The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 135: Helping Amelia Hunter

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised with Sophie's sadness about Margot leaving. My mate has the ability to develop strong bonds and friendships with others quickly. It's one of the reasons that I hope that Jaime will decide to stay in our pack, so that Penny will as well. I know that Sophie already has strong ties to her, and she'd be as sad or more so if Penny and Jaime left the pack.

"I'm going to call Amelia and set up a call for this afternoon. What are you going to do?" I ask my mate.

"I'm going to go check on the mates that are still in the hospital and see how Leah and Brooklyn are doing with moving out of their house."

"Let me know what you need. And let me know if I can do anything to take that sadness away, I don't like my mate to be sad. Margot will be fine, and we'll see her again."

She merely nods and I pull her into a hug, holding her tightly. My strong, powerful mate, who is also so sweet and gentle.

"I love you, Little Sophie Reynolds."

She chuckles, as I hoped she would.

"And I love you, Big Hunter Reynolds," she says, making me smile.

III

I crouch down in front of her, placing my lips near her stomach. "Take care of your mother while she's away from me," I say, then stand and kiss my mate before turning to go back inside. I make the call to Amelia first.

"Alpha Hunter? Or is it Sophie again?" she asks.

"It's me this time, Alpha," I answer.

"Have you spoken to Alpha Dutton, Alpha Hunter?"

"First things first, Alpha Amelia. Do you feel the need to continue with our titles when we speak to each other?" I'm asking her because she's the newest Alpha and because she's the only female Alpha. Her position isn't exactly confirmed in her pack.

you call the other

friendly with, I call by

be treated the same. It would strange for you to be in my pack calling Alpha Dutton, Dutton, but me Alpha Amelia, wouldn't you

Also, the casualness of using first names lets the pack now that there is a friendliness between us, that our alliance is

still trying to figure out the nuances of my

it. Not only because she's Sophie's sister, but I think that much like Sophie,

288 Vouchers

she's never tapped into

"You want the truth?"

can't help you if you aren't honest with

door quietly closing before I hear

exhausted. I feel like I'm playing pretend, acting like an

extreme that the usual Alpha exhaustion due to being pregnant and not having your mate around. Those two things would only add to your fatigue. And add to that, you're still processing your grief over the loss of your parents, and you've now taken on the grief of the entire pack as their Alpha. I'm guessing

playing pretend Alpha. It feels very much like you are taking on your role, jumping in with both

that Dutton agreed to fight with

just be easier and will go a long way to showing your pack that

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you can reach out to Kayce, Robin, and Ezra too, if you'd like to create and confirm alliances with them. That's up to you. You can have positive relationships with other packs without an alliance,

I've had enough war to last

have, but the wars

wrong that I wish all of this was behind

right there with the rest of

"Okay, so what's

Have you thought

not really my strong suit," she