The One He Claimed by Cooper

Chapter 177: New Alliances

Hunter

Before we leave for home, Robin, Kayce, Dutton, Ezra, and | 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

| know that I'm forever indebted to my former Alpha for givingthis opportunity, so, is it unheard of for an

Alpha to create an alliance with many other Alphas?” he asks.

| 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 | have been in an alliance since | was mated

to his sister,” he says and | see the tightening around his mouth, the regret that he still holds for how things

went with Diana. | 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 | have already formed an alliance with her. | expect that

whoever wins Alaric’s old pack will do the same,” Dutton says.

“When can | 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 cback.”

“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 tas well,” | 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 texplaining 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.

“Thank you, Margot,” Ezra says, eyeing her. | wonder if she realizes that she just acted like his Luna.

“And we want to chelp you get set up too, Letti. | mean, if you want our 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 can support. you and help you find your way, especially since both of you will be new to

all of your pack members: That transition might be difficult,” Nikki says.

“I would love that,” Letti breathes, obviously relieved.

“Good. Why don’t the two of you get settled, | 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 them, and then we can set a date

for the trial,” Kayce suggests.

“Sounds good to me,” Jake says, looking completely overwhelmed.

“You're going to be fine, Jake. I'm 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 | watch them both relax a bit.

Now it's my turn to smile at my mate. She has such a great way of calming those around her.

“Okay, good. That's good. | don’t feel quite so terrified now,” Jake says.

Ezra chuckles. “I won't let you fail, my friend. But it's not in you to fail. You're going to be a great Alpha, a great

leader.”

We make plans for Jake and Letti to cvisit our pack in a couple of weeks and then we begin to say goodbye

to our friends.

“When are we heading to Alaric’s pack to let the contenders see what the pack looks like?” Allison asks.

“Alpha Amelia has asked if we can wait to do that until she delivers her pup. | understand she’s pretty close, so

perhaps Alpha Jake and Luna Letti can stop at Hunter's pack and then continue on to Alaric’s,” Dutton says.

| look at Sophie to see how she feels about that. “That would be a good excuse forto meet my niece,” she

says excitedly.

“Yes, it would and will probably be close to the last tthat you leave the pack until you have our pup. You're

already getting pretty big, Soph.”

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

competitions,” she says.

“Ohh, that's right! We'll have two more Alphas to referee the matches. Things should go faster next time,” Kayce

says.

“Well, when word gets around, we may have more competing too,” Robin adds.

“Honestly, | think it's good for the packs to get to know each. other and have these friendly competitions. Maybe

once we have the community 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,” | say,

already loving the idea of having regular competitions.”

“What community area?” Letti asks.

“Oh, we'll add you to 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 busier than | expected,” Nikki

says. —-

“Busier than any of us expected. I'll set up a call. I'd love to get started on the community area. | can send you

what we've talked about already, Letti, but we're looking at using the mountain that is in the center of all of our

packs, well, except for Ezra’s, as the community area for our families to have a place to go and our wolves have

a safe place to run.”

“The mountain where you kept food for the she-wolves on the run? | LOVE that idea,” Letti says excitedly.

“Trust me, now that you'll be spending more twith Sophie, you'll never have a dull moment in your life

again,” Nikki says, teasing my mate.

“As if you'd ever allow your life to becdull, Nikki. I'm pretty sure your mate hasn't had a dull moment since

he met you,” Sophie teases her back.

“Not one, and | wouldn't change it for a thing,” Robin says, pulling his mate to him and kissing her scowl away.

We finally say goodbye and Nikki helps Sophie onto my back again before needing to help Allison this tas

well. Then we take off running towards home. I'm excited to return to our pack, ready to make sure that

everyone is really okay, and ready to face Zahn and tell him he’s going to trial.

When Shaw howls our return, Hedda joins in the howl, and the pack welcomes us home. Pack members rush up

to us in wolf form and | can feel their excitement to proudly tell us everything that they did to protect the pack

while we were gone.

Sophie reaches out to touch the wolves as they corral aroundwhile we walk to the packhouse, 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 get off of his back.

The group quiets a bit, as Sophie slides off Shaw’s back and h pull the shift, while most of the pack members

shifting around me.

“Welchome, Alpha, Welchome, Luna,” Lucas says from the back of the packhouse.

The pack echoes his welcand then they all start tellingabout the attack, their part in it, and how

everyone worked together to defeat Zahn’s warriors. I'm feeling protective of Sophie with so many pack

members crowding us and wanting our attention, but she pushes her calm intoand into the pack, letting her

pride and love flow through the pack bond.

| follow her lead, letting my pride flow through with hers, sending waves of gratitude to my pack so they know

how much | appreciate their willingness to fight even withouthere. It's probably close to an hour before

we're finally able to get inside the packhouse doors.

“Soph, why don’t you check in with Kinsley and Jocelyn. I'm going to go see Zahn,” | tell her.

“Ill talk to her about the trial. She needs to be prepared,” Sophie says.

“Agreed,” | say, kissing her before she walks off.

0, there will be a trial?” Lucas asks.

| nod. “Cwith me, we'll walk and talk.” On our way to the cells, | fill him in on everything that happened,

Jake and Letti winning the pack, their upcoming visit, and Zahn’s trial.

“He’s going to be so pi**sed when he sees she-wolves on his jury,” Lucas says, an evil grin on his face.

“Hopefully everyone will agree that he deserves to die,” | say as we walk in. The moment | open the doors, | can

hear Zahn yelling.

“LETOUT OF HERE!”

“Alpha Zahn,” | say, walking up. My warriors did not hold back if the residual bruises on his face and neck are any

indication.

“You have no right to keepin here,” he snarls.

“I have every right. You attacked my pack, Zahn. Your warriors are dead, ready to be buried, and you will remain

here until we can schedule a trial of your peers.”

“My peers,” he sneers. “You are no peer of mine.”

“Wow, | can understand why two of your mates chose death over living with you,” Lucas taunts.

Zahn snarls, rushing to the cell bars, which is dumb since they are made of silver. His skin sizzles and he hisses

as he pulls away.

“There's a new Alpha, Alpha Jake. He will be presiding over your trial. That way there is no possibility of bias.”

“Who the f**k is Alpha Jake?” he asks.

“He's the Alpha that just took over Owen's old pack,” | say, smiling smugly as Zahn realizes what | was doing

over the weekend. “For now, this is your home. I'll make sure you get food, but that’s about it.”

| turn, walking out the door, Lucas right behindas Zahn screams his anger at the top of his lungs.