The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 168: The Packs

Hunter

There was something about spending the day with the other Alphas, away from our mates that had all of us missing them. I missed Sophie, missed her smell, her laugh, her loving gaze when she looks at me, and I missed playing with my son. I’ll admit, it really is my new favorite pastime, only knocked out of first place by making love to my mate. That will always be my number one favorite thing to do in this world.

So yeah, after being away from her all day, I scooped her up and took her to a secluded area where I could enjoy her, reconnect with her after being away from her all day, and yeah, I buried myself deep inside her, finding my happy place and capturing her screams of pleasure with my kiss.

I know I wasn’t the only one. By the time we returned to the packhouse, nearly all of Sophie’s friends had messy hair, some with grass or twigs still sticking out of them. The notable exception was Margot and Ezra, but I noticed that he took advantage of the time we were away to spend with his mate.

Most of the single warriors and ranked members who came to see the pack lands pitched tents and the group set up a couple of fire pits outside where people congregated overnight, talking about the pack, their possible future, and asking questions about the other available packs.

Robin, Kayce, Dutton, Erza and I spent most of the late evening talking with the group, answering their questions and making note of things that we to make decisions about. Calvin was around, but he didn’t really engage with us. I’m not sure how to feel about that. He’s an Alpha, but he was excluded from this process. It wasn’t until much later, after Sophie and the other pregnant mates found space in the packhouse to sleep and had gone to bed that he finally approached us.

“So, is this the plan for Alaric’s pack as well?”

“Besides the part of having to mark the boundaries, yes,” Dutton says to him.

He nods, looking around. “Will you be opening it to all the packs?”

“Not all of them,” I say. “Aiden and Zahn’s packs are not part of

our alliance; therefore, they won’t be participating.”

“What about my pack?” he asks, turning to look at us.

at the others, not wanting to

You haven’t been against us, but you haven’t actually been

I’d like to be included. Let me know what you need from me to be a part

to join packs with your mate, Alpha Calvin?” Kayce asks

will work in the future,”

“Discussing?” Margot asks.

clarifies. “Which reminds me, Margot and I neve filled you in on her father and Joshua’s

he doesn’t call

that

and I, but they had already created their own, new hierarchy and the ‘Alphas’ didn’t want

raise an eyebrow at him. “How did you

smile widens before she dips her head to hide it. Ezra looks at her, his lips twitching at their shared joke. “Did you want

p**k, always has been. He’s always thought more highly of himself than he should have. He may have also made the mistake of telling me

mark, but they’ve both identified that they are mates. There’s no way that Ezra would have

off his feet by his throat. Then he proceeded

of that event or because he’s working his way into her heart, her gaze and

I’d probably have gone straight for the kill, but humiliation like that makes a much bigger impact,”

questioned the need to open the pack to a challenge in Joshua’s or my father’s packs,” Margot says, holding Ezra’s gaze. The heat and chemistry between them is

um…get to bed,” she says,

display of

need?” Ezra asks