The One He Claimed

The One 33

Chapter 33: Homecoming Hunter I wake, surrounded by the scent of orchids, naked body tucked against mine l**e’s warm, Last night was a h**e success, but today begins the real work. As much as I want to let my sweet mate sleep, we need to get up. It’s time for Sophie to be reunited with her parents. I snuggle closer to her, kissing her shoulder, and sliding my hand under the sheet to rub against her hip and thigh. I’d love nothing more than to make love to my mate again, but after last night, or early this morning, I know she’s probably sore. However, my mate doesn’t seem to care, and as she comes awake, she presses her sweet a**gainst my hard length, moaning softly. “Good morning,” I say, still kissing her shoulder, moving to her neck. She reaches up, moving her hair to give me better access and I oblige by licking and sucking on her neck. “Are you going to make it a good morning?” she asks me. Her voice is deep, partly with increasing desire and partly with decreasing sleepiness. “Depends. How do you feel?” “Achy?” Chapter 33: Homecoming “Achy?” I ask, lifting my head to look at her more closely. Her body doesn’t feel warm, but if she’s sick….. “I have an ache between my thighs that only you can alleviate,” she says, her eyes still closed, but her backside begins pressing against me even more. I move my hand to slide between her thighs, feeling how wet she already is for me. I slide two fingers inside her, watching as she gasps. I love that her eyes are still closed. Something about this time, early in the morning when everything is still quiet feels extremely intimate. “Is this where you’re aching?” I whisper in her ear.

“Yes,” she moans softly. “Let me see if I can help you with that,” I say and replace my fingers with my hard length, sliding into her slowly. She moans and whimpers, arching back to take me deeper into her body. “Will it ever go away? This constant need to feel your inside me?” she asks. “Goddess, I hope not.” I take my time, slowly waking my mate and easing her ache as well as my own. It’s nearly an hour and several o**ms later, when we finally leave the bed, both of us still panting with beads of sweat on our brow. “Come on, we need to shower. We have an appointment with your father. That gets her attention and as we step into the shower, I can Chapter 33: Homecoming 1288 Wouchers feel her apprehension. , “Talk to me,” I say, as I push her head under the water, getting her hair wet before pouring shampoo into my hand and rubbing it into her hair. I make a note to stop and pick up some feminine smelling shampoo, maybe they make something that smells like orchids that my mate would like. Her eyes open, and she looks up at me as I massage the shampoo into her hair. “What if he’s angry that I left? What if blames me for everything that’s happened to him?” I stop what I’m doing and put my hands on her shoulders. “He won’t be angry. He’ll be thrilled to finally see you again, to know that you are safe and alive.” “How do you know?” she whispers. “Because, if it were my daughter, I wouldn’t care what mountains I’d had to scale to keep you safe, I would only care that you were safe. Your father loves you, Sophie. That was obvious to me the night I met you. He’ll be happy, very, very happy, to see you.” The rest of the morning and the drive to Alpha Carter’s pack, Sophie is quiet. I leave her to her thoughts, but I make sure that I’m constantly touching her, letting her know that she’s not alone. She

barely eats her breakfast, picking at it before we leave. When we get to the border of his pack lands, I stop for the border patrols, letting them know that I’ve arrived and to announce me to Alpha Carter. It’s standard protocol and I know Alpha Carter will want to greet me as is appropriate when an Alpha visits. 16:55 Chapter 33 Homecoming 260 Wouchers The border patrol leans in, sniffing the air. “Who’s with you?” he asks. “My Luna,” I say. Sophie’s scent is partially covered with mine. and while she still smells like herself, it’s been two years since she’s been home. I’m hoping the patrol won’t recognize her. I watch his eyes go unfocused and then he looks back at me. “Alpha Carter is expecting you,” he says, and we drive on, following the road to the packhouse. When we arrive, I step out, nodding to Alpha Carter and Luna Amy who is standing beside him to greet me. “Alpha Hunter,” he says, looking from Sophie in the car to me. I can tell he doesn’t recognize her yet. “Alpha Carter, I wanted you to meet my new Luna,” I say and open the door for Sophie. The moment she steps out, Alpha Carter’s nose goes in the air. Luna Amy gasps, one hand going to her stomach, the other shaking hand going to her mouth. “Soapy?” Alpha Carter says, taking a step forward. Even from here, I can smell the salt of tears from both of Sophie’s parents. “Daddy?” she says, and I step out of her way, wanting to give her this time to reunite with her parents. She runs to her father, and he pulls her into an embrace, hiding his face as he chokes back a s**b. I’m not sure if it’s relief that his daughter is alive and well, or if he’s just missed her that much. Luna Amy steps up to them and Alpha Carter opens his arm, pulling her in so the three of them can embrace, the two women sobbing as they all cling to each other. Chapter 33 Homecoming Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

283 Vouchers I stay back by the car, giving them time to reunite. Because I’m watching, I notice when Alpha Carter looks up at me and glares. He’s just realized that my new Luha is his daughter. I didn’t expect anything else. He doesn’t know how I claimed her, not yet at least. “Where have you been? You’re so thin, Sophie,” her mother says, looking her over as she wipes her eyes. “Come in, come in, have you eaten?” Sophie chokes on a half laugh, half s***b as she wraps her arm around her mother’s waist and takes a step to go inside. “Sophie,” I call to her quietly, reminding her that I’m here. “Oh! Oh, Dad, Mom, this is Alpha Hunter, my mate,” she says, holding out her hand for me. I step up to her, but my eyes never leave Alpha Carter’s. I’m prepared for him to punch me. His hands are in fists. “Perhaps we should have that breakfast in private. We have much to discuss,” I say to him. “Yes, I guess we do,” he growls, turning on his heel and walking inside, but not before he wraps an arm around Sophie protectively, leading her inside ahead of me. Her mother glances at me worriedly over her shoulder as she hugs Sophie. Alpha Carter leads us to a private room, not saying anything to his pack yet about Sophie’s return. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s angry, thinking that I publicly claimed his daughter, or if it’s because he just wants time alone with her before the pack demands their time. Chapter 33 Homecoming 288 Vouche “Sophie, what happened to your hair?” Luna Amy asks as we walk into the private room. Sophie laughs. “Hunter hates it too. It was to help me hide, but now that I don’t have to hide anymore, I’ll let it grow out,” she says. When we sit, Alpha Carter purposefully puts Sophie between himself and his mate while I sit across from them. It’s fine for now. I understand why he’s feeling so protective of his youngest daughter, but once he knows the truth, I’m hoping he’ll relax.

Luna Amy begins peppering Sophie with questions about where she’s been. I heard the story so many times after last night, I could probably tell it, but I stay quiet and let her tell her story, let her parents ask their questions. She’s nearly done when there’s a knock at the door. Several omegas come in with a large amount of food. They glance at me and Sophie, noting the way she’s tucked in between her parents, but they don’t say anything as they lay out the food and leave. Before her father can pull a plate to her, I grab two plates and setting one beside me, I quietly call Sophie to come sit with me. She immediately hops up, moving around the table to sit beside me. Both her parents look nervous at having her sit beside me. I ignore that for now, dishing up food for her, hoping she’ll eat now that she’s more settled. She really is too thin. Once the f e food is divided up, I turn to Sophie. “Why don’t you tell your parents about how I claimed you.” I hear silverware clatter against a plate, and I look up to see Chapter 3 Homecoming 1 Alpha Carter’s hands in fists. “I don’t think that is necessary, Alpha Hunter,” he says through gritted teeth. “I think it is, Alpha Carter,” I insist, and I can see and feel that Sophie feels torn by her father’s response to my request. He shoves his plate away as if disgusted by the thought of eating now and sits back in his chair, gesturing for Sophie to give the story. She looks at me with worry in her eyes. I lean toward her, kissing the side of her head. “Go ahead.” She nods and looks at her parents. “Well, I told you I ran from the human town. I met a girl, Penny. Oh, did you happen to see her? She came this way a couple of days ago.” Alpha Carter and Luna Amy look at each other. I’m not sure what they are hiding, but they are hiding something. “Yes, we saw her,” Luna Amy says. “Oh, I hope you helped her. I told her you would.”

“Yes, we helped her,” Alpha Carter says vaguely. “Oh good. She was very sweet. She’s the one who told me about the food.” “What food?” Alpha Carter asks. “Alpha Hunter, well really, his Beta…” “Our Beta,” I correct. She turns, giving me the full force of her smile, melting my heart. “Our Beta,” she says. “She found a place, it’s a really great place, Chapter 33: Homecoming 288 Mouchers inside the mountain where Alphas would struggle to fit through. There, she leaves food and water every day for the she-wolves who are on the run. There’s a small pool where water drips from a river or maybe it’s melted snow, I’m not sure, but you can bathe there, too. Anyway, it’s very safe, it has a secondary exit. so if an Alpha or other ranked wolf were to get through, the she- wolf could escape.” She turns to smile at me again. I need to touch her, so I reach out to stroke her cheek. “When Penny and I arrived, I smelled Alpha Hunter’s scent. I knew my mate was close, but I wasn’t willing to accept him. Penny and I stayed the night and then she ran, and I was going to stay to get the food the next day. However, when I went back inside the mountain, Alpha Hunter was waiting for me. He tried to talk to me, but I was too afraid to listen, and I rejected him and ran.” “Sort of rejected me,” I clarify. “Right. I wasn’t sure he knew who I was, so I didn’t use my name, so it wasn’t really a rejection, and I didn’t wait for him to accept it, not that he would have,” she says, looking at me again. I shake my head, confirming that I wouldn’t have accepted her rejection. “Then I ran. Right into the path of another hunting Alpha,” she says. look up at Alpha Carter who is frowning now. “Owen,” I growl. His eyes go wide. “That a**hole?” “CARTER!” Luna Amy scolds. Chapter 33 Homecoming

“Sorry, sweetheart. But he IS an **hole.” “I couldn’t agree more,” Sophie says. She leans toward me as she remembers, and I wrap my arm around her protectively. “He ran me down, him and his pack members.” Luna Amy’s hand goes to her mouth again. “He ordered me to shift, and when I didn’t, he knew I was an Alpha. He was going to mark me and mate me in wolf form, then order me to shift so he could do it again in my human form. He nearly had me,” she says, her voice so soft I’m not sure her parents can hear her. I lean forward again and kiss the side of her head. “But he didn’ t.” She smiles and looks at me again. “No, he didn’t. Because even though I rejected him, Hunter came for me. He attacked Alpha Owen and told me to run.” “Later he found me. I was so upset, so sick about almost being marked and mated against my will….” She stops as her voice chokes on the memory. “I had Shaw, my wolf, offer her comfort and warmth. She was shivering and in shock.” “Shaw’s really sweet,” Sophie says, making my wolf preen and purr softly. She chuckles at him, his purr having the desired effect of relaxing her again. “I fell asleep and when I woke up, it was Hunter instead of Shaw holding me. He talked to me, told me that he doesn’t believe in public claimings. I wasn’t sure if I could believe him, but he took Chapter 33: Homecoming me back to the mountain, and after running into his…our Beta, he joined me for dinner and we talked for hours,” she says, smiling up at me again. “Then, when I agreed, he marked me. It was just him and me under the moonlight. It was perfect. The most amazing night of my life,” she says, her eyes on mine. I can feel her adoration and love for me pouring through the bond and d***n if I don’t feel like a f**g king all over again.