Momma's Got a Brand New Jag: BBW Shifter Romance (Seaside Shifters Book 1) by Dinah Del Mar Read Free Book Online Page A

the best.”
    The door swung open and Rina scooted off the side of the bed to stand in the corner. The man she’d seen earlier at the beach stood in the doorway.
    “It’s okay. You’re safe here,” he said as he reached out to hit the switch on the wall for the light. Rina continued standing in the corner. The jaguar that had been with the man at the beach pushed past him and approached her. Rina tried to stand as still as possible, not even daring to breathe.
    The jaguar padded over silently to sniff her and lick her hand. She thought she might faint again. “Nice kitty?” she said. Wait…wasn’t there something important about the jaguar? Something… holy shit . Hadn’t the guy told her it was Joven?
    “Joven?” she asked hesitantly. The jaguar began to purr and lay down on the floor at her feet, rolling over to expose his stomach. She hesitantly stroked his short, silky fur and the purring got louder. She looked at the man in the doorway, who was staring at her with a bemused expression on his face. “That’s new,” he said. “He really likes you.”
    “Uh…are you going to explain what’s going on?” Rina asked. “I mean, I don’t even know your name.” The jaguar had started licking his fur.
    “Sorry,” he said, looking embarrassed. “It’s Darren. I’m Joven’s lieutenant,” he said.
    “Lieutenant? So then you’re a therian, too?” Rina asked.
    Darren nodded as the jaguar sat up at her feet.
    “What were you doing at the beach?” she asked.
    “We were looking for you. We’d tracked you to your hotel, then to the pier, and finally found you at that beach,” he explained.
    Rina was surprised. “You can do all that? I mean, I only talked with him once, on the plane this morning.” She scratched the jaguar behind the ears and he started purring again.
    Darren shook his head. “Not many therians can track like that. Joven can, but he’s alpha and the leader of our patch.”
    Rina shook her head, her ponytail swinging back and forth. Therians, patch…alpha? It was all so much to take in at once. Darren sensed her discomfort and smiled, trying to put her at ease.
    “I know it probably all sounds crazy right now, but Joven promises he’ll explain fully in the morning,” Darren said.
    “I don’t understand,” Rina said. “Why doesn’t he just change back into being a human?”
    Darren shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that. The movies and television have it only partially right. We’re able to shift
into
our animal forms at will, and we uncontrollably shift on the night of the full moon, but we can’t just shift back into human form whenever we want.”
    “So how do you change back into humans then?” Rina asked. Cely hadn’t told her any of this. Maybe she didn’t know?
    “Our animals want to be in control just as much as our human sides. It’s sort of a constant tug-of-war. But if we go unconscious for any reason while we’re in our animal forms we’ll revert back to human.” Darren looked like he wanted to say more, but the jaguar let out a huge yawn. “And that’s my cue to make myself scarce,” he said. Darren turned to leave, then paused.
    “Can I get you anything?” he asked.
    Rina thought. She was a little hungry, but figured it could wait until the morning. “A glass of water please?” she asked.
    Darren nodded. “Be right back,” he said.
    Rina realized she needed to find her phone. She hoped she hadn’t lost it at the beach. She looked around, but didn’t see it anywhere. Maybe Joven knew. “Do you know where my wristlet went? I think I dropped it in the sand with everything that happened,” she said. The jaguar cocked his head to one side. “Brrrrrrt?”
    She continued. “Uh…it’s a turquoise blue bag? Made of leather?”
    The jaguar made a gurgling sound and looked at the nightstand at her side, pawing at the drawer. She opened the drawer to find her wristlet. Oh. Maybe he just hadn’t known the word?
    She pulled out her phone.