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Ethan confirmed again that this was the correct house where the murdering drug lord Kroner was holed up and realized that it had a black roof, not a gray one like the house they had entered by mistake.

The siding was gray, not white like the she-wolf s home.

He d seen the pictures. He should have realized it was the wrong place, but he had relied too much on the address Ferret had given them.

Ethan still felt bad about breaking into the she-wolf s house and was exasperated with himself for thinking about it because he needed to get his head in the game so no one on his team was hurt.

These guys they were looking to take down were ruthless and had been involved in several home break-ins and five murders—that they knew of.

With a prick of heightened awareness, Ethan gave the signal to break down the door, some of his team going around the back of the house to break in through the back door at the same time. He was truly thankful they hadn t busted down two of she-wolf s doors.

The coordinated effort of them busting through the doors made a lot of noise, stirring the dead if anyone was asleep in the house.

There were no lights on inside, so it was possible that everyone was asleep.

Hopefully, the guys they were after weren t off committing other crimes while the city slept or had gotten word that Ethan and his men were coming for them.

As soon as Ethan headed inside, he motioned for his team to secure various rooms and he started up the stairs with three of his men, the darn carpeted floors creaking with his weight.

The whole place reeked of drugs—methamphetamines, coke, and marijuana.

Drug paraphernalia covered the beat-up coffee table, beer cans sitting next to it.

A couple of half-empty whiskey bottles sat on another table in the living room, cigarette butts filling ashtrays on several of the tables.

The place smelled of dust, cigarette smoke, drugs, booze, and filth.

These men made so much from drug money, but this was how they lived.

Now this was completely different from the she-wolf s pristine home.

He went into a bathroom on the way to the bedrooms and gave the all clear sign.

Then he forged on to the first of the rooms and slowly turned the knob on the closed door.

Not locked. Ethan assumed no one was in there unless it was a case of subterfuge and they were ready for a firefight.

He knew Kroner, the leader of the gang, wouldn t go down easily.

He d been to prison several times and he vowed he would never go back.

Ethan pushed open the door, and it creaked as it slammed against the wall.

Nothing happened. Damn, he hoped they weren t all still out on the town.

It was a little after midnight and anything was possible since his men hadn t been watching the right house.

But they couldn t have waited to do this another day, afraid the word would get out to Kroner and his gang that the DEA had raided the wrong house and suspect they were the actual targets.

One of his team members went into the bedroom and one stayed with him to assist while Ethan and two others went to check out the next bedroom. Then more of the team headed up the stairs, having cleared the rooms on the first floor.

Ethan led the men toward the next room. It was a three-bedroom, two-bath house, so they still had two more bedrooms and the attic to search. He reached the next door and twisted the doorknob, but it was locked.

One of the men hit the door with a tactical door ram, splintering the hollow-core door into pieces.

Gunfire from the perp burst through the opening, and Ethan put on a gas mask and threw a smoke grenade into the room.

He was already past the door, so he hurried to check out the last room while his men put on gas masks.

They all heard someone choking and coughing in the room.

The room smelled mostly of one of the men he was after, Benny Coates, one of the newer guys in the gang.

Ethan couldn t make any headway without the floor squeaking under the carpet all the way down the hall to the last bedroom, the master bedroom.

When he reached the door, he tried the doorknob, and it was also locked.

Two of the team members had gone into the other room and no more gunfire had been exchanged so hopefully they had Benny, or whoever had been shooting, in custody.

The officer with the door ram came to slam it into the last door and as with the other locked room, shots rang out from this one.

Ethan tossed a smoke grenade into the room.

Two more of his team members joined him, masked.

He headed into the room, having a difficult time seeing through the smoke, but then the gunfire started again.

One of his men fired in the shooter s direction and made a hasty exit out the bedroom door.

The other dove behind the bed, unable to get off a shot.

Ethan had managed to take cover next to a tall chest of drawers.

Coughing, the man was still shooting when his gun jammed.

His heart beating wildly, Ethan rushed him, wanting to take him into custody at all costs.

Ethan was nearly to the man when he recognized him.

The shooter was Kroner, and he had just unjammed his gun.

Shit! Ethan lunged at him, wishing he could leap as a wolf, getting so much more distance than when he was in his human form.

But Kroner got off a shot before Ethan slammed into him and knocked him onto his back and into the bathroom on the title floor.

Ethan s men were trying to get into the bathroom to help him.

Kroner struck Ethan in the jaw while Ethan wrestled with him to get him flipped over.

The guy was 220 pounds and six three, so he was like an immovable giant.

Ethan and two of his team members finally managed to turn him over and secured his hands behind his back with zip ties. They had an even harder time getting him to his feet. He was coughing from the smoke, his eyes half-shut, blinking back tears.

You re dead, Matheson, Kroner promised, his brown eyes tearing up from the smoke and appearing blacker with rage.

Ethan ignored the threat. He and another of his team members hauled Kroner toward the stairs, then down them to a waiting police van. Ethan and his men took off their gas masks and began securing all the evidence.

We got Benny too, Renault said.

Good. Ethan was damned glad they got Kroner and Benny at least, though he was disappointed they hadn t gotten Oakley, Thor, or more of the gang.

Hey, you re bleeding, Renault said to Ethan.

Ethan glanced at his arm. He wasn t feeling any pain yet from the bullet that had hit his left arm, just above where the she-wolf had bitten him.

An ambulance is parked out front, Renault said, looking concerned that Ethan might have lost a lot of blood and wasn t thinking too clearly.

Ethan had to have his bullet wound checked out by their wolf doctor, but he knew he couldn t just leave without getting it bandaged up here to stop the bleeding.

Thankfully, he still wasn t feeling any pain.

He watched as they loaded Kroner into the police van.

That meant at least two more bad guys were off the streets for a while.

Since Kroner had shot Ethan, he hoped the drug lord would be charged with attempted murder this time, until the authorities could ensure they had enough evidence proving he was responsible for Ethan s parents murder.

Hey, Renault, Ethan said, hoping the agent knew the she-wolf and it wasn t just his imagination that Renault recognized her.

Yeah?

You looked like you recognized the woman whose house we raided.

Renault ran his hands through his hair and looked a little sheepish. Uh, she was dating a friend of mine.

Her name? Now Ethan would finally know who she was.

Renault smiled, appearing amused that the she-wolf hadn t given her name to Ethan. Charlene Cheswick.

Ethan wanted to know if her boyfriend was a wolf. Though sometimes wolves dated humans if there were no other wolves around to date. What was your friend s name?

Noah Westmoreland.

I don t know him. Ethan was thinking out loud that he didn t know a wolf in the area by that name, though he hadn t known Charlene either.

He isn t from around here.

Destin, Florida. Ethan snapped his fingers. That s where you transferred in from.

Right. I was surprised to see her here. It s sure a small world.

Yeah. But if Noah wasn t here, because Ethan sure hadn t smelled a male wolf s scent at the house, then maybe she had left him behind. Ethan walked over to the waiting ambulance.

One of the EMTs cut Ethan s long-sleeved shirt to bandage his arm. You ll need to have this taken care of at the hospital.

I ll drive myself, thanks.

Did they have a dog in the house? the EMT asked, looking over the bite wound.

Ethan glanced at the bloodied wolf teeth marks on his arm. That happened another time.

The EMT bandaged that wound up too. You need to make sure the dog had all his shots, and you ll need to get some too.

Right. That s just what I ll do.

The department was throwing Ethan a retirement party tomorrow afternoon.

Though he hadn t told any of his fellow agents about his next mission, his red-wolf pack leaders and his closest law-enforcement wolf friends knew what he was doing next.

For now, he was done with work, so he would just run in tomorrow and enjoy the celebration.

He had to get his arm looked at tonight, though. He didn t want to tell the doctor, or anyone else, that a she-wolf had bitten him because he d raided her house by accident.

His boss, Barney Grainger, called Ethan as he was driving down to Leidolf s ranch to have his arm looked at.

Are you going to be able to do the mission from Oyster Bay? Grainger asked.