Bear of Interest (2 page)

Damn. She was in the middle of a murder investigation and all she could think about was him. Her panties were even damp. It reminded her the last time she’d been on a date. The blind date someone had set up for her that had ended with her walking home.

Too fussy, too picky. Married to one thing, and that was her job.

So why had Dr. MacDonald quickly broken through the brick wall she’d gone to great lengths to erect? Just one look and that’s all it had taken for her knees to turn wobbly like a school girl with a crush on the star football player.

Danger, and double danger, because if her gut was right, Dr. MacDonald, as well as being drop dead gorgeous, might also be a killer.

Chapter Two

Cole tried to forget what had happened earlier that day but it was getting tougher by the minute. Not only was he still focusing on
 
the poor woman whose body he’d stumbled upon, but Detective Hardy hadn’t left his thoughts either.

Tonight was his first night rotation he’d be working at the shifter’s hospital. He loved the peace and quiet of the setting tucked away in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. He had his old nemesis Brady Walsh to thank for the great facility. He and three other members of the group were the major sponsors that kept this place going and paid their wages. He liked the idea that finally shifters had a place of their own, no more trying to be their own doctors because someone might figure out they weren’t human when they ran blood tests or X-rayed them. He knew lots of them had gotten sick. A few had even died as a result of not seeking medical attention. That would never happen again.

He’d been hired to not only help out generally, but his specialty was infertility issues. Shifters had a tough time reproducing since arriving here, but the recent baby boom resulting from shifters and humans mating showed new hope.

Someone tapped on the glass window in his office.

He looked out.

“Mia, you’re not supposed to be working. You’re a patient for the next few days,” said Cole.

“I know but a couple of wolf shifters have just shown up in emergency. They’ve been fighting and it’s not pretty.”

“I’ll be right there.”

“You want me to assist you?”

“No, I want you to go back to your room and rest.”

“Yes, doctor.”

Tomorrow he’d be giving her the first round of her fertility treatment. He hoped it worked and not only for the gratification of his own ego. He hadn’t told her yet, but he knew from the preliminary tests he’d run, she didn’t have much longer before her mating cycles stopped altogether. Cole knew it must be heartbreaking for her to sometimes assist with delivering all these babies and know she and her husband had never been blessed.

He heard a commotion down the hallway and guessed if he didn’t get to the ER section of the clinic soon, they’d be mayhem. Wolf shifters always seemed to be magnets for trouble.

Cole pulled on his lab coat, headed out of his office, down the hallway and then turned the corner. Two guys sat on chairs, blood pouring from their faces and heads.

“I’m guessing this was a pack dispute,” said Cole.

“He started it when he tried to mate with my lady,” said the bigger of the two.

“Okay that’s enough. You want to both follow me and I’ll get you cleaned up.”

Cole saw them glare at one another before they walked into the examination room. He was on his own here tonight so he hoped he wouldn’t be breaking up any more fights.

“Both of you sit,” said Cole.

He pulled down some gauze and cotton pads from the cupboard, and then turned on the spotlight so it shone over the examination table.
 
Now he could see that they looked alike, and were no doubt, brothers from the same pack. Wolves were strange creatures, a hierarchy, and a set order that determined who got the rights to mate, the best mate, and so on. These were a couple of what the group called traditionalists, parts of the anti-human faction that was growing in scary numbers. Cole sensed trouble on the horizon but for now he didn’t want to get into shifter politics with them. He’d piece these two back up and send them on their way. Out of sight and out of mind.

“Okay, this might sting and burn a bit,” said Cole. He put the alcohol soaked pad on the scalp of the bigger wolf shifter.

“Jesus Christ,” he said, almost jumping up out of the chair. “You weren’t kidding. That acid you have on that pad or what?”

“Such a sissy boy,” said the bigger one. “That’s why I should be the one that gets to fuck Sable.”

They began to shove one another almost sending each
other
 
spilling
onto the floor.

“Hey, you quit that or I’ll kick you both out of here with my boot up your asses,” shouted Cole.

He wiped away the blood, first from the bigger shifter’s face, and then the head of the smaller one. Both these guy’s injuries were borderline cases. Cole tossed up whether they’d be able to heal on their own or if he’d have to give them sutures.

“Okay, I’m going to put butterfly dressings on both of you and you should be good to go, but no getting into more fights or you’ll open up the abrasions again and I’m sure you don’t want a repeat visit here.”

Cole walked over to the cabinet and collected everything he needed.

“You have a female?” one asked him.

“No, not at the moment.”

He’d only been back in town three months and dating had actually been the last thing on his mind.

“You looking?”

A vision of Detective Hardy jumped into mind. He wasn’t looking, period. And he certainly wasn’t looking for a human so why couldn’t he shake her from his mind?

“Not really.”

“Lucky you. Females complicate things,” said the bigger one. “Once you get the odor, everything, including your common sense, goes out of the window.”

Yeah, he knew what that was like. He’d been impulsive a few times in his life. Once he’d even competed with Brady. Almost like these two. Both of them liked the same female bear shifter in their class at high school. Brady took a bet with him, he’d have her first, but Cole had sneaked behind his back and taken her innocence. Of course he hadn’t told Brady and let him find out she wasn’t a virgin when he’d taken her out on a date.
 
Such a letdown for the mighty Brady Walsh. Cole shook his head. Yeah, he and Brady hadn’t been much better than these two idiots. Well, these two were much older and should know better.

“No more fighting. I mean it,” said Cole, applying the last of the butterfly dressings.

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks a lot Cole.”

He watched them walk out, both trying to get out of the door at the same time and shoving one another. That truce would probably only last until they got back to their pack and picked up the scent of the alpha female again.

Cole cleaned up the room and threw everything into the bin. He looked at his watch. Time for his rounds before he settled down for the night, and hopefully got some shut eye.

He walked to Ted’s room. A young wolf shifter who had in fact shifted for the first time two days ago, gotten overly confident running on four legs instead of two, and had snapped the front one when he’d slipped down a hill.

“Hey Ted, how you’re doing?” asked Cole.

“I hate this stupid cast on my leg. Makes me seem like a child. I’ve been through my first shifting and I’m a man.”

Cole smiled. All shifters felt the same way after that first tough shift. You wanted your elders to recognize you as all grown up but sometimes it wasn’t that easy.

“It will be off before you know and I’m guessing that will grab the attention of all the females at the next star gazing gathering.”

“And that’s supposed to cheer me up. I hate the opposite sex.”

Cole knew that Ted would be taking back those words very soon. Now that he had his first shift he’d be able to smell females during their mating cycle and his body would want them even if his mind wasn’t quite there yet.

“They’re not so bad,” said Cole.

“Says who? They look at you and they giggle and whisper to their friends. I’m sure they plot things behind our backs.”

Cole was suddenly transported back to his own youth. He suddenly envied Brady for having found true love. The finding it and keeping it was so fucking hard. Cole wished his mate would come along soon so he could get all the wooing and pursuing out of the way.

“Anything I can get you?” asked Cole.

“You wouldn’t have ice cream around this place, would you?”

“You know I think I might be able to round some up. Let me finish checking on everyone and how about I join you?”

“Neato.”

Neato
mouthed Cole, as he left the room and smiled.

Next up on his rounds was Mia who was watching some reality show on TV.

“You okay?”

She nodded. “You think this treatment’s going to work?”

“We’ll stay positive and if it doesn’t, there’s always IVF.”

“At my age?”

“Don’t give up hope, Mia.”

He patted the back of her hand.

“We’d be old parents,” she said.

“But wise ones.”

It was her turn to squeeze his hand.

He pulled down the blood pressure cuff and put it around her bicep.

“It’s a little high so I want you to just rest and get a good night’s sleep, okay?”

“Yes doctor. By the way, are you seeing anyone?”

Boy, was that a popular question or what?

“Nope.”

“I know a couple of the girls would be more than interested in getting to know you.”

“I’m sort of settling in right now but maybe later.”

****

Sam read through the forensic reports and looked at the photos that had been taken of the crime scene. They’d identified the women as Margo Henderson, age twenty-eight from Missoula. She’d been a student studying law there at the University of Montana which would be where Sam would be heading soon to interview both her parents and her roommate, who had in fact reported her missing two days ago.

The medical examiner had been right. She’d been killed someplace else, her body transported and dumped in the woods. Question was, was she killed in Missoula and brought to the Kalispell area? Or had she had reason to be here, met up with the killer, and hence her body being in this region? Had she even known her killer? She hadn’t been raped or sexually assaulted but she’d had sex shortly before she’d died which didn’t necessarily mean she did know her killer. She could have been on a date and been abducted on the way home or something. Sam ran her hands through her hair and chewed on the inside of her mouth again. The killer smashing in half her face had some significance. He wanted to maybe hide her identity. That didn’t really make any sense because there were her fingerprints and dental records. It could also mean the killer didn’t like the way she looked at him. Could even be a female killer who was envious of her looks?

Sam pulled out the photos and looked at the bear prints that were to the left of the body. She’d hazard a guess he’d been a good sized one judging by its width and length, although she wasn’t in any way an expert on bears or any wildlife for that matter. And unless this one was the killer of her victim, she had no interest in the bear whatsoever.

Would a bear go check out a dead body? Even eat it? That was something she probably should look into. They’d found a few stray bear hairs on the body but the wind could have picked them up and carried them to the corpse and nothing else was out of the ordinary.

She looked up when she saw another police officer walking by her office.

“Mike, you know anything about bears?” she called out to him.

He stopped and stood in the doorway. “No, why?”