The Shifter's Choice

  The Shifter’s Choice

  The Ghost Shifters Series, Book 8

  R. A. Boyd

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locations is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.

  ASIN: B081GR1C55

  Text copyright ©2019 R.A. Boyd

  All Rights Reserved

  Other books in the Ghost Shifter series

  The Shifter's Wish, Book 1

  The Shifter's Dream, Book 2

  The Shifter's Salvation, Book 3

  The Shifter's Fight, Book 4

  The Shifter's Soul, Book 5

  The Shifter's Secret, Book 6

  The Shifter’s Possession, Book 7

  The Shifter’s Choice, (YOU’RE ABOUT TO READ ME!!!)

  Chapter 1

  “You need help, Mom. Serious help.” Unshed tears glistened in Laurel’s eyes. She used the pads of her thumbs to wipe them away and shook her head. “I’m leaving.”

  Andi met Laurel’s disappointed gaze and forced herself not to react.

  She had done this. Andi couldn’t blame anyone but herself. She was the reason her daughter spilled silent tears as she moved around the room. She was the reason her daughter hastily packed an overnight bag with too many shirts and not enough underwear or pants.

  She’d gone too far this time, and she knew it. Andi would rather yank out her own eyelashes with her bare fingers than admit she was wrong, but she knew the moment the words tumbled from her lips that she’d made a mistake. In front of her daughter, no less. Her kind-hearted, shit-talking, independent daughter. Laurel may never forgive her for this.

  Shrugging, Andi flitted her hand in the air and prayed Laurel would just let it go. “I didn’t mean anything by it. It was just a joke.”

  Andi could pretend, but she knew deep in her gut that what she’d said wasn’t a joke. It was mean-spirited, and she knew it. Why the hell she let stuff like that fly out of her mouth was beyond her. It was all she had. Didn’t Laurel know that by now?

  “That’s bull, Mom. You meant it.” Laurel’s full, dark, coily hair bobbed around her head as she stooped down to pick up her slippers. After shoving them into her bag, she dropped it on the floor and pressed her fists to her hips. “You know what? I’ll take it as a compliment. Yes, I look like Aunt Cass. No, I’m not a perfect size eight. That’s not how I’m built. I’m comfortable in my skin.” She scoffed and shook her head, whiskey brown eyes sharper than the pocket knife she kept in her side pocket. “Can you say the same?”

  Laurel’s words were a punch in the chest. She knew damned well Andi wasn’t comfortable with her body. Hell, even at her smallest weight, she hadn’t been satisfied with herself. All the scars were still there. All the puckered skin and uneven blemishes that told a story of what she’d been through would never go away. Twenty years had passed, and her flesh still showed the world what had happened to her.

  My sweet daughter, I’m sorry.

  Damn-it, Andi couldn’t seem to push the words through her lips. Even thinking of uttering the saccharine words out loud made her teeth ache. I’m. Sorry.

  Instead, Andi sat, watching her daughter storm around the room as she stuffed more clothes into an overnight bag.

  No. Hell no. Screw that.

  Andi decided right then and there that she wouldn’t take this all onto herself. “Why are you so angry?” Andi asked, surprised by the venom staining her voice. She was sick of Laurel always sticking up for Cass. “It’s not like I was wrong. She is overweight. She does look ridiculous with her mates. They look like they should be on a men’s fitness magazine, and she looks—”

  “Like you?” Laurel shot out. “Or do you look like her now? Because you do realize you’ve gained weight, right?”

  Andi sucked in a surprised gasp and clutched the collar of her grey, oversized shirt. “Why— why would you say that to me? You know I’m trying to lose all the weight I’ve gained. You know I’m fighting like hell to get back down to what I was last year. How dare you compare me to her?”

  “She’s your sister, and she’s gorgeous. And so are you, Mom. You look good. You look healthy.”

  Wow.

  There was that fucking word again. Healthy.

  Cole had called her healthy when they’d ran into each other last week, and he looked damned hungry when he’d said it. She was thirty-eight pounds over her desired weight. Healthy was not a word she would use to describe herself.

  “Look,” Laurel breathed out as she sat on the bed next to Andi. “I didn’t say it to be hurtful. It’s the truth. But what you said was out of pure malice.” She tucked a long coil behind her hear and blew out a trembling breath. “Mom. You’ve been criticizing me since we met up to fly here together last week. My hair. My clothes. My size. I don’t think you’ve said anything nice about me this entire time. And I just can’t do this anymore.”

  Was Laurel leaving her for good, too? Cass had moved on. Mom was traveling the freaking world. Scott left for that Ms. Fucking Piggy weather girl. And now, her Laurel was letting her go.

  And she deserved it.

  She ruined things. Hell, Andi knew her words could be sharper than the edge of a blade, but truth was truth.

  “Honey,” Andi sighed, reaching over to take Laurel’s hand. But just as she was about to make contact, she pulled back. “I didn’t mean for what I said to upset you. Honestly, I don’t even know why it bothered you so much. It has nothing to do with you.”

  Incredulously, Laurel’s brown eyes widened as she looked her over. “She’s your sister. And she’s happy. And that just pisses you off. You can’t stand the sight of happiness, and Aunt Cass is the epitome of the word. You were okay when she lost Uncle Andrew, and she was fucking miserable.”

  “Watch your language, Laurel.”

  “You kicked her when she was down, pointing out everything she ate, telling her she looked older than you, telling her to move on because no amount of mourning would bring him back,” she spat out, leaning away from Andi as if this was the first time she realized just who her mother was. “You know, the only reason I made it through my teens was because of her. I’m sure as shit glad I had her for a mother figure in my formative years because God knows what I would have been like if you were my only example of what a decent human being should be like. You need help.”

  Anger.

  Fear.

  Pain.

  Longing.

  Shame.

  Hatred.

  Every single emotion known to man swirled through Andi’s body. She was angry with the world. Fear was her daily companion. Fear that the niggling little pain in her side would come back, dragging along the baggage that came with it. Just like it had all those years ago. The longing was for that asshole Cole she couldn’t stop thinking about (because the way he’d looked at her made her want to climb inside of him and never leave his sexy, muscular body). Shame for feeling that way about a man she didn’t even know. And hatred? Andi hated herself, and the hatred she harbored made her view life through a dark and dingy shade that made the world and all the people in it ugly.

  Except for her daughter.

  Laurel leaned forward and kissed Andi on the cheek. “I’m not your enemy. And neither is Aunt Cass.” Grabbing the strap to the bag and pulling it high on her shoulder, she stood and walked toward the door. “You need help. People who’ve experienced things like you did, no matter their age, can sometimes have PTSD. I think that’s you, Mom. You’re afraid. But you’re too strong t
o be afraid, aren’t you?” With a breathless chuckle, she shook her head and opened the bedroom door. “So, instead of fear, you chose to hate. You hate everything. You’re afraid it’s going to happen again. But that doesn’t give you the right to treat me or anyone else the way you do. I’ll call you later.”

  Laurel turned and walked through the door, leaving Andi alone in Cass’s spare bedroom. They’d been staying at Cass’s old house for a little over a week now. It felt more like home than the place she’d rented in Novi, Michigan did.

  Not right now, though.

  No. The feeling of home ebbed away as the sound of Laurel’s boots clacking against the hardwood floor got closer and closer to the front door.

  The pain blossoming in Andi’s chest grew and grew with every beat of her heart.

  “I’m sorry,” Andi punched out through gritted teeth. “I’m so, so sorry.”

  A trembling breath squeezed through her pursed lips as two tears ran a race down her full cheeks.

  Full cheeks.

  God, she hated herself even more. She’d gained weight. Depriving herself of food had always been her way to cope, but lately, eating everything she could get her fucking fingers on was the only thing that made her feel better. And now, with the sound of Laurel starting up Cass’s car and pulling out of the driveway, there was a six-pack of blueberry muffins calling to Andi from the kitchen.

  “Fuck that and fuck you,” she whispered to the empty room.

  Andi stood up and walked to the door, but had the unfortunate happenstance of passing a mirror. She turned to fully look at herself, but that was a mistake. The gap between her legs that used to show off her thin thighs was gone. Now, her thick thighs rubbed together and made a swishing sound as she walked. Her drawn in cheeks that made her think of supermodels had vanished, and in their place were full, fat, round pillows that reminded her of a chipmunk hiding acorns in its mouth. She had an ass now, too. It jiggled when she moved. A constant reminder of her shame.

  Andi detested looking at herself, but damn if it didn’t feel right to finally eat without counting carbs or grams of sugar or fiber or everything else that went along with the size eight body she used to have. Her dumbass doctor had even congratulated her on the added weight, saying that someone her height and build should weigh a little more. Doctor Dumbass had even gone as far as to say that she worried about Andi, knowing she deprived herself of food and was on her way to developing osteoporosis because of her vitamin deficiencies. She took vitamins every damn day!

  Fuck that.

  She was in control of her body when she was a size eight. She was. Nothing could touch her if she were the one at the wheel, dictating how big or small she was. And if she were in control, maybe things would be better. But they never were. It was never enough. She had been in control. She had been the one with the power over her own body.

  Cole likes it.

  “Fuuuck that,” Andi shot out.

  Her stupid brain kept going back to Cole.

  Dark blue eyes, dark hair, and muscles that moved under his skin as if they were begging for her attention. He’d looked at her as if she were a four-course meal made of his favorite delights, and he was starving. At their chance meeting, Cole made her feel like she was the prettiest thing in the world. And that was just with one look.

  She didn’t like him, though. He wouldn’t even say her name. If he called her Cass’s sister one more time, she would poke him in his eye.

  A wicked smile drew her lips up at the thought of seeing him again. He was sex on two legs.

  Powerfully muscled arms and legs that looked like they could hold her and her extra thirty plus pounds against a wall and make her forget everything.

  From the first moment she’d laid her eyeballs on that man, she knew he was sexy as hell. But when she’d poked him on his hard, brawny pec last week, a lightning bolt shot right through her body and locked him into the outskirts of her mind. She couldn’t stop thinking of Cole. Some sex-deprived, lovesick part of her kept referring to him as ‘Mine, mine, mine.’ The damn chant wouldn’t go away. It constantly played in her head like some broken record, and she couldn’t pry the needle off to make it stop.

  The thought of his arms holding her close and forcing the fear and hatred to flee from her mind was never far from her. The visions of him taking her in every way possible were her bedtime thoughts and daydreams.

  With one touch, Cole made her feel something other than hatred and fear. He made her feel hopeful and excited and calm and acceptance of something she couldn’t put a name to.

  “Enough,” she said, walking toward the door. She put on her shoes, grabbed her purse, and headed to the rental car. “Melinda Bale’s Bar and Pub, here I come to eat every freaking hot wing and crab ball you have in your establishment.”

  She and Laurel were supposed to go there for dinner. That idea was now squashed. All the Ghost shifters would probably sit in their community hall and share a happy-sappy meal while her daughter enjoyed the company of everyone but her own mother.

  Fine. Just fine.

  Andi would go to Melinda Bale’s Bar and Pub and hope to God that she didn’t run into any Ghost shifters. She needed to eat, drink, and forget the fact that she was completely and utterly alone in the world.

  Cheers to that.

  Chapter 2

  If that massive bag of douche didn’t back away from Cass’s sister, Cole was going to pull his spleen out through his nose and shove it down his mouth hole. Andi was drunk, and a guy in an expensive suit kept buying her drinks and inching closer even though she told him she wasn’t going home with him.

  “You don’t have to go home with me,” Massive Bag of Douche kept saying. “But I’ll make sure you get home safely. Would you like another Amaretto sour?”

  Rage boiled in Cole’s middle as he watched Andi sitting at the bar. Never once did she offer the guy any hint of interest, but that hadn’t stopped him.

  Cole knew that type. He was the kind of man that would ply a woman with drinks, take her home under the guise of concern, and then screw her while she tried to sleep off the alcohol. That would not be the fate of Cass’s sister, or any other woman if Cole had a say in it.

  Sitting in a booth behind Andi, Cole had watched her for over an hour. Following her around town for the past week had become his part-time job. He’d tried to take a day off today and give the stalking a break, but then Laurel came to the Ghost shifter community, crying and telling Cass about the big argument she’d had with her mom.

  So, instead of sitting down with his family and enjoying a nice dinner, he was here at Melinda and Audra’s pub, watching over Andi as he ate his second bacon cheeseburger and third order of fries.

  Damn. How the hell was he supposed to tell Andi that she was his mate? He wasn’t even sure how he felt about it yet. Andi was mean as a viper and lived in another state. Cole didn’t go for callous women. He didn’t like unnecessarily mean people in general, but he would never try to date a woman who was merely unkind for the sheer enjoyment of it. Maybe that’s why the Creator chose Andi for him. Another part of the curse.

  That fucking curse. The gift that kept on giving.

  Melinda’s brunette and silver high, messy ponytail popped into Cole’s view as he watched Cass’s sister. Melin wiped down the bar and placed a small platter of crab balls and hot wings in front of Andi. “Sweetie, should I call you a cab?”

  Andi snorted and shook her head. “Nope. But you can get me another drink,” she slurred. “Eyebrow-Boy here is going to pay for it, along with this lovely plate of food you just gave me.”

  Cole did everything in his power not to laugh. The guy hitting on Andi did have thick eyebrows that met right above his nose. Fuck it. He’d rip those bastards off his face and shove them under his nose. He would probably look even sleazier with a mustache.

  “Jerry,” Melinda teased as she swatted Eyebrow-Boy with her towel. “Shouldn’t you be getting home to your husband?”

  Husband? He
was married and trying his damnedest to bed Cass’s sister.

  Jerry leaned forward and put his hand on Melinda’s shoulder. “Yeah, but sweetie here,” he said, pointing his thumb at Andi, “had a bad day. Said she doesn’t have any friends to drink with. I was going to make sure she had a buddy to drink with— I’ve only had one beer by the way— and then I was going to make sure she got home without getting behind the wheel. I already sent my hubby a text.”

  Holy shitballs.

  Melinda knew this guy, and Cole had pegged him all wrong. He really did just want to get Cass’s sister home safely.

  The anger rolling around in Cole’s middle cooled off about three thousand degrees, and the constant scowl that pulled at his face loosened. He needed to get himself together. He’d been ready to de-spleen Jerry without listening to the undertones of his voice. There’d been no shiftiness to his words. He hadn’t even really been hitting on her.

  “He does this all the time,” Melinda said, speaking so close to Cole’s ear he could smell the peppermint scent of her gum.

  Cole jumped and slammed his fist on the table. “Damn-it, Melin. Don’t sneak up on me. What if I’d hit you?”

  “Then, I’d tell Audra on you.” Melinda chuckled and placed a glass of orange soda on his table. “Aren’t shifters supposed to be hard to sneak up on?” she asked, an innocent, snarky lilt to her voice. She shrugged up one shoulder and smiled. “You’ve been watching that woman over there like a hawk since you got here. Don’t worry. Jerry does this all the time.”

  “Get women drunk?”

  “No, you dolt. When he sees a woman drowning herself in alcohol, he sticks close to her and makes sure she gets home safe.” She picked up his empty glass and sighed. “His sister was hurt by a guy in a bar some years ago. Jerry tries not to let that happen if he can. He blames himself. Said his sister called him to go out for drinks, but he was busy at work. He’s a good guy. So is his husband. But back to you. Who is that woman to you? You haven’t taken your eyes off her this whole time. Is she yours?”