The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 182: Mother

Amelia

I’ve had a lot of happy and a lot of sad moments in my life, but the most intense feelings of happiness and sadness came on the day of my daughter’s birth.

Calvin had been at my side, encouraging me to push. Considering how things are between us right now, he’d been really great about it. And the moment they laid Athena in my arms, I’d cried happy tears. She’s so perfect with her ten little fingers and her ten little toes. She has a button nose and cupid’ s bow pink lips that always seem to be sucking, even in her sleep. She makes the sweetest, softest sounds when she’s sleeping or when she’s nursing but when she’s hungry, watch out. My girl has a strong pair of lungs on her.

The first person I’d wanted to share my happiness with had been my mother, and that’s where the terrible sadness had come from. I realized that my daughter will never know what incredible grandparents she had. I can easily picture my father carrying her around everywhere, just like he did with Sophie and probably like he did with me. The sharp sting of grief had hit me quickly and unexpectedly and I’d started to cry.

Calvin is a good man in a lot of ways, but understanding female emotions isn’t one of them. They make him uncomfortable and so, rather than wrapping his arms around me and hugging me Nike someone such as Alpha Hunter probably would have, he’d patted my arm and told me it would be okay and that it was probably all the hormones leaving my body. It had taken everything in me to not punch him in the face.

I wasn’t surprised when he’d left the next day to go back to his pack. We’d talked about him wanting to claim the pack next door. I guess he wants to try and move the pack or maybe try to flip packs with someone else so that we can combine our packs. The problem is, I’m learning very quickly that I like being an Alpha and I’m damn good at it. I wouldn’t say this to Calvin, because I’m not mean and I know it would hurt his feelings, but I’m a better Alpha than he is. So, even if he claims Alaric’s old pack, I’m not combining mine with his.

My new favorite time of day is early in the morning, before everyone else is awake, when I sit in my rocking chair and nurse Athena. It doesn’t matter how tired I am, or how many things have coming for the day, that time is ours, just her and me. know she’s a baby, but she’s an Alpha baby, and when she looks at me, it’s like she knows that I’m her mother, and that I will never let anything happen to her.

When Calvin left, I think the pack thought that things were going to relax a bit. They were wrong. Alaric’s pack is up for grabs, and I have several warriors who want to claim it, my Gamma included. I’m not thrilled about him competing, but I also know he didn’t do as well as he thought he would in the competition for the first pack. He didn’t even make it to the final twelve. I know he’s going to cause problems for me in the future, but those are problems for another day. First, I needed to deliver Athena and get my strength back, and now, I need to get my warriors prepared for the competition.

I didn’t think Sophie would mind me not greeting her at the front door, and thankfully, I was right. Unfortunately, since I’m an Alpha and a young mother, I have to balance nursing my daughter with everything else that I need to get done. It didn’t take me more than half a day to realize that nursing Athena would have to be done while I was doing other things or things wouldn’t get done and my status as an Alpha would come into question, especially with Caleb looking for any reason to overthrow me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about him and Calvin going to the competition together. Is Calvin secretly hoping to overthrow me so I have to return to being his Luna? I’m still not sure about that, so I’m biding my time and I’m watching Caleb carefully.

And that means, I nurse my daughter during warrior training. Because she’s on a schedule, it’s become a routine every morning that I carry her around while Beta Matthew runs training. Beta Caroline will usually hold Athena until she’s ready to nurse and then take her again when she’s done, but today, Sophie is here. I’m not sure what caused her to snarl so viciously before, but Hunter seemed to understand what was wrong and what his mate needed to feel better. Hunter seems to understand a lot more than Calvin does, or maybe he’s just more confident in himself than Calvin is. Calvin and I didn’t have an easy start and him not having any sisters or really understanding women at all was a huge barrier for us to overcome. And while I realize that he does truly care about me, it’s not the kind of love that my parents had, or that Sophie has with Hunter. I’m happy for my sister, but every time I see her and her mate together, it makes my heart ache. I’m not sure that Calvin and I would have had that even if he hadn’t claimed me publicly. It’s just not who he is, which makes me wonder why the Moon Goddess mated me to him, Have I changed that much, or has he not changed at all?

Matthew calls an end to warrior training, and I follow my warriors back to the patio where Sophie and Hunter are sitting with Athena. Beside them is a woman I don’t recognize, but I can see that her upper body isn’t shaped properly. This must be Jocelyn.

“Hello, I’m Alpha Amelia. You must be Jocelyn. Welcome to my pack,” I greet her.

“Alpha Amelia. It’s a pleasure. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the first ever female Alpha, but I have to admit, you’re quite impressive,” Jocelyn says.

“Thank you,” I say.

was directing her warriors,” Sophie says, looking at Hunter who begins purring at her. Is that what got her riled up? Me nursing Athena publicly? She’ll have to get over it while she’s

no Legend, like my sister,”

Maybe it was jealousy before. I know from recent experience that every woman around you feels like a threat to your mate.

I can see

once I get back into shape,

à family trait to have

as I go check on my daughter. She’s sleeping

smiling at me. “Blazing the trail for the rest of us to follow. You’ re the first female Alpha in history. You don’t see the significance in that?” she asks, challenging

my parents’ deaths, taking over the pack, waging war and getting revenge for my parents’ deaths,

has already paved the way for other women to take ranked

Penny your Gamma

at me. “As Nikki would say, that

can hold her and stand up, Hunter,”

that her stomach is larger than mine was. Probably because she’s having

my daughter against his chest, then reaches out to help Sophie up. I can hear Shaw purring softly, keeping Athena

more uncomfortable holding his own daughter, whereas Hunter

you settled in, Jocelyn? Soapy knows her way around the packhouse, but if you need anything at all, you can ask me, or this is my Beta, Matthew,” I say as he walks up to greet

she can’t hog Athena while she’s here. I smile, looking at my sister while she tells Matthew that his mate is here all the time and she’s only here for a couple of days, so she gets as much time as she wants with my

when I was young. I couldn’t say the ‘f’ in her name, so it came out as soapy. Then, our father started calling

as kind and empathetic as Sophie is too,

mean?” I ask her

your father is gone, you still