Consumed by Wrath: An FBI/Romance Thriller (An FBI/Romance Thriller ~ Book 8) (30 page)

After all, he needed to tell her that he was sorry, and promise her that she wouldn’t go to waste.

He would use her wisely.

A meal was a meal
, and to waste food was nothing less than a sin.

                        *     *     *

Friday Morning

The sun was barely up.

Sometimes, mornings could be so ungodly.

It wasn’t unusual that she was the first one
awake in the morning. In comparison to the two men, she was just the early riser. They would sleep in until their alarms went off, but she would listen to her internal clock.

It wasn’t like she slept well
the previous night, but for some reason her body demanded that she wake up. Glancing over, Elizabeth could see the slow rise and fall of Ethan’s chest. He was gone to the world and appeared to be resting peacefully. Behind her, she could feel Callen’s breath on her neck. He, too, was out for the count.

If she wanted to slide out of bed, it wasn’t going to be easy. Part of her wanted to wake them up. What she could really use was a way to distract her mind and feel better. Unfortunately, she didn't believe that
either man went to bed early. After all, they had guests and work obligations.

Waking them, solely to offer her
self comfort, seemed like an incredibly selfish thing to do. That meant that in order to clear her mind and face the day, she needed to run, and it would be alone.

As she began to extricate herself from the two large bodies surrounding her, Callen was jostled. Instead of waking, he rolled over, giving her a little more room. It was the exit that she needed
, and like a woman accustomed to sleeping between a pair of bed hogs, she took it.

Once out of the body trap, she began changing into her running clothes. Elizabeth really prayed that this run would make her mood lighte
n. Grabbing her running shoes, she glanced back one last time to make sure that they didn't wake up. As the door closed, she was home free.

Almost.

Unfortunately, what she never noticed was that his concerned eyes were watching her every move. In them, there was worry and nerves. If she thought that she’d make this trek alone, Elizabeth didn't know him at all.

Skipping the coffee making ritual, Elizabeth opted to just get it over with and do the run. Leaving the driveway, she mapped out her route and connected the ear buds to her phone. When her body was stretched out, she was off.

The first mile was the
calmest. It was easy to count her steps, take in the scenery, and try to pretend that her dreams last night weren’t filled with the screams of a man she loved. Each time that she thought she had found Doc, they became nothing more than just bones.

At mile two, the pain filled her heart as she drew the comparisons of losing
Ethan those few months before. No, a cannibal didn't take him, but he was still lost to her for some time.

As her eyes filled with tears, she slowed down.
The emotions welled up as it threatened to overtake her.

Even as she mentally tried to persuade herself that it would be okay, she knew that it wouldn’t
be. As her gut churned, she honestly wished that she had made one of the men come with her. It didn't look like being alone was a good idea after all. The solitude allowed her brain to take over and screw with her. As she came to a complete stop, she didn't know whether to retch or cry.

God, she couldn’t do this.

It was too much to bear.

Turning around, she decided to make the run back. It was then that she saw him. He too
, had stopped not far behind her and was standing off in the distance in his running gear.

Honestly, why was she surprised?

“Ethan,” she blurted, as she raced at him.

He had heard her leave, and everything in him warned him to follow her. As she hit her first mile, he could see her up ahead. Instead of running it at her side, he opted to allow her the time to think.
After what had happened to him, he understood the need for some solitude to work things out. Yet, he had no intention of letting his pregnant wife run alone.

Blackhawk knew that if she needed him, he would
be close enough to support her. As she began her run, he was immediately aware that Elizabeth wasn’t going to be okay. Her pace was off, and he caught up to her too easily. When she ran, it was to punish herself or beat the stress from her body. Her pace this morning was way off balance. When she came to a stop, he wanted to rush to her. When she turned, he wanted to cradle her in his arms and hold her for the rest of her life.

Here stood his wounded warrior.

She fought for everyone, put their needs and hearts first, and now she was imploding internally.

Once
she noticed him tailing her, he opened his arms. Now, he would hold her up and take care of the woman having his child.

The second she crashed into him, the sobs broke free. As they stood on the side of the tree lined road, he simply held her in his arms
, and let her weep and mourn.

As the pain wracked her body, he didn't speak
. Ethan only offered her someone to carry some of it for her. For too long, she had been forced to carry it all for him, and now it was his turn.

“I’m trying to make him faceless,”
she sobbed into his shoulder. “I can’t get my focus because he mattered.”

He understood. It had been a rough half a year for Elizabeth. Callen had told him what had happened when he was
abducted. His brother depicted how she wept for two hours straight before succumbing to exhaustion. Ethan knew that she suffered as much as he did. Only, her pain was deeply emotional.

“I don’t want to walk away, but I don’t know if I can do this alone.”

He was appalled that she believed that this was only her battle to fight. “I’m here, baby. I’m going to get you through this, just like you got me through my pain. I’ll be here each day, every step, and when you need me. You’re not alone. You can fall. I’ll catch you, like you did for me.”

She nodded.

Pulling out his phone, he called his brother, and told him where they were. After hanging up, he stared into her tear streaked face. “Callen’s coming for us. We’re going back to the house.”

Elizabeth leaned into him and took in his scent. It offered her a little comfort. When she heard the gravel crackling and popping, she looked up to see the Navigator heading towards them.

Swinging her up in his arms, he hopped in the back when the vehicle door opened. Neither man spoke, they simply let her cry and escape the scrutiny of the world.

As they pulled into the driveway, Callen looked back at her. “We have you
, angel.”

She
sobbed something neither man understood, as she clung to Ethan. Carrying her into the house, Callen opened the door and followed them inside. The two men headed right past the doctor and Cyra, up to their room.

They knew they weren’t going to have to explain it.

Both were smart enough to see a woman in mourning.

Up in their room, Ethan laid her on the bed and kissed her
sweetly across her cheeks and brow.

Callen took off her shoes and
crawled up the bed to take his place beside her. The two men would lay there with her until the vicious storm had passed.

Screw the world.

Family came first.

That was something they had learned the hard way.

She sobbed harder at first, trying to speak. “I almost lost Ethan, now Doc is gone. I can’t lose anyone else. I just can’t handle it. I’m not strong enough to carry this.”

Callen whispered in her ear
, knowing that she was alluding to him being next. He was willing to do anything to reassure her. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Ethan made the same vow to her as he wiped the tears from her face. “Close your eyes, baby. Callen and I have you.”

“Promise?” she whispered.

Together, they replied. “We swear to you.”

Closing her eyes, she let the exhaustion from crying take her into the darkness. Elizabeth ran headlong into it, if just to escape it all.

                        *     *     *

When she woke up, he said his goodbyes.

As she stared at him confused, he gave the killing blow and took her life. After that, it was about stripping the body and keeping only what he could eat. The rest he would bury, but the bones, they wouldn’t ever break down.

They had to go.

So, he loaded them up into the burlap sacks and took all the heads with him. Each had been enclosed in a clear plastic bag, to keep them fresh.

Why he did it, he didn't know, but he figured better safe than sorry. Instead of unbagging them, he simply dumped them into the second burlap sack with a large rock, to dispose of them. Tying it off, he made the hike into the woods and to the spot that he knew would be perfect. Tossing in the bag of heads, he watched it move through the current and eventually disappear into the black depths of the water.

Now that was done, he could dump the bag of bones in after them. He watched them disappear into the black water before he decided to head home. Once he was sure they wouldn’t be surfacing, he
trekked back into the woods to escape.

It wouldn’t be long.

This evening, he was having spaghetti with homemade meatballs. He couldn’t wait to see how good it turned out. It was a new recipe. He decided to go crazy and stir in a little man, a little woman, and a whole lot of love into the mix.

Tonight was an experiment
, as he continued his culinary adventure.

                            *     *     *

It was a damn hard decision to make.

When Elizabeth had fallen asleep, they both opted to not wake her.

They discussed it as equal partners, and they were more than willing to bear the wrath that would likely be coming their way over leaving her behind and going to work.

Where they wanted to stay with her, there was just too much to do at the sheriff’s station for all three of them to go missing.

Maybe one of them could skip work, but three of them? That would certainly earn a call from Gabe. If that were the only repercussion, they were willing to face it down, but letting Sheriff Morell run the case? Yeah, that was a mess that neither man wanted to clean up later.

In the end, they decided that Elizabeth would be
even more pissed off if they let someone incompetent handle it in her absence. If they took care of it, she might freak out, but ultimately she wouldn’t be fixing it and starting over from scratch.

Or so they hoped
and prayed.

So, after dressing in silence, they headed down to the kitchen to deal with the people
who they had staying in their home.

Downstairs, Cyra and Chris waited for them before heading into town to work. Mostly, they wanted to make sure that Elizabeth was
going to be okay. As friends, they were deeply concerned about all that she was carrying on her shoulders.

“Is she
going to be okay?” Chris asked. “I can look at her if you want me to,” he added, hoping that it wasn’t the pregnancy that was upsetting her.

“She’s just about at her breaking point,” Ethan said, clipping his badge to his hip. “With me being abducted,
and then the stress afterwards, this was just all too much to bear. I wouldn’t worry about her though. If I know our Lyzee, she’ll bounce back.”

Callen agreed. “Usually, after the meltdown, she’s good as new.
She just had to come to grips that the remains were most likely Doc’s. Now, she’ll get angry and be back to normal.”

Or so he hoped.

That was what Callen was telling himself. By the look in his brother’s eyes, he too was praying that the statement he just made was going to be fact, not fiction.

How much pain could one person
bear before they tore apart at the seams, especially while pregnant?

“Okay, well the medical records are in, so as soon as I get to the morgue, I can get started
and confirm it for her.”

Ethan shook his head. “I want you worki
ng out of the conference room. The sheriff was supposed to get Elizabeth the missing person reports, so if he did, we’re going to begin working on this the hard way.”

They all knew exactly how difficult this was going to be. It was the equivalent of finding a needle in
a haystack.