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After breakfast, Ethan drove Charlene back to her house. Luckily, Ethan was wearing shoes that were perfect for hiking over the rocks in case she wanted to do that.

You are dressed right to go adventuring, she said, glancing at his weatherproof hiking boots and jeans.

Yeah, just in case you wanted to hike or beachcomb after breakfast.

Well, good call. She changed her shoes to hiking boots and brought a hiking pack with a first aid kit and a couple of bottles of water.

Ethan took the pack from her so that he could carry it. He had thought of wearing the right clothes but hadn t thought of taking a backpack. It had been a while since he d enjoyed a hike like this in his human form.

She led the way to the spot she had been checking out when he had called last night while on the drive there.

He loved hearing the sound of the breaking waves on the rocky beach and seeing the tiny creatures in the tidal pools.

He hadn t done anything like this since he was a little kid.

She started taking pictures of the sea creatures and he watched her for a moment while she crouched down, getting up close and personal.

I m going to print the ones I really like and hang them up in the house and at the rental homes. I wanted something that was my own creation and taken of the local area.

I like the idea. How are your rentals doing? Ethan hoped they would be successful.

I already have both of them rented out for the next six months.

I m thrilled. I suspect I ll have lulls at times in renting them, especially if storms threaten the area.

Um, no hurricanes though. The water is fifty to sixty-five degrees, too cold for hurricanes to really form.

The cabins are newly refurbished and have always been single-family dwellings, though property was zoned for rentals.

So it gives visitors to the area some new places to stay.

They re in great locations too, within walking distance of the beach, with forests to hike in, and close to places to eat.

I was looking for the best locations for rentals, not realizing that I might have wolves renting them who would love the freedom to roam in the woods, or even on the beach at night as long as the tides aren t in.

He wondered if that was another reason for Charlene taking refuge on the West Coast: no hurricanes.

Because of her family s deaths, he completely understood her concern.

Yeah, you better believe Cassie and Leidolf will be watching your reservation days, and if they aren t booked?

They ll encourage some members of the pack to come out there for a visit.

That s amazing.

Yeah, they re great. I don t know how other wolf packs are run, but ours has really good leadership. They want to do everything they can for wolves in the pack and those who are in the area, even though you live so far away.

You too now, she said, taking pictures of a starfish.

Hell, he had to remember Charlene thought he was living here permanently. Yeah, right.

Well, I m glad to be part of the pack.

Good, because you ll have to come to the holiday celebrations. They re lots of fun.

If we re still speaking to each other by then, we can go together.

He chuckled. Sure. That would be perfect. He had hoped he would be done with his mission well before the holidays, but he never knew how things would go. He d had a lot of success with another mission like this five years ago. Within three days, he had found the culprits and had them put away.

His wolf doctor said he couldn t work for at least a week, or he might raise suspicions about his bullet wound.

It was still aching, and he knew the injury still had a few weeks to go before it was totally healed, though as a shifter he healed in half the time that humans did.

He was lucky the bullet hadn t hit a bone, or an artery.

He had the doctor send the report to his boss, who was surprised it wasn t that bad, considering how much Ethan s wound had bled—according to witnesses he had spoken to.

Ethan got a call on his phone, and he pulled the phone out of his pocket. When he looked at the caller ID, he saw it was his boss. He glanced at Charlene. She was still taking pictures and moving to another tide pool.

He answered the call, Yeah? He was trying not to sound like the caller was his boss in front of Charlene when he was supposed to be retired.

How are you doing? Grainger asked.

I m doing well, considering. Ethan hadn t expected his boss to inquire about his health. Not that it wasn t appreciated, but he d had the doctor send the report to him.

Kroner was released from jail based on a clerical error.

Ethan s heart practically gave out. Shit. He glanced at Charlene.

She looked back at him. She d heard his comment and knew there was some kind of problem.

But luckily, with the sound of the waves and the wind blowing in his direction, carrying his boss s side of the conversation away from her, she couldn t hear what was being said over the phone.

If Ethan and Charlene had been together in her home and she was sitting nearby and listening, she could have heard the rest of the conversation because of their outstanding wolf s hearing.

Also, I just learned that Kroner s cohort Oakley Osburn has a great-aunt living in Oyster Bay, Grainger said.

That was the thing Ethan really liked about his boss. He would do whatever it took to help his agents get to the bottom of a case, loving to get his hands into the nitty gritty of it himself in a covert way.

You might want to watch that situation. The word is Osburn s close to his great-aunt and when he can, he visits her every few weeks.

And Kroner has gone with him on several different occasions.

Grainger sent Ethan a picture of Mrs. Osburn s home and of her.

She had short, white curly hair, and was wearing a pink three-quarter-sleeved shirt and white jeans and sturdy shoes.

She was a pretty, grandmotherly type and he hoped she wasn t involved in all this drug business.

Do you know when Osburn visits there usually? Ethan asked his boss.

Sundays, if he goes at all. He takes his great-aunt to church and then out to lunch. But there s some consensus he has been there late at night on other days. That s why I wanted to get with you on it. Watch for him and see if he also leads us to Kroner.

All right, sir. I ll sure do that. Ethan realized Charlene was fully watching him now.

He was sure she would begin to suspect something was up, and he wasn t going to continue keeping the secret from her.

He finished the call with his boss and sighed.

He d been frowning about the whole situation, and when he realized it, he smiled at Charlene.

Do you have some kind of a problem? she asked.

That was my boss. Kroner, the guy I arrested and who shot me, was released from jail because of some clerical error.

Oh no.

Ethan would have left it at that, but he didn t want to any longer.

He was dating Charlene now and she had a right to know.

Yeah. I want to arrest whoever the clerk was who did that because now the bastard is back out again and on the run.

My boss wanted to warn me. Everyone who had a part in arresting Kroner needs to watch out for him, if he doesn t just try to leave the area permanently.

Do you think he would come after you here? Charlene asked, looking worried.

Let s return to the house and talk.

She was frowning, not looking happy with Ethan in the least.

He told himself that she could be a target now that Kroner was on the loose, should he learn Ethan was seeing her, which was the main reason he had to tell her what was going on.

When Kroner was in jail, Ethan had felt Charlene was safe and Kroner wouldn t even know Ethan was seeing her or where he had ended up.

This sounds ominous, she said, walking with Ethan back across the slippery rocks as he caught her arm once to keep her from falling. They reached the sandy beach and finally made their way to the stairs to her deck.

It is. Kroner and his buddies all had a hand in killing my parents, both DEA agents, for going after them. Now I ve done the same thing as they had done by arresting him—which would have been fine if Kroner had just stayed in jail.

They finally reached her house and went inside. He set the backpack on the dining room table, and she got them some glasses of ice water. Okay, tell me what is going on.

I m not retired.

What? Charlene set the glasses of water on the dining room table, then sat down. Explain.

Then he explained about how he was on one last undercover mission, but he wasn t going to be really working on it until next week because of his injury. Until the news about Kroner being out of jail upset the whole apple cart.

If your boss staged this whole business with the retirement ceremony, does he believe someone in your department is consorting with the enemy? I mean, why else pretend that you re retiring in front of your whole department?

Yeah. I think that s why he has me doing this solo. He didn t know how Charlene was taking the news just yet.

Charlene let out her breath in a heavy sigh. Is it because your informant gave the wrong address to my house?

No. There have been some earlier situations where we went to raid a place where Kroner was known to be and then voilà, he vanishes without a trace—four times in fact.

My informant had nothing to do with those cases.

My boss knew I was after these men for killing my parents, so he was sure I wasn t the one who was sabotaging the mission.

You re still a DEA special agent. She seemed to be mulling that over, trying to figure out the implication. Who else knows?

Leidolf and Cassie, and the red wolves who work with the Portland Police Bureau: Tori, Adam, and Sierra. Others in the red wolf pack too. They ll help me if I need a quick backup.