Brody arrived at the hospital as quickly as he could. Someone took Chris’s body and he was raving mad. That was until he saw Millie standing in the window in a cute pink raincoat not warm enough for the weather.

He went through the sliding glass doors and met her in the waiting room.

“This is just terrible,” she said, walking up to him. Her scent hit him all at once. Sweet and creamy. Like honey butter and lemon drops. His inner bear grumbled and growled. Under normal circumstances, Brody would have given her a warm hug in greeting. Knowing she was his mate meant there was no use in beating around the bush.

Brody was an affectionate guy, and unusually good-natured for a man his size. But Chris’s death had darkened his bubbly lightness. Storm clouds crowded out his blue skies.

“These sick bastards are going to pay,” he said, clenching his fist.

“There’s no security footage. I already asked.”

“I wouldn’t expect security cameras in a hospital this small. How many patients do you treat a day, anyway?”

“Maybe up to thirty. Usually around ten. Not really the pace I’m used to.”

“What pace are you used to?” he asked, thinking of the pace he’d like to keep with her. The vision of pulling her into his embrace dominated his mind. He frowned and shook his head to clear it.

She giggled. The sound was light and invigorating. “I was the head surgeon at San Francisco General. So, quite hectic.”

“What the heck are you doing here?” he asked her, bewildered.

“I had some issues and was laid off. But I’m here now. It’s growing on me.”

“Hmm. I hope so.”

“Thanks. Do you want to take fingerprints or something?”

“Right. I’m not a police officer. I’m not even really a sheriff. But Montana game wardens are in charge of shifter-related crimes now. Like we need more workload. I had to confiscate a female mountain lion today.”

“That’s sad. Want to go see the morgue?”

He followed her down the hall, her curvy behind swaying all the way. He wanted to wrap his hands around her slender waist and feel her shallow his shaft. Grrr…

They entered the morgue and he was struck by the scent of death. It overcame him so abruptly and so hard, he had to bend over to catch his breath.

“It reeks of death in here,” he muttered.

“It smells like cleaning supplies to me,” she said, sniffing.

“I can smell the bodies. Shifter senses are much stronger than a human’s. Where was he stored?”

“Right here,” she said, showing him the refrigerator.

“And there are no records of who took the body out?”

“No, nothing. Highly unusual.”

“I’m going to call this into the sheriff’s department.”

Brody walked into a quiet corner of the morgue and plucked his walkie-talkie from his shoulder, calling in the crime to the dispatcher Janet. When he was done, he walked back over to Millie, who seemed nervous. She worried her lower lip and crossed her arms over her white physician’s coat.

“Did you get anywhere with that car logo?” he asked her. It wasn’t her responsibility to find this kind of thing. She’d already been wrapped up in the crime more than any civilian should be. But he liked having an excuse to be near her. Maybe it was unprofessional, but Millie was his mate for better or worse. Until the crime was solved and he had the closure he needed to move on from Chris’s death, he had to find a way to keep close without the pressure of dating or mating.

“I haven’t been able to find anything. I came back to the hospital to see if I could get a better look at the impression on Chris’s body. That’s when I found it was gone.”

“Maybe we can take a look together,” he suggested.

“I still have all my research up on my computer back at the hotel if you want to go back there and take a look.”

“That sounds like a plan. I’ll meet you there.”

Brody followed Millie out of the hospital and into the parking lot. His truck was parked near her car and they got in at the same time. Driving across town to where her hotel was, Brody’s mind reeled with the implications of the missing body.

He pulled into the lodge behind Millie and followed her into her room. The fact that he was in his mate’s bedroom was completely lost on him because he was so wrapped up in his anger and hatred for whoever had murdered his friend. Millie sat down in front of her computer and patted the empty chair beside her. Brody slid into the chair and waited as she woke up her computer screen.

“So I found a few different websites with car logos. A few of them are similar to what was imprinted in Chris’s stomach, but I can’t make out for sure which one it is.”

“Let me see,” Brody said, gently taking the mouse from her hand. He clicked through a few screens, examining the logos. The photographs of the impression on Chris’s body were strewn across the desk. He picked them up to examine the impression. Millie was right, none of the car logos looked as if they were the right one.

“I feel like we’re missing something,” he said, feeling defeated.

“I was feeling the same thing,” Millie said. “See how this curves here,” she said pointing at one of the logos on the screen and then down at the photograph. “But it doesn’t have this cross marking. Part of it matches but the rest of it doesn’t.”

“Maybe we’re looking at this all wrong. Maybe it wasn’t a car. Maybe it was something else. Like a super-powerful ATV or a tractor.”

“Hmm… that could be. Maybe that’s why we’re unable to find a match. Let me look up ATV symbols.” Millie took back the mouse and typed a few words into the search engine bar. A moment later, she was on an ATV website searching through the logos.

“Wait. Look at this. Do you think that could be it?” Brody examined the logo she had stopped on. The shape matched the impression on Chris’s chest almost exactly.

“What kind of ATV is that?” He asked.

“It looks like it’s a European brand,” she said. “I imagine it’s pretty rare in Montana.

“You’re right. I’ve never seen this brand before.”

Millie clicked over to the company website to investigate the closest place to purchase them and the sales price. The ATVs were extremely pricey and were only sold by special mail order in the US.

“Who do you think would order one of these?”

“There’s only one person in town I would suspect has such an expensive ATV. Steve Mathews.”

Anger surged in his chest. Confusion and lust battled in his gut. There he was, sitting beside his mate and he could do nothing about it.