Blood Shall Run (An FBI Romance Thriller Book 15)

by Morgan Kelley

  Both now and especially later.

  When she set his hands free, they went to her waist. He couldn’t help but think how fragile she felt beneath his fingers. She was like a delicate flower.

  His gardenia.

  When she stared into his eyes, they locked together on some deeper level.

  “Boone,” she whispered, driving him into her body. The feel of him filling her was almost more than she could take. Not only was he in her body, the man was in her heart.

  His breath hitched.

  “Take us over, cher,” he murmured, watching her bounce on him. When she shouted his name, he couldn’t hold back.

  His body erupted, pouring into her.

  Her name was on his lips, as she was on his body.

  When Merry collapsed onto him, Boone held her in his arms. She buried her face in his neck.

  “Stay with me the rest of the night,” he murmured. “Sleep with me.”

  She knew how intimate that was.

  Sex was one thing, but cuddling, sleeping, and being together was something so much more.

  “Cher, for me. Stay.”

  That’s all she had to hear. He’d given her so much that evening. The least she could do was pay him back by giving him this gift.

  Besides, she really wanted to be there.

  “Yes, Boone. I’ll stay.”

  He pulled the sheet over their bodies as he let her stay over him. He was still buried in her, and he never wanted that feeling to end.

  Never.

  Now Boone knew the true fight was going to begin. She trusted him, but would she stay when he asked?

  Would she never leave his side if he begged?

  He really wanted to know what it would take to make Meredith Peyton his.

  Forever.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Thursday Morning

  French Quarter

  Well, she should have known it was too good to be true. As Elizabeth woke up she was in bed between the two men, only it wasn’t her husbands. The snickering men beside her were being their normal selves.

  Of course they were going to go there, finding amusement in the situation.

  When she opened her eyes, Chris and Tony were grinning wickedly at her, and their faces said it all.

  “I swear on everything that’s holy that I will kill both of you if you tell anyone we woke up in bed together. Then, I’m going to let Ethan and Callen abuse your corpses.”

  Chris turned toward her so they were facing each other. “The media is outside. I heard Callen heading out to deal with them.”

  “Where’s Ethan?” she asked.

  This was not how she planned to reunite with her husband. She wanted to jump him, and then jump him again. Instead, she cried all over him, and she wasn’t even hormonal.

  Love made you sappy.

  Stupid.

  And a girl.

  She’d kick her own ass later in punishment.

  “He’s out in the sitting room. He’s talking to someone. I can hear a woman.”

  “Did he see you two pervs trying to cuddle?” she asked, extricating herself from Chris’s watch. It was stuck in her hair. When she was free, he was wiggling his eyebrows. “Yes, he did, and I took pictures.”

  She punched him.

  “Lyzee! You hurt. You used to be gentler. The least you can do after using me as a pillow all night is not kick the shit out of me in the morning.”

  “You can hit me all you want,” Tony teased.

  She gave him what he wanted. As she was climbing over Tony, she punched him too.

  Hard.

  In the side.

  “If you think that will stop me from telling everyone I slept with you, you’re wrong!” he said, rubbing his side.

  She patted his cheek.

  Elizabeth knew that was total BS.

  The two men in that room were loyal, sweet, and her brothers. She was damn lucky.

  “I hit you for making me crawl over you. A gentleman moves for a lady. I’m telling your wife.”

  He glared at her. “You wouldn’t.”

  She laughed as she headed toward the door. “We’ll see. You better hope I’m not feeling mean.”

  “Shit! I’m dead.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, darlin’, you are.”

  As Elizabeth headed out of the room, she immediately recognized the voice. The second recognition dawned, Elizabeth knew she was screwed.

  This was her worst nightmare.

  “Hello, Elizabeth.”

  Crap.

  “Hello, Callista. How’s tricks, Doc?” she asked, trying to stay as calm as possible. It wasn’t easy to do it around Callista Gaines. She was the shrinkiest shrink of them all.

  Freud would hide.

  The woman crossed toward her and gave her a hug. “Darlin’, you know it’s good. I married a cowboy. They’re the best tricks to be had.”

  She plastered on a fake smile.

  She had to.

  Her gut was screaming.

  Instead of making a comment, she focused on Callista’s cowboy in question. “Hey, Quinn. Are you keeping out of trouble?”

  “Well, no one’s abducted me in an unmarked van since you, so yes. I generally manage to hold my own.”

  She headed toward the coffee her husband was holding. She prayed that Callista was there for her and not Chris. This was going to be bad if her husband jumped this gun. If he called in the shrink, the shit was going to hit the fan.

  Elizabeth stayed calm, giving Ethan a chance to explain himself. Maybe there was a convention of psychiatrists in town, and Callista was there to get her shrink on.

  She crossed her fingers.

  “We need to talk,” Ethan said.

  As if to time it just right, Chris came out of the bedroom, shirtless, and right into the shit storm.

  He stopped dead in his tracks, and immediately, he stared at Elizabeth.

  She knew what he was thinking.

  Somehow, this was going to be her fault.

  “Oh, Elizabeth, tell me you didn’t.”

  Before she could say anything, Ethan spoke up, “Actually, Chris, Elizabeth didn’t know I called Doctor Gaines in to see you. I’m pulling your badge until she talks to you.”

  Elizabeth stared open mouthed at the man. She couldn’t believe it.

  “You can’t yank him. He’s my freaking ME. If we have more bodies, who the hell is going to do the autopsies for me? Tony?”

  “I have it covered.”

  Elizabeth moved between Chris and her husband. “Who is doing the autopsies?” she asked again. This wasn’t over until he answered her question.

  She hoped he wasn’t going to say what she thought he was going to say.

  If she did, he was dead. She was going to kick his ass.

  “I spoke to Doctor Perette. He’s agreed to come back and work with us, despite the rocky start.”

  Callen opened the door and stepped in, and he could immediately tell the shit was about to erupt. Ethan must have dropped the bomb.

  It was any man for himself.

  So, he figured he’d save anyone not involved in this clusterfuck.

  Callen patted Quinton Gaines on the shoulder. “Right about now, we should go get coffee. This is going to be ugly. Someone is going to die, and we don’t need to witness it.”

  The man was good with that.

  Honestly, this was uncomfortable. While his wife liked the personal bullshit, he was a cop. He didn’t like drama.

  “Wait for me!” shouted Tony, racing out of the other room as he pulled on his sneakers. “Wait for me.”

  As soon as the door closed, she stared at her husband. “What did you do?”

  “I handled the situation. Our ME was not able to be in control, and someone had to call in help.”

  “I do believe, Cowboy, that this is my rodeo.”

  “As of last night, you were resigning. As of last night, I wasn’t sure who was running this circus.”


  She flinched as if she was slapped.

  “I had to do my job.”

  And that was the crux of it. Ethan was playing the role of Deputy Director, not husband.

  He crossed his arms and waited for her to say something, anything.

  “I see. Well, it didn’t take you long, Deputy Director, to begin making decisions. In fact, I haven’t even handed you my badge yet.”

  “Lyzee, he needs help. This is about getting Chris better and back to work.”

  “Yeah, he does, but this wasn’t the way to do it. This is a fucking ambush, Ethan. If you did this to me, I’d never speak to you again. Now you yank his credentials, and in front of a room full of people? That’s so wrong that I don’t know where even to begin. He did that to me and we were pissed at him for weeks. Now you’re asking him to swallow it?”

  “I’m doing my job when you couldn’t.”

  Again, she took the barb.

  That was strike two.

  He was pushing that last button, and soon, she wouldn’t be able to remain calm. Boss or not, she’d enter this brawl swinging.

  “Well, it’s good to see that you have no problem being exactly like Gabriel Rothschild. I expected more since you’ve been boned by him as much as I have. I never saw this day coming. I never saw you becoming his cold hearted clone.”

  “Elizabeth.”

  She couldn’t do this.

  She wouldn’t give Callista Gaines the pleasure of watching them melt down in front of her. Then she’d want to have her on the leather couch for some shrink-y analyzation.

  No way.

  She was done.

  Elizabeth did what she knew she needed to do. She turned to face her best friend.

  “Chris, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know, and had I, you would have been warned. I hope you believe me.”

  He hugged her. “It’s okay, honey. I know this wasn’t you. Maybe it’s for the best. Maybe he’s right. I’m not competent enough to do my job.”

  There were tears in his eyes.

  This hurt him.

  She wiped them with the pads of her thumbs. “I’m going to brief my team and get out in the field, but I will be back later. If you want me to be here when you talk to the doctor, I will be.”

  “Elizabeth,” Ethan said. “He needs to do this alone.”

  She turned and glared at him. “Ethan. Shut up.”

  He stared at her in surprise.

  She’d never taken that tone with him.

  Ever.

  It was proof how close she was to really losing it.

  “Yank the boss stick out of your ass for one second. I’m not going to let you run over me like this. He’s vulnerable, and he needs a safety net.”

  “You’ve been that.”

  “And I’ll continue to be it. When you were a powder keg, I stuck. Even when you became mean, belligerent, and a horrible person to be around, I didn’t abandon ship.”

  Chris touched her shoulder.

  He didn’t want her fighting. She had enough on her shoulders. It was enough that she was trying to protect him.

  Elizabeth was keeping her promise.

  It gave him peace.

  “Lyzee, it’s okay. I’ll talk to the doctor. I’ll get it over with and it’ll be done. Just be careful out there. This killer is angry.”

  She was well aware.

  She was angry too.

  There was only one thing to say, and it wasn’t to her husband.

  “Doctor Gaines, if you make him cry, I’ll make you cry, and then I’m going to peel the hide off of HIM to make him pay,” she said, pointing at Ethan. “You broke the girlfriend code. We were friends. Had I known this was coming, I would have warned you.”

  “Elizabeth, I’m sorry.”

  “I made her do it.”

  She glared at him. “Liar. I know you. This was a favor. We’ve been married too long for me to be that stupid, Ethan. She broke the code, you betrayed me, and I’m going out to find a killer. I have nothing more to say to any of you.”

  She’d never been angrier with anyone in her life. Her husband crossed a line, and that wasn’t fair. Power had gone to his damn head. Callista could have warned her, but she didn’t. Ethan was usurping his full power as director, and now he was shoving it down her throat.

  Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

  “I’m going to shower and get ready. Oh, and Deputy Director Blackhawk, I won’t be resigning, so you can kiss my ass. You’re going to see why Gabe called me cowboy. Since you want to play babysitter, I’ll give you something to watch.”

  With that, she walked out of the room, slamming the door. Everyone looked at Ethan for the explosion.

  He didn’t look surprised.

  “Chris, I didn’t do this to hurt you.”

  “I know, but you did hurt her. We all have, and she didn’t need this right now. You weren’t here when that crypt exploded. She missed dying by seconds. This killer hates her. He’s compassionate with the victims, but he’s not with the people trying to stop him. She was just coming back from last night, and now she’s distracted. That’s bad.”

  He was aware.

  This whole thing escalated out of control. Ethan wished he’d done it a little different.

  Starting with the doctor.

  “I’m sorry, Callista.”

  She understood. “Elizabeth is right. I broke the code. She’s got every right to be angry with me.”

  Ethan scrubbed his hands over his face.

  This sucked.

  “Doctor, I’ll leave this to you.”

  “Chris, how about we just talk for a bit?” Doctor Gaines asked, pouring him some coffee. “It’s just to get to know each other?”

  He didn’t buy it for a second. He’d done the psych rotation in college. He was well aware that she was already analyzing him.

  So, it began.

  Chris walked over to his medical kit and yanked it open. Inside, he pulled out his gun and badge. He walked it to Ethan and handed it to him.

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “I get it, but she’s right.”

  “About?”

  “You just pulled a Gabe, and a few months ago, you would have been pissed if he did that to her. You just screwed over your own wife, and in front of another woman, who was her friend.”

  He was well aware.

  Now, he needed to get his ass kicked by his wife.

  When he got to their room, the agents were already there. They were briefing her as she had a cup of coffee.

  Elizabeth wouldn’t look at him.

  At all.

  Callen wasn’t there, so he didn’t have back up.

  That didn’t bode well.

  “What do you have, Agents?”

  “Ma’am, we did the interview, and we tried to get information out of Officer DuChamp.”

  “Let me guess, he stepped out on all three occasions, right? He’s claiming that he took a break and that’s why he wasn’t there to do his job.”

  They stared at her.

  “Did you send her the report?” Brody asked. How she knew, he didn’t have a clue.

  “No, I didn’t,” Johanna offered.

  “I’m a freaking psychic.” When they stared at her, she clued them in. “He’s a young man. What do young men think about, Broderick?” she asked.

  “Babes.”

  “What do young men hopped up on adrenaline from being a cop think about?”

  “More babes?”

  “If the boss is away…?”

  “The young man in question would be out trying to play.”

  “And that’s how I knew he’d be out chasing women. I’m willing to bet that he was searching for tail among the tourists, and he wasn’t at his post. He’s likely not involved, and more or less a moron, willing to lose his job for a quickie.”

  “Yeah, you’d be right, boss,” Johanna offered.

  Well, at least she didn’t lose all her skills.

  “What else?”

&nb
sp; Johanna flipped through the pages. “We ran his mother. She’s a single parent, and sick. We can’t tell you what she has, but we can tell you that from the matching addresses on their licenses, they live together.”

  They told her about the fight going on when they arrived at the home.

  She saw the whiteboard in the corner, and figured someone should start filling it in. “Can I use this, or were you planning to take that over too?” she asked, staring at her husband.

  There was an icy chill in the room.

  No one missed it.

  “Oh, by all means, Elizabeth, feel free to use it, and later, we’ll be having a private discussion—husband to wife.”

  “I’m sure, boss man. You’ve gotta keep your employees in line.”

  Both agents stared at each other like she was crazy. It was scary for everyone watching this go down. No one messed with Elizabeth Blackhawk, and NO ONE screwed with Ethan Blackhawk.

  This was going to explode.

  It was bad.

  They could feel the tension.

  Elizabeth ignored his comment and began rattling off the names of all the victims for the board. From memory, she filled in all the details of their killings, who was a prostitute, and who was an unlucky citizen who had their liver taken.

  She didn’t miss a thing, even running on no sleep and being incredibly angry.

  In that moment, Ethan realized that he’d screwed up.

  Again.

  Her anguish the previous night hadn’t taken away from her ability to be a Fed. He’d seriously jumped the gun.

  She was probably grateful that she wasn’t his partner anymore, and from the looks she kept shooting him, she wasn’t very happy to be his wife either.

  “Agents, I have to run out for an interview today, so I’ll get you situated first.”

  “If you need to handle other things, we can take it, ma’am,” Brody offered. In fact, he wanted to take it so they could get far away from the nuclear explosion about to go off.

  This was new.

  Ethan and Elizabeth were generally a unified front in the fight against crime. They didn’t often battle each other.

  Bad winds were blowing.

  Elizabeth knew what her agents were trying to do. They were good, but she was pretty smart. They wanted her to fix the mess with Ethan.