Page 25 of Shifter Mates for the Single Mom

I collapsed to the ground, muscles slack, tingling all over. I felt like I was floating, even with his big body pinning me down. We lay there catching our breaths. My climax had hit me like a freight train, and even as I remembered that I was on camera and Matthias might be spying, I couldn't bring myself to move.

"I love you," I murmured and heard him return the words as my eyelids fell closed. I just need to rest for a minute…

I was asleep before my heart could fully slow, knocked out by the intensity.

I woke up in my bed, and Nathan was gone. I could still smell his sweat and cologne, taste him in my mouth. My body still tingled from everything he'd been doing to me, and I felt more relaxed than I had in ages.

I shouldn't have been surprised that we'd meshed so well as lovers right from the start, but as I sat up and stretched, I was. I also felt strangely at peace, as if something in me had been desperately waiting for the barrier between us to finally break down for good.

It was three in the morning. Everything was dim and still. I looked out my window and saw the forge was dark. I'd have to pick back up the process of tempering the steel for our knives later. In the still of the night, all I could think about was Nathan and how much I wished that he could have stayed in bed with me. The only thing that could have made this moment more perfect would be waking up in his arms.

That, and Matthias being dead and gone, along with the others. But for the time being, I was simply happy to finally have Nathan as my lover and have my last memory of sex be with someone I actually wanted and cared about.

Matthias would have been jealous as hell to realize I was with someone else. That I'd moved on so quickly once he had shown his colors. But what could he expect? Blind devotion from someone he had manipulated, robbed, and terrorized? Not happening.

I rolled my shoulders, feeling aches in unfamiliar places. My skin was itchy with dried sweat. I went to rinse off in the shower, keeping the water lukewarm. I didn't like washing off Nathan's scent, but I was sure we'd be together again soon. No way would he refuse seconds when our first time had been so amazing.

I realized I should check on Aidan, who hadn't been sleeping well the past few nights. I dressed in a fresh cotton nightgown and padded out into the hallway. To my surprise, I heard Nathan’s deep voice downstairs.

I walked over to the stairs to listen. I heard a masculine yawn and some muttering in Russian. Then Nathan spoke up again.

“Well, it looks like Bela hit the mother lode this morning. You want to brief us on all this?”

Bela spoke up. “Yep, looks like Interpol has a file on Matthias and his mom that’s even longer than the stuff we got from the local Sheriff. They may have only been at it for ten years, but those guys are infamous.”

“Does Interpol know they’re shifters?” Jamie’s voice.

“Absolutely. They have this group on their red list to approach with shifter operatives only.”

“So, what did the records say?” Ulf sounded impatient. I wondered if he’d been woken up to take this briefing.

“Amala Montrose, maiden name Amala Kumar, has been running cons for over fifty years. Bangalore, Hong Kong, Monaco, Rome… She’s been all over Europe and Asia defrauding rich people and taking their money. Forty years ago, she married Matthias’ dad in London, bore Matthias, and settled down for a few years to play a rich guy’s wife.

“Montrose’s family didn’t trust her. Stopped coming around, even to see Matthias. Then, five years into her marriage, her husband dies suddenly under… mysterious circumstances.” The sarcasm positively dripped from Bela’s voice. “She inherited everything. The family tried to fight legally, but she’d bribed enough of the right people to make sure that couldn’t happen. Soon after the estate settles, she skips town with the money and her son.”

I sat down on the top step, intrigued but not really wanting to go down and join them. I was still damp, still worn out, and still dealing with my emotions over making love with Nathan. I couldn’t just pull myself back together and talk normally with all this on my mind.

“Eighteen months after she disappears, she pops back up in Paris playing the part of the wealthy, grieving widow. Her activities slowed down for a while for about ten years after that. She must have been raising her son to follow in her footsteps. Meanwhile, she’s roped in a cousin from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to act as her bodyguard and security guy.

“I think she tried the romance scams for a bit longer, but having a kid around made that more complicated. So, she turned to high-end theft, con jobs, and blackmail. Her son started joining her on these jobs at the tender age of fourteen.”

“Like mother, like son,” Nathan said drily.

“Exactly. So finally, Matthias hits puberty, and suddenly we’ve got some disappearances associated with the two of them and they leave Paris. Go on the run again.”

“Disappearances?” Ulf sounded grave.

“Two nannies in their employ within the space of a month. My guess is the kid started shifting at puberty like we do. But unlike us, he wasn’t suddenly hungry for a fat deer or a side of beef.”

I shivered. Eaten. Bela’s saying that Matthias ate at least two people at fourteen.

There was no bottom to Matthias’ perversity or his cruelty. I should have known it was that bad, but somehow, Matthias still managed to shock me with his wickedness every single time.

“That’s disgusting,” Jamie growled. “So, he started being an evil piece of shit really early.”

“Apparently so. Looks like he learned well from his mother and bodyguard.” Bela’s disgust was plain in his voice. “The three of them traveled all over, but they didn’t head for the States until five years ago.”

“I wonder why they gave up on Europe,” Nathan mused.

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