Devil Hath Come (an FBI/Romance Thriller ~book 7) (61 page)

Ethan was doomed. He knew what this meant. His wife was going to surely want a dog. Three kids, four adults, a dog and a big circus under the roof
at Fort Blackhawk/Whitefox.

“Yes. He’s fine. We’ll take him out later.”

Chris took her hand and led her away. Out in the hall, he stared at her. “Are you really okay with this? I’ll carry him out if you want me to, and trust me, Elizabeth won’t mind. She would probably offer to help.”

Cyra was
just confused. “He’s never ignored a command from me.”

He
gave her a kiss on the cheek in reassurance. “Maybe it’s the pepperoni or the fact she was giving him cookies. You brought me one and now I don’t want to leave your side either.”

She laughed
at that. “Good point. Let’s go watch more porn and do searches.”

Dropping his arm around her
, he grinned and tried to enjoy the evening despite the death. “If he never comes back, I can buy you a bunch of dogs.”

“CHRISTOPHER!”
She didn't think he was kidding.

He started laughing and didn't st
op until he reached their room, because he was already considering the possibility.

They worked nonstop the next few hours, until they were almost to the point of exhaustion. Finally, they decided to get some sleep. Climbing into bed, Elizabeth slid down between her two men and cuddled up for the night. She was just about to fall into the slumber, when the bed shook and the large dog climbed up at her feet. They all stared down at him walking in a circle until he found his spot.

“Just what I need. One more male in my bed,” she smirked.
“It’s not like I have any room to spare as it is, Rex!”

He let out a ‘
woof’
and rested his head on her shin.

Callen was laughing, since the dog was practically on top of
his brother and Elizabeth.

Ethan wasn’t as easily amused. “He’s going
to his home when this is all over.”

She giggled
at the tone in his voice. “Honey, don’t tell me. You need to tell Rex.”

Yeah, here was another battle he was about to lose.

    Saturday Morning

Two days until Halloween

To say the bed was crowded that night was an understatement. Yet, Rex had been a good dog and didn't move or bark all night. Now, the morning was another story. As dawn hit, he was sitting at the door waiting to go out. In fact, he got his own leash
as if to prove his desperation. As Elizabeth prepared to take him, both men objected vehemently.

In the end, Callen took one for the team and opted to walk the dog. Once the door was closed, Ethan rolled over and wiggled his eyebrows.

“Maybe getting a dog will get me more alone time,” he teased as he kissed his wife.

“For the record, you get lots of alone time,” she replied, but found herself getting lost in
it anyway. It was always an enjoyable experience when she could wake up and take ten minutes to just make out with Ethan.

“God, I don’t want to stop, but we need to focus on work,” Ethan said, as she began leaving kisses across the raven
over his chest. “Really, Lyzee baby. You need to stop before I can’t think straight.”

She kissed him once more,
and Elizabeth poured everything into it. It was so full of love and lust that it even made her want to take a cold shower. Releasing him, she stared into his midnight blue eyes and tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “I love you, Ethan Jackson Blackhawk. Marrying you on our fourth day together was one of the best things I ever did in my life.”

His heart melted. Whenever she became all mushy, it just happened. “I go
t very lucky when I found you, baby. I love you so much.” He punctuated each of his words with a kiss on her nose.

“We better get dressed before Callen gets back or he’s going to help convince you to keep me naked in bed.”

Blackhawk started laughing as his eyes sparkled with love. “Baby, just so you know, no one really has to help me with that. I can manage that one all on my own.”

It was distracting to watch him climb out of bed. She really wanted to play ‘connect the tattoos with kisses’, but she knew better. Elizabeth stared up at him and
held out her hand so he could pull her from bed. “Come on, Mr. Blackhawk. You and I have an assignment to solve.”

As th
ey began dressing, when there was a knock on the door. Ethan pulled on his dress pants and grabbed his gun. “Stay here and if you hear shooting, come save me,” he teased. He was well aware that she was more than capable with a gun.

That wasn’t what she expected him to say or do, and it caught her off guard. “I
will always save that sexy Native ass of yours, Ethan.”

Going to the door, he peeked out. “Come on in,” he said, opening the door
for Chris and Cyra.

When she walked in, of course his shirtless body was the focal point. “Wow, someone likes tattoos,”
she stated, trying not to stare, but it was difficult to look away from them.

At one time, Ethan would have cringed at anyone seeing them, but he’d learned to re-love each and every one. Grinning at them, he
motioned for Cyra and Chris to follow towards the room where Elizabeth was getting dressed.

Chris couldn’t help but
gawk at Ethan too. He was well aware that he had tattoos on his arm, since he’d heard Christina discussing it openly, but he wouldn’t have suspected that all that ink was under Ethan’s suit and tie. He watched Cyra’s face for a reaction, wondering if maybe he should get a few to impress his girl.

When they walked in, their faces must have said it all
, because Elizabeth started laughing. “It’s a thing of beauty,” she stated, as her husband pulled on his shirt and winked at her.

Cyra cleared her throat. “We finished the run on Ares.”

Elizabeth went to Ethan’s side and wrapped her arm around his hips as she leaned against him. “What do you have?”

She pulled out her tablet and began reading off the information excitedly. “After we got his name, the rest was fairly simple. I ran him in his home state of Washington
and hit pay dirt. He has an arrest record for statutory rape of a minor, and he’s a registered sex offender.”

Elizabeth started laughing. “That would make me want to hid
e and change my name too.”

“He’s so screwed when you get him alone,” Blackhawk stated
as he smirked.

She clipped her gun to her hip. “
Are you assuming that I won’t out him right in front of his wife? Yeah, wrong assumption going on there, Cowboy. I plan on dropping the sexy talk on the phone and sex offender status right off the top.”

Chris laughed. “
I’m so glad you’re my friend and wouldn’t ever do that to me.”

Elizabeth snickered. “Remember all the times you poked a wound, took away my gun or lectured me?”

He stared at her.

“I was buying my damn time. Now that you have a love life, I can mess with it.
I’ll start working on that once we get back home. Hey, Cyra,” she glanced over at the woman. “I have some stories about Chris as a rookie ME. Want to hear them?”

“Hell yeah I do!”

Chris looked panicked. “You wouldn’t!”

Elizabeth started laughing. “You only have one secret I won’t share. The rest is free game.”

Well, he had to admit, he probably deserved it. “She knows about my money. I already told her.”

Ethan looked confused.
“Your money?”

Chris shrugged and didn't care if Elizabeth told Ethan. “Go ahead,” he offered
. He didn't mind if he knew, especially since they were friends.

“Our
beloved death doctor is very wealthy, and let’s leave it at that,” she stated laughing. She was glad Cyra looked appalled. It meant she wouldn’t have to kick her ass later for using Chris.

That intrigued Blackhawk. “You need to quantify that for me. There’s wealthy and then there’s ‘
Holy Mother of God’
.”

Chris was laughing. He loved his
bosses.

Elizabeth winked at her friend. For years she kept it quiet for him, hoping that some skank wouldn’t try and snag him for his money, and now she believed
that he had found the real deal. “I believe he’s under that last option with a side of ‘
I own a portion of a sports team’
wealthy
.”

Blackhawk laughed. “Nice.”

Chris shrugged. “I have box seats in a skybox, want to go?” he asked his boss.

“I’ll dump my current football partners for that any day,” he teased, knowing who he watched sports with in the fall.

Elizabeth punched him. “Yeah, well I hope you like the couch and sleeping on it alone.”

Blackhawk grinned
and dropped a kiss to her forehead. “What’s on the agenda, boss?” He winked at Chris. He wouldn’t desert Callen or Elizabeth for a game, especially since he watched with CJ and EJ beside him. Now, if he could take them…

“I want to hit up Harmony’s house and dig around. If she was walking both sides of the magic
k world, maybe something will pop up at her place.”

Ethan glanced over at Chris. “Still nothing on the missing DNA?”

He shook his head. “I don’t get it. We don’t misplace shit, ever. I mean, I know Christina’s been off her game, but to lose hair? It’s just not possible.”

Elizabeth decided to break it to him. “Just to make you aware,
Christina won’t be staying on our team.”

“What?”
He looked appalled and immediately his mind went with the most logical reason why.

She
continued, “Before you think that I fired her, she’s taking a leave of absence.”

Immediately,
Chris understood where this was heading. “Kane Redwolf, huh?”

“Yeah, it seems Cupid’s been working overtime at FBI West
lately. There must be something in the water,” Elizabeth stated. She liked that love was flourishing where death normally hung out. The people around her who fought so hard for justice deserved it.

“You probably have
poor Cupid locked in a cage. We all know you’re a slave driver,” snickered Chris.

“
Oh, Chris, sometimes I forget how funny you are. I hope you’re still laughing, once you find out that you earned another day of demon porn just to entertain me.”

He groaned
and slapped himself in the forehead.

“
How the financial reports going on our victims?” she inquired, glancing over at Cyra.

“
We’re halfway there. They should be done by tonight, and then I can cross compare them to see if anything pops.”

“Great,” stated Elizabeth, as she heard the door open. In ran Rex, dragging his leash as he charged right at her.

Cyra watched, a little heartbroken, as her dog didn't even look at her. He was her baby, but now he appeared to have a new love.

Elizabeth saw the look on her face and didn't acknowledge the dog at her feet. “Cyra, I’m
so sorry. Generally, most living things run from me. There’s actually a list of things that despise me like, cops, cats, most people and small creatures. I don’t know why he’s following me around. Maybe he’s possessed.”

Chris dropped his arm around
the agent’s shoulders to offer her support while she was sad.

“Elizabeth, it’s okay,” she said, trying to not get emotional. It wasn’t like it was the woman’s fault. Rex had a mind of his own
, and she was well aware of that.

“What did I miss?” Callen asked, as his brother’s phone began ringing.

Elizabeth caught him up to speed. Then she noticed Ethan’s face, and it said it all.

“We have our fourth victim. That was Chief Lowry
, and we need to meet her officer at the station. It’s a new location and a very fresh sacrifice.” Ethan was already slipping his badge and gun onto his hip.

“Looks like today’s plans all get bumped back a little,” she stated, heading for the door.

“Uh, what do we do with Rex?” Cyra asked, watching her former best friend walk away from her to follow another woman to the door.

“It looks like we bring him with us to the crime scene. Who knows, maybe he’ll find something that we’re obviously missing.”

Elizabeth would like to say that she was surprised, but she wasn’t. As they pulled up to the station, they were met by Officer Murphy and driven to the middle of nowhere to meet the chief of police. Standing beside her, was once again Officer Marsh.