The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 148: Friends Hunter

My announcement that the Alphas are opening up the four available packs for competition has spread like wildflower through the pack. I can barely go three steps now without someone asking me questions about it. I'm glad they're excited and I hope they won't be disappointed if they don't win. It's good to be excited in the competition itself.

"So, what about Beta and Ga***a positions?" one of the warriors asks me after training. Lucas was right about Jaime. He's a powerhouse when it comes to training and pushing our pack members to fight hard. With the upcoming competitions, everyone has shut their mouth about how hard training is and they're all pushing themselves and each other harder.

"That will be up to the new Alphas, but it makes sense to me that they'd want to open those positions as well," I say.

Even Lucas has been sparring with me every day. It's fine because Sophie agreed that she's too far along to spar, thankfully, so I can spend my time with Lucas and anyone else that wants to try and go against an Alpha. Of course, if they can't defeat Penny or Jaime, they usually don't try to spar against Lucas or I. He and I spend an extra 30 minutes every day focusing solely on his training with Jaime watching and directing him, and sometimes me as well. Most of the warriors stay to watch and everyone can see that Lucas is getting stronger and faster. Each day it becomes harder and harder for me to defeat my Beta, which only solidifies to me that he'll win

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his pack. I don't know what the other Alphas are doing to strengthen their pack members for the competition, but here, all of my warriors are getting stronger, and Lucas is fighting at Alpha strength now. Today, as we walk inside, everyone congratulates Lucas on getting a draw. Neither of us could pin the other.

"Nice job, Lucas," I say as we walk inside. "I do want to talk to you about something after breakfast, though."

"Aren't the other Alphas and Lunas coming today?" he asks.

"They are and once Zahn and Jocelyn arrive tomorrow, I doubt I'll have much time to discuss things like I want to discuss today."

We find our mates, and both pull them into our laps, one hand resting on our mates' stomachs and the other eating while they chatter happily about seeing Allison and Nikki again. "What time are they arriving again, Hunter?" Sophie asks me. She's asked me several times and I'm not sure if it's her

excitement, her focus and nervousness because of Jocelyn coming, or possibly her pregnancy that's keeping her from being able to focus.

"Lunchtime. So eat up, in case they're running late," I tell her.

"No way they'll be running late. Both of those Alphas will want their mates to eat too," Kinsley says knowingly.

"Very true. Kayce seems exceptionally overbearing, at least by Allison's response to him," Sophie says.

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"You don't think I'm overbearing? I ask her.

"You, my love, find ways to be overbearing that don't FEEL overbearing. It's not that I don't know what you're doing but you do it in a way to make it easier for me to deal with."

I smile at that. It's true that I'm constantly in her head now, more present than I was before. The closer she gets to her delivery, the more I'll do that, but I'm glad that she doesn't find it suffocating. Much like Kayce, I'm not sure I could stop.

When we finish breakfast, I meet with Lucas in my office. "What do you think of me promoting Penny and Jaime to Betas when you win your pack?" I ask him with no preamble.

He stops, staring at me. "You think I'm going to win a pack?"

"I know you are and if you don't, then I'm doing something wrong."

"It's just..." he frowns, sitting down. "It feels so final when you start talking about my replacement."

I smile and go to sit next to my Beta. "I do hope you'll choose a pack closer to us. I'd like our sons to grow up together and be friends," I tell him. "Did you and Kinsley talk about Sophie's idea?" "Yeah. Honestly, I like the idea of Alaric's pack. I like knowing that I'll be close to this pack, but also close to Amelia and Dutton, two people I feel strongly that I can trust."

"Good, so Jaime and Penny?"

He scrubs his hands over his face. "Is Jaime not competing for

Chapter 148: Friends

a pack? He'd be great. He's a natural leader."

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"He hasn't expressed any interest. I'm not sure if that's coming from him or from Penny. But if they decide not to compete, I want to make them my Beta couple. What do you think?"

"I think I hate the idea of anyone taking my place as your Beta, but if it has to be someone other than me, then yeah, those two," he says.

"You'll still be at my side, Lucas, just as my ally, not my Beta."

"Yours will be the very first alliance agreement I'll sign," he says vehemently.

"Well, we don't have to worry about it for a while. Owen's pack is going up first, but Alaric's will probably be second. Watch Penny and Jaime over the next few weeks and let me know your thoughts." "I already know. If you don't promote them, I will once I'm Alpha," he says, smirking at me.

I get some work done before I get the announcement that our guests have arrived. I go to Sophie's office to get her and together we walk outside to greet our guests.

I can feel my mate's excited energy pinging through the bond.

"You're going to explode, Soph," I say, chuckling.

"I can't help it, I'm so excited to see them."

The moment Robin's car comes to a stop, Nikki's door flies open.

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"Nicole!" he barks in warning. Nikki ignores him and Sophie. rushes down the stairs to hug her friend.

"Oh my goddess, Sophie. Look at your cute little baby bump!" Nikki says, as they hug tightly.

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"I want in!" Allison says, rushing up to them. Her baby bump isn't as pronounced as Sophie's but it's there, making their group hug interesting.

"Did your little boy just kick my little girl?" Allison asks, stepping back and looking down.

"Maybe?" Sophie says as I go to say hello to Robin and Kayce. "Maybe he was just saying hello."

"So, you're having a girl?" I ask Kayce.

"Yeah. Pretty excited about it too. Other than dealing with all the boys when she gets older. I'm already pretty sure I'll be threatening every male who looks at her longer than a second. Especially if she ends up being as beautiful as her mother."

Allison catches his words and smiles lovingly at her mate. He purrs at her as we watch the three of them go inside.

"Do we have times set up to see your doctor today?" Robin asks.

"Yes, after lunch," I tell them.

By the time we get inside, Kinsley has joined the group of females who are saying hello to all the pack members, talking about their pregnancies and catching up with everyone around them.

"It's so good to come back. It's like a second home," Nikki says,

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smiling back at us.

"If possible, your pack feels even stronger than it did when I was here before," Kayce says.

"It probably is. Not only does Sophie continue to make huge impacts to the overall pack, but we brought on Penny as our Ga***a and her mate Jaime who helped Sophie while she was on the run. Penny isn't yet 18, she's got a couple more weeks to go, but she and Jaime have already taken over as G***as and they're great at it."

"Do you anticipate losing Lucas and Kinsley?" Robin asks.

"Yeah. It'll be a hard loss, but Sophie wants them to go for Alaric's pack, so I think that will be the first one he competes for. How about you two?"

"My Beta is going to compete," Kayce says.

"Mine as well. And according to Nikki, Letti is going to compete too," Robin says.

"How is Letti? I haven't seen her since she left the pack."

"She's good. She's still looking for her mate. She's been to Robin's pack and yours but didn't find them in either place. I know she was hoping, like we all do, to find her mate right away, but who knows, maybe being part of this competition will help her find her mate," Kayce says.

"I think we need to get our mates together more often," I say, watching how they keep hugging, wiping their eyes, and smiling so broadly. I can feel Sophie's happiness glowing through the bond. I love her feeling like this.

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"I think you're right. Maybe when everything is settled with Camden and Aiden, we can have them set up play dates or something. It would be good for our pups to grow up together," Robin says "Yeah, we're all close enough to stay in touch. And whoever takes over Owen's pack, if they're decent, can be included in that," Kayce says.

"We should make a common area on the mountain. Open it up to Dutton and Amelia's packs as well and whoever takes over Alaric's pack," I suggest.

"I like that idea. I know our mates will too. So, do we get to test your Beta while we're here?" Robin asks excitedly.

"Hell yeah, he'll take any test he can get. And you two need to see Jaime in action. His father was a Lead Warrior, and I understand why his Alpha was intimidated by him. He's one hell of a fighter but an even better instructor."

"He's not competing for a pack?" Kayce asks as we follow our mates to the dining room, stopping once again for them to say hello to old friends.

I look around, finding Jaime talking to several warriors.

"Ga**a Jaime," I say, using his title. He's new to it and I think it's good for the pack to get used to using his title.

He looks up and comes jogging over. "Hey, Alpha."

"Jaime, this is Alpha Robin and Alpha Kayce."

"Nice to meet you, Alphas. It looks like your mates are already

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enjoying themselves,” he says, and I realize that Penny has also joined the group surrounding our mates and saying hello to Allison and Nikki.

"Your Alpha was telling us what a great fighter and instructor you are, Jaime," Kayce begins.

"Thank you, Alpha," Jaime says to me.

"Don't thank me yet, these two will probably want to test you in the morning," I tell him.

"I'm always happy to have my skills tested," he says, making both Alphas raise an eyebrow.

"Alpha Hunter says you haven't made any plans to compete for a pack. Is that true?" Robin asks him.

"Penny and I are happy here. She's been given the Ga**a position. I don't want to take that away from her. But more than that, I never thought I'd be a ranked member, never really thought I'd be in a pack again. My sisters are here and they're happy. My mate is here, and she's happy. All of that makes me happy," he says.

"D**n. With an attitude like that, you'd make a good Alpha," Kayce says.

He shrugs. "No offense, but it seems like a lot of work. Penny and I are busy, but we still have time for each other and for the pack. We both get to do what we love, which is training warriors to be better warriors."

"Thanks, Jaime," I say to him, and he jogs off to get his mate before grabbing some food.

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"An excellent choice for Ga***a. I might steal him for my Beta if I lose mine," Kayce says.

"Good luck with that. I already plan to offer my Beta position to them when Lucas wins his pack," I tell them.

"Damn. I don't have anyone that strong to take over as my Beta," Kayce says as we begin to pile food on plates for ourselves and our mates.

By the time we get to the table, our mates are just getting settled. I kiss the top of Sophie's head, putting a plate in front of her. She looks up at me and smiles happily and I can't resist leaning in to kiss her. I love feeling her happiness, love seeing it on her face, and love that I have a part in that.

'A large part,' she says in our mind link.

Since our mates all sat together, my friends and I take up seats at the other end of the table. As.I sit, I hear Nikki. "So, what's the plan with Jocelyn."

Robin and Kayce look up at me. "Yeah, what's the plan with Zahn?"