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Tori said, Apple blossom tea for me.

I ll have the lavender tea also, Sierra said.

Then they all had a chance to look at their menus.

I m getting the breakfast bar, Charlene said. It looks scrumptious.

The others all wanted to get the same thing. They headed to the breakfast bar and began serving up their food—fruit, hash browns, ham or sausage, and everyone ordered omelets, grabbed glasses of apple juice or orange juice, and then headed back to their table.

Okay, so now that we re sitting down, I have to ask if the DEA special agent is all right after he was shot, Charlene said, concerned for Ethan, then took a sip of her espresso.

Yeah, Ethan is doing great. We stopped by his place to check on him before we came to the restaurant, Cassie said.

I guess he has some time off from work now. Charlene forked up some of her cheesy omelet. Hmm, sharp cheese just like she liked it.

He has retired. He s going to be relocating to Oyster Bay, so at least you ll know one red wolf out there, Tori said, with a twinkle in her green eyes. She was wearing a light-gray suit, like she would be heading into work right after their lady wolves breakfast.

Charlene couldn t have been more shocked to hear the news.

She thought Tori was amused that she and Ethan might have a chance to get to know each other better after their initial fiasco of a meeting.

What? Why in the world would he do that?

I mean, when all his friends live here and he s a member of the wolf pack.

Charlene couldn t understand why a wolf would move so far away from a working pack that he belonged to.

He said he has had to deal with so much crime that he just wanted to get away from it all.

Most of our wolves work out in the country or live out there.

A few are in the city, Cassie said. But as they retire, I think more of our wolves will move out of the city.

It s easier if we want to run as wolves.

Okay, so Charlene could understand that, but why would Ethan move specifically to Oyster Bay? Where she was moving to?

The lights sparkled overhead and pictures of different kinds of fancy chickens—from silkies to frizzles—decorated the walls, while the tables were covered with red-and-white-checkered cloths. So cute.

The ladies had sure picked out a great restaurant. The food was delicious. So I guess as a pack leader, you re busy with that all the time, Charlene said to Cassie.

I m actually also a wolf biologist and teach groups about the importance and habits of wolves, Cassie said.

Charlene smiled. When you got your degree, that must have been easy.

Cassie laughed. Yeah, I could tell the professors a lot that they didn t know about with regard to wild wolves.

I bet. Why hadn t Charlene thought of an occupation like that when she was trying to figure out what to do with her life?

Because a police officer had rescued her family from their crashed car when she was five, and she d wanted to be a police officer.

She enjoyed taking care of the rental properties in Florida, though, after she changed careers.

We re sorry we didn t know about you beforehand, Sierra said. In addition to being a police sketch artist, I also teach art classes to the kids in the pack and adult classes for pack members.

That sounds like fun.

It is. We have a great time. Sierra glanced over at the entryway to the restaurant and smiled.

The other ladies looked that way and saw Ethan, Adam, and Leidolf show up, surprising Charlene when she thought this was just going to be an all-girl s breakfast. She was sure it wasn t a chance meeting.

They pulled up another table to join with theirs.

Sorry, Leidolf said, his green eyes alight with devilment. We had to get breakfast too, and what better time to do it than when a group of lovely she-wolves are having theirs at our favorite spot to eat.

Join us, mate of mine, Cassie said.

Yes, don t be shy, Tori said.

Sierra looked glad to see her mate and she moved over to sit beside Adam, leaving her chair available to Leidolf so he could sit beside his mate.

Charlene guessed Tori wasn t mated since no one had said anything about it.

But darned if Tori didn t move into the seat next to Adam so she would leave a free seat next to Charlene.

Now Ethan would have to sit down next to Charlene.

Girl, boy, girl, boy, and so forth, Tori said.

Charlene had to chuckle. She couldn t help herself. Smiling, Ethan took that as a sign that she wasn t going to bite him if he sat down beside her. He was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved dress shirt and looked like he was on a date, not ready to work as a DEA special agent.

Sierra was wearing a skirt, heels, and a pretty blouse, appearing to be ready to go to work at her job as a police sketch artist after breakfast. Likewise, her mate, Adam, was dressed in a suit, suitable for a homicide detective.

Leidolf and Cassie were dressed in jeans and short-sleeved shirts, looking like they were on vacation.

The server came and asked the guys what they wanted to drink. The guys told her that they would get the breakfast buffet. After she took their drink orders, she left, and Adam and Leidolf went to get their meals.

Tori hopped off her chair and said, I m going to get seconds.

Me too, Cassie said, smiling at Tori, and left the table.

Smiling, Sierra wordlessly left the table to get a new plate of food.

Ethan said, I m really sorry about your place. Leidolf said everything was fixed though.

Yes, and the homeowners approved the changes this morning. So I have to thank you for calling on everyone to do that. I wouldn t have been able to otherwise. I heard you were shot while you were apprehending the bad guys at the correct house. Charlene sipped some more of her tea.

Yeah, and bitten before that.

Charlene smiled.

Ethan chuckled. I expected you to do quite a few things, but that was totally unexpected.

She wasn t going to apologize for that. You took it well. Afterward, I considered that it had been a mistake on my part if you had believed I truly was involved in the whole business. Bad wolves are out there after all.

I didn t smell any drugs in the house, and that made me suspect that we had it wrong.

But not before you made a wreck of my place.

Yeah, I m sorry.

I bet you made sure the next place was the right one.

He smiled. Hell, yeah.

She shook her head. You might as well get your food so the rest of our party can return to the table. I suspect they all left so we could clear the air.

Ethan sighed. They did. They re a great group of friends.

I promise I won t shift and bite you again, just in case you re worried about that.

That s good to know. I m already hurting enough, though if you have a good reason for it again, I wouldn t hold it against you. Do you want anything more?

No, I m still eating what I have here.

Okay. I ll be right back. Then Ethan got up and went to the buffet table.

She was surprised he was so nice to her after she had bitten him.

She probably wouldn t have been if the roles had been reversed, and that had her thinking about him coming out of the shower naked and her having a gun aimed at him.

The unbidden thought of him dripping wet made her body heat and she felt like she was having a sudden hot flash.

Then everyone returned to the table with plates of food and took their seats. They all began to have conversations around the tables and Charlene said to Ethan, I hear you re moving to Oyster Bay.

Yeah, I hear you re going that way too.

Yeah, we might even be neighbors. But you ll no longer be on the force so you won t be breaking into any more houses. Though if you were, I would let you know my address so you wouldn t give me any more trouble. She took a bite of a juicy, green grape.

He laughed. No more warrants, no more break-ins. But I ll gladly take your address and your phone number.

She smiled, fished out one of her business cards, and handed it to him.

He looked at the card. So you rent out properties.

I do. Do you want to rent one until you find a place of your own?

He chuckled. I ve got a place.

She sighed dramatically. I ll have to scratch you off my list of prospective renters then.

He laughed and gave her his phone number and the address to his new place.

Tori finished the food on her plate and said, Hey, I ve got to head in to work, but this was grand. We ll have to do it again when you come back to the city, Charlene.

Yeah, Sierra and I have to go in to work too, Adam said, standing and helping Sierra from her chair.

Leidolf said, I ve got some things to take care of at the ranch.

And I need to get some materials ready for a speech I m making to a group at a college, Cassie said.

That she probably knew by heart, Charlene was thinking.

We paid for your bill too, Ethan, Leidolf said. We ll all see you at your retirement ceremony this afternoon.

Thanks! Ethan said. I appreciate it. I ll see you there.

Then everyone except the two of them left the restaurant while Charlene asked for a refill on her maple espresso black tea. She hadn t expected everyone to leave so all at once, but she suspected it was in part for her to visit privately with Ethan a little longer.

I m going back for seconds. Do you want anything? Ethan asked.

Sure, I ll get some more fruit. She rose from her chair and joined him. So I take it that you took the bad guys down and just didn t get shot and lose them.

They re in jail, but trying to get bonded out, of course.

Great. Hopefully they won t be. She d considered telling Ethan she had been a homicide detective, but she d given up her job and didn t really want to have to explain why.

For now, she was the owner and manager of rental properties.

It was amazing how someone s view of her could change when they learned what she used to do.

Sometimes not in a good way. She always suspected that the ones who were shocked and didn t have anything more to do with her had dirty little secrets they didn t want her to know.

After they shot at us, I believe they ll remain incarcerated. But you never know.

She got a new plate and added some cantaloupe, honeydew melon, and more grapes. They were so sweet. So what are you going to do for a job when you move to Oyster Bay?

I have a retirement check so I m going to chill for a little while and figure things out.

Oh, sure. And recuperate from your injuries. She noticed he was favoring his injured arm and had winced a few times. I still can t figure out why you would leave your friends behind.

I m not. I ll be seeing them. But I might have a new friend there to enjoy some wolf runs with.

Me?

Yeah, I still have to make it up to you. Would you like to have dinner out when I arrive there this evening?

She smiled. Okay, I ll bite.

He laughed. You sure did.

She laughed and then she saw Renault on the other side of the breakfast bar getting food. Fancy seeing you here.

My favorite spot to eat. Renault smiled at her and then glanced speculatively at Ethan. I didn t expect you to be out and about after getting shot last night.

It s barely a scratch. See you at the retirement ceremony.

Yeah, sure, Renault said and then he continued to fill his plate with food.

Charlene and Ethan headed to the table with their plates of food. He had taken seconds of practically everything.

So when are you actually moving to Oyster Bay?

Renault sat at a table close to them. Charlene smiled at him and then Ethan said, Right after the retirement party.

If you would like to come to it, we would love to have you there.

I mean, especially me. But some of my, um, friends will be there—Leidolf and Cassie, Sierra and Adam, Tori, and Josh Wilding and his mate, Brooke.

Josh is retired from the Portland Police Bureau, but we worked a lot of cases together.

So it won t be just a lot of people you don t know, but some of the people you ve met.

And then we could caravan out to Oyster Bay together.

After that, we could have dinner tonight there.

Then I could see the guys at the retirement party that you were working with who raided my house too? No way.

Yeah, I guess that s a no-go.

I ll take you up on dinner. Just let me know when you get in.

Not too late though. Around six would be a good time for me.

She mentioned that only in case he got hung up with his friends for hours and didn t arrive until eight or nine.

She wasn t waiting that late for dinner because he was enjoying being with his friends longer and couldn t part company.

Which she totally understood. But they could have dinner another night.

Of course. I totally understand.

They finished their breakfast, and he walked her out to her car. Until tonight then, he said.

Tonight. She slipped into her car and waved goodbye and left for her next new adventure. Maybe she would even have a wolf to date on occasion, but she would see how that all panned out. The last DEA special agent wolf she had dated hadn t worked out well at all.