The One He Claimed

Chapter 160: Picnic

Sophie

When we get back to the packhouse, I get my things and go to Hunter’s office. He pulls me into his lap and rather than get work done, I lean against him, letting his steady heartbeat and breathing lull me to sleep.

‘Luna Sophie,’ I hear in my mind. I open my eyes, groggy with sleep.

‘Yes.’

‘Luna, it’s Dr. Caspian. I wanted to let you know that I’ve repaired Jocelyn’s hip and I’m moving to her thigh bone.’

‘Thank you, Dr. Caspian,” I say before the link closes.

“How long was I asleep,” I say, sitting up in Hunter’s lap and stretching.

“Several hours. I didn’t realize you were so tired, Soph.”

“It’s been a busy few days. Plus, our little man here is starting to get uncomfortable at night and having my face up against your throat helps me to sleep,” I say, reaching out to the warriors to relay Dr. Caspian’s message so they can tell Zahn.

‘Is he behaving?’ I ask them.

‘Yes Luna. He’s been pacing, but he seems a bit better with this news.’

‘You know to let Hunter and I know if he does anything?’

‘Of course, Luna. But we won’t allow him to disrupt Luna Jocelyn’s surgery.”

‘Thank you both,’ I tell them.

‘Any time, Luna.’

“Everything okay with Zahn?” he asks when I finish talking to the warriors.

“Yes.”

“Good. And maybe we need to rethink how we sleep at night, Sophie. If laying on your side isn’t comfortable…”

“You can’t hold me in your arms all night, Hunter.”

“Want to bet? I’d be happy to hold you all night long, Sophie.”

I smile up at my mate. “How are your legs, Hunter?” I ask, knowing they must be numb from me sitting on them for so long.

“My legs are fine, Sophie. I’m worried about you. You need your rest and having Jocelyn here is stressful.”

“I’m fine, Hunter. And I think maybe things with Jocelyn will settle after this. I hope so, anyway. I know you’ll continue to deal with Zahn. He’s the biggest stress in all of this.”

“I’ve got Zahn covered. Are you going to spend some time with Allison and Nikki this afternoon?”

“Yes. I know they’re only here another day or so and Allison was going over to the Survivor’s Center today to look at where to start a garden and tell the others how to do it. I’d like to go see how it’s coming along.”

“Why don’t we go together. We can bring some food and have a picnic with our friends.”

“I love that idea,” I say, smiling up at my mate and feeling much more refreshed after my deep sleep.

“And I love you,” he says, kissing my nose.

We get some food, more than I was expecting Hunter to get, and head over to the Survivor’s Center. When we get there, I see our friends have already cleared a large area for the garden.

“Wow! You did all this in one morning?” I ask, seeing the women who live here watching as several pups help Robin and Kayce dig up the area for the garden.

“We had some great helpers,” Nikki says, smiling at the pups who all seem to be excited to be around two Alphas and two Lunas. I can see that Robin and Kayce are guiding some of the older pups to help while Nikki and Allison are holding some of the younger ones in the shade and watching. Now Hunter’s large amount of food makes sense. He somehow.ew that the moms and pups would be here.

“We brought food,” Hunter announces.

There’s a lot of excitement as I walk up to the freshly dug up garden area. “I can’t believe you’ve accomplished so much already,” I say as several pups rush up to me, wanting to show me what they did to help.

“You’ve got some great helpers here,” Robin says again, smiling at the pups that were working with him.

“You do. I’m thinking of recruiting some of these helpers to come to my pack now that Allison wants to expand our garden,” Kayce says, smiling down at the pups that are helping him. They all light up and I’m so thankful to my friends for helping to bring some happiness to these pups. They’ve had a hard time, losing a parent and living with a parent who is suffering through their own grief and loss.

Hunter puts down the food and he and I are excitedly shown around the newly dug up garden area. I have a pup holding each hand and Hunter swings an older girl onto his back, picking up a younger boy and holding him on his hip, while still managing to hold the hand of yet another pup. I realize that he and I could easily have five pups and still manage them easily in their younger years.

He growls softly in my head. ‘Six. I’m sure I can manage to carry one more.’

I smile as I let the pups lead me around the area, ohhing and ahhing over the work they’ve put in. When we’ve seen everything and told them how incredible they are and not to let Alphas Robin and Kayce steal them away from us for being such good helpers, we head back to where Allison has set out the picnic for all of us.

Nikki has a pre-teen pup in her arms, fast asleep. She continues rocking him as we walk up.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“You have a special touch, Luna Nikki. Jared hasn’t slept this well since….well, since I lost my mate,” his mother says.

“Sometimes, they just need a different parent and that’s what Alphas and Lunas are really, parents to the pack,” she says. I can hear Bree, Nikki’s wolf, purring softly to the pup, keeping him in his deep sleep.

Robin comes over and runs his fingers over the top of the pup’s head before leaning down to kiss the top of Nikki’s. The rest of us sit, the pups either pressing tightly against us or sitting in our laps while we eat.

I smile at Hunter, realizing that we should probably plan to do this more often with Kinsley and Lucas and now Penny and Jaime as well. It will be good for the pups to have some normalcy and Kinsley and I were already planning to do something, but this feels right. It feels good.

“How is Luna Jocelyn?” Sandy asks, just as I get Dr. Caspian’s next update. This time, he sounds much more tired than he did before.

‘Luna Sophie, Luna Jocelyn’s thigh bone has been reset along with her knee. I’m moving down to her shin bone and foot next.’

‘Thank you, Dr. Caspian. Are you sure you’re okay to continue? You sound exhausted.’

“Yes. I am tired, but her bones are setting nicely. I want to continue because I think very soon, she’ll be nearly or completely pain free in this leg.’

‘Thank you, doctor,’ I say and close the mind link.

I relay the message to the group around us, then link the warriors in the hospital.

‘Is everything still okay there?’ I ask.

‘He’s getting more restless, Luna. We’ve let Alpha know and he’ s going to stop by after you finish your picnic.’

I can feel how pleased the warrior is that we’re spending time with the pups here and I realize that he is the brother of one of the women in this group.

Rather than rushing back to the packhouse, we all settle in, Robin and Kayce telling the pups stories as the younger ones fall asleep and the older ones sit quietly, listening. Hunter excuses himself to go check on Zahn, but I stay, enjoying the peace and calm that I feel here in the Survivor Center.

It’s a great afternoon, and I’m so glad that I get to spend this time with my friends and that they are the special people that they are. They recognized that these pack members, even though they aren’t their pack members, needed some time and comfort. And my friends, being the wonderful people that they are, offered it to them without question.