongue
requesting entrance to my mouth, which I readily give him. I know I can trust him, and I feel his pride at my words, his need to
show me how much he appreciates what I've said and the trust that I've given him. I lose myself in the kiss, leaning into him, my
arms going around his neck as his arms pull me closer to him.
When I hear someone clearing their throat, I've completely forgotten that we're standing in front of a large group of people.
Hunter pulls back, smiling down at me and stroking my cheek.
"No one and nothing could ever make me do anything that would take away the trust that my mate has in me," he says, kissing
my nose and looking at his pack. I realize that they have all gone silent, watching our embrace.
"Well, that was all I needed to see. I haven't seen a love like that among our ranked members in...well...much too long. I'm
staying. I'd rather fight for an Alpha and Luna who love each other like that, than rush to a pack with a Luna who's constantly
looking for a way to escape and is willing to end her life to get

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away from her mate," the woman says, turning around and looking at the pack members behind her.
"Any of you who leave, are fools. If you're foolish enough to go, I'll be biding my time until you come crawling back begging for a
second chance. Who do you think the ranked members are going to come to when the ranked she-wolves are all gone? That
would be our pups and our grand-pups."
"They can't do that. That's not part of the law," someone says from the back.
"Who do you think makes the laws, you g**t?" she asks, her accent getting stronger with her irritation.
"You have until sundown," Hunter says again. "And let this be the first and only warning to you," he says, gesturing at Koden
lying unconscious on the ground. "If anyone dares to ogle my mate again, you won't get off so easily. I do not share my mate.
Not now, not ever. Dismissed!"
Hunter, still holding me to his side, turns to Lucas. "Get him off our pack lands. He is no longer welcome here."
"Yes, Alpha."
"I'll help you," Kinsley says, walking over to Koden's unconscious body and kicking him in the face, breaking his nose. "Oops."
"Kins..." Lucas says, but there's a hint of a smile on his face.
"He deserves it after the way he looked at our Luna. Plus, I'm tired of him leering at me all the time," she says, lifting his arm and
smashing her boot into his ribs, causing a crunch of bones. Chapter 28: Packs Reaction
"Oops," she says again smiling, before she and Lucas begin. dragging him away from the packhouse, back toward the borders.