The One He Claimed by Cooper
The One 44

Chapter 44: Nikki Hunter

I'm letting Sophie take the lead with these females, not only so they can see that I respect her, but also because I know they are afraid of me, even though I'm obviously mated.

"We're happy to have you, Allison, Letti, and Nikki. Now, which one of you is injured and how badly?" Sophie asks.

Once again, I'm thrilled that my mate is an Alpha. The reasons behind the scent of blood aren't always easy to detect among lower ranked wolves. Sometimes, a warrior might think that a woman on her period has an injury because they can't distinguish between the differences in the blood. Sophie, however, had no problem with it.

"I am," Nikki says. She and Letti had been crouching beside and somewhat behind Allison. She's a Beta while the other two appear to be G**as, so she would outrank them and apparently, even in the wild, hierarchy matters. Or perhaps, Allison just established herself as a leader and they are following her lead.

Letti stands and helps Nikki to her feet. Allison stays on guard, watching to see if anyone will try to attack them now that we know that one of them is injured.

"You're under my pack's protection, Allison. No harm will come to you or your friends. I give you my word as an Alpha, even if you don't believe it," I say, glancing at Letti.

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I take a step forward and all three girls take a step back. "May I carry you to our pack hospital?" I ask Nikki.

"I can walk," she says.

"I'm sure you could. And you could also do more damage to your broken leg causing your healing to be slower. At first glance, I'd say you're malnourished, most likely dehydrated, and injured. The first two will already impede your healing. If you will allow me to carry you, you won't run the risk of injuring yourself further."

I turmand look at Allison as she seems to be their leader. "I'm a marked and mated Alpha. I'm not looking for another mate. My Beta is also mated, and our G**a has been kicked out of my pack." "Why?" Letti asks.

"He didn't agree with my private claiming of Sophie," I say simply.

"Just let him carry me, Allie. If Sophie Meyers is his mate, and she doesn't look scared of him, then he has to be halfway decent and let's be honest, I can't put any weight on this leg," Nikki says, looking between Letti and Allison.

"I'm Sophie Reynolds now," Sophie quietly corrects her.

"There, you see? She wants to be known as his mate," Nikki says, looking at Sophie. "Do you trust your mate to carry me?"

"Absolutely," Sophie says without hesitation.

"If she does, I do," the girl says, looking at me.

1395h

"Thank you for your trust, Nikki," I say.

"Don't make me regret it, Alpha," she grumbles as I bend to lift her up. I feel her body flinch as I pick her up.

"How badly are you injured?" I ask her as I turn and begin walking toward the pack hospital

"It's broken and it reset improperly," she says, making me frown.

I lean in, sniffing her. She watches me, waiting.

"You're an Alpha?"

"Underage, but yeah."

"Not that underage," I say, feeling the strength of her wolf even in her current state. "So, Allison isn't your leader?" "We're all equal in the wild," she says, sarcastically.

"Is that so?"

"We're all poor, starving, and on the run, so yeah, I'd say we're all pretty f**g equal," she says. It should be a growl, but her wolf is too weak, even though I can feel the strength that her wolf will have when she's healthy again.

"Are you two coming with us or are you going to let my mate replace you some food and a place to sleep?" I ask, turning my head to see Letti and Allison following us.

Nikki leans around me to see them following. "Go get some food and some sleep. I'm sure the doctor is going to put me under to reset my leg. You two need to get your strength back as much as I do," she says.

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"Are you sure, Nikki?" Allison asks her.

"Yes. I'll be fine, right Luna?" she asks, looking at Sophie.

"My word as an Alpha," Sophie says again.

When the other two turn to follow Sophie into the packhouse, I look back at the girl in my arms, intrigued.

"So, you're the leader?"

"I just said we're all equal, didn't I?" she scoffs.

"And yet, they listen to you?"

"They're starving and we can all smell the food in your packhouse from here. The food that was left wasn't enough for three. But it's really nice of your pack to do that, by the way."

"It was my Beta's idea. I'll let her know you said so, or you can tell her yourself when you meet her."

When we arrive at the pack hospital, I get her into a room and the nurses come in, immediately putting in an IV as the doctor comes in to examine her. I stay, partly because I'm the only person she knows and partly because I want to see how bad her injury is. She's my responsibility now and I take that seriously.

The doctor begins cutting off the leg of her pants and from the corner of my eye, I see the nurses cutting off her top. I can smell her fear, so I look up at her, making sure my eyes stay on hers. "They're going to put you in a gown for easier access while they take care of you since you'll most likely need surgery. We'll make sure you have more clothes before you leave the 4060%

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hospital, I say and wall for her to nod before I turn back to the doctor

He begins asking her questions about her health, her age, she's 17, and when I see her injury, even I suck in air.

"How the hell did you get that? Is that a bite wound?" I ask her. Her leg looks shattered above the ankle and what was a compound fracture with a bone sticking out has now healed in a hideous position with skin covering the bone. Not only that, but it's also grossly infected.

"Yes. An Alpha caught Allison. I attacked him and one of his pack members grabbed me. I kicked him but got distracted and the Alpha latched onto my leg. When I ripped it out of his mouth, the broken bones tore through my skin. I was lucky to get away with my leg at all."

"How did you get away?" I ask her.

"Allison and Letti didn't run. They stayed to fight, and we were able to get away from the Alpha," she says, smiling. "Allie's tough for a Beta."

"You're the reason they decided to risk coming to our pack?"

She nods. "My leg was getting worse and even though I told them to leave me, they refused."

"I'm going to get some x-rays but you're going to need surgery, young Alpha," the doctor says to her.

"I'm not an Alpha," she says to him.

"You have Alpha blood. That makes you an Alpha. Do you want

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me to stay with you until they put you under, or I can ask Sophie to come stay with you, if you'd be more comfortable." "You're fine. You're not as bad as most Alphas."

"I'll take that as a compliment since I know some pretty decent Alphas," I say to her, making her chuckle as the nurses start her drip on an IV drip. "We're not going to knock you out just yet, Alpha Nikki, but I am going to give you a little sedation to see how effective it is and to help you relax." "Thank you," she says.

"You want to tell me what pack you're from? Who your father is?" I ask, pulling up a chair to wait with her until she goes in for

surgery.

"You going to call him, tell him I'm here?" she asks. Her voice is angry, but I can smell the fear again.

"No. This pack is a safe refuge. I'm not bringing she-wolves here to return them to where they ran from. If the other Alphas don't like it, they can take up with the Alpha committee."

"Or they can declare war on your pack," she says.

"Very true. My pack is aware of that and I'm already forming allies to stand with me against the Committee of Alphas. I'm not saying that you have to, or that it's a contingency of you staying here, but if we are attacked, it would be good to have some ranked she-wolves fighting on our side."

"I'll fight with you. I won't speak for Allie or Letti, but I'll fight. I

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refuse to go back."

So, who's your father?" I ask her again.

She looks down. "It's not my father, it's my brother, Alpha Alaric." Alaric is on the Committee of Alphas, a recent addition, and now I know he's another one against me.

"Who almost caught you, or Allison, I guess?" I ask.

"Alpha Aiden, the f**khead," she says, making me smile.

"What's that look for?" she asks while they do her x-rays. They brought in a portable machine that is covering her lower body to x-ray her leg.

"I know I'm not old enough to be your father, but I hope when I have a daughter, that she's like you."

"A b**h?" she asks as the doctor comes in to look at the x-rays.

"Feisty," I say, smiling at her.

"Okay Nikki, it looks like we're ready to get you in for surgery," the doctor says to her, and they begin rolling her out of the room. I follow along, not wanting her to feel alone. When we get to the surgery room, they open the IV line and the fear that I had started to smell again, begins to fade.

"I'll be here when you're done," I tell her.

"Thanks, Alpha Hunter," she slurs before she falls into unconsciousness.

"I want to know if there are any complications and I want to know the minute her surgery is done," I tell the doctor before

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