His Choice (9 page)
Mateo, her late husband, had been one of the Alpha’s enforcers, a bodyguard to the Alpha, and had died protecting the Pack on patrol. Now Calista was alone, with no family except for Mateo’s great aunt who, at four hundred and twelve, was long past the age of wanting to help raise kids. She did it though. Calista wasn’t alone and was a strong enough woman that her kids were in a better place than they would have been if she hadn’t had such a steely backbone.
The woman couldn’t fix a leaky pipe though—something that pissed her off.
“I don’t understand it, Jasper,” she said as she soothed her four-year-old and brushed her six-year-old’s hair at the same time. “If it was just a normal leak, I could fix it, but this? This looks big.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong. The woman’s basement currently resembled a small lake. Since Calista wasn’t a wolf and didn’t have those extra senses, she hadn’t been able to hear the room filling with water. She’d caught it before it had gotten any worse only because one of her kids had noticed it.
“You could call it that,” Jasper answered easily. “I’m going to have to call Kade or someone else in to help me fix it.”
Calista sighed but nodded. “Is there something special I need to know about for cleanup?”
“Yeah, but I’ll bring people over to help. You’ve got enough on your plate to worry about mold.”
“Oh goddess. Mold?” Her voice rose to a squeak, and Jasper winced.
“We’ll take care of it. Don’t you worry.” He ran a hand over one of the little girls’ hair, missing his own Brie.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Jasper. I don’t know what the Pack would do you without you. You’re a great Beta.”
Jasper gave a tight smile and got to work. Yes, he might have been a great Beta, but he was a fucking tired one. He’d wanted to spend time with his girls, and now he was knee-deep in murky water.
Oh, the joys of duty and fate.
He loved his job, he really did. He just wanted to go back to a time when he had something else…something that was just about him.
Something gurgled behind him, and he turned, only to find himself drenched and dripping with sewage.
Fuck it.
He looked down at what he hoped was mud on his shirt.
He needed a vacation.
Or at least a towel.
Jasper let out a breath then bent to pick up his tool box from the steps. Seeing how he was mired in his own head and not paying attention like he should have been, he didn’t see the rusty pipe sticking out of the wall.
His head slammed into it, and he saw stars, swallowing back bile as he fell to his knees, the water now up to his chest.
He blinked a couple times, and then, just as the darkness slid over him, he heard shouts and his name.
At least he wouldn’t drown alone. He definitely needed a break.
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From Lia Davis’ Ashwood Falls Series
Widow and mother of five full grown males, Sarah Matthews lives the best she can—one day at a time. Now that her babies are having babies, she relishes in spoiling her grandkids. But her inner mountain lion is restless and Sarah can’t shake the feeling something is lurking in the woods surrounding her home. The unease becomes a reality when a man she thought died with her mate five years ago comes back into her life with trouble on his heels.
Damian Palmer never considered revealing his existence to his best friend’s widow. Hell he didn’t know how she’d react to knowing that he was alive for the last five years while her human mate was dead. When he got word that Sarah has become Shield’s—a human rebel organization set up to hunt and kill shapeshifters—next victim, he must go to her and uphold his best friend’s dying wish to keep Sarah safe.
Buried pain, old lies, and dangerous secrets aren’t enough to keep the sparks from flying as they try to survive a new threat against their race.
Did you enjoy this selection? Why not try another romance from Fated Desires?
From Rebecca Royce’s Fallen Alpha Series
In the first book of her exciting new series, Rebecca Royce invites you to a world where the death of the Alpha Prime has left a vacuum in the power structure binding the packs together and the alphas of each werewolf pack are on the brink of war. Negotiations will take skillful handling, dominant strength, and the discovery of old bonds long forgotten.
A mechanic, the Philadelphia Alpha Travis Michaels understands how to keep his pack together and running smoothly despite the upheaval caused by the death of Lucian, the Alpha Prime. To that end, he makes regular visits to a little diner in New Jersey—a neutral ground where he and the Manhattan Alpha try to negotiate a peace. But the last thing Travis expected to find in the diner was a latent werewolf and his true mate…
Cursed with the worst luck when it came to men, Liliana Rouse is less than thrilled by Travis’ obvious interest even if he heats her blood and turns her inside out with lust. Her body, she’d long since learned, was not the best judge of character. But Travis awakens a longing in her she can’t deny, and when her apartment is firebombed and a second alpha sweeps her away, Liliana discovers a whole new world of danger and passion…
