Doctor Wolf’s Human Nurse (Fated To The Wolf #9)

12. Sawyer

12

Sawyer

S ebastian called right before Sawyer was about to leave the office. “Are you in? I have the information you were looking for.”

“I’ll wait for you. Just let me know when you’re in the parking lot.”

He showed up ten minutes later with a handful of manila folders. “I brought you hard copies because some of the information is a little sensitive and isn’t available to most people.”

Sawyer took the folders. “I understand.”

Each one of his employees had their own folders, some thicker than others.

“Anyone catch your eye as to who might be responsible for the missing drugs?”

“A couple of people. I put the more interesting ones on top.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it,” Sawyer said. “Have you found out anything else about the lab?”

Sebastian groaned. “Not yet. I’m thinking that we’ll have Julian, one of the dragon shifters who works for me, fly in during the next new moon if we can’t get in before then. I want him to have protection from anyone who might take target practice at him.”

“Good idea. I think that we’re right about them being responsible for what is affecting the shifters. Dahlia approached Abby in the parking lot with a job offer. She said that they were working on erasing different stains on humanity, quote in a human way, end quote.” Sawyer made the quotation mark signs with his fingers. “My guess is that they are talking about taking away shifters’ ability to take their animal form.”

Sebastian nodded. “That’s what it sounds like to me. We’ll find a way inside, sooner rather than later. Have you had any luck trying to find a treatment?”

Sighing heavily, Sawyer ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. “No. We had the last people who came in describe what they smelled. As you probably know already, Beth, Taryn, and Savvy think that it is made from natural ingredients and some kind of synthetic chemical that creates the virus that alters the ability to shift. We don’t know if it is permanent, but they are trying to figure out something. They’ll have better luck trying to come up with a spell or potion than I would with an anti-viral medication.”

“Hopefully, they figure it out soon.” Sebastian rubbed his face. “We’ve had people scouting the area where the younglings were kidnapped. One of the shifters was one of the people spotted at the park who looked a little suspicious. They just walked around aimlessly for hours. However, they didn’t do anything we could detain them for. I have their pictures. No one around here knows who they are. We know they’re shifters by their scent.”

“Why would shifters help people who are trying to eliminate shifters?” Sawyer asked.

Shrugging his shoulders, Sebastian raised his hands in the air. “I honestly don’t know. My first guess would be money and the promise that they would be unharmed. My second guess is that they have been lied to or manipulated somehow.”

Sawyer growled in the back of his throat.

Sebastian stood and tapped the folders. “Hopefully, these will help you solve your other problem and take a small burden off your shoulders.”

“Thanks. Send me the bill.”

“That’s already in your inbox.” Sebastian grinned, saluted, and left.

Sawyer started going through the folders. Jennifer, one of his medical assistants, had suffered from a compound fracture a few years ago, and her doctor suggested that she might have become addicted to the painkillers. He had slowly weaned her off of them and even though her leg still ached, especially when there was a barometric pressure change, he had her take acetaminophen.

“I think I remember Abby saying something about that.”

Martha’s folder was next. Her son was actually doing time for stealing prescription pads and writing prescriptions for a price. He was making quite a bit of money at it until some of the pharmacists became suspicious and called the DEA. There was no evidence that Martha was involved with the theft of the prescription pad or even had knowledge of it.

Just because she’s a little snooty and judgmental doesn’t make her a drug dealer, he thought, remembering her comments he overheard that morning.

Sawyer had his doubts about her because dealing drugs seemed to be something that she would consider beneath her.

“You just never know about people, though.”

He picked up the next folder and started reading. Sawyer let out a low whistle as he thumbed through the pages.

“Someone has very expensive tastes. Where, sir, are you getting all your money from?”

Brent had never been accused of anything, and he had never even been issued a traffic ticket, so on the surface, he looked like a fine, outstanding young man.

“Maybe he has family money. I’ll have to find a way to bring it up in a conversation sometime.”

Georgia and Cindy didn’t have any interesting information about them. Cindy had a ticket for running a red light. Georgia once was stopped because her left brake light was out. Nothing else. That didn’t mean that they were in the clear. It simply meant that no one had any dirt on them.

He looked at Abby’s folder long and hard. Sawyer really wanted to read what Sebastian had found out about her. However, he knew that she wasn’t the one taking the drugs. They also had a different kind of relationship, and if she wanted to tell him about her life or her past, then it should be up to her.

In the end, though, he couldn’t resist. His eyes widened when he read that her brother had died from a fentanyl overdose when he was fifteen. She was ten. According to the information Sebastian dug up, Abby’s parents went off the deep end after that. They became ultra over-protective. Abby wasn’t allowed to have many friends. Her parents monitored her every move when she was permitted to go somewhere besides school. They did let her play sports, so at least she had that outlet.

“Now that’s interesting,” Sawyer muttered when he read the drug dealer who supplied Abby’s brother with the drugs was murdered. Her father was a suspect in the case, but there was no proof so he was never arrested.

Abby left home as soon as she graduated from high school. She stayed in the same town because she attended college to earn her degree so she could become a registered nurse. As soon as her clinicals were completed and she passed the board exams, she moved to Angel’s Creek.

A renewed admiration for Abby welled up inside of him. A tingling warmth flowed through him as he thought about her. He contemplated calling her to see if she wanted to have dinner with him, but decided not to.

We probably need to have a little bit of space.

The truth was that Sawyer didn’t want any space between the two of them. He wanted to be near her again. He wanted to taste her lips and bury himself inside of her. Sawyer needed to know if what he felt the other night was a one-time experience, or if it was something that he would feel each time he was with her. He craved her smile and his fingers ached to touch her face.

I’d better get out of here before I make a mess in my pants just thinking about her. I haven’t been like this since I was an adolescent doing my best to control my hard-ons and my orgasms.

He headed over to Howlers’ hoping that Sean was behind the bar, although he should be home with his new mate.

Sean raised his hand in greeting. “How’s it hanging?”

“Is that a rhetorical question, a literal question, or a figurative question?” Sawyer laughed.

“Literal.”

“Long and to the left.”

Sean laughed and put a napkin in front of Sawyer, who slid into one of the stools.

Sawyer ordered a beer, steak, loaded baked potato, and a salad.

“Any news with the virus?”

“Not really,” Sawyer said and reported what little information he had.

“We’ve got to figure something out, quickly. Most of the shifter moms have their kids under lock and key now. They aren’t letting them out of their sight for a second.”

“Hopefully, that will prevent any new kidnappings. Unfortunately, we can’t keep them locked up forever.”

“I know.” Sean put a beer in front of Sawyer.

“Why aren’t you home with your mate?”

“She’s cranky. The baby is growing extremely fast, she’s uncomfortable and cranky. Besides, Abby is with her now. I don’t like to get in the way of girl talk.”

Sawyer laughed. “What is girl talk?”

“When they were teenagers, it was about which boy they had a crush on. I don’t know now that Xyla went through the mating ceremony with the man she was sweet on.”

“They’re probably talking about me – as in Abby and me. She came over to the house when it was storming.”

Sean raised his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah. It was honestly the most incredible experience I’ve had with a woman. It felt different. I can’t explain how or why. It just did.”

Smiling knowingly, Sean said, “I can tell you. You smell her scent on everything, don’t you?”

“Yes. It seems to follow me wherever I am, even if she’s not around.”

“Fated mates, my friend. I believe we’ve had this conversation before, only in reverse.”

Sawyer’s head fell back on his shoulders and he closed his eyes. “I’m not ready for this.”

Sean laughed. “Apparently, the universe has decided that you are.”