True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) (34 page)

He laughed
as the tension lessened in his chest. “I love you, Lyzee, and my lip feels better now too.” The tingle shot through his body.

“I love you too.
” Elizabeth stroked his cheek gently.

Whitefox stared at her, and thought about what his brother had just said to him outside in the snow. What would he do if all this cost him her? He swallowed the lump in his throat
and the tears that threatened to fill his eyes.

“What?” she asked, as he stared at her.

“Promise me that no matter what you’ll keep you and the baby safe. Please put yourself first and don’t get hurt.”

Elizabeth looked over her coffee cup and into his eyes. The man looked rattled. “What’s wrong, Cal?”

Callen looked right into her eyes and lied. “Nothing, just covering all my bases.” It was one thing to risk his own life, but he had made her promise to keep Desdemona safe. Now he realized how stupid that was for him to do. Now that there was a stalker, by standing in front of her, Elizabeth was now carrying the target on her back. He’d just made the woman loved a possible victim.

She smelled a lie but let it go. It was only a matter of time before she figured it out, and then smacked him silly for not telling her the truth.

All this drama, and it wasn’t even eight a.m. yet. It didn’t give her high hopes for the day at all.

Whitefox found her sitting on the couch crying. It crushed him how dejected she looked. He would do anything to take away that sadness for her. “Desi, are you going to be okay?” he asked, softly.

She looked up, and saw the battle wounds on his face. “Oh Callen! What have you done?” she asked, standing and moving towards him. “Look at your face,” she said, sniffling. Pulling him to the couch she pushed him down, and sat beside him, checking to make sure he was okay.

“Ethan and I had a little fun in the snow,” he said, grinning.

Desdemona should have been mad, but it touched her that he’d fight his brother for her. His own flesh and blood, for a woman he just met. “Come here,” she pulled his face towards hers, and kissed the mark on his cheek, and then left a whisper light kiss on his cut lip.

“
Thank you,” he added, smiling. It wasn’t lost on him that her kiss didn’t have the same affect, and the guilt came back and overwhelmed him again as his heart and mind waged war.

Just then his brother came back down the
stairs; he’d changed and was ready for the day ahead. He looked at the woman. “Don’t forget, by noon today if possible.” He nodded at her and walked away, ignoring his brother. Granted it was beneath him, but he was still irritated that the man challenged him, oh and punched him in the face.

“Noon what?” asked Whitefox, confused.

“He wants a list of everyone in my past I had a relationship with, and he’s going to help me get free of this mess,” she answered. “You have an amazing family, Callen. Your brother is a really good guy and Elizabeth is pretty damn amazing too.”

Whitefox, if possible felt like even more of an ass. Yeah, what an idiot he was today, especially towards his brother.
The man he just accused of being cold was going to clean up the woman’s mess, and he knew he would have done it despite the fact his brother was sleeping with her.

“Come on, let’s get you into dry clothes, we have to get to work soon,” she said
, standing and offering him her hand. 

Then he needed to talk to his brother and tell him how sorry he was to have doubted him, and risked their relationship.
Now he could only hope his brother, who gave him a free pass off the Rez, was letting him love his wife, and be part of his life would forgive him.

Or he just lost everything that mattered in his life.

Ethan drove into the sheriff’s station with just his wife. Right now he wanted to give his brother some time to cool down, and figure out what end was up. Women could turn a life upside down, he knew that from experience. His wife had done the same to him too. Now she was turning his life upside down at every chance, and he suspected Callen’s too,

“How mad are you at him?” she asked, as they pulled into the parking lot.

“I’m not. But sometimes you have to beat sense into the stubborn ones,” he answered.

“Hell, if I don’t know that,” she said
, grinning. “If I was included in those ‘stubborn ones’ comment, keep in mind you probably couldn’t take me.”

Ethan
laughed at the visual.

When he parked the Denali, she paused. “Mr. Blackhawk?” she asked.

“Yeah, Mrs. Blackhawk,” he looked over.

Elizabeth reached over and pulled him over to her, bringing her lips to his, starting to kiss him lightly, then gradually increasing the kiss, until he moaned in pleasure. When she broke away, both of them were breathing heavier.

Blackhawk licked his lips. “What was that for?” he needed to know, so he could keep doing it.

“That’s for that sexy display of manhandling your own brother in the driveway, and the fact that you evaded that punch with some excellent skill and timing. Big turn on indeed, Mr. Blackhawk.
Those were some crazy mad fighting skills. Turned me right on,” she said, winking.

“Like sex tonight turned on?” he asked
, hopefully. It felt like weeks since he’d been able to put his hands all over his wife.

Elizabeth leaned over and whispered in his ear.

“Shit! Really?” Ethan Blackhawk sat with his mouth open, as he visualized it.

“Really Mr. Blackhawk,” she winked
, opening the door. “Come on, Cowboy, we have work to do.”

Ethan Blackhawk watched his wife walk to the front doors, and he couldn’t help but hope the day went by fast
, so when they got home he could be the victim of her manhandling.

                              *     *    *

She stood in the trees with her shotgun.
If her lover tried to escape, she’d show him who was boss. If someone was trying to steal her man, she was going to protect her one true love no matter what.

A girl had to do what a girl had to do.

Watching the buildings, she prepared to make the shot, and put down the person that dared go near her lover.

Once she found the whore, she’d take her down with one clear shot.
No one touched her true love and got away with it.

The best whore was a dead one.

                         
      *     *     *

Sheriff Duffy waited inside for the FBI to arrive. He needed to update them on the situation that had been brought to his attention. Deputy Julian Littlemoon was back from tracking, and he needed them to hear what he’d discovered.

When the female
agent entered the building, he moved toward them quickly, not wanting Sheila Court to make any comments to exacerbate the situation. They’d yet to find Deputy Bobby Lee Tills, and he knew it was priority one with the FBI. The man tried to kidnap one of the agents, and that was a big offense. His deputy was going to jail, and he couldn’t stop it from happening. It was time to cut his losses.

“Agents, can I see you in my office?” He rushed forward,
ushering them into his space. Inside Deputy Littlemoon sat in civilian clothing.

“Agent
Blackhawk,” he said, nodding and standing to allow the female agent his chair. She may be an outsider, but she was married to a Native, and he’d give her respect. Especially since the ring on her finger had the symbols and stones of her husband’s tribe. Obviously she’d been claimed by their people too.

“Thank you, Deputy.”

Blackhawk nodded at the deputy and his courtesy to his wife. “I’m assuming you want to give me some information on Deputy Tills? Have you found him?”

The previous night, Sheriff Duffy had received the call pretty late about the suspected abduction. Immediately, he called Littlemoon, and told him where to start looking for the man. “It is about him and sadly, he hasn’t been found. Deputy Littlemoon was out tracking him
, and he found himself back up by the Boy Scout camp again.”

Blackhawk looked over at the man. “Julian, what did you find?”

“I tracked the man close to the house you're renting. He travelled from the hospital, up past the Boy Scout camp, and then down to your dwelling. Once he hit the road I lost him, but there were plenty of tracks at the camp.”

“Okay
.” Blackhawk looked over at the knock at the door, and then turned back.

Whitefox walked in with the ME.

“I think that he might be hiding out up at the Boy Scout camp and using the buildings to lay low. We wouldn’t think to look there for him,” he said. 

Elizabeth and her husband stood. “Then we need to get up there and search,” she said.

“They don’t make maternity Kevlar, Elizabeth,” her husband said, as he walked past his brother and the ME. “You aren’t going.” Ethan Blackhawk wasn’t even going to negotiate this.

Elizabeth followed him out, and wasn’t going to listen to a single
word he said. In fact, she watched the men getting ready and had a plan. “Desdemona, still have my keys?” she asked, keeping her eye on her husband.

“Yeah.”

“Let me have them, and when he realizes I’m gone, tell him where I went,” she said, walking out the door and to the Denali. She loved her husband, but just because his brother had him pissed off, he wasn’t going to boss her around. She didn’t have any intention of going onto the scene, but she would sit there and wait for him to arrive. At some point he’d learn that snapping orders at her was just going to cause more drama and pushback from her. Apparently, at month nine of being married, he still didn’t realize that if he ordered her around, she was going to fight him.

Independent and stubborn were about to collide
once again, and this time she had raging hormones in her favor.

Blackhawk had given out the orders to everyone that was
heading to the Boy Scout camp. Everyone was to be in Kevlar, ear pieces, and to watch their backs. As he went to give his wife a kiss goodbye, he realized she was gone.

“Where’s Elizabeth?” he asked, looking around at the people
surrounding him.

Whitefox shrugged
, but had a sneaking suspicion.

“She walked out the door ten minutes ago,” added Desdemona. “What?” she looked at both men. “I can’t blame her; you just barked orders at her. By now she has the entire scene cleared.”
She began putting on her Kevlar vest.

“Desdemona,
you aren’t going!” ordered Whitefox, adamantly.

“Really? With the deputy running around lose you want me here by myself?
That sounds like a horrible idea.”

The look on his face was priceless.

Desdemona just laughed, walking away and channeling her inner Elizabeth.

“This is all your wife’s fault,” muttered Whitefox
, suiting up. “She’s a horrible influence on Desdemona. Just yesterday she listened to me, for the most part.”

“I swear to God, I’m going to drag her home and…”
He didn’t think anything would stop his wife from being a complete menace to herself and his nerves. “Let’s get out there, before my partner gets herself killed.

Blackhawk was pretty sure he felt like committing murder.

Elizabeth hopped out of the Denali, as she heard the snow crunching beneath tires. There was something new at the camp that had her attention. Above the buildings she could see the birds and hear the caws. In fact, there was a tree full of black birds. “Shit,” she muttered.

Blackhawk was at her side fast, and he wasn’t happy. “Elizabeth, you’re not going in there,” he said
, glaring angrily at his wife.

“Ethan
, we have a dead body,” she answered, pointing at the building. “Carrion birds,” she added. “They’ve been having a snack, and we need to get in there and keep the remains from being destroyed further.”

Blackhawk motioned to the ME. “Doctor Adare, we have scavengers. Suit up,” he said, pointing to the birds sitting in the trees.

“Director Blackhawk, I need to go in first and see the scene in situ, wait for me.” It was time to get to work, and she was pretty sure she knew what waited for her.

“Open the door!
” He yelled over to the deputy. “Stay out until the doctor gets in there first, but look in first to make sure we’re cleared.”

Julian Littlemoon pulled his gun and looked around the corner and visually cleared the room for
the FBI agents. When he looked back, he motioned the room was clear.