The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 12: Home

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Chapter 12: Home

Sophie I

I slow, nearly to a stop. I growl softly at Penny, and she stops too, turning to look at me. She whimpers softly, wanting to know what is wrong.

I sniff the air again and my eyes practically roll into the back of my head. The smell of pine intermixed with the musky masculinity of the Alpha is making my body feel strange. I know he's an Alpha. I'm not sure how I knew, but I could tell, just by his scent.

Hedda whimpers in my mind, much more loudly than Penny. She wants to meet her mate.

'Hedda, you know that's not possible."

'I know, but still....he smells so good,' she half purrs, half whimpers in my head.

I can see that Penny still hasn't picked up his scent. I probably have because he's my mate, but I'm also an Alpha and my senses are a bit stronger than hers.

I shift, staying in my crouched position. "I smell an Alpha up ahead," I whisper to her.

Her head whips around and her nose goes in the air as she whimpers again.

"Easy, Penny. I can smell a she-wolf with him. She smells like a

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ranked member. Maybe she is the one who is putting the food out and he's helping her?" I suggest. It's unlikely and I know it. Just having his scent here now will deter several she-wolves from getting the food and water they came here for, at least. until his scent dies down.

I wonder why he's here. Why now? Why today? I stay in my low. crouch, and I slowly move forward, staying hidden in the bushes.

I stop when I see a man and a woman, walking away from a particularly rocky spot in the side of this mountain.

"Alpha?" the woman asks. It's interesting to me that she doesn't seem afraid of him. Hedda growls possessively in my head. She doesn't like this she-wolf near her mate. I fight to keep the sound to myself as I watch his nose turn in our direction, watch it twitch as he sniffs the air,

I realize the wind has shifted and he's caught my scent. I stiffen, waiting for him to come after me. I'm ready to leap and run.

"It's nothing, Kinsley, let's head back."

The woman, Kinsley, turns and looks in our direction, but I can tell that she has not captured our scent the way that he has, or at least not mine. I'm not sure if he smelled both Penny and I or just me as his mate.

"You go find the food. I'm going to make sure they leave," I whisper to Penny.

J shift, knowing that Hedda is much quieter than I am. She stays low and we follow the two of them all the way back to a car. I watch as the Alpha turns and looks back in our direction. When Chapter 12: Home

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he does, I realize two things. First, I know him. I remember him from Amelia's birthday party. That is Alpha Hunter, the man who danced with me and watched over me that night. Second, he doesn't have a mark on his neck. He hasn't found his mate yet.

'That's why he smells so good. He's been waiting for us,' Hedda

purrs.

I ignore her and watch as they leave, wondering if he will return without the female, worried that we'll have to leave tonight. When their car is far enough away, I turn and run back to where Penny was. I follow her scent until I have to shift back into my human form to be able to follow along the passageway. I have to admit, that she-wolf was smart to find this spot. I'm not even sure how that Alpha fit through here, I can barely fit through here. Omegas would have a much easier time being naturally smaller. I look around, sniffing the rocks, wondering if the Alpha scraped himself and left blood. When I don't smell any, I realize that he must have been very careful and that the she-wolf must have helped him if he went into this area because I don't find a single spot of blood.

When I finally get to the center, Penny is devouring the food that's been left. "It's still lukewarm," she mumbles around a mouthful of food. I'll admit, the scent of freshly cooked food is making my stomach grumble, but I know that Penny is much hungrier than I am.

"Eat," she says, pushing some food towards me. "And look, there's a place where we can bathe."

I step forward, taking some of the food. My mouth is watering as I take the first bite and I moan softly to myself. It's been a while since I've had real food. Food at the diner was greasy and Chapter 12: Home

gross but I lived off of it because I had to. This is the kind of food you get in a packhouse, the kind of food meant for werewolves. 288 Vouchers

While I eat, I walk over to the small pool. I reached my hand out where the water is dripping down from the side of the mountain against the rocks. The water here is cool, but when I put my feet. into the pool, it's warm where the sun has shone on it throughout the day.

"Oh Penny, I'm getting in before the water gets cold," I tell her.

Since I haven't bothered to put on clothes since I've shifted back and forth, I step into the pool, letting the warm water soothe my aching body. I lower myself into the pool, moving my arms around, letting the water lap against me. I close my eyes and lean back, floating in the water and letting the sun hit my face, feeling safe for the first time in a long time.

That thought makes me pause. I feel safe, yet I just ran into the Alpha who is my mate. My mind goes back to that night. The night I met Alpha Hunter. I remember he was a great dancer. I remember he was very polite and kind to me. I remember him challenging Alpha Owen when he wouldn't let me and Warrior Julianne pass. But what I remember most is him watching me while Alpha Calvin claimed my sister. The memory sends shivers up my spine, and I sit up in the pool of water.

'It didn't feel covetous. It didn't make the hair on the back of my neck stand up like what Alpha Owen did,' Hedda says.

'No, but he was there,' I say and then think about it. Why wasn't he in the room with the others? Why was he looking up at me? Did he know, even back then, that I was his mate? Was he planning even back then, to claim me as his mate? Or was he

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doing what Julianne had suggested he'd been doing and watching out for me all night, protecting me from the others?

I step out of the water feeling torn, unsure of my feelings. towards Alpha Hunter. Although I'm confident about one thing. Mate or no, I have no intention of being claimed publicly.

When I step back over to where the food was, I realized that Penny has stuffed herself completely. There was enough food for her to take with her, but she was so hungry that she just shoveled it all in and now her stomach is so bloated that she can barely move.

I look around and realize that this is a fairly safe place and unless Alpha Hunter returns tonight, we could actually stay here.

"Read the note," Penny says from where she's lying down on the ground. She points at a note sitting on the makeshift stone table. I pick it up along with a bottle of water and sit down to read it. It gives the last known coordinates of the Alphas and the other ranked members who are hunting the females. The note wishes us luck, letting us know that there are four wolfpacks in this area and that we need to be careful, but I already knew that. It also says that while her Alpha does not agree with the current process of claiming mates, not everyone in their pack agrees with him, so it is unsafe for him to bring the she-wolves into his pack. That is the only reason he's not offering his protection.

The note goes on to explain that there is a separate exit from the entrance, in case we're found here. That way, we're not actually captured. I look at the instructions for exiting and I find the opening across from where we came in.

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"You stay here. I'll be right back," tell Penny.

She struggles to sit up, looking at me. "Where are you going? Did you see that this is a safe place for us to sleep tonight?"

"I did, but I want to check out this exit. I want to know where we're going to come out and I want to make sure that I don't smell any Alphas in that area. Otherwise, we'll need to exit through the front. She nods and I make my way through the back exit. These rock formations are even tighter than the other ones, making it even harder for me to move through them. I know that no Alpha or male ranked member could fit through here. When I get to the end, I carefully step out, sniffing the air. I don't immediately smell any Alphas in the area, so I step out a little bit further.

From here I can see that we're on the other side of the mountain from where we entered. It's a small mountain, but it gives me a view of the vast area surrounding us. I find what I'm looking for and I find a place to sit down. I look down over my parents' pack. I'm so close. I wish I could just go to them, but I know that I can't. From everything that Penny told me, my father has worked very hard to give me the freedom that I chose when I ran. It's too risky to try and go see them. If I were captured, he would have done all of that fighting for nothing.

I turn and look in either direction, seeing the other wolf packs, watching to see where their patrols go and how far their territories extend. When I exit this way tomorrow, I'll have to be careful. There's only a thin area in between the pack lands and I will have to be very quick getting through them.

I stay longer than I intended, waiting until the sun sets, and I can see the lights and torches light up in my parents' pack. I

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can't be sure, but I think I see my father step out back, looking up at the mountain.

"I see you, Father, and I thank you for helping to protect me in the only way that you can," I say softly on the wind. Then I stand, making my way back into the center of the mountain, where I know I will sleep safely tonight.