Consumed by Wrath: An FBI/Romance Thriller (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 8) (23 page)

Callen didn't mind in the least. He knew that this whole trip was about his brother getting better. If it took them running off for some dalliance in a closet, so be it. While back home, when Ethan was
emotionally distant, Callen had plenty of alone time with Elizabeth. They often sought each other out to find comfort when their hearts were heavy.

“I just figured you would want to control freak the rest of the day to death,” he said, pointing at Ethan. “What’s on our schedule?”

Ethan leaned back in his chair. “Well, bringing a team here is a mess. Salem has one place to board them all, and it’s a roach coach. Every other place is thirty minutes outside of town and our last option. I really hate doing either of those choices to them, since our people work damn hard.”

There was no doubt in her mind that
the team wasn’t going to be happy at
‘The Wayfarer’
. “There really isn’t anything we can do,” she reassured Ethan.

“True, but we have another problem. It’s not going to hold everyone. When you came in, Lyzee, I was trying to find a place for the overflow.”

Callen knew this was a problem. “How many more do we need to place?”

Ethan held up two fingers. In the back of his mind, he already had a plan. “I have a solution, if you’re up for it, Elizabeth.”

She was willing to at least hear what he had to say. “Okay, Cowboy, shoot.”

“We can put two here with us.”

All three of them valued their privacy, and normally he wouldn’t even suggest something like that, especially after the last field case. When they found out Patrick Parrish had stalked them for months, it creeped them all out. From that day on, they closed ranks and made sure that they were even more careful. Now, they were faced with the dilemma. He preferred to keep the team in one location, and his pregnant woman at his side.

“Okay,
we can put Chris and Cyra here,” she offered. “Since he’s at a director level, and has the seniority, no one will say anything about it. Besides, he’s our ME and she’s the agent with seniority on duty.”

Ethan and Callen were both okay with that. They trusted Chris explicitly. The man had proved his friendship while they were in Circle Rock. Before he was Elizabeth’s friend, now he was
part of the family.

“Plus
, it will give them a bit more privacy than at that motel. I like them too much to make them live that hell.”

“You know the Natives will be restless over this,” Callen warned. There was going to be epic bitching and moaning.

She figured that would be happening. “If that happens, I have a contingency plan, boys. You know me. I like to be prepared for anything.”

They waited to hear it.

“I’m going to toss out that I’m pregnant, and that should make them distracted enough to be focused on the next baby pool.”

Both men groaned
at the implication. This meant screwing with the team and trying not to slip up and give it away. It never seemed to work out the way they planned. The last time, Callen slipped in front of a clearing full of techs. Word circulated back to the hive so fast, that everyone switched their bets and no one was the winner.

“If that doesn’t work,” she began, “I’ll remind them how bitchy I get when I’m
expecting. Their cranky moods won’t even come close to pregnancy hormones. Rarely does the team question me when I’m not pregnant, but carrying Baby Blackhawk? They wouldn’t dare.”

She had a point.
No one really wanted to risk being chewed up by a pregnant boss. They were all smarter than that.

Ethan got that warm fuzzy feeling when she referred to his child as ‘Baby Blackhawk’. It made it feel so tangible.

“Okay, now that we handled that, what’s on our personal schedule today?” Callen asked, glancing down at his watch. He was guesstimating that the team would be landing in about two hours.

“When Chris and Tony get here, we’re going to divide up. We need Doctor Magnus to get on those bones and Doctor Leonard to dig into the ME files. As for us, we have to talk to the mayor yet, and the team needs to get to work.”

They both knew that when it came to authority in town, the mayor was going to be an issue, especially since they called in their team without warning.

They had only one ace in the hole on this one.

“Mayor Santana shouldn’t be too bad, since he used to be my deputy. Then again, one never knows. I never thought that Tony would be sheriff. That’s just a clusterfuck waiting to happen,” she stated. “Whoever appointed him should be taken out back and whipped within an inch of their life.”

“Yeah, I have my reservations about working with him at all,” stated Blackhawk. “
And those reasons don’t even have anything to do with me wanting to rip his arms off for always having to touch you either, Elizabeth.”

She started laughing.

“Okay, so that wasn’t exactly the truth. It has everything to do with him always putting his damn hands too close to what’s ours.”

It was good to see him back to being possessive and crazed. Oddly, she missed it and was NEVER going to complain again. When you lost something, you never took it for granted
if you were lucky enough to get it back.

Callen agreed. “If the man was stupid enough to dump you, God only knows why, then he needs to suffer.”

Ethan jumped in before Elizabeth could even say anything. “She didn't put out on prom night, and he tossed her aside.”

It was hard to not stare at
Elizabeth openmouthed. “You didn't put out? Wow… I mean… just wow! Are you sure that we’re talking about the same woman?” he asked, pointing at the babe sitting in his lap.

She gave him the warning look.

“Elizabeth ‘I have no inhibitions’ Blackhawk didn't give it up to her prom date?” Callen grinned wickedly.

Elizabeth sucker punched him hard for that one. “I’ll have you perverts know
, that before you both, I didn't go around having copious amounts of sex. In fact, I didn't have sex with anyone before Ethan, for about a whole year.”

Both men tried to not look guilty.

“Can either of you two upstanding gentlemen say that?” she pointed at Callen. “You used to chase women all the time and couldn’t pick out a lady if she landed under you, and you,” she pointed at Ethan and paused. “Never mind, Callen was far worse.”

Blackhawk roared with laughter, especially when he saw his brother’s face.
Elizabeth knew that he was in a relationship before her. Ultimately, he had called it off once he began having dreams about his mystery woman, but that was something only she was privy to, and it appeared that her lips were sealed.

It was more proof that she had his back.

Callen sputtered and pushed her up from his lap. Without warning, he picked Elizabeth up in his arms and headed to the door.

“Wait! Where are we going?” she yelled, squirming in his arms
as she tried to get free from his strong grip.

“You said that I couldn’t pick out a la
dy if she landed under me. I plan on testing out your theory, since we have some time to spare before heading into town.”

“Ethan! Help!” she called, laughing as
Callen carried her towards the stairs.

He followed them out. “Well, I was satisfied after the closet, but if you want me to help him
find a lady, who am I to argue?” he offered, grinning wickedly.

Elizabeth just laughed as she knew this was one fight that she wasn’t going to win.

And
she was okay with that.

~ Chapter Seven ~

As they all sat on the jet, there was chatter between the techs. Everyone was incredibly excited to be working an assignment on this side of the country, and word had travelled that this was Elizabeth’s hometown.

There was this curiosity about her, and anytime a tech could get some juicy tidbit, it was like fuel
for the fire.

Sitting in the front
row of seats on the jet, Chris and Cyra sat quietly. There were pleasantries, but neither of them was being exceptionally chatty. It spoke volumes as to the status of their pre-marriage mind set.

Finally, Cyra couldn’t take it anymore.

“Christopher, we need to talk.”

Oh shit, here it came.
Already, the dread was building as he was expecting the worst.

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I received a call today from the church, florist and the officiant. It seems that your mother took it upon herself to cancel everything that I worked on for weeks.”

Chris closed his eyes. “I know
. She told me this morning, and I did tell her to knock it off. I just don’t know if she’s going to listen to me. You see how she is, and I can’t exactly kick her out of my life. I’m her only child.”

Cyra felt bad about the position that he was in, and she could sympathize. Didn't she just get that
shitty email from her brother?

“I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered.

Chris felt his heart sink and pretty much drop into his gut. This was what he feared in life, and once more, his mother had been the catalyst to it. He was about to get his heart handed to him by his fiancée.

“Cyra, I know you’re upset,” he whispered
back. He didn't want anyone else around him to hear him getting dumped by the woman he loved. That would be more than humiliating, and Chris wasn’t sure that he could handle it.

Maybe working together on this assignment was a horrible idea after all.

“I’m three days past upset into irate, Christopher. This isn’t working anymore.”

“So
, it’s over?” he asked, his heart breaking in pieces. Somehow, he knew that it would never be the same again. Now that he had found love and lost it, he may never recover.

“This marriage debacle is definitely over. I can’t spend days and hours fixing what your mother tries to undo, so, I have a solution.”

He looked up at her and found a slight glimmer of hope in her words. Could they still have a chance?

“I know you wanted a wedding, but it’s just not going to work. My family and your family are not going to ever be a good fit. The only people
who haven’t had a problem, were Elizabeth and my sister,” she said, and then paused as she built up the nerve to make her suggestion.

“What are you saying, Cyra?” Now
, he was confused as to where this was heading.

“All I want to do is be your wife. Can we just say screw it and elope?”

He stared at her, astounded.

Cyra really thought that maybe she had pushed too far.

“Oh sweetheart! That’s the best thing that I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I never wanted a wedding. I would have ran off and got married the day I proposed to you.”

The stress immediately lifted from her shoulders. “Oh Christopher,” she murmured, running her hand down his face as she brought his lips to hers.

The kiss was amazing.

Both fell into it and forgot where they were, until Tony peeked his head over the seat to start clapping. Before they knew it, the entire lab staff was giving them
a standing ovation, mid-flight.

Immediately, Chris blushed a shade of red rarely found in nature. It even went to his ears as he glared at Tony ominously. “Karma is a bitch, my friend. You better watch yourself,” he warned.

Cyra simply giggled. God, how she loved her sweet and gentle man. The flush creeping up his neck was sexy as hell.

When Chris turned around,
Cyra immediately held onto his hand. All the pressure was easing up off his chest, and he was beginning to slide back into his easy going nature. Now, if they could only find a solution with always working opposite hours and passing like ships in the night.

“I feel so much better now,” Cyra said, cuddling against her fiancé.
“It feels good to get this off my chest. I really thought you were going to get upset with it. I’m glad that I brought it up.”

Chris was too, except he stil
l had something bothering him. Going for it, he laid it on the table.

“Cyra, I still have some problems with us
and our situation.”

Now
, it was her turn to look worried. “What is it, Chris?” She hoped that telling him about his mother wasn’t going to build a wall between them.

“We work opp
osite shifts. I need to work the night shift two weeks a month, and lately you’ve been away the other two weeks on assignments. It’s making me frustrated and worried that our marriage, once we tie the knot, won’t be able to withstand the distance between us.”