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Ethan moved quickly but quietly toward the room where he heard the water running.

The door was open to the master bedroom, and he went inside and headed for the bathroom.

Again, he smelled the female red wolf s scent in the bedroom, and he wondered if his informant had steered him wrong.

Man, would Ethan be pissed. This was his last night on the job in the city of Portland, and it would be a bust, instead of him busting someone for dealing in drugs.

But more than that, he d have to leave without taking down the men responsible for murdering his parents.

He cautiously stepped into the large master bathroom and saw the she-wolf in the shower stall in all her naked glory, wet red hair curling over her shoulders, her eyes wide as she gawked at him through the shower glass.

He couldn t see the color of her eyes because of the steam and the fog on the shower glass.

But he could see her shapely figure and rosy-peaked nipples.

She threw the shower door open, and though wolves were used to seeing each other naked when they shifted, he expected her to scream, grab a towel, cover herself up, and yell at him to get the hell out of her bathroom. .

But she did the unexpected—shifted into her red wolf as soon as she smelled he was one—and bit him on the arm!

He cried out in shock and surprise. Hell, he wished he d controlled his reaction a bit more. He certainly hadn t wanted to alert his men he was in trouble.

Then she shifted back, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around herself just as two of the men on his team raced into the bedroom to come to his aid.

What the hell are you doing in my house? she asked, furious, her green eyes flaming with fire. Now he could see their entrancing color.

I m DEA Special Agent Ethan Masterson, he finally said as the two men came up behind him with their weapons aimed at her. We had word that this was a drug house.

She tilted her head to the side as if she was mocking his ineptness. He was a wolf. He could smell there were no drugs there.

Did you find anything? Ethan asked his men, casting the words over his shoulder while not taking his eyes off her for a second, afraid she might shift and bite him… again . He was certain his men hadn t found any drugs, but he had to ask.

DEA Special Agent Renault Green hurried into the bathroom then, his eyes widening—almost in recognition—when he saw the woman clad only in a towel, her skin and hair dripping wet.

No, sir. We had an agent question your contact again, and Ferret said that he told us the address is 101 White Birch Road, not 101 White Pine Road.

But we know Ferret mixed it up either accidentally or on purpose and now he s trying to cover his ass.

I recorded his words. I know he told us this address. All right. I ll be right down to give the next orders, Ethan said to Renault.

Agent Manx Ryerson, one of the other men on his team that was right there, snickered, and Ethan cast him a cutting look. Agent Pete Cohen slapped Manx on the back, like he felt the same way as his pal.

Yes, sir, Renault said, and he and the other agents headed out of the bedroom, into the hall, and descended the stairs. Wrong house, he told the other men downstairs.

I m sorry for the mix-up. Ethan s arm where she d bitten him was throbbing like crazy now and he noticed some blood staining his shirtsleeve.

He knew she d broken the skin, but a wolf could have done a lot more damage—like crushed the bones in his arm or ripped away at the muscle.

She had only reacted out of anger and frustration, and he didn t really blame her.

I hope you re going to take care of any of the damages. She didn t say it in a way that said she was hopeful, but more that she expected it.

Uh, yeah, I ll have some red wolves take care of it within the hour. Ethan would make it up to her as quickly as he could, though he also had to go after the men who had killed his parents. But he couldn t leave her in a lurch like this either.

She quirked a brow.

We have a wolf pack out of Portland that I belong to, and they help with any issues we have with our wolves.

Good. Then they can deal with you too.

He fought smiling at her comeback. She was feisty and he liked that about her.

He was damned glad this was his last job in Portland. Yeah, he really had wanted it to go well, but man was it ending on a sour note, even if he took down the bad guys after this fiasco.

I ll, uh, let you get dressed and you can tell me what needs to be repaired.

Thanks for letting me do that. She didn t sound thankful but annoyed to high heaven. Then she reached into the shower stall to turn off the water.

He inclined his head, feeling like he was standing two feet tall.

It didn t seem like anything he said to her was going to make it right with the wolf.

She wasn t in their wolf pack, or he would have known her.

He was surprised he hadn t known anything about her.

Maybe she had just moved here, and no one had met her yet.

The news would have been all over the pack already otherwise.

He hurried off and when he was downstairs, he talked to his team members. All right, we re going to the correct house this time, but I need to inspect the damages here and make sure I can get someone out here to replace the owner s door and the frame.

The men looked disgruntled about that when they were eager to do this drug bust.

Manx Ryerson said, Hey, we never have to explain ourselves if we hit the wrong house. It s just an honest mistake.

Ethan glowered at him. We do this the way I say. As far as he was concerned, hitting the wrong house during a drug bust was never right. It meant they hadn t done their job!

He knew they weren t used to him stopping a mission like that to help out the homeowner whose home they had wrongly trashed.

But he couldn t leave her alone at her place with a broken door.

It would be unsafe for her to stay here tonight.

And her belongings wouldn t be safe if she went somewhere else for the night.

Wait for me outside, he told his men, who were milling around in the foyer, waiting for him to say when he was ready to go.

They all moved outside while he walked through the house and saw the wreck his men had made during their search. It was fine when they hit the right house. But certainly not when they hit the wrong one.

He called Leidolf, his red-wolf pack leader, and said, Hey, I have a problem. He almost said we , because it was up to the pack to make things right, but he had caused the problem. Technically, his informant had, but he hadn t broken into the she-wolf s place.

What do you need? Leidolf asked, knowing if Ethan was calling him at this late hour, he was in some kind of wolf trouble.

A cleanup team and a new door and doorframe for a home in Portland. Ethan gave him the address.

What happened? Did your team hit the wrong house? Leidolf was a canny wolf, and he often knew what was what before anyone had to tell him.

Yeah. Unfortunately. My informant gave me the wrong address. The woman is a red she-wolf, but I don t know her.

Hell. What s her name?

We didn t get that far.

Leidolf said, All right. Cassie and I will be up there shortly and try to make it up to her.

All right. I ll let her know that you ll be arriving soon. Actually, Ethan needed to make it up to her, but he didn t think she was interested in speaking with him any further. He didn t blame her either.

They ended the call, and he walked through the rest of the house, just shaking his head at seeing the overturned floor lamps, couch cushions tossed all over, and in the kitchen, the drawers that had been yanked out and all their contents dumped on the floor.

He would get some of this straightened up until someone else came to take over.

Then he could get on with the mission, hoping that the guys they were after wouldn t have been tipped off by now that he was coming for them.

He was lifting one of the drawers off the kitchen floor when the she-wolf walked into the kitchen.

Wow. Are you always this destructive on a raid? she asked.

These guys hide things everywhere. We don t have time to be careful. They re deadly.

This is beyond conducting a search speedily. She stood there, her arms folded across her chest. Her hair still wet, she was wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and a silky shirt, no bra.

That had him taking a second look. He hadn t meant to.

He d already seen her naked, for heaven s sake, and they were used to seeing others naked to shift into their wolves…

but of course that was with wolves he knew.

There was just something provocative about the way her nipples were poking against the fabric of her shirt that was wet where her hair had dripped water.

He should have kept his mind on straightening up her apartment.

But hell, she was the kind of woman he would have liked to date, bite and all. She raised her brows at him.

He cleared his throat and began putting all the kitchen drawers back, damn glad that none of them were broken. I m Ethan Matheson, he repeated, hoping she would give up her name, but she didn t. He was so in the doghouse with her. And you are?

You would think before you raided a house, you would have learned that.

Trying to appease her, he said, I ve called our pack leaders—

Your pack leaders, not ours , she said.

Uh, yeah, and they re bringing a team to help clean up the house.

I m really sorry about this. He truly was but she didn t appear to be satisfied with his apology.

Hopefully, putting the place back in order would make a difference.

Though she might have nightmares about this.

He knew she could have suffered some trauma from the experience, and this wouldn t make up for that.