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

by Kelley, Morgan

  It was too early to reprimand him, and honestly, she didn't mind. It was done so lovingly, that he could do it all the time. Sitting on a stool, she stared at the papers in front of her.

  It took a second for it to all register.

  This wasn’t the newspaper.

  It was photocopies of a paper.

  Then, she saw it!

  “OH.MY.GOD,” she muttered, picking up the top one. The headline said it all.

  The sheriff’s daughter, the Spring Fling Queen, was brought in for questioning in a brawling incident.

  The men couldn’t hold it in anymore. The laughter ensued and filled their kitchen.

  Elizabeth glanced up, and the look on her face must have been funny, because they were laughing even harder.

  “Which one of you did this?” she asked, lifting a brow.

  Neither man would rat the other out.

  Of course not.

  What had she expected?

  Frick and Frack were like two peas in a pod and always had each other’s back, especially when busting her ass.

  She began rifling through the rest of the papers. They showed her sitting in the back seat of the classic car, waiving to the townspeople.

  Then, in the next one, her being pulled off a girl in the crowd.

  The last one was of her being put in a deputy vehicle, thankfully without handcuffs.

  “Someone’s going to be damn sorry that he hunted these down,” she warned.

  Callen and Ethan gave each other a first bump.

  Blackhawk was the one who gathered his composure first. “All I’m going to say is this. Next time, you tell us you were never in trouble, and the good one, these are coming out for the world to see.”

  “Ethan Jackson Blackhawk. You’re going to blackmail me? I’m your pregnant wife and mother of your children.”

  Callen snickered and began chanting like a child, “Lyzee was a felon. Lyzee was a felon.”

  She stared at him, appalled. “I was never arrested. I was taken to my father and lectured. There is a big difference,” she said, pointing at him. “You two actually went before a judge and were sentenced.”

  They ignored her.

  “Here we were under the impression that you were sweet and innocent. I do believe this proves otherwise,” stated Callen.

  The smile on Ethan’s face was breathtaking, and had she known that it would have chased away some of his pain, she would have made this all appear herself. For either man in her life, she would take a little embarrassment and humiliation.

  But that didn't mean she wouldn’t get even.

  “Our Miss Kitty was a law breaker,” stated Ethan. “That is so damn hot. Wait until I tell our kids when they grow up, that they didn't get their felonious mischief from only us. Their momma was a very naughty girl.”

  Oh, that was crossing a line.

  “Okay, boys. This means war.”

  It only made them laugh more.

  She pushed the papers away and drank her coffee.

  Callen continued, despite the warning, “I’m sending them to dad. Let’s see if he still say’s you’re the good one now. You vaulted a car door, rushed a crowd, and smacked down a bystander, all in heels and a gown.”

  Elizabeth crossed her arms. “I beat up two women who were putting their hands on my boyfriend at the time. There is a big difference. You don’t poach men from relationships. That’s crossing a line.”

  Ethan crossed to Elizabeth and kissed her on her scowling mouth. “I think it’s kind of sexy, and you looked pretty in your gown.”

  Callen snorted. “Like a princess. You look all pure.”

  “Like freshly fallen snow.”

  “More like a vestal virgin,” he added, as they took turns digging the hole.

  She interrupted, “Like a pregnant woman who can claim she’s not in the mood for sex for the next eight months.”

  They stopped.

  “Oh, and this time, I’m dead serious. I tease, but let’s see how you like servicing your own needs for the duration.”

  They stared at her as she picked up her coffee and headed for the stairs. “In fact, I have a really big headache. I don’t think I can sleep in the same bed as you two. I’ll take the spare room. How awkward for you both, sharing a bed without me. My, my won’t people talk now.”

  Both men watched her go, their mouths hanging open.

  “I think we screwed up, bro,” stated Callen.

  “Yeah, I think you’re right.”

  Elizabeth climbed the stairs and grinned wickedly, as they panicked. If the men wanted a war, it was going to be one hell of a fight, and she knew how to take them down.

  Already, they were freaked out.

  All she needed to do was sit back and let them terrorize themselves.

  Yeah, let the war begin...

  When would they learn?

  * * *

  Cyra rolled over and found herself lying against her husband. His hair was messed up and stood in playful peaks. Compulsively, she fixed it, only to wake him from sleep.

  “Mmmmmm. Morning, sweetheart,” he murmured. “Last night was pretty incredible.”

  She didn't disagree. “Yes it was,” she answered, leaving kisses across his lips.

  “The strawberry undies were pretty tasty, but you were better. Wherever you found that lingerie, buy more,” he whispered. “Fill our closet, so I can see you in it every night.”

  She giggled and rested her head on his chest. As her fingers stroked his abs, Cyra enjoyed the scent and feel of the man she loved. “Want to tell me about why your boss gave them to you?”

  Chris laughed and told her about the time she played Miss Kitty and the men at work were busting on her. “She planted them in her partner’s car, and his wife found them. Since then, they’ve been a private joke between us.”

  She grinned. “Well, now they can be something fantastic between us,” she purred.

  As her hands slid lower, the phone rang.

  “Shit,” he muttered, glancing at the screen. “It’s my mother. We should probably tell her the good news.”

  Cyra couldn’t wait. The witch was about to get a dose of reality. “Okay,” she grinned. This was going to be the best day of her life, next to marrying Chris. After dealing with the woman for four months, this was well worth every second of her having to be patient.

  “Hi Mother,” he said, placing it on speaker.

  “What are you doing, Orion?” she asked.

  Cyra fought hard to not giggle, as she teased him with her fingertips. When it took him a few seconds to focus and answer, it made her even more entertained.

  “I’m actually in bed with my wife, and we were just waking up.”

  There wasn’t a peep from the other end of the phone, and they knew why. She was trying to process the news that he dropped in her lap.

  Oh, this was priceless.

  Finally, Belladonna Leonard recovered and found her voice. “What did you just say to me?”

  “I’m in bed with my wife. We’re celebrating our marriage.” Chris hated being mean to her, but when his mother forced their hand, it wasn’t his problem anymore. She upped the game, and he was more than willing to play it.

  “Hi, Mom!” Cyra called, trying not to laugh.

  “Orion, you better be shitting me.”

  Her voice said it all.

  Chris fought hard not snicker. “No, I’m afraid not. You see, when you went behind our backs and tried to hijack our wedding, you crossed a line, Mother. While I may tolerate your quirks, I won’t swallow you screwing with Cyra. She’s now my wife and that means everything to me. Here’s your one warning. Back off and stop being so mean to her. If you love me, you’ll trust my judgment.”

  “I can’t believe you did this. You’re my only child. Now, I don’t get to see you have a wedding. You just stole my dream.”

  He didn't care. “You wanted to see me have YOUR wedding not ours, and that’s why this happened. Let’s place blame where it’s
due, Belladonna.”

  “Please tell me you had HER sign a prenup.”

  Chris could feel Cyra tense beside him at the mere mention of the words. This was her big worry, and he wasn’t about to let his wife stress something so insignificant. “We both signed a legal document. It’s called a marriage license, and that’s all we need. Now, if you don’t knock it off, you won’t be allowed to be part of our children’s lives.”

  She gasped, almost as if she had been physically struck. The words reverberated between them both.

  “Or be invited to their baptism and christenings,” Cyra added, and then hit the off button on the phone.

  Chris roared with laughter. “That was pretty clever, Mrs. Leonard.”

  She winked at him. “How about instead of talking about your appreciation, you show me?”

  “We do have a little time before work,” he said, rolling with her as he pushed his cell phone off the bed and to the floor.

  “Then, we better begin.”

  Chris didn't need a second invitation.

  * * *

  Heading into town, they met up with Tyrell. He followed them to the meeting house and the appointment with Chief Runningwolf. The entire time they were in the car, Elizabeth sat in the passenger seat and stared out the window. If she looked at them, she was going to burst into laughter at any second.

  Since she came downstairs, they were trying to get her to talk to them and smile. When they thought she was actually pissed, it made her want to giggle.

  Elizabeth wasn’t angry in the least, but sometimes she needed to show the men what happened when they got a little too big for their britches and teamed up on her. It wasn’t like she minded that they were curious about her past. It was completely understandable. Had they just asked, she would have been more than willing to share any information with them.

  Being sneaky was a big no-no in a marriage, and she had every intention of proving a point. Yeah, they dug into her past, and when she got home, she was going to do the same to them.

  What goes around comes around.

  Bracing her arms across her chest, she fought for composure as Callen kept trying to get her to talk. He was asking her questions and being overtly silly.

  When that didn't work, Ethan took over and opted for the sure fire way to get through to his wife. “How do you want to handle this today?” he asked, hoping that discussing the job at hand might lighten the mood.

  “I think we should start with Maxwell Steppapaw. If for some reason I piss off the chief, I don’t want to risk tanking both interviews.”

  “That sounds good to me.”

  Elizabeth replied, “Then that’s our plan.”

  “Are you really mad at us?” Ethan asked, slipping it into the conversation, since he finally got her to talk. “We just don’t know a lot about your past, and when we find out a few things, we get a little carried away.”

  She covered her face and allowed her body to shake.

  Both men gasped, thinking that they had made her cry.

  “Baby!”

  “Angel!”

  When she looked up, her eyes were indeed full of tears, but not from sadness. Elizabeth was laughing her ass off. “You two should know better. I don’t get mad at shit like that. I get even. I would watch both of your backs. You never know when I’m going to strike. Consider this your warning.”

  Pulling into the parking area of the meeting lodge, the men relaxed.

  Ethan knew that he should have trusted his gut instinct. His Elizabeth didn't play games like that.

  “Why doesn’t that offer me any reassurance?” Whitefox asked, still shaken up.

  “Cal, what can she really do to get even?”

  She started laughing at his cockiness. “Oh, you dug into my ‘arrest’, and now I’m going to dig into yours.”

  Blackhawk wasn’t buying it. “Those are juvenile records, and they’re sealed on the Rez. You don’t have a snowball’s chance of pulling that off.”

  She grinned wickedly. “I don’t, but you forgot about my buddy Gabriel Rothschild. I bet he has friends, who have friends, who have friends, who could help a girl out.”

  Callen sat there openmouthed, knowing what kind of details were in those records. “YOU wouldn’t dare.” Some of them were embarrassing and frankly, nothing the mother of his children should be privy to.

  She snorted. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like me at all. I would never take a dare. I guess you’re safe.”

  Now, both men simply closed their mouths, unwilling to dig the hole any deeper.

  As she hopped out of the vehicle, she put her game face back on. It was interview time, and they needed something to kick start this assignment before it became stagnant.

  At some point, she wanted to head home. Salem was a nice place to reminisce, but there was no place like home. It was where her heart was, and she missed her kids and Wyler.

  When Tyrell approached, she patted him on the shoulder. “Let me lead this one. We don’t have a record for happy Native relations. Callen may have to intercede and buy us some wiggle room. He’s damn good at his job.

  Tyrell followed and took off his hat in respect. “I’m ready,” he said, entering the building.

  Once inside, they were greeted by two Native men. One was in his fifties and the other was half his age.

  “Hello. You must be the FBI,” the older man said, holding out his hand. “If you’ll come with us, we’ll use my office.”

  “Thank you for seeing us, Chief Runningwolf,” Callen said, addressing the man with the utmost respect.

  As they followed, Elizabeth admired the brightly decorated walls and the artifacts that hung there. Whenever she saw a building like this, it immediately reminded her of Timothy.

  At one point, she used to get sad that he was gone, but time was indeed healing her heart. Now, she chose to cherish the times and memories that she had with him.

  Inside, he offered them chairs. “Welcome to our meeting house, my brothers,” the older man said. “My name is Chief Runningwolf, and this is Max Steppapaw. He is part of our tribe. Jason Walters is no longer associated with us, since he has chosen to move on, but I did offer him the opportunity to meet with us today.”

  Ethan spoke up. “We already spoke to him, Chief.”

  “Yes, he mentioned that you had paid him a visit.”

  Before the conversation progressed, Callen made the introductions, and when he got to Elizabeth, he referred to her as their wife and partner. He found that there was a trick when dealing with Natives. If either, or both men, lay claim to her as theirs, she had a less difficult time assimilating into the conversation, despite her being an outsider. There was an unspoken law, despite the tribe you came from. You watched out for your fellow brother’s family.

  “It is lovely to meet you, Mrs. Blackhawk,” the man said.

  Elizabeth needed to take control right off the top. “Actually, Chief Runningwolf, it’s director.”

  The man nodded, not the least bit offended that she corrected him. “I beg your pardon. I wasn’t aware that you, too, were part of the FBI. I’m not afraid to tell you all that this has us completely perplexed. What is it that you needed to see us about?”

  “We have some missing person cases, and we need to interview anyone that had altercations with the men in question,” she began. Pulling up her tablet, she faced it towards them to show Duke William’s driver’s license picture. “Do you recognize this man?”

  Maxwell Steppapaw crossed his arms defensively. “Yeah, he’s the man who destroyed a whole year’s worth of crops, and then had the outsider intimidation force arrest me.”

  Tyrell thought back and remembered Tony bringing him in. It was a tense moment, and he understood why. “I’m sorry that you felt intimidated, sir,” he stated. “I’m the new acting sheriff, and I would like to offer you an apology.”

  Elizabeth knew Tyrell would be perfect for the job. In fact, he was likely to do a better job than she had ever done.


  The chief spoke, “Thank you for that, Sheriff, but why are we rehashing something that happened many months ago?”

  “Well, he’s missing and presumed dead,” Callen stated.

  Immediately, Maxwell Steppapaw was up and out of his chair. His quick motions had them all reaching for their sidearms.

  “I didn't kill him! I guess all that you see is some Indian, and I have to be the savage that did this, right?” he said, addressing it towards Elizabeth, as if she had personally offended him.

  While she was willing to play nice, and she had, this was crossing a line,

  “Hey now! I have nothing against Natives. In fact, if you were sleeping a few minutes ago, you missed Director Whitefox telling you that I’m with them. That’s ‘WITH’ as in the biblical sense of the word. Well, what the bible would say if it had porn section.”

  Callen choked on the laughter that struggled to break free. Why was he surprised? He really thought that she was going to tear the man apart, instead, she opted to go easy on him.

  It was a testament to the love she felt for his people. Well, them at least.

  “We just want to hear your side of the story,” she continued. “So, have a seat and take a deep breath. We’re not here to accuse you of anything. We just need to follow everything up and get all the information.”

  It seemed to mollify him and the chief.

  “One morning, I woke up and found Duke Williams, and his swine, rooting around in my herb patch. The entire place was destroyed. I lost quite a bit of money over his idiocy.”

  Yeah, well money was a good motivator in murder, but she wasn’t going to say that out loud, especially since the man was already on edge.

  “I confronted him and kicked one of his pigs. He punched me and a fight started. He left licking his wounds, and then twenty minutes later the sheriff came and arrested me.”

  “For fighting?” Tyrell asked.

  “No, for abusing an animal. I’ll go on record and say that I love animals. It’s people who I hate! I was livid, but I didn't kill him. I won’t be weeping over him being gone.”