Love's Choice Read Online Free

delivered the finishing blow. I didn't hit him that hard. My stick wasn't even broken.
    I glanced down at the gnarled stick just to double check.
    My mother laughed behind me as she walked across the park from the shaded picnic benches. I ran to her. I liked Charlie. He made me laugh and had a funny smile. We were having so much fun playing swords. And then he had to go and run off crying. He was a boy. He should be able to take a little whack to the head.
    “Mommy,” I sniffed. “W-why did he run off?”
    My mother scooped me up, her blue eyes full of mirth. She gave me a kiss on the cheek.
    “He was weak,” she answered. My mother was beautiful, even with the white scar running across her cheek. It made her seem fiercer—a warrior woman.
    “I was just playing like you and Daddy do,” I sniffled. “When you hit Daddy with your wooden sword, he doesn't run off and cry.”
    “Your daddy isn't weak.” Mommy glanced over at Daddy lounging on the picnic table, his thick arms spread out on the table. “Choosing your man is very important, Raven. The most important choice you'll ever make. You have to get it right. He needs to be strong.”
    “And handsome?” I asked. Daddy was very handsome.
    “Being handsome is a definite bonus,” Mommy laughed. “Particularly if he has a cute butt.”
    “Mommy,” I giggled.
    “He needs to be strong and brave. Someone that will protect you and fight for you. He has to be someone you can absolutely trust with your life. Someone that won't let you down when things go bad. Because they will. Life is rarely happy for long.”
    I nodded my head.
    “The wild ones are the best. If you tame them, they're as fierce as any wolf protecting his mate.”
    “Is Daddy a wolf?”
    “Yes, he is,” Mommy smiled. “I tamed him. Not fully. Just enough. You don't want a man fully tame. He needs to be wild to be your champion.”
    ~   ~   ~
    Raven
    I frowned at Owen. “Champion?”
    Owen nodded. “Isn't that what women want? A man that's strong, loving, protective. Someone that will support them and stand up for them. Who will even fight with them.”
    “You sound like my mother,” I said, cocking my head. “Right before the...bear attack, we were at a park, and she told me something similar.”
    “Your mother was a smart woman.”
    “Did you know her?” My chest tightened about my heart.
    “Wouldn't that be a grand coincidence?” Owen asked and then snorted with laughter. “Raven, there's seven billion people in the world. What would the odds be that I would know your mother and then we'd meet like this? But she sounds like a smart woman. I'd listen to her advice.”
    I leaned back. “Okay.” I bit my lip. “But Magnus is...”
    “His name is Magnus?” Gerdie smiled. “Ooh, he does sound like a wild one.”
    “He's dangerous. The night I met him...” Excitement flushed through me. “I made a mistake. I was caught up in the moment. He...helped me out. I was attacked and—”
    “Attacked?” Owen demanded, leaning in closer to me. “By what?”
    “Just an asshole biker.” My fist clenched. “I clawed his face up and Magnus punched him. He was from a rival club, I think, and, well, Magnus is too dangerous and too exciting to be around.”
    Owen relaxed. “Oh. I thought you might have been attacked by something else.”
    “Like what?” A being of glowing, pure light that knocked me out and drained the batteries of my car and all my electronics? How would Owen know about that? 
    Owen shrugged. “I don't know. A beast or something.”
    “Freddy used to be dangerous,” Gerdie smiled. “And look at him now.”
    I glanced at Freddy puttering around in his dress as he washed the windows. “Well, I like Freddy, but...”
    “She wants a real man,” Owen laughed. “Not Freddy prancing in his pretty skirts.”
    “I didn't mean it like that,” I gasped. “I'm not...prejudiced against cross-dressers and transgenders. If he wants to express himself like that, it's