The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 177: New Alliances

Hunter

Before we leave for home, Robin, Kayce, Dutton, Ezra, and I all meet with Jake and Letti.

“I know you’ve got a lot going on, Alpha Jake,” Ezra says to his former Beta, who frowns.

“Are we going to be this formal all the time?” he asks Ezra who smiles at him.

“That’s up to you. Generally, when an Alpha enters into an alliance with another Alpha, their conversation becomes more casual.”

Jake looks at Letti, then at all of us. “Well, most of you helped Letti when she was on the run, or took her in and gave her a place to live, or are dear friends of hers,” he says looking from me, to Allison and Kayce, to Nikki And I know that I’m forever indebted to my former Alpha for giving me this opportunity, so, is it unheard of for an Alpha to create an alliance with many other Alphas?” he asks.

I smile, letting Ezra take the lead. “No, it’s not and in this case, it’ s preferred. I, myself, have been neglectful in creating alliances with Alphas Robin, Kayce, and Dutton. Hunter and I have been in an alliance since I was mated to his sister,” he says and I see the tightening around his mouth, the regret that he still holds for how things went with Diana. I notice that Margot reaches out to put a hand on his arm. She noticed the stress as well.

“You may also want to consider creating an alliance with Alpha Amelia. She’s not here because she’s so close to her due date, but her pack borders mine and Hunter and I have already formed an alliance with her. I expect that whoever wins Alaric’s old pack will do the same,” Dutton says.

“When can I start setting up alliances?” Jake asks.

“I just so happened to bring an alliance agreement with me, in the event that you won this pack, Jake,” Ezra tells him. “But, since you need to return to get your things anyway, we can sign it when you come back.”

“We can sign it before you leave,” Jake says excitedly, making Letti laugh at her mate.

“What about the rest of you?” Letti asks.

“Well, we talked about you coming to mine and Hunter’s packs to talk to the pack members who used to live here. I’m happy to sign one then,” Robin says.

“Same, but there is another matter we need to discuss with you, and we could all get caught up on our alliances at that time as well,” I say, looking at Ezra. Jake has the closest relationship with him, and since he’s Jake’s mentor, he’ll be the one spending the most time explaining everything to him.

Ezra nods. “We need to have a trial. While we were here, Alpha Zahn attacked Alpha Hunter’s pack. His warriors were killed, but Alpha Zahn remains alive. There is a reason for that, but because of the circumstances, and because we are changing the laws of our alliance, we’d like for you to preside over the trial and we’d like you to host it here,” Ezra tells him.

Both Jake and Letti look shocked.

“What Ezra has failed to mention is that we will provide you with everything you need to know prior to the trial. Everyone

understands that this is your first trial and that you are a new Alpha, but you were chosen for this task for that reason, because you are unbiased. The rest of us have knowledge of, or experience with this situation,” Margot says.

her. I wonder if she realizes that she

help. Since Lunas will now be part of the Committee, many of us will be new to this process. In truth, we think this is a good starting point for all of us. It’s a pretty clear case. But, the other side of that, Letti, is that it’s not always easy to get your bearings as a Luna. If we’re here, we

love that,” Letti breathes, obviously

Why don’t the two of you get settled, I know Letti has to get her things from my pack as well. Then you can visit Robin and Hunter to talk to the pack members currently residing with

me,” Jake says, looking

sure Alpha Ezra is a great mentor, and he wouldn’t be so calm if he didn’t have complete faith in you. All of us are here for you, for both of you, if you need anything. That’s part of what the alliance is for, but it’s also what friends are for,” Sophie says to them, and I watch them

mate. She has such a great way of calming those

don’t feel quite

not in you to fail. You’re going to be a great

pack in a couple of weeks and then we begin to say goodbye to our

we heading to Alaric’s pack to let the contenders see what

she’s pretty close, so perhaps Alpha Jake

to see how she feels about that. “That would be a good excuse for

time that you leave

help with the competition again. Plus, Amelia will need someone to hold Athena while she refs

to referee

word gets around, we may have more competing

area built, we can add in quarterly or annual competitions to keep the packs motivated to train hard, to maintain cohesiveness between our packs, and to have bragging rights,”

community area?”

the group, Letti. The Lunas are in charge of putting the ideas together for a community area. If we’d had more time, we’d have done it while we were here, but it was

talked about already, Letti, but we’re looking at using the mountain that is in the

kept food for the she-wolves on the run? I

now that you’ll be spending more time with Sophie, you’ll never have a dull moment in your life again,” Nikki says, teasing

to become dull, Nikki. I’m pretty sure your mate hasn’t had a dull moment since he met

wouldn’t change it for a thing,” Robin says, pulling his

towards home. I’m excited to

the pack welcomes us home. Pack members rush up to us in wolf form and I can feel their excitement to proudly

trying to help calm the excitement that is nearly overwhelming. Almost the entire pack is yipping and howling with the thrill of defeating Zahn’s pack. When we get to the packhouse, Shaw stops, growling to let everyone know they need to step back so Sophie can

and h pull the shift, while most of the

home, Alpha, Welcome home, Luna,” Lucas says from the back

protective of Sophie with so many pack members crowding us and wanting our attention, but she pushes her calm into

hers, sending waves of gratitude to my pack so they know how much I appreciate their willingness to fight even without me here. It’s