Ocean's Surrender Read Online Free PDF Page A

pots from midair before they could crash to the ground.
    But he was also suddenly there, crowding into River’s personal space, far too close for a strange man–or any man, besides Jason–ever again.
    She backed away hastily, putting a healthy distance between her and the blond haired man before her. Fen could practically smell the acrid scent of the fear roiling in her emotions, and he cursed himself.
    He also amped up the steady waves of goodwill that he was emitting, as well as his concern.
    “Are you all right, River?”
    “Of course I am,” she snapped, before visibly gathering herself. “I’m sorry, that was rude. Thank you for saving the plants.”
    “Well, it was my fault you dropped them. I didn’t mean to surprise you.”
    “Which was silly. This is a shop, and people come in. I just didn’t expect anyone this early.”
    “I’m a bit of an early bird,” Fen admitted. River assessed him with quiet eyes, and when she spoke again, all of her emotional shields had snapped back into place.
    “So what can I help you with?” she asked. He was now merely another customer, to be served and then booted out the door.
    “Well,” Fen said, suddenly at a loss for how to move the conversation to the fact he was a magical seal shapeshifter, a Prince of the Sea and an empath drawn first by her pain and then by her, as a woman.
    Of all that information, Fen was pretty sure she’d find that last bit the hardest to stomach. Luckily, like a messenger sent from the gods, in walked Jason.
    “Hey, River! Hi, man!” Jason said, as soon as he’d shut the shop door behind him. Jason kept going, walking toward the back room to hang up his light spring coat, when Fen met his eye. Jason snapped to a halt, his eyes locked on Fen’s.
    The two men regarded each other, as River looked between the two, even more startled than she had been by Fen’s sudden presence in her shop. Jason’s face was in full “concentration mode”, as if he were trying to figure out a great mystery. Fen’s expression was friendly and open, but also curious and somehow anticipatory, as if he was as interested in finding out what Jason was mulling over as River.
    Finally Jason snapped his fingers exaggeratedly, another thing he’d learned from an ancient TV show.
    “Fen!” the young man shouted, his expression now one of pure delight.
    River’s attention snapped back to Fen, who laughed as if Jason had just given him the perfect gift. Fen opened his arms and Jason went and gave him a spine-cracking hug, picking the stranger up off his feet he was so excited.
    River moved in to separate them, but not because she was worried about Fen’s back. She knew every single person Jason knew, and Fen wasn’t on the list. And they certainly shouldn’t be at the hugging stage.
    Who is this stranger, and am I going to have to kill him? River thought, all of her protective instincts raging. Jason was, after all, a big handsome man with an open, trusting nature and the natural reserve of an eight-year-old. He was tempting prey for the kind of monster who was into that sort of thing, and River had spent a goodly portion of her life making sure such predators knew Jason was protected by something not necessarily bigger, but decidedly badder, than they were.
    Jason obligingly set Fen down, patting the other man on the head affectionately. At least six foot, Fen couldn’t have been used to such treatment, but he only seemed pleased at Jason’s actions.
    “You look so different!” Jason crowed. “But I see you in there!”
    Fen laughed with delight, like he and Jason were sharing some wonderful secret joke.
    “How do you know Fen, Jason?” River said, interrupting their little love fest with a voice cold enough to focus Jason’s attention back to her.
    “He lives on our beach!”
    River stared at her brother, then looked over at Fen.
    “Not your beach, exactly,” Fen clarified. “But I do like to spend time in the waters around that