The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 9: Food and Water

Sophie

"What are you talking about? I didn't start anything," I say to Penny.

"You may not have meant to, but you did. Word of you running, of your father standing up to the Alphas and refusing to track you down, spread like wildfire. Our mothers and sisters began to realize that we didn't have to a**e by the laws that we don't agree with, that we have a choice. Granted, it's not a great choice, being on the run, but it's better than being forced into something that you can't live with. She reaches out, taking my hands. "Some of the Alphas are on our side. Some of them agree that we need to stop this process."

"But not all of them," I tell her, remembering the girl in the woods. "Some Alphas are still out hunting, otherwise we wouldn't have to run."

"You're right, and some Alphas have put so many restrictions on their ranked females that they're not even allowed to leave the packhouses. Ranked she-wolves have started taking extreme measures, some of them taking their own lives to get away from this process.

"What? Why? Why would they kill themselves?" I ask shocked. "They would rather die than live with the embarrassment of

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Chapter 9. Food and Water

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having been claimed publicly. For some, it's not worth it."

I scrub my hands over my face. This is why there are so many she-wolves on the run now. When I first ran, there weren't any. It was just me, and it was easy to hide. Now it seems I'm going to have to be much smarter about hiding.

"Where are you going? I ask Penny.

"There are rumors of a place, a pack that is leaving food and water for those of us on the run. I never learned to hunt in my wolf form, and it's been a really long time since I've eaten. So, I'm heading there in the hopes of getting food."

be a trap, you know," I

know. But I've heard it from more than one source, and no one stays. They take the food and water that

were an Alpha hunting a ranked she-wolf, that's what I would do," I tell her. "Maybe, maybe not. I don't know, but like I said, I'm hungry and

when I left. "Here, eat these," I say, tossing them to her. "It's not a

pull out my last two bottles of water, giving her one. "Make it last. I only have two left,

Food

I don't

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said my father stood up to the Alphas. What does that

I heard was that the Alphas

ask, terrified that my family had to go to

me.

Alpha sided with your dad threatening to fight alongside him if a war broke out.

you know anything about my sister, Amelia? It was her birthday the night that I ran. She found her mate that night, Alpha Calvin. Do you know anything about them? Anything about her? Is she okay?" I ask. "Alpha Calvin is one of the Alphas that stood beside your father, I believe. I don't know much about your sister, but in cases like this, no news is good news, right? It means she hasn't

that I was causing this

should return home," I mumble to

nothing. You are the reason that it's working. You were the reason that there's a possibility that things might change. Please

by this long. You going back would change everything. Please, you have to continue." "What about you? Where are you going? Where does this end? Where do we find a safe place to live our lives?" I ask

in my pack, waiting until the day I turn 18, so that some man who calls himself my mate can claim me in front of my pack. How could I even face them every day after that? How could I look them in the eye? How could I be their ranked member

ran. As a Ga**a, she has the potential to be a Ga**a, Beta, or a Luna. But for me as an Alpha female, I know that an Alpha will want me. The thought of having to lead a pack who had seen me in such a personal state still makes me sick to

where they provide free food and water to the wolves on

it isn't far from where my father's pack is. That makes me wonder if it isn't him and my mother leaving this food and water out. Even if it's

this place out too," I tell

me a moment. "Please don't take this the wrong way. I'm thrilled to be spending time with you and to

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stay together for too long, the possibility of both of us getting captured is higher, do you know what I mean? I think it's better if we

there's protection in numbers too, and we could at least get there to see if it's safe, before we split up.