Shifters: A Samantha Reece Mystery Book 1 by Jaime Johnesee (libby ebook reader txt) 📕

people whose family just weren’t ready to say goodbye. Though zombies get a lot of shit, too, we shifters are portrayed as monsters just as much as they are.

I can't stand how we've been painted as these constant half-human half-animal looking monsters when we shift. That's not how it works.

We turn into the animal itself, not some gory hybrid. Though there are some shifters who can shift partially, most all of us are forced by our very biology to change almost fully. This means our bones break, ligaments rip, and muscles tear. Then everything re-knits itself into proper alignment for the animal. I am a hundred and forty pounds in human form and I'm a tiny one hundred and forty pound jaguar.

Maybe one forty-five when you include the fur, but still not the big beastie people expect. We don't just grow mass out of nowhere. The virus shifts our DNA; it doesn't pull mass from thin air and graft it to us.

Though I will admit there is a bit of magic to it, especially when you consider we pick up a sort of animal spirit guide after we first shift. It’s like having a fuzzy mentor in your head. If that’s not enough magic for you, well, there’s always the fact we can shift at all.

I'm not a doctor or a veterinarian, so I don't know exactly how it all works on a cellular level, I just know it hurts like hellfire. I did, however, go back to school and nab a degree in zoology so I could better understand the animal part of myself.

It might not make sense to you, but I wanted to know everything there was to know about animals, all animals, to better prepare myself for whatever I might meet in the field as an agent of the FBI.

My phone rang, startling me from my reverie. It was Gerry.

“Hey, Sam. I have trace running the evidence from the scene now. They don’t expect to find much, but they’re on it. You can pick up the report from Grace later.”

“Thanks, boss.”

“No problem. Just don’t forget to turn in that report before you leave tonight.”

I sighed; I hate writing reports. Worst part of the job. “Of course, boss. See ya, Gerry.”

The click told me he’d hung up and I smiled as I replaced the receiver and returned to my thoughts while I typed.

I hate the shifters who cause trouble.

Yes, there are other shifters out there and they're not all good people; unfortunately, I run into them occasionally. Enough that I knew I had to find a way to understand them better. Figuring out how other mammals act and react to things helps me to understand what a shifter perp's behavior, and their animal, might cause them to do.

That’s why after I earned my Masters in Zoology I spent some time learning from a prominent animal behaviorist. I picked up a lot of information that helps me better understand both human and animal behavior.

The phone rang again. This time it was Josh.

“Sam, we have a credible witness. Quinn says you should meet us at The Diner pronto.”

“Seriously on-the-stand credible?”

“Yes. We’ll see you there.”

I just hoped this fellow was believable (I mean the witness, not Officer Hahn); the only other witness we had was a drug-addled homeless man who insisted that the aliens dropped our perp off to cleanse the planet.

These sorts of stories don't exactly lend credibility in front of juries. Not to mention the alien hunt was coming up with bupkis. We needed someone of unimpeachable character. Someone who could stand up in a court and folks would know they would never lie. Someone who had actually seen something real and not intergalactic.

Chapter 2

AS I WALKED INTO SAID DINER, aka the best diner in all the world, I was greeted by Genie, my favorite waitress in all the world.

"Sam! How are you, sweetheart?"

"I'm good. How're you, doll?"

"Still going strong! Your fellas are over there." The diner was shaped like an L and she pointed, with the coffee pot in her hand, to the back corner of the long side.

Genie was ninety years young and feisty as a badger. She is the oldest waitress I'd ever seen, and though it took her a bit longer to get the food out to the tables it was totally worth the wait just to have a chance to chat with her. She had such great stories about growing up around here.

She also told a few tall tales that everyone knew weren't quite real, but they were so entertaining nobody dared say a word for fear she wouldn't tell another. I learned a lot about the area from Genie. I'd grown up farther south and moved here when I started college, so I learned most of the history of my new city from Genie. I also learned where the best spots were to eat.

Genie never fails to find the gems.

Walking back toward the table she’d pointed at, I could see Quinn waving his arms around like the goober he could sometimes be. On the way, I caught sight of a man to my right and I stopped in my tracks. I wasn't of the love-at-first-sight ilk, but this guy had me gazing and gaping like he was James Dean back from the dead. Our eyes locked and my breath caught in my throat. There was something about him that was different from other men.

My heartbeat and breathing quickened and I willed myself to look away before I became like one of those clichéd girls in a cheap romance novel. What in the bloody hell was wrong with me? I'd not reacted to a member of the opposite sex like that since my high school days.

I wanted to keep moving, but, like a moron, I stared back at the man who had caught my attention. I think it was his eyes that were the most unsettling for me. A blend of gold and green, they reminded me of