Dangerous Mating (A.L.F.A., #3)(52)
His nose caught a whiff of his only love. She was close. “Bryon.” She wrapped her arms around his furry neck. “I about freaked out when the guy held the girl going up the stairs. I was sure you wouldn’t be able to jump him.” She pulled back and ruffled the spot between his ears. That felt so fucking good. “I have your clothes over here.” He followed the gorgeous woman, watching her glorious wiggle with each step. He couldn’t wait to be pounding into her. He had to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. Morphing with a hard-on wasn’t appreciated by others.
“Where is Sheldon? Why hasn’t he come off the plane yet?” Kari asked. That was a good question. Where was he? He shifted and quickly donned pants then his shirt. He wanted to check on his co-agent. Make sure he was okay.
Sheldon appeared at the top of the stairs. He held the beautiful lady that had helped him drag the dead body down the aisle. Sheldon and the woman slowly descended. Surprisingly, he didn’t trip; he didn’t take his eyes from her for one second. What the hell?
Bryon took his mate’s hand and hurried toward the two. Sheldon stopped and gently lowered the woman to her feet. He wrapped an arm around her dainty shoulders. “Bryon, Kari, meet Elna. She’s my mate.”
Epilogue
Kari set down her mug of cocoa on the silver tray on the side of the Jacuzzi she and Bryon sat in. Sweet-smelling bubbles foamed around them. Their view from the tub was atop a mountain, overlooking a majestic valley covered in glistening white.
She leaned back, placing her hand over her belly. She might not be showing yet, considering she was already on the plus side and her belly had had a curve even before she’d become pregnant. But soon, there would be no mistaking her for anything other than a woman with a baby in her womb. Their little one was growing inside her and she couldn’t wait to meet him. From what Bryon said it was a boy and he was walking around like a proud father. It was so stinking cute.
Outside their rental cabin, the storm blew another foot of snow against the front door. She was fine with that. That meant no one would be disturbing them for at least a day. This was day three of their ten-day getaway. Her first real vacation and her boss joked for her not to make a habit of it. She would miss that place a little. But she liked the new contract she had worked out with the FBI.
When she was needed to decode, she would come in or they would come to her. If the situation arose, she and her ex-ALFA mate would go undercover to get the intel. But they aimed to keep those types of operations as limited as possible. She had better things to do with her new mate.
Bryon looked at his phone. It was time for their scheduled call with Director Tumbel from ALFA. Usually, she’d frown at mixing work and pleasure, but since it was planned beforehand, she was fine with it.
At the sound of Indiana Jones’s main theme song, he swiped across the screen. “Director Tumbel, how are you this evening?” Bryon asked.
“Probably not as good as you are,” Tumbel replied.
Bryon took her hand. “You got that right, sir.”
“So let’s make this quick, you two.” They heard papers shuffle on the director’s side. “According to workers in Cloustien, Prince Goddard specifically said where he wanted his palace and the warehouse placed. They found fifty-year-old subterranean maps in the palace. Along with an incomplete map of the underground tunnel system.”
“Hi, Director, it’s Kari. What did they find out about the art in the palace?”
“You’re going to love this,” he said. “Most of the items were treasures that had been missing or stolen from the time of the Second World War.”
Kari smiled. “I knew that had to be the case. Everything there was just too over-the-top to be in one place, and a personal home at that.”
“And the cave entrance where the trafficking ring set up was the room the Nazis kept the stash,” the director added. “The story from some oma who ‘knows’ the history said one of the ancestor kings was digging area mines for precious stones and they came upon the cavern by accident.”
“If that’s the case,” Kari started, “then that was Alheim who found it. He probably put the building there, eventually becoming the warehouse, to cover it and sneak out the treasure little by little.”
“Then after that,” Bryon said, “it made the perfect spot to smuggle traffickers in and out. All under everyone’s noses.”
Tumbel said, “There is a group of international artwork people working on returning pieces to the rightful owners. Those alive anyway. I bet most of the stuff will be going to museums around Europe.”
“Director,” Kari said, “did anyone find out about the room with the dried fruits and food?”
“That was actually the first mystery we solved. The townsfolk gladly provided the answer,” Tumbel replied. “They knew about the trafficking for a while, but wouldn’t do anything against their royalty. So when they could, they rescued women and hid them in the tunnels until it was safe for them to leave. Seems everyone knew about it except the prince.”
“What’s happening prosecution-wise for those traffickers caught in the warehouse cavern?” Bryon asked.
“Liechtenstein, the country, is taking over the extradition process. I believe someone told me the monarch of Liechtenstein was a distant cousin or some relation to the ‘missing’ Prince Goddard. I’m sure we’ll hear about many of the trials in the news. You two did a great thing for the world.”