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For the first time since Charlene had left the police department as a homicide detective, she wished she was still working at the job, only in Oregon so she could be with the guys and Tori out there to help bring down the rest of the men.

Kroner was bad news for everyone decent.

Charlene hated not knowing what was going on with Ethan and the others.

They ll get them, Maverick told her as she went back to the kitchen to get everyone some more coffee.

You rocked when you went after the driver of the getaway vehicle while the rest of us were here with the guys we had captured.

Not to mention that you guarded the one guy until we could get him wrist-tied and ready for transport.

Yeah, but I wish we could be out there helping Ethan and the others, she said.

Brad shook his head. If you hadn t gotten that driver, we might never have ever caught up with him. By being here, we got more of Kroner s men.

I agree with the other guys. You were amazing. We only just learned you had been a homicide detective in Destin. You didn t even give any of us bachelor males a chance to get to know you. Quincy winked at her.

Pierce smiled and agreed with his brother.

She was glad that she had helped the men take down a couple of the bad guys.

So Ethan wouldn t tell us how he met you exactly, Pierce said.

He raided her house, Brad said. Ethan was just lucky as hell that she forgave him for that.

Pierce and Quincy laughed. If we had done that, she probably would have given us a piece of her mind and never had another thing to do with us, Pierce said.

And Leidolf would have been all over our cases, Quincy said.

Ethan texted Charlene: In pursuit of Kroner. Love you.

Charlene texted back: Love you back. Stay safe.

She wanted to tell him not to take any unnecessary risks, but she knew him, and truthfully, he was a lot like her.

To get the job done, they did whatever it took.

She relayed the information to the men staying with her.

She was sure Maverick was worried about his brother just as much as she was worried about Ethan.

***

After a short while, Ethan heard gunfire off in the distance behind them.

It sounded like the other officers had found someone to pursue.

Ethan just hoped none of the officers would be injured during their search for the criminals.

Ethan and Renault couldn t disengage from their pursuit of Kroner to join the firefight.

He knew the rest of his friends would also continue to trail the men they were after.

Renault looked like he wanted to go to the other officers aid though. Should we help the other men? Maybe the ones we re after went that way.

I smell Kroner s cologne wafting this way, Ethan said.

All right. You always steer us in the right direction, though I don t know how you do it, Renault said.

They got quiet again. Ethan was certain Kroner and the others would keep moving.

They might not have a car anywhere close to the woods, but if they could reach any place that had one, they would steal it for sure.

He and his team just had to stop them before that happened.

Ethan was afraid if they didn t, Kroner would finally leave the state or the country.

Though Ethan wondered if the reason he hadn t left already was he was trying to make this one last score at the warehouse before he could ship out.

In the direction they were headed, Ethan smelled the scent of the ocean and heard the waves splashing at the bottom of the cliffs.

To the north, Kroner would find beach homes along the coast, and Ethan worried Kroner would try to break into a home and take hostages.

He d done it before. Ethan had to stop him before that could happen.

He knew he needed to run as a wolf, despite that his injured arm hurt every time he did. But they had to get these men at all costs.

Ethan stopped Renault, wishing now that he d had one of his wolf friends with him.

They would have made a much better team.

He kept his voice low so only Renault would hear him.

Stay here and I ll see if I can track him down.

He might be hiding around here, so if he moves, you take him down.

But if I find him moving away from here, I ll let you know.

Are you sure that you want us to separate?

Yeah. If he s hiding here, one of us needs to stay and apprehend him.

All right. Renault sounded glad to be staying behind.

Ethan ran off in the direction he smelled Kroner s scared and angry scent. Ethan was still pursuing Kroner s scent when he saw a cabin to the north, its porch lights on and a van parked in the driveway—perfect for a getaway.

Ethan didn t see any sign of Kroner though.

He hoped he hadn t lost him. Ethan removed his clothes, tucked his gun, phone, zip ties, and his clothes into the tactical wolf backpack and tied his boots onto it.

The backpack was designed similarly to the ones offered for sale for dogs but were more advantageous for wolves who needed to take their clothes with them on a mission.

The wolf who came up with the idea was a genius.

Ethan pulled the straps over his arms and around his chest, cinched it, shifted into his wolf, and pulled the cord to tighten the gear around his wolf body.

But Ethan realized he d lost Kroner s scent once he was on the move.

Instead, he picked up Officer Davis s scent.

What the hell had happened to Kroner? But Ethan was glad that he had caught up with Officer Davis s scent at least.

Ethan hoped he could take down Davis before Kroner linked up with him, if he planned to.

Davis would never expect a wolf to be following him, and Ethan had the advantage of running much lower to the ground.

Davis wouldn t see him until it was too late.

After searching for the bad cop s scent again, Ethan saw movement—a silhouette of a man standing up behind thick underbrush.

Davis. Davis started to move toward the beach house, but he got tangled up in a blackberry bush bramble.

He was swearing up a storm as he was trying to free his pants stuck in the thorns.

Hoping Kroner wouldn t come to his aid, Ethan dashed forward, needing to end this chase now before Davis could get away. Davis was still struggling, continuing to curse when Ethan leapt twelve feet in his direction and took him down in the middle of the thorny bush.

Davis fell hard, not sure what had struck him, his phone dropping in the brambles.

The phone light flipped toward the ground, the dark engulfing him and Ethan.

While Davis was still stunned and caught even worse now in the brambles, Ethan leapt away.

In the darkness of the woods, Ethan quickly loosened the cord on his backpack, shifted, dressed, and grabbed the wrist ties from the pack.

The brambles were on a slope and Davis s head was facing down the slope, so he couldn t get up at all.

Ethan leaned over and tied Davis s wrists together, the thorns scratching Ethan s hands.

Ethan s injured arm was killing him, but then he located Davis s guns—Davis had three on him that Ethan could find—and bagged and secured them.

Who… What the hell, Davis said.

Ethan texted Renault: Go toward the cliffs and then directly north. You ll see a cabin with porch lights on and a van sitting in the driveway. I ve got Officer Davis caught up in a blackberry bush just south of there in the woods.

Renault texted: On my way.

Ethan read Davis his rights. This time you re not going to get away with all the criminal activities you ve been involved in.

Agent Masterson? Davis said, still sounding like he wasn t quite with it and, in the dark, he couldn t make Ethan out.

One and the same. Ethan could smell Baker s blood on Davis s clothes, but he didn t have gunshot residue on his hands. None of the guns Davis had on him had been fired recently. Davis hadn t shot Baker.

But a wild animal jumped on me and knocked me down. I m sure of it. Something huge and furry with glowing eyes. Davis s eyes were wild with fright, his heart beating hard, like he was afraid the wolf would return.

I chased the wolf away. You re lucky I came to your aid so he didn t end you. Like Ethan had wanted to do. He texted Grainger: Got Officer Davis.

Grainger texted back: He s not getting away from facing charges and you re due a retirement.

But they hadn t gotten all the guys. Like Kroner and Oakley, as far as Ethan knew, and Agent Manx Ryerson. Ethan felt it was his obligation to finish this fully.

Damn it, get me out of here. These thorns are cutting me to shreds, Davis said. They re stabbing me in the back.

Just hold still. My partner s coming and we ll get you out of there. So who shot your partner, Baker?

Kroner. We all thought we were next.

Ethan finally heard movement in the woods and saw Renault. Ethan turned on his flashlight to guide Renault the rest of the way to where Davis was still stuck in the brambles.

Renault finally reached them and shined his flashlight down at Davis. It looks like he s stuck there for good.

Get me the hell out of here, Davis said.

Getting him out of there with him being practically upside down and as big as he is will be a job, Ethan said.

He and Renault just studied him.

What the hell are you waiting for? Davis growled.

Ethan texted Ty: Renault and I have Officer Davis. We re by the cliffs at the coast. There s a cottage just north of us with a van out front and porchlights on. If you can have a patrol car sent there, you can pick him up.

Ethan gave him the coordinates to their location.

Ty texted back: We ve caught four of Kroner s men. We ll have a car sent your way.

Ethan texted: Thanks. We have to cut him out of some brambles, but we ll be there shortly.

In truth, Ethan wanted to leave Davis in his thorny bed until the police car arrived.

As big as Davis was, it would be better to have more officers to help.

Though Ethan had pulled three guns off him, he might have a knife or another gun on him that he hadn t been able to reach because they were concealed on his back.

Renault glanced at Ethan, waiting for him to give him the go-ahead to get Davis out of the mess he was in.

Ty s sending a police car to pick him up.

We ll wait until the car is at the beach house.

Davis is so heavy and because of the odd angle he s at, it will probably take four of us to get him out of there.

Whether or not that was true didn t matter.

Ethan just didn t want to take any chances with the guy.

Renault nodded. Sounds good to me.

While Ethan and Renault waited for the police backup, Ethan got text updates from the other wolves. Oakley and Ryerson were still at large with Noah, Josh, Tori, and Adam in pursuit.

Ethan heard a car coming along the road and he saw it was a police car. Relieved, he waved his flashlight at them. They couldn t reach their location by vehicle and parked, then two officers got out of the car and headed toward them through the woods.

Ethan had a flash of apprehension crawl across his skin as he worried that these men might be on Kroner s payroll like the two DEA agents and the two Portland Police Bureau officers.

Hey, thanks for helping out, Ethan called out to the two men.

Yeah, we re glad you got this one. Others are still out searching for some of his men, the one officer said.

Ethan, Renault, and the two officers worked on cutting Davis out of the blackberry bush.

Once they freed him, they took him to the police car and the officers drove off with him.

Ethan noticed a white-haired woman, a bystander, glance out the beach house window, a light behind her showing her highlighted between the curtains.

He didn t blame her. With the police car s lights flashing, she had to worry that something bad had happened.

Ethan said to Renault, Oakley, Kroner, and Agent Ryerson are still on the run. Are you ready to hunt them down? Ty said they ve caught four of Kroner s henchmen.

It s going to be getting light out soon and that will help us to find them, Renault said.

Unfortunately, Ethan couldn t run as a wolf when it grew lighter out.