Free His Choice by Carrie Ann Ryan Page B

get through and just listened to his daughter ramble. When she finished her story and ate more of her yogurt, she danced in her seat, unable to keep still for even a moment.
    Jasper ran a hand through his hair, noticing it was again reaching his shoulders. His mother would scold him in that sweet way of hers, but Willow seemed to like it. Still, he needed to start taking better care of himself.
    “Hey, Willow, what do you say the three of us go for a picnic or something today?”
    Willow came out of the kitchen to the dining room, a frown on her face as she dried her hands. “Don’t you have to go to Isaiah’s house today then Ms. Clerk’s? They need your help with fixing something or other. After that, you have that meeting with Adam about patrols. You have to make sure that people are getting their shifts worked out, so they have a breather like they should, even though I think Adam knows that already.”
    Jasper shook his head and stood up so he could bring her closer. “I think everyone can handle a day without me. Right?” Before the war, before he’d had his family, he’d been able to do just that. Now, though, things were different.
    Willow smiled, her eyes bright. “I’d love it if you could do that. I have people coming into the bakery today to work. I was planning on taking the day off to play with Brie anyway. We’d love it if you could come with us.”
    He grinned, his body relaxing for the first time in too long. He brought his lips to hers and sank against his mate.
    His cell phone rang on the counter, and he cursed. “Let’s hope that’s something I can ignore.”
    Willow gave a sad smile, patted his cheek, and then shook her head. “I know you love your job as Beta, Jasper. No, that’s not right… It’s not a job; it’s your calling, your duty. Do what you need to. Brie and I will be here. I promise.”
    He kissed her forehead then picked up his cell. Of course it wasn’t something he could ignore, as it was one of the newly widowed witches in the Pack, Calista, who’d lost her husband during one of the Centrals’ attacks. Emotionally, she was a wreck, but she was maintaining with Maddox’s help. Jasper also had a duty to her, to be there to make sure she had all she needed to raise her kids, live her life, and try to find a way to move on.
    After dressing for the day, and following a regretful kiss goodbye to his girls, he made his way to Calista’s. She was in a rare position in that she didn’t have any family within the den to help with things like a leaky pipe in her basement—the current job Jasper had to help with. Yes, his actual job in the human world, when he could get to it, was a contractor, but he barely remembered that world these days. Calista, however, didn’t have a job in the human realm. She’d been a stay-at-home wife to her mate and mom to her six children, something she loved.
    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,”