Shadow Moon Shifters Omnibus Special Edition Hardcover

I hated driving on busy highways, but this one-way trip was so worth it. Finally, after years of torture and hell, I was leaving my old, sh*tty life in Astoria, Oregon behind. It wasn’t that difficult, really, to make my decision to move. Not after mom’s steady string of affairs demolished my parents’ marriage three years ago, sending Dad packing to Florida to start a new life when I was just fifteen. Way too young to be left behind to navigate the aftermath. But what the hell, I’d been dealing with mom’s instability, insecurity, and drunken rages for years.
I was actually getting used to the hopelessness when I was gut-punched with the last straw. Mom’s latest boyfriend beat the shit out of her before stumbling upstairs in a booze-fueled haze to come onto me. At first when Jason burst into my bedroom, I laughed as he stumbled, until he told me how much more beautiful I was, and how he couldn’t stop thinking about peeling my lowrider jeans off my hot bod. Yeah, like I needed that crap on top of everything else. Of course, Mom accused me of lying, deliberately trying to cause trouble, twisting things, because I was jealous of her relationship since my own useless boyfriend cheated on me.
As pathetic as she was, Mom was right about one thing. Davin was a first class, reprehensible prick. I should have known better, even if it was my first serious relationship. I’d give him this though, Davin was a smooth operator, wooing and flattering and cultivating me until he stole my heart, along with my virginity, once he roped me in. He’d known just how to play the game. Unfortunately, he’d also been playing it with others, and I didn’t find out till it was too late. Shit. It seemed no one valued honesty or monogamy anymore.
Not even Kaitlyn, my best friend, who juggled multiple boyfriends unbeknownst to each of them. It’s not in human genes to be monogamous, she says. According to her, if I wanted Davin, I just had to up my game to make sure he chose me. Right. Like I wanted to be crowned the best in his harem. No thanks. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that cutting ties with Kaitlyn too was the right move. I could have disagreed with her about many things, but not that. How trustworthy could she be anyway, deceiving and manipulating the other people closest to her? It wouldn’t be that hard because we’d soon be living fourteen hundred miles apart.
Although I tried not to, because it made the miles roll that much more slowly, I glanced at the GPS again. I was already over five hundred miles away, and I couldn’t increase the distance fast enough. At this point, I-84 East seemed like the longest highway in the world. At least I as nearly halfway to Wolf Lake, Colorado. I groaned and tightened my grip on the wheel. As depressing as it was, Grandma died just in time to provide me with an easy exit via my inheritance and new home in another state. Mom was livid, of course, but that was nothing new. She hadn’t even believed me until I showed her the will. Like, yeah, I’d been lying. Mom thought everyone was just like her and lied about everything.
By the time I noticed the sun lowering in the sky and daylight just starting to fade, I’d been on the road for almost ten hours of my two-day drive. I was halfway there for sure now, so decided to pull off and find a comfortable motel to spend the night. Nothing too fancy, just respectable and clean. Scrolling through TripAdvisor on my phone once I hit the rest stop, I decided on the Pine Tree Lodge, which wasn’t too far away. After a quick call to make sure there was a vacancy and that they’d hold the room, I was on my way.
“Well, hello there. You must be Everly Anderson,” the kindly middle-aged woman smiled at me from behind the small office’s front desk. “That didn’t take you too long.”
She reminded me a little of my grandma, not so much in appearance except for being pleasantly plump, but more so because of her genuine friendliness. Her welcoming smile oozed comfort and warmth.
“Yup, that’s me.” I smiled easily back at her. “I was closer than I thought.”
Waiting for her to punch me into the computer as she registered me and grabbed my key card, I realized I was much more tired than I’d felt in the car. Long distance driving definitely wasn’t my strong point. As she slipped the card into an envelope, I prayed the room was as nice as the ones posted on the internet but also knew at this point, I’d pretty well be happy for anything with a bed. I was pleasantly surprised when I walked in. Small, but quaint, and very welcoming and tidy. Thank God. I tossed my purse on the bed and kicked my shoes off before checking out the bathroom. A long, hot shower would relax me after I got something to eat. Tomorrow’s drive was a long one, and I needed energy if I didn’t want to fall asleep at the wheel.