The Shifter’s Secret Baby (Shades of Shifters Book 3)

by T. S. Ryder

“We can just send her with one of the humans,” my mother suggests.

  “She’s not going anywhere without me. We have had births here before, we are prepared,” I tell them.

  “I’ll call the doula and the midwife,” Lady Mary says, and disappears with a whoosh.

  “Come on, dear, let’s get you ready,” my mother says, helping Lola up. “Let’s get you comfortable.”

  As time passes, things get more painful and Lola continues screaming at me. She holds my hand so tight I feel like my wrist is going to snap. The midwife arrives and the doula offers to take over for me, but Lola refuses to let me go. She is sweating like a sponge being squeezed, her breath is labored and the midwife is telling her to push.

  “I can’t,” she pants. “I can’t do it.”

  “Lola, listen to me. You are strong. You want this. You can do this,” I say.

  “Push, now!” the midwife urges.

  “Come on, my dear, you can do this,” my mother whispers at her side. “Push, honey.”

  “Lola, PUSH!”

  She screams like a siren and pushes, and the screams turn into cries as a baby is born.

  “It’s a girl,” Victoria says, materializing out of nowhere with a clap.

  “We have a girl! Oh, I am so happy,” Lady Mary says. “I am a grandmother.”

  The midwife wraps the baby in a blanket and hands her to me, telling me how to hold her and everything. When I look at her, I see myself and Charlotte reflected in her. I go over to Lola to show her our daughter, but she’s already asleep.

  “She’s not breathing,” the midwife says.

  “Give me the baby, see to Lola,” Victoria says, rushing to my side and taking the baby. I sink my teeth into Lola’s wrist in a last-ditch effort to not lose her. I feel a faint pulse as I deliver the fatal bite to push her through death and bring her back on the other side.

  The baby cries for her mother as everybody stands around the dead body in a stunned silence. I hold my breath, my eyes fixed on Lola’s chest, looking for any sign of life. There is none. Tears form in my eyes and they are about to pour our when she slowly opens her eyes.

  “I’m thirsty,” she croaks hoarsely. “What’s going on?”

  Victoria brings the baby to her. “You just delivered a baby, congratulations! And you died, but now you are back, so welcome to the undead.”

  Lola looks at me, puzzled. “I’ll explain it later. You were dying or something, so I had to turn you. But now you are back, so it’s all cool.” She’s still dazed, but whether it’s the bite or the birth, I can’t tell. Either way, it is the perfect time to ask her something that I have been wanting to ask.

  I pull out the box from my pocket, open it and kneel by her bedside. “You are seriously going to do this right here, right now?” Lola whines.

  “Oh, shut up and just say yes already,” I say.

  “Ask properly!”

  “My dear Lola, love of my life, mother of my child and newly turned vampire companion, will you marry me and be my wife for an eternity in this world?”

  “You’re pathetic,” she says. “Come here and kiss me. Yes! Yes! I have waited so long for you to ask this.”

  “I love you.”

  “Okay, okay, enough of the drama,” Victoria says. “What name have you decided on for the baby?”

  We haven’t decided any name, because we didn’t know what we were expecting. We wanted a surprise. But the second I saw her, I knew what the perfect name for her was.

  “Charlotte,” Lola and I say in unison. “Charlotte?” we repeat, looking at each other.

  “You like the name too,” I say, gazing at Lola.

  “Oh, it’s the perfect name, Valnoir!”

  “Okay, now I want everyone to leave so I can have my wife and baby to myself for a while.”

  “Just this once,” Victoria says. “I won’t let you keep my niece away from me again.”

  “I won’t ask again,” I promise.

  As the door closes behind Victoria, I realize I don’t just have a new member in my family, but a new family altogether. Everything has fallen into place like pieces in a puzzle.

  *****

  THE END

  The Shifting Boss's Mate

  Description

  A curvy personal assistant ready to re-start her life PLUS her hot possessive boss who has it all PLUS a rival who wants to destroy them both!

  Curvy 20-something Jacqueline Smith isn't looking for romance; she's looking for a job.

  Three years after the death of her parents sent her spiraling into a deep depression, she's ready to get back in the saddle and take control of her life once more. The problem is that nobody seems to want to hire her.

  Nobody except Myles Foster, that is. The Alpha of the largest werewolf pack in North America is a self-made billionaire and the head of a massive agricultural empire. He’s also sizzling hot. But Myles is not looking for a mate–and certainly not a human one.

  Which is just fine for Jackie.

  At least it would be fine, if Myles wasn't so dang sexy. She knows it's ridiculous. Men like Myles don't go for women like her, and Jackie's not ready to make room in her life for love. It’s not like she needs another wrong man around, anyway.

  Besides, sleeping with her boss would be so unprofessional…

  But then a rival challenges Myles in an Alpha fight and Myles must make a difficult decision. Can he fight off his rival? And will Jackie be able to resist her attraction to him? Find out now in this steamy billionaire romance!

  Chapter One

  The interview wasn't going well. Jacqueline Smith didn't need to be a mind reader to know that. All three of the interviewers, two men and a woman, were asking the most basic of questions, nodding with little smiles at her answers, but not engaging with her at any deeper level. They had already decided not to hire her.

  Cross being a personal assistant to Myles Foster, owner of one of the largest agricultural empires in North America, off the list.

  It was the same every time she had an interview for a new job. The interviewer would welcome her in, shake her hand and then spend the fifteen-minute interview thinking more about the size of her waist than the words coming out of her mouth.

  Still, she kept a bright smile on her face. Her mother always said that her smile was her best feature.

  "So, Miss Smith," the woman said, looking over her resume. "It says here that you were the personal assistant to Scarlet Thorne, the CEO of Dragonco Games, but it's been three years since you last worked. Can you tell us why that is?"

  "I left my position at Dragonco due to personal issues."

  Those 'issues' being her parents dying in a car accident and the resulting depression Jackie had sunk into. The next three years had wreaked havoc on her, both emotionally and physically. She had gone from a size twelve to a size twenty-nine, and she just didn't have the energy to get out of bed, let alone hold onto a demanding job.

  Eventually, her sister had forced her to go to therapy, and slowly Jackie had managed to find ways to cope. She was ready to get back to work now and so had sent her resume out, only to be met with these polite but uninterested smiles. Though she had managed to get her weight back under control and was back down to a size twenty, which really didn't look too terrible on her six-foot frame, she was no longer an attractive candidate for the high-energy job of being a personal assistant.

  Not that she was going to say anything about that to these interviewers. That would be unprofessional.

  It would help if I was able to buy something more suitable to wear for these interviews, Jackie thought. Running out of money was one of the main reasons she wanted to get back into the workforce, but on her budget she hadn't been able to afford the high-quality suits she used to have.

  Still, she kept eye contact with first one interviewer and then another, hoping she could turn this around. "When I was at Dragonco, I was responsible for everything from scheduling Mrs. Thorne's meetings to arranging for her dry cleaning to be pi
cked up. She also trusted me to take minutes during meetings with the board of directors, and I handled disciplinary action for several departments."

  "But she didn't hold your job for you?"

  Jackie's smile faltered. "Dragonco's offices were moved overseas last year. I want to stay more domestic."

  "You have an impressive resume," the female interviewer said, doing that paper-shuffling thing that meant she was about to tell Jackie that they'd call her if they wanted her. "But what do you really know about the agriculture business?"

  Jackie's heart sank. She needed this job. She had already been turned down from most of the gaming companies she had applied to, and it was really taking a number on her confidence. "It's true I have more experience in gaming, but as you can see from my resume I have recently completed an agricultural management course at the local university, and the skills I gained as a personal assistant are transferable to any field."

  "I see. Well, it was so good to meet—"

  The door behind Jackie opened. She swiveled to see who would interrupt an interview. Her jaw dropped as the man entered. Myles Foster himself. What was the company owner coming to sit in on a preliminary interview for?

  Jackie recognized him, of course. Everybody knew his story. He had inherited his father's place as Alpha of his werewolf pack, the largest pack in North America, at the age of sixteen. The same year, oil had been found on his packlands, but rather than wasting his good fortune Myles had reinvested that money. Within a decade he owned land throughout the United States and Canada and was invested in crops and livestock of all sorts. Not many men could boast of having an agricultural empire as successful as his.

  Of course his calendars sold well, too. Jackie had bought one for her sister just that year, and the two of them had spent plenty of time drooling over the various shirtless poses, reassuring themselves that his strong jaw and chiseled eight-pack had to be photoshopped.

  Myles closed the door behind himself, his expression vaguely annoyed.

  "Mr. Foster." One of the men jumped to his feet and offered his boss the chair. "We weren't aware that you were going to join us in the interviews today."

  "I'm tired of you sending me idiots and decided to see what we have today for myself," Myles replied, not taking the chair. He stared at Jackie, head cocked to one side.

  The calendars didn't do him justice. He was taller than Jackie realized, a good foot taller than her even, and even though he was fully clothed in a tailored suit the cut showed off his massive shoulders and flat stomach. Five o'clock shadow roughed his cheeks and chin, but he looked even better for it than if he had been clean-shaven. But all that could be seen in a calendar. Maybe the reason he was so much better in real life was because of the smell. There was a distinctive scent of werewolf thorn coming off him.

  Jackie's nostrils flared as she eagerly sucked in the smell. Maybe it was a good thing that she wasn't going to get this job. It would be difficult to keep her head around him.

  "You've got some werewolf in you," Myles said, his cool gray eyes staring hard at her.

  Jackie brushed a long, loose golden curl behind her shoulder. "Yeah. Yes, I mean. Um, I, my." What was wrong with her? She was never this tongue-tied! She cleared her throat. "My great-grandfather on my mother's side. But I can't shift or anything, although I'm told I have a better sense of smell than… others."

  Why did she have to blush? It was going to clash terribly with her honey-gold hair and the olive blouse she had chosen for this interview.

  Myles, whether because of her reaction or her confirmation that she had some werewolf in her, suddenly smiled. Perfectly white teeth flashed; they were all even except his canines, which were slightly longer and more tapered than the rest of his teeth. He broke from Jackie's gaze, letting her suck in a deep breath. Yep, it was definitely a good thing she wasn't going to get this job. It would be far too hard to be professional.

  "Dragonco," he said, glancing through her resume. "Impressive. Scarlet has always struck me as a rather demanding individual. Well, we'll give it a month to see how you do. Be here seven o'clock sharp tomorrow morning. Julia here will get you your ID card. I look forward to working with you."

  Myles nodded, clearly done with the conversation. Jackie's jaw dropped, and she hardly had the presence of mind to jump to her feet and shake his hand, thanking him for the opportunity. The three interviewers looked shocked but Julia, the woman, gave her a rundown of how the offices worked and made her an ID card before she left.

  It wasn't until Jackie had called her sister to tell her the news that it really hit her. She had a job working for Myles Foster, the most gorgeous man in the entire universe.

  She was so screwed.

  "Just don't give away your treasures and you'll be fine," her sister advised.

  Jackie snorted at the phrasing. "Penny, I'm not going to sleep with him. I'm not ready for any sort of relationship."

  "Honey, that's not what I meant at all."

  "I know what you meant. And I'm saying that it's not going to happen. Even if he oozes sex appeal and he smells better than a roomful of hamburgers. Now I want a hamburger." Jackie winced as a wailing child's voice came over the phone. She loved her nieces and nephews, but she didn’t know how her sister survived them. "It sounds like you have to go. Tell the kids I love them."

  "I will." Penny's voice was layered with Big Sister Concerns. "And I mean it, Jack. Don't do anything you'll regret. I know you, you only get involved with men you think are going to stick with you forever. And all this 'mating for life' stuff that the werewolves like to talk about is nonsense. They cheat just as much as anybody else."

  Jackie repressed a sigh. The idea of forever love was romantic, but romance wasn't anywhere on her list of concerns right now. "Love you."

  She hung up and then tugged her long hair back into a ponytail. Her mouth ached for something to eat, but it was only half an hour until supper, so she decided to watch an episode of Beverly Hillbillies while she jogged on the treadmill instead. Nerves were already fluttering in her stomach at the prospect of this new job, but she swallowed them down and focused instead on the positive things.

  Five months into her new diet and exercise routine and she was still going strong.

  She had found three new business suits in a consignment store that she could easily tailor to fit her frame.

  Her bathing suit looked cute.

  Myles Foster was her boss.

  Jackie grinned. Myles Foster was her boss. The job could still turn out to be terrible, but at that moment she felt like the luckiest woman alive.

  Chapter Two

  The next two weeks were hard. Myles expected his employees, even brand-new ones like Jackie, to excel in whatever they were doing. After the first day Jackie cried herself to sleep and wondered if she had taken too long out of the workforce–maybe it would be better to start at a lower position and work back up.

  But she picked herself up, and the next day blew her boss's expectations out of the water. Despite her panicky start she found herself thriving in the high-pressure, busy workplace. For the first time in a long time, she felt more than just content. She felt happy. She enjoyed going to work.

  And it wasn't just because Myles was so hot. He had high standards for his employees, but he also provided high rewards for a job well done, giving her a two thousand dollar bonus after the first week to expand her business wardrobe. It was then she knew that the trial period, even though he had said it would be a month, was over, and she was officially his PA.

  "I can fit you in next Thursday at three." Jackie pinched her phone between her shoulder and ear, pen poised over her appointment book.

  A rancher wanted to meet with Myles for an investment into his land. Her boss never turned down meetings with farmers or ranchers, although he was very stringent in who he invested in. It was one of the things Jackie admired about him.

  The rancher agreed, and Jackie penciled in the name before she thanked him for his call and hung up
. Setting the planner aside, she did a quick google search of the man. Myles liked to have background information on potential investments.

  She looked up as his distinctive smell curled into her nostrils, trying to calm the instant increase of her heartbeat and the blush that rose in her cheeks. Myles smiled at her. Jackie stood, snatching up her appointment book and quickly finding the current day.

  "The oil company called with updates to your—"

  "In a minute," Myles interrupted. He set a box on her desk. "I thought we could chat a little. I still don't know much about you."

  Jackie's face went scarlet. Myles seemed amused at her reaction, giving her a cocky grin as he flipped open the box. The scent of powdered donuts hit her hard and she moaned, her mouth watering. She shook her head as Myles nudged them towards her.

  "I can't. I'm on a diet."

  Myles's brows rose. "Why?"

  He sounded so genuinely surprised that Jackie floundered for a moment. Her face was so hot that she was sure she could fry an egg on it. "Well… health reasons, really. My family history puts me at a high risk of diabetes and heart issues, so I just want to take better care of myself."

  Myles nodded seriously. "That's a good reason. I'd have had to give you a lecture if it was all about your looks. You're damn hot the way you are."

  Jackie's eyes widened, and for a second she forgot how to breathe. It wasn't as though she thought of herself as unattractive, although she was certain some people would label her as such. When she’d first started gaining weight she had hated her body, which only made everything that much worse. It was only after she stopped thinking of herself negatively that she had begun to be able to shed the pounds again. What she had told Myles was the truth; she wanted to be healthier. A smaller dress size was just icing on the cake, so to speak.

  But Myles Foster had just called her hot. Jackie wasn't quite sure how to respond.