Page 22 of Shifter Mates for the Single Mom

Ulf's eyes lit up at the prospect of steak. "Why wait that long?"

"You want to barbecue in this heat, big guy?" I asked as we came in through the gate, locked it, and started heading back. "Our poor hostess almost fainted just walking around."

Ulf grunted. "Not good then. I'll wait." His stomach rumbled, though. I could hardly blame him.

Once we got back around to the front, we told Nathan what we'd found and showed him a photo. He nodded distractedly and then went to get a couple of grocery bags out of the SUV. When he got back, he said, "I want to go back over the camera recordings. See if we can catch a glimpse of him, suss out how he approached and got away."

"Sounds good," Jamie said. "I didn't catch him in real-time, but then again, my brain's playback function won't be as thorough as the security system."

We came back in, and Nathan went to knock on the door to the panic room. After a few moments, Madelyne and Aidan emerged, both looking a mix of relieved, scared and pissed off.

"What happened?" Madelyne asked, sticking close to her son as she looked around at us. He was staring at our guns in fascination as we holstered them. "Was he there?"

"He was, but the fucker didn't stick around when he caught our scent. We're going to check the camera footage to see how he snuck so close and got away without being seen." Nathan put a hand on her arm, a comforting gesture that seemed a little possessive, too. I couldn't really blame him for that, not at the moment.

"God. Glad you scared him off, but that freaks me out even more. It's the middle of the day. How did he get so close?"

"That's what we're going to find out," I told her.

We sipped cool drinks of various kinds while going back through the camera footage on the monitors. It took a while, but finally, I glimpsed a set of stripes in the underbrush in one shot. "Got him!" I said immediately, pointing it out on the screen.

"Fuck," Jamie muttered. "He was right outside the front gate. If he'd jumped it with half our team gone––"

"You would have handled it," Nathan finished for him. "Don't worry about what might have happened. What did happen is much more important."

"Fair enough." Jamie sighed as we watched the faint silhouette of a massive Tiger move from camera range to camera range, looking for a spot to jump over the wall without being seen. "Bastard's good at this."

"I've never actually seen him in Tiger form before. He's huge," Madelyne said with a tremble to her voice.

"He's not that big," Ulf replied, unimpressed. I scoffed.

"Ulf, an elephant's not big compared to you. Us shorties have a different point of view down here." My tone was a little snarky, but he snorted and gave a lopsided grin anyway.

"All right, folks. Let's copy the relevant footage over and then take a break." Nathan turned to Madelyne. "I'll help you put the groceries away."

We spent the hours before sunset maintaining equipment, doing research online, and making phone calls. I had a line on an Interpol file with information on Matthias’ activities overseas. Nellie texted Madelyne letting her know that she had met with the colony admins and they were tripling their security.

By the time the sun dipped toward the horizon and the light outside took on a red-orange tinge, we were all getting hungry, and snacks and beers weren’t cutting it. Madelyne got up to chop and skewer veggies and marinate steaks, and I followed her into the kitchen. “Need some help?”

“Sure. How are you with a knife?”

I grinned. “That’s a story for after your son goes to bed.”

“I didn’t mean like that,” she grumbled good-naturedly. “The veggies need to be cut into chunks and skewered.”

She used the steak sauce as a base for the marinade, along with olive oil, wine vinegar, and more spices. The steaks ended up soaking in it in the fridge while we dealt with the vegetables. “So, you think you can eat after all this crazy shit?” I checked in with her.

“I’ll manage. I’m not letting Matthias mess up my dinner, too.”

In the other room, I heard the front door open and shut. Probably moving the grill and getting the coals going. “Good for you. You’re tough as hell. I like that.”

She smiled a little flirtatiously. “You should see me in armor.”

“You’d even look great in a sack,” I told her. “But I’ll take you up on that once the weather’s not crazy anymore.”

She nodded, whisking up a small bowl of the marinade for the vegetables. “I used to fight heavy in the SCA. These days, I mostly just make stuff.”

“SCA?”

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