The One He Claimed by Cooper
The One 80

Chapter 80: Alpha Battle Hunter

I'm not sure if this group has just been a powder keg waiting to explode, or if me taking a stand on the public claiming and others following my lead has pushed this group over the edge, but an Alpha fight is never a good thing.

I saw Elias go for Sophie and rather than risk him hurting her, I used my body as a shield. Feeling his claws rake down my back did nothing but infuriate me and Shaw. He had extended his claws, swiping them down Elias' face and neck, attempting to rip his throat out for coming after Sophie.

We left him to bleed out, before turning back to the fight. Robin may have intended to go after Aiden, but Alaric attacked Nikki and he jumped into the fight with her. Kayce and Allison are fighting against Alaric and Aiden, but Dutton and Aiden have both shifted and their snarling and growling is shaking the walls of the room. There's barely any room for us in our human form. Adding two wolves is making it even more cramped in here, making it hard to fight and evade injury.

I see Sophie, Amelia, and Amy leave the room before Ezra leaps at Alpha Zahn. Carter and Calvin are double teaming Alpha Joshua. I turn to make sure Elias is still down, noticing that Owen is no longer in the pit.

I look all around, trying to replace the weasel, before Alaric smashes into me. I jump up, leaping over him as Nikki goes for

288 Vouchers

his throat, Robin right behind her. Ezra is on his own against Zahn, so I move to help him, slicing my claws down Zahn's back.

The smell of blood is heavy in the air, and the snarls are so loud it's hard to hear anything above the noise. I see Alaric push back, away from Nikki and Robin, grabbing Aiden and standing his ground. "This isn't over," he snarls.

"Come for what's mine and I'll kill you," Dutton growls, having shifted back. He and Aiden both have bite and claw marks all

over their bodies.

Joshua steps back, standing with Alaric and Aiden. He's

bleeding from multiple wounds where Carter and Calvin slashed at him. "You have no right," he snarls.

"We have every right," Kayce says, pushing Allison behind him. I can see that she's taken a swipe across the thigh and she's limping. Kayce is pretty b**dy too, but he's standing his ground, protecting his mate. "What you are doing is wrong. We will protect our mates and our packs."

"We will not stand by and allow you to hunt our she-wolves or claim warriors and omegas in public with the lies that you are taking them as your Lunas. It's time we made a stand and if you go against us, we will fight you to the death," I say.

Zahn steps back, joining forces with the other three. "So be it."

I watch Joshua look over and see Elias still on the floor, his hand to his throat which still has blood pouring out of it. Elias reaches out his hand to Joshua.

"Sorry old man, I guess it's time for a change on leadership in your pack," he says, before turning and leaving him to die. The

Chapter 80 Alpha Battle

others step back, watching us before turning and racing off as fast as their injuries will allow.

"No honor among thieves, I guess," Ezra says.

I turn and look at the others. Robin is looking over Nikki's injuries as is Kayce with Allison.

"Owen's missing," I growl, moving quickly. I have a pretty good idea where he went while I was preoccupied. When I step outside, I see Owen unconscious on the ground and Luna June standing with Sophie and her family.

"We're going to war," I tell them as Sophie rushes over to me, wrapping her arms around my neck and holding me. More than anything, hers and Hedda's touch strengthens Shaw enough that my wounds start healing faster.

"Luna June," I say when I look up. "Your mate is inside dying. Joshua left him, and I'm assuming he'll be taking over your pack once he heals enough to get there."

I'm surprised when she doesn't even flinch. "Then I need a phone, if anyone has one. I need to alert my pack members before I'm unable to function," she says.

Luna Amy hands her a phone and she steps away, quickly making calls.

"What about Owen?" Sophie says. "He was supposed to be on trial."

I look up as the others walk out. "The others left him, so I guess it's up to us to decide what to do with him," Robin says.

Chapter 80 Alpha Battle

258 Vaucher

"We can't effectively strip him of his Alpha title without all of the Alphas in agreement, which we will never get," Carter says, limping out. Luna Amy rushes over to him and wraps her arms around him. "I say we kill him," Ezra says.

"I second that," Dutton growls. He's also covered in bites and scratches, some of them nasty. It's hard to get out of the way when you're in tight quarters like we were inside.

"I don't feel good about killing him while he's unconscious," I say. "He should know that we've put him on trial and order his execution."

"Let's get him back to one of our packs. We can put him in a cell until we decide what to do with him. The girl he hurt may want to see justice done," Robin says to me. "What about his pack?" Nikki asks.

"I wouldn't want to see his Beta take over. He's no better than Owen," Sophie says.

it

"His pack is close to mine. I have someone who may be interested in taking over as Alpha," Ezra says. "Or we can open up to anyone within our packs. I'm guessing we're going to have a lot of restructuring soon."

"Aiden and Alaric are the biggest concerns and they both border one of our packs with another close. If they attack, we'll wipe them out."

"I don't think they'll attack us," Carter says. "You and Sophie started this. They may feel that they could make a better

Chapter 80: Alpha Battle

statement if they take you and your pack out, especially since you're housing all those ranked she-wolves and handing them out like candy to your friends," he says sarcastically, making my mate snort. "That was quite the visual," Calvin says, smiling as he hugs his mate. He's also got bites and scratches all over his body.

"So, who wants this a**hole?" I ask, just as we hear the high- pitched keening of someone losing their mate.

Sophie pulls away from me and her mother does the same, rushing over to Luna June who is on her knees, clutching her chest. Alpha Elias is dead.

"We'll take Luna June. Where's her daughter?" Alpha Carter asks.

"She ran," Amelia says, watching her sister and mother as they hug and console June while she grieves.

"It didn't even seem like she loved him," Allison says, leaning into her mate as she watches the grieving woman.

"It doesn't matter. When you're marked and mated, if you haven't rejected your mate and they die, you feel the pain," Alpha Carter says as Kayce kisses the top of Allison's head.

"Come on, we need to get back to our pack. Aiden borders Robin and we need to be prepared to fight," Kayce says.

"Plus, we've already started taking in ranked she wolves as well," Allison says.

"We'll take June, but that still leaves Owen," Carter says.

Chapter 80 Apha Battle

"I'll take him. If we think that Hunter's pack is going to be attacked, I don't want those a**holes letting him out of his cells," Ezra says.

"Thank you."

He nods, grabbing Owen's shirt by the collar. "When you're ready, I'll bring him over so you can execute him in your pack. If that she-wolf wants to be there, she should have that opportunity and your pack probably needs the closure of him having a public execution."

"Let's see what the war brings," I say, watching as Ezra drags an unconscious Owen toward his car.

"Come on, baby, let's go home," I say, as Carter walks over to pick up June from the ground. "We'll be in touch," Carter says as he and Amy get June settled in their car.

"As will we," Calvin says. "I'm closest to Ezra. If he needs back. up, my pack will be there."

"Thank you."

We say goodbye to Robin and Kayce, Dutton having already left to get his mates and get to his pack. We all need to be ready for an attack, but our pack needs to be ready more than the others. Carter is right. It's me and Sophie that started all of this, so it's us that the other Alphas will be coming for.