The One 35
Chapter 35: Another Surprise
Hunter
When Sophie and her mother leave, Carter looks at me. “I know it’s early, but I could use a drink.
Want one?”
“Sure. I’m sorry for the secrecy…”
“No. You were right not to tell me ahead of time. And you’ve done right by my daughter. I’m not sure
I can ever repay you for that,” he says, handing me a ss of bourbon before clinking his ss
against mine and downing his in one go.
It’s a bit early for me, but I follow suit and take the shot. I watch as Carter takes a deep breath,
closing his eyes for a moment.
“I was so worried when I first saw her…” he says quietly.
“I know. That’s why I wanted you to hear it from her that I marked her in private.”
He nods his head and takes another deep breath. “Alright, let’s get my Beta in here so we can
reinforce your borders. You said your
Gamma left?”
“Well, technically, I kicked him out for ogling my mate in front of me and assuming that I was going
to mark and mate her again in front of him and the pack. So, I cut off his airways until he passed out
then threw him off my packnds.”
He looks at me a moment. “You might have been better off if you had killed him.”
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I sigh. I know he’s right. “I’d just brought Sophie home, had literally just introduced her to the pack. I
didn’t want to mar that by killing my G**a.”
He nods and his eyes go unfocused. A momentter there’s a knock at his door.
“Matthew, this is Alpha Hunter. Hunter, this is my Beta, Matthew.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say.
“Same.” Copyright by N?v/elDrama.Org.
“Alpha Hunter has mated my daughter, Sophie, and brought her home to see her family.”
I watch the Beta press his lips together before he forces a smile. “Congrattions.” Then he turns to
Carter. “I didn’t realize little Sophie was here. I can’t wait to see her. My mate will be thrilled as well.”
Carter watches his Beta as he delivers the news. “My new son- inw marked and mated my little
girl in private, Matthew.”
Matthew turns and looks at me, his gaze intent. “In private?”
“That’s correct,” I say.
“But…” he begins, looking back at Carter.
“Alpha Hunter is going to take a stand against ourws, Matthew, and I intend to join him. I need to
know now if you’re with me.”
“I have always been and will always be with you, Alpha,” he says,
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turning back to me. “Alpha Hunter, you have my respect for what you did, but you do realize that
this means war.’
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“I do which is my second reason for being here. My first was for Sophie to see her family again. The
second was to ensure that your Alpha would support me in this fight. I’ll be looking at other Alphas
as well,” I say and the three of us sit down as I go through it again.
In the end, the three of us look at their patrols and evaluate how many of their warriors they can
send to assist.
“I don’t think we can afford to send thirty, but we can make do with sending twenty, especially
knowing that the heat we’ve been under for thest two years is about to end and refocus on you.”
“I’m okay with that and I’d appreciate as many as you can safely send. I don’t want you putting your
pack at risk for me. But I also believe I’ll be able to give you most of your warriors back once I have
she-wolves entering my pack. They’ll all be ranked members, and my guess is, they’ll be willing to
fight to maintain their freedom. I have warriors who aren’t ranked pack members who are fierce
fighters. I’m anticipating that these will be as well.”
“I would agree with you,” Carter says, and his eyes go unfocused again.
When they refocus, he looks at me. “We may as well tell that girl that was on the run with Sophie?
She’s here. We brought her into our pack.”
“Penny?”
you,
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“Yes. She identally crossed onto my borders and my patrols brought her to me. After she told me
that she’d been with Sophie, she practically begged me to help her,” Carter says.
“There’s no practically about it, Alpha. She did beg,” Beta Matthew says.
“Sophie said she’s underage,” I say, looking at them.
“Yes. Amy says she’s sixteen,” Carter says.
“And she was practically starving. I’ve never seen a wolf eat that much before,” Matthew adds.
“Sophie said she stuffed herself the night before. I’m guessing she hadn’t eaten for a long time
before that. Do you know what pack she’s from?”
“She’s the daughter of Alpha Elias’ G**.”
I nod. Alpha Elias is one of the Alphas who believes strongly in the old ways. His daughter is one
that didn’t put up a fight against the public imings. It was as if she had been trained to
understand her fate and she epted it. However, to my knowledge, she’s been mated for several
years and still has yet to produce a pup.
The thought brings a smile to my face. I wonder if Sophie will be carrying my pup soon. I wasn’t
joking when I told Luna Amy that I was trying my best.
“I hope you intend to tell Sophie. She’ll be thrilled to know that her friend is here.”
“I just told Amy to let her know. Perhaps we should make our
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way out to see them. My daughter Amelia and her mate should be here soon,” Carter says.
“I’ll see to the patrols,” Matthew says. I had already called Lucas to warn him that we had some of
Carter’s warriorse to assist with protecting our borders.
Carter and I walk out of his office and follow our mates’ scents to the kitchens where I find Sophie
hugging a young she-wolf.
I smile, feeling my mate’s happiness that Penny is safe.
“Sophie, who is your friend?” I ask from the doorway. She turns quickly at the sound of my voice,
her stunning smile sending shockwaves through my heart yet again. I have a moment to wonder if
that will ever change before she pulls Penny up beside her.
“Hunter, this is Penny, the one I told you about. Penny, this is Hunter, my mate.”
“Your….oh, Sophie. I mean…” she says, clearly distressed at what she thinks happened to Sophie.
“It’s okay, Penny. Hunter isn’t like the others,” Sophie says, releasing her friend and walking toward
me. If she wasn’t talking to her friend, I might forget that there was anyone in the room but us.
“He marked and mated me in the mountain, just the two of us,” she says, her eyes never leaving
mine as she walks into my arms. I wrap my arms around her and she lifts up onto her toes, pressing
her lips to mine.
I hear the gasps around us, the surprise that my Luna is so
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Chapter 35: Another Surprise
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openly affectionate with me, but don’t care at the moment. Right now, all I care about is that my
mate has once again made me feel like I’m the king of the world. I wouldn’t trade this feeling for
anything. Every battle toe, every war I have to fight, every battle scar that I’ll have will be worth
it because of how my mate looks at me, how she responds to me, how she loves me.
She gives herself to me freely and I take what she’s offering, not caring that others see how in love
we are. I pull her to me, kissing her deeply, loving it when she wraps her arms around me and leans
into me.
I get lost in my mate, still careful not to let it go too far, but willing to show everyone what it should
be like in a mate bond.
“Sophie?” I feminine voice says, breaking through our haze.
Sophie pulls away and turns in the direction of the voice.
“Amelia?” she says, her smile breaking out across her face.
“Oh my goddess, Sophie!” Amelia says, rushing to her sister. The two of them hug and I once again
step back allowing Sophie the time to reunite with her family.
I can feel my mate’s happiness at seeing her sister again. I got the distinct impression when I met
Sophie two years ago that she thought very highly of her sister, so I’m a little surprised when Amelia
steps back and looks a little put out.
“Da**it, Sophie. You just had to return today and rain on my parade?”
“Ummm…” Sophie turns and looks at me and I step up to
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Chapter 33 Another Surprise
comfort her.
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“Amelia, your sister has been gone for two years. This is a joyous moment, especially when it looks
like she and Alpha Hunter are now mated,” Alpha Calvin says.
I nod at him. “You would be correct. Although, it’s something that I would like to speak to you about
later.”
“Amelia, what parade is your sister’s return raining on,” Luna Amy asks, trying to cate both
daughters.
Amelia steps back and wraps her arm around her mate, as he does the same to her.
“Well, I had nned to do this differently, but…. Calvin and I are going to have a baby.”