Page 28 of Midlife Shifter Unexpected

“Really?” I asked. “You want to stay and help out?”

“I wouldn’t dream of having it any other way.” Jane grinned.

“Did you just get me a week off from work?” I looked up at Matheus, every muscle in my body wanting to stand on my tip toes and kiss him.

“You’re going to have to work on the murder,” Matheus said, “but not tonight.” He waved over to Ted. “Sheriff, Bianca’s had a shock seeing all this. Now that the coroner’s office is here and everything’s getting buttoned up, she’s going to take the night off. She’ll come in and help you tomorrow morning with more of the case. Does that work?”

“Of course.” Sheriff Ted frowned at me as I pulled myself out of Matheus’s arms. I was grateful Matheus was asking for me. “She’s going to need some time to recover. You get her home now and take good care of her.”

Jane winked at me and took me under her arm. “Love you. I’m just going to finish up here and then I’ll take your car back to The Estate and meet up with Mae if that works for you.”

“I think that’ll work just fine,” I grabbed the helmet that Matheus offered and slid onto the back of his motorcycle, wrapping my thighs tightly around his to make sure I didn’t fall off onto the uneven road.

Chapter 20

I never expected to be perched on the back of Matheus’s motorcycle, clinging to his waist while he drove out of the forest. At first, I thought he was just going to take me home, but once we hit the paved road it became clear he was heading towards the coast.

The bodies. The bits of bodies. I opened my eyes wide taking in the greenery and trying to wipe out the taint of blood that was on everything I looked at. I would possibly never get the images out of my head. You can’t unsee dead bodies.

“Where are we going?” I yelled over the wind.

“Harpies.” Matheus’s single word floated to me, and I was left wondering again who he really was and what he knew.

I hadn’t thought much about it when he said he knew the victims, but now we were headed down to the seaside to a trailer park and I was with somebody I didn’t really know. He was a local, but how local was he? He’d only been here for five years, and we’d just left dead bodies of people he said he knew.

I sucked in my lower lip. Jane had seen me dead. She hadn’t mentioned how she’d see me die. She didn’t say if I was murdered or if I’d died in a motorcycle accident, but she hadn’t seemed particularly worried when I said I’d was going with Matheus to check something out. She had just kind of shrugged it off like it was no big deal. Truth be told, I didn’t think there was any way Matheus could be a murderer . I mean, how many bad guys bring you coffee and pastries first thing in the morning and were as sweet as he was?

There was no way, but it was more than that. Every psychopath could do the right thing at some point and then turn around and cold bloodedly murder somebody, but I had a feeling about Matheus. I had a sense about him that he wasn’t that guy. That he was someone who was meant to be in my life. He was going to mean something to me, and, truth be told, that was the thing I was the most afraid of.

My problem wasn’t me not taking him seriously. I could take him seriously all day and all night, but my fear was that he wouldn’t take me seriously. I was forty-five. What if he wanted to get married and have kids? He was totally young enough to do that and I was way past kid wanting years. Even though I could probably still have one, I would not want to go back and raise kids again.

I leaned my head on his back, watching the Oregon ranches zip by. If it wasn’t for my life being so crazy right now, this could be a perfect moment. The gold light reflected off deep verdant fields created a scenic backdrop. The heat from his body radiated through me. There was a dampness between my thighs just thinking about what he would be like naked and in bed. He’d asked me not to think about him like that but to take him seriously. It was hard not to, but I wanted to respect his opinions, his needs, his feelings. I wanted to take him seriously. I had to at least try.

The ride ended before I’d come close to sorting my mixed emotions out. The minute we stopped, I slid off the back of the motorcycle, took off my helmet, and looked around. We were in one of those rundown trailer parks right by the edge of the coast. A place where I had never thought in a million years I would visit.

“Remind me why we aren’t waiting for Ted to come and handle this business?” I asked.

“This wasn’t some normal killing.”

“We don’t even know what happened,” I pointed out.

“This was some ritual event,” Matheus said. “It looks like the bodies were pulled apart by an animal, but the symbols say something different.”

“Okay, but why are we here? This isn’t our job.” I was feeling completely queasy at the thought of watching someone discover their beloved family members was irrevocably dead.

“These guys come to my bar regularly. It’ll be easier coming from me than the sheriff.”

I took a sideways glance at Matheus. He was a man of power. He was generous and kind and very sensitive, but he knew who he was. He was one of those quiet guys who was comfortable in himself. He was super interesting.

“You know the families?” I asked.

Matheus gave a singular nod. “Yeah, I know them. They’re going to want to hear it from somebody they deem as friendly. They’re not going to want to hear this type of news from the authorities.”

“Were they caught up in some sort of, you know, ritual black magic kind of stuff?”

Matheus shrugged. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it black magic, but they definitely have their own power that they like to do that isn’t mainstream. Basically, we need to get in before the police do.”

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