Page 5 of No Strings Attached

Twice Morgan had tried to get out to the Lovato property to search for the man who’d been after Austin Pierce, but both times, he’d had to turn back around to handle police matters. “You going to hire more deputies?”

“I seriously need to.” Dominic scratched at his low-trimmed beard. “My mate hasn’t complained about my long hours, but it’s wearing on him.”

Dominic, a grizzly shifter, was mated to the human waiter who worked at Deep Dish. Morgan’s boss worshipped the ground Julian walked on, and it was wearing on Dominic as well to spend so much time away from his mate.

“If our job was solely focused on our human residents, it wouldn’t be so difficult,” Dominic said, “but just last night, Wyatt had to go after a vampire who was attacking a gazelle shifter.”

Morgan frowned. “It wasn’t the owner of Sweet Spot, was it?”

Sanjay was a very nice guy and was mated to a wolf shifter. Jake, the owner of Fearless Fox, would have lost his shit if his mate had been attacked.

Dominic shook his head. “The gazelle is a new resident that moved here a few weeks ago. Wyatt ended up killing the vampire when it turned on him.”

Anywhere with a heavy population of nonhumans had their share of problems. Midnight Falls was no exception. What didn’t help matters was the dense forest surrounding their quaint town. With a vast amount of acreage, it was the perfect place for those who wanted to commit a crime.

Even if every police officer had scoured the forest to look for the man after Austin, it wasn’t guaranteed they would have found him. There was just too much ground to cover.

Thankfully, Cormac had killed the stalker and Austin was now safe.

Morgan leaned against the wall, glancing upward as he wondered about his mate and what the doctors were doing for him at that very moment.

“Sheriff Harper.” Dr. Hendrix Baldwin entered the alcove, tucking his hands into his lab coat. “You two are here for John Doe?”

Morgan’s jaw clenched again at that name.

“What can you tell us, Dr. Baldwin?” Dominic asked.

The lion shifter sighed, as if he’d already had a long day. “The wound on the head was superficial.”

“Then why was there so much blood in his hair?” Morgan asked.

“A lot of blood vessels are close to the surface of the skin, so even minor head wounds bleed like crazy.” Dr. Baldwin tucked his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. “The injuries on his back, however, are a different story. I’m positive they were made by claws. Fortunately, they weren’t deep enough to damage anything vital.”

“Is he going to recover?” Morgan asked. “Can I talk to him?”

“It took over two hundred stitches to close the wounds on his back,” Dr. Baldwin said. “He’s also suffering from severe dehydration. The human is very lucky he didn’t have a heat stroke.”

“Is that why he was unconscious when I found him?” Morgan asked.

“I think it was the combination of his injuries and lack of hydration in this heat,” Dr. Baldwin replied. “No matter how many warnings are given, some people don’t take the dangers of heatwaves seriously until they either end up here or suffer fatal consequences.”

Morgan didn’t point out that no one could reconsider the consequences if they died from them.

“I think, with his extenuating circumstances, his situation is different than someone who just isn’t drinking enough water,” Morgan said.

“I completely agree,” the doctor replied. “Forgive me. I’ve just dealt with too many people in the past few days that could have saved a trip here if they’d simply been hydrated. I didn’t mean to imply our John Doe is here by his own fault.”

If Morgan heard that placeholder name one more time…

“Can I talk to him?” He repeated his request.

“He’s woken a few times, Deputy Savani, but he’s not nearly well enough to handle any questions. I’m sure the both of you want answers, but as his doctor, my only concern is his recovery.”

“As his mate, I want to see him,” Morgan ground out.

Dr. Baldwin narrowed his eyes. “You could have led with that instead of allowing me assume you two were here in an official capacity.”

“While we are here to talk to him about what happened, we also wanted to know the extent of his injuries and if he’ll be okay,” Dominic said.

---