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Early that morning, Noah arrived at Charlene s house to have breakfast with her and Ethan.

He knew Charlene was nervous that Noah might start a fight, but Ethan had a lot of training in dealing with volatile situations like this and believed he could talk Noah down if he needed to.

Still, they were two alpha wolves interested in the same she-wolf, so Ethan figured it could go either way.

Noah could man up and accept he had lost out or not.

Ethan was hoping that Leidolf and Cassie had put the fear of the wolf pack in him, and Noah would mind his manners.

Ethan didn t want Charlene upset by any of this.

Ethan went to greet Noah, and the two wolves measured each other up right away.

Noah was six two, so taller than Ethan by a couple of inches.

Ethan s auburn hair was redder than Noah s.

Noah s eyes were blue instead of hazel green like Ethan s.

He stood tall, a little confrontational, then shook Ethan s hand.

It was a powerful handshake, but not one that said he was trying to outdo Ethan, just attempting to match his strength, which Ethan appreciated.

Ethan had planned to treat Noah like a guest arriving at the house, while Ethan was the man of the household.

It was the only way to establish territory and convey that to another male wolf.

Of course, Ethan liked the idea that he would play that role with Charlene permanently, but he was doing this for her benefit in the meantime, so Noah would leave her alone.

Charlene had made herself scarce, getting the batter ready to make pancakes, while Ethan and Noah worked out this situation between themselves. Ethan finally stepped back to allow Noah entrance into the house.

To Ethan s amusement, Noah actually gave him a half-hearted smirk, as if acknowledging that Ethan had played the game just right—for a wolf.

Hey, Noah, Charlene called out from the kitchen, why don t you sit down at the table, and I ll serve up the breakfast in a minute.

Which meant she was telling him to keep his distance from her. Ethan waited for Noah to comply. He suspected Noah wanted to go into the kitchen and give her a hug or kiss or something, but then he glanced at Ethan, who was just standing there waiting for him to sit down at the table.

Noah finally sat on one of the chairs, and Ethan got everyone cups of coffee and then set the table. I take it you brought some of your clothes with you to stay at the DEA rental house, Ethan said.

Yeah. They re in the car.

Okay, good. Ethan helped Charlene bring in the plates of pancakes and slices of ham and set them on the table.

Then Charlene sat down next to Ethan at the table across from Noah, showing him whose side she was on.

This looks great, Charlene. Thanks for inviting me to have breakfast with you. Then Noah turned his attention to Ethan. I take it that Charlene knows you re not really retired from the department.

Ethan swore he brought the matter up to see if Charlene didn t know about it and then Ethan would be put on the spot with her in front of Noah. Before Ethan could say that she did know all about the situation, she spoke up.

Yep, and I was going to help Ethan with his mission. He shouldn t be doing this on his own, so I m glad you re going to be working with him on this. Charlene took a sip of her coffee.

You re no longer a homicide detective, Noah reminded her.

Right. No badge any longer, but I could still have helped Ethan with surveillance. She ate some more of her pancakes.

The way we re going to work the living arrangements is that I ll be here with Charlene, and you ll stay at the rental, Ethan said.

Noah was about to take a bite of his ham, but his jaw dropped. Then he shook his head. All right.

Ethan was glad the wolf was finally getting the point that Ethan was with Charlene and Noah had lost his chance with her back in Florida.

Ethan gave Noah some of the backstory on three of the men who were still at large.

Thor is a big dude. That s the name everyone calls him.

He s Timothy Morton, but the guy is six five and more like a bear—black-bearded, black hair, eyes as black as coals, and he s the real muscle of the group.

His father was abusive, a drunk, worked construction, and his mother died of cancer when Thor was ten.

Thor had five siblings, all boys, all of them in trouble from time to time.

With his big size, he intimidated everyone, even when he wasn t trying to, except for Kroner.

Then we have Kroner—Jet Kroner—the leader of the drug gang.

He s almost as big at six three. He calls all the shots.

He had his own gang when he was in middle school, and he continued having the same gang through his school years and beyond.

He has a good family—well-to-do. His father was a retired judge, his mother a retired dentist. He was a spoiled only child, got everything he ever wanted, but he wanted to make a name for himself on the dark side.

Oakley is smart, cagey, a follower, but when Kroner isn t around, he takes charge. He has one sister who is a schoolteacher, his father is a minister, and his mother is busy with the church. But he feels closest to his great-aunt who adores him. He has a dark side to him as well.

Benny Coates was just arrested. They had three other gang members, but they died during turf wars.

Benny is relatively new to the gang by a few months.

I believe he was hung out to dry, wanted to be like Kroner who took him in on a whim.

But the guy was smart, streetwise, and a thug in his own right.

I had hopes we could flip him to turn on Kroner and the others.

There are others who work for Kroner, but they re small fries and we don t know their names.

Noah said, Then there s the mole in the organization.

Yeah, at least one. Kroner s the one who had my parents murdered, Ethan said. And he s the one who shot me on this last mission.

You re working on this case when it s personal for you? Noah asked.

Yeah. Grainger had a similar situation with his dad being gunned down when he was serving as a police officer.

Grainger s boss let him track down the men who killed his father, so he s fine with me working this case.

I have too much to lose by getting myself killed, so I m not going to go all Rambo and try and take these men out without playing by the rules.

Good to know. That s the same with me. Grainger said you re still recovering from the gunshot wound. How s that going? Noah asked.

It s healing. Though it would be doing better if Ethan hadn t gone cliff hanging when the bear charged them.

But it s still bothering you.

Yeah, but it won t get in the way of me doing the job.

Noah smiled a little at that and Ethan thought that s what Noah wanted to hear—that Ethan was a worthy partner, even if he was still suffering from a gunshot wound.

So all four men are wanted for a number of murders, racketeering, drug running, you name it.

The three we need to catch won t hesitate to shoot us.

Ethan told Noah all about the great-aunt who lived in Oyster Bay and that they needed to go there before church services to see if they could capture Oakley.

Grainger said you weren t supposed to try and take any of these men down on your own, Noah said, then ate the rest of his pancakes. That you re supposed to call it in.

Right. That was before you arrived to help me out.

The rest of the team is three hours away.

They might not get here in time to take the gang members down if we find them, and then they could get spooked and disappear again.

And there s still a mole in the organization, I believe.

So if he got word that we were gunning for Oakley, he could just give him a call and warn him.

Ethan told Noah about the botched cases where the four men always seemed to get word that the DEA was on their way to grab them.

He also told him about the clerical error that caused Kroner to be released back out into the public and the case Adam and Tori were working on that might be a homicide that Kroner had something to do with.

What do you think about all this? Noah asked Charlene.

I m ready to help you both out if you need my assistance. She finished her coffee. And I hope you learn who the mole is and take him or her down.

Yeah, I want to deal with that too, Noah said. Someone like that can get a lot of the good guys hurt.

I agree. Then Ethan got a call from his boss. Yes, sir.

Grainger asked, Are you meeting with Noah?

Ethan glanced at Noah. Uh, yeah. Noah s here and we re discussing how we re going to handle this.

I ll let him know. Thanks. Out here. Ethan put his phone back on the dining room table.

That was Grainger. He said that the clerk was paid to make the clerical error in Kroner s favor so he would be released.

She has been arrested for her part in the crime.

Hell, Noah said.

I know. I hope she realizes what she has done if Kroner is responsible for yet another murder, Ethan said.

What about this mole in the department? Noah asked.

Charlene got everyone refills on their coffee. She seemed relaxed with them speaking about the case and not talking about her dating Ethan any longer, and he was glad.

I m not sure who it could be. There are six to ten of us who go on these various missions, augmented by local law enforcement. It s even possible it could be someone in the Portland Police Bureau who s involved in leaking the planned raids to the men we are after.

But the last time you went after these guys, you went to the wrong house, and then you managed to go to the right house and catch two of the men.

Was anyone on vacation when it happened, or out sick who didn t know about the actual timing of the raid and that s how you managed to capture the two men? Noah asked.