His Choice Read Free Page A

he just had to find her.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    Six Months Later
     
    Leslie Masterson wanted a mate.
    Badly.
    Her wolf wanted one even more than she did.
    The human part of her wanted that perfect mate for life. Sure, had a certain itch that she needed to scratch, but that wasn’t the point. She’d had sex before, come on, she was forty after all, but it had been way too long.
    At least five years if she was counting.
    Not that she was counting.
    Daily.
    It wasn’t her fault really. Her brother, Dorian, had forbade all others to even look at her unless it was for his own political gain. He had been part of the Nocturne Pack’s council—the group of five families who had tried to take over the Alpha and Beta.
    Thankfully Hunter, the Beta, had won the dominance battle against her brother and had stopped a likely war within their own Pack.
    Her brother had died in the process yet Leslie couldn’t muster up much pity or sadness for that. She didn’t know exactly what that said about her, but honestly, she didn’t care anymore.
    She was a submissive wolf—a wolf who held the lower end of the spectrum in terms of dominance. Her wolf loved to let others control her and tell her what to do, but it wasn’t something wrong like what others thought. Her wolf wanted to be part of a relationship with another wolf where the more dominate wolf would take care of her.
    Being a submissive wolf meant the dominant wolves had others to protect and care for. That way their own issues with dominance would be soothed and the submissive wolf would be able to care for their dominant wolf in other ways.
    The human part of Leslie wasn’t as submissive as her wolf, but she too wanted someone to care for her like she wanted to care for them. She wasn’t as strong as other wolves and knew she needed the protection. It was simple biology. She had other strengths and could protect those in her care if needed.
    She just happened to be on the lower end of the power totem pole.
    Normally it wouldn’t have been an issue but because Dorian had taken advantage of that, she’d spent almost her whole life in the shadows. She’d begged her brother to allow her more freedom and cursed herself when she realized her wolf needed permission for that freedom.
    Now Dorian was dead and she was free.
    Or at least as free as she could be within the Pack den without a mate.
    It’s not like she necessarily needed a mate to live, no that would be idiotic of fate. She wanted to move on though. It had been over six months since her brother died and yet the others were still weary of her.
    Some still thought she was part of the conspiracy to take over the Pack because of the blood running through her veins. Others had the idea that because she was a submissive, she didn’t matter as much.
    The latter her Alpha and Beta were working on.
    Their Pack had almost broken and were wrong in the way they were thinking on some things. She’d been told submissives were to be treasured, yet that wasn’t how it was done now.
    Or at least for the past few years. Things were changing, albeit slowly.
    Too slowly for her though because she was alone.
    Sure, she’d made some friends and was a little more open, but not enough. She wasn’t nearly independent enough for her own taste, but that was for safety now, rather than her own choices. She had to live with Hunter and his mate—and her friend—Becca because it still wasn’t completely safe for her on her own.
    People wanted revenge for what had happened and she was the easy scape goat for those who didn’t look beyond the surface.
    Leslie walked past a group of males and lowered her head on instinct. They were all more dominant than her and in the past—before the attacks—she’d have been able to walk past them no problem. But after years of living with Dorian’s abuse, she didn’t trust herself.
    The males growled at her and she winced.
    “Wait up, Leslie,” one of them said and she turned as quick as she could