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Despite how Charlene and Ethan had met, she knew he was the kind of wolf she would get along well with.

Mainly because he was so apologetic about raiding her house by accident.

Noah was the kind of agent who would mark it off as the hazard of being in that business if he had raided her home accidentally and hadn t already known her.

She really was glad that Ethan was here and dating her.

She couldn t imagine Noah would feel he could keep up any kind of a relationship with her when she lived so far away.

Maybe not quite so far away as Florida, but she was not moving back to Portland to see him, and he better not think of quitting his job so that he could join her in Oyster Bay and renew their friendship.

She changed the sheets on the bed because she wanted them to be fresh for when Ethan stayed with her the night, and hopefully he would stay longer than that. She was thrilled and eager to take their relationship further.

Before she could do a load of wash, Noah called. Why did that not surprise her?

Hello, Noah. I heard you moved to Portland and took Ethan s position at the DEA. She started the wash cycle on the washing machine.

Do you belong to the red wolf pack out of Portland?

She hesitated to answer Noah, not expecting that line of questioning. She thought he would give her hell for seeing another wolf or beg her to reconsider seeing him. But belonging to the local wolf pack? Had Leidolf and Cassie talked to him?

Yep. I guess since you ll be in the area, you ll be joining them too. They re great wolves. They can really help us out in a crisis. And keep Noah from causing trouble for Ethan and her.

Hell, I was already read the riot act by the pack leaders. Did you sic them on me?

She wanted to laugh. No. And neither did Ethan. Why? What did they say?

That we are in their pack territory, they know about our situation, and I had better not cause any rift in the pack.

Even though I m not a member of the pack, I have to live by their rules because I m in their territory.

Though they offered for me to join them.

I wouldn t have thought their territory would encompass your area since you re so far away.

Ethan has always been a member of the wolf pack.

They took me into the pack before I came out here, and there aren t any other wolves or wolf packs out here.

You re going to join our pack, aren t you?

She hoped Noah would because he might pay more attention to the leadership and not get himself into hot water that way.

Not only that, but they really could be a help to him.

How do you feel about it? Noah asked.

She was surprised that he would ask her opinion on it. He usually was hardheaded about doing things his way and he didn t care what others thought about it. I love them. And yeah, I would recommend you do it.

All right. I ve never been with a pack and neither have you, so I was wondering how it would work out. But if you think it will be a boon, then I can sure try it out.

They have great leadership. They help their pack members out pronto if they get into a bind. So go for it. Truthfully, I didn t know about them all the month I was living in Portland until right before I left.

When Ethan and his team barged into your house thinking it was a drug house.

Right. And the pack leaders and others helped get the house back in order. So are you working now or are you still just getting settled in?

I m starting work soon, but I want to see you. Tomorrow maybe? If you re free?

I m dating Ethan. That s not going to change. You know how it is for us as wolves. He and I have a physical and emotional connection but also a chemical attraction to each other. There s no denying what I feel for him already.

I still want to see you.

All right. But Ethan will be here when you get here. She didn t know why Noah thought she would change her mind about them after all this time apart when they hadn t even spoken so much as a word.

Noah let out his breath. All right.

And no fighting between the two of you.

Tomorrow morning at eight then?

Noah wasn t promising he would be civil, she noted.

Sure, you can have breakfast with us. I m making pancakes. Do you have my address?

Yeah, Renault gave it to me. I can t believe he thought he could date you.

Neither can you.

Silence.

I ll see you tomorrow then. She said goodbye and hoped this wasn t a mistake.

She knew Noah wasn t going to let this go though.

But she was glad that Leidolf and Cassie had spoken to him.

Whereas they had been thrilled to meet her and welcome her to the pack, they were hard on him because he was an alpha male.

She understood that they needed to set down the rules right away so they wouldn t have trouble in the pack from an outside alpha wolf causing issues.

By the time she had finished washing and drying her sheets and remaking the bed, Ethan returned to her house. She loved his company.

Okay, I have some…well, weird news, Ethan said, putting the steaks in the fridge until he was ready to grill them.

She frowned at him. Oh, me too. She just hoped that the two men didn t have a fight. But she wondered if Noah had called Ethan back about seeing her tomorrow.

Do you want to share yours first or— he asked.

You go ahead. She rubbed his good arm. Does this call for a cocktail?

Uh, yeah, or a glass of wine. I brought a bottle of merlot.

Okay, that sounds good.

He poured them each a glass of wine and then they went out on the back deck and sat down together on one of the rattan couches to drink it. It was so comfy out here with him.

Okay, so my boss called me, he said.

Does he want you to start doing some surveillance early? I m ready. The sooner they caught the bad guys, the better.

He wants to send an agent to work with me.

Oh. She knew if that happened, she wasn t going to be able to help Ethan with the mission. Except maybe behind the scenes, if Ethan needed her to. But another agent who would be armed with a gun and a badge would help to protect him better than she could.

The weird news is that the agent will be Noah.

No way. My ex-boyfriend? There s not another guy working in your department whose name is Noah, right? She could have fallen off the couch she was so surprised.

No, it s your ex-boyfriend. Apparently, Renault had talked to Grainger about hiring Noah as soon as he knew I was going to retire months ago since they were best friends. So he d already applied for the job.

Okay, so what was the deal with me then? I mean, Noah was planning to move to Portland and wasn t going to tell me? Which was fine, but what I don t understand is why he made a big deal of me leaving Destin without telling him!

Yeah, that s exactly what I was thinking. But maybe Noah was waiting to learn if he liked the job first before he talked to you about it and asked you to join him.

Possibly, but he could have handled that a lot differently when he knew he had the job and got mad at me for having already moved to Portland.

He should have been thrilled to know I was going to be in the same place he would be, though of course I wouldn t have been once I moved to Oyster Bay.

I really never thought he would leave Destin, but I had told him how much I loved Oregon and wanted to return there and that might have influenced him.

But then the other question is, once Renault learned I was here, why did he send me flowers and try to stir things up?

I suspect Renault thought the two of you had broken up for good because you had already moved here and hadn t told Noah. Ethan took a drink of his merlot. So my boss thought since the place I m staying at is a three-bedroom home, Noah could stay in one of the guest bedrooms.

Ohmigod, no.

Yeah. The more Grainger thought about it, the more he decided that he didn t want me to work alone.

He figured that the new guy, who had worked as a DEA special agent in Florida for years, would be perfect to fill my vacant position.

Grainger knew there s no way that Noah would have anything to do with the mole in the organization so he could back me up without any problem.

So that s why Noah called me and said he wanted to see me in the morning.

Because he knew you lived out here too and he could possibly date you while he s staying in Oyster Bay. Ethan shook his head.

Which isn t happening, Charlene said.

So was that your news then? That Noah is coming to have breakfast with us in the morning? Ethan asked.

Yeah. I had no idea he was going to be living with you. Charlene couldn t believe how quickly their plans could be torn asunder.

All right. That ll work out. He ll see that we re together. The thing is I can t really tell my boss no, I can t work with him, Ethan said.

No, and you shouldn t. This way you ll have some legitimate backup.

If nothing else, Noah is good at his job.

He has earned all kinds of accolades through his work.

He s just not a good choice as a boyfriend for me.

She took a sip of her wine and then she smiled, thinking she had the perfect plan.

Okay, so how about this. You stay with me, and Noah can stay at the DEA s rented house.

That way the idea that he isn t dating me will really sink in.

That works for me. Hopefully, he won t tell my boss that I m staying with my girlfriend.

He better not. So the other news is that Leidolf and Cassie talked to Noah about becoming a member of the pack and essentially a team player.

Ethan laughed. Knowing Leidolf, he gave Noah a dressing-down in case he thought to create problems in the pack—particularly with regard to you and me.

Yep. She chuckled. Noah needed that.