Sacred Burial Grounds (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 2)) by Morgan Kelley

to be mad that they had just brawled in her office, but Ethan wasn’t a violent man, and if anything he was cool under fire. She was the one with a propensity for violence. “I wasn’t aware you even had a brother,” she said softly, as she ran her hand up and down his back reassuringly. When some of the tension began to drain away, she took his hand in hers. Elizabeth gave him the silent signal that it was going to be okay and that they were in this together.
    “Yeah, well I didn’t find it mention-worthy.”
    Callen Whitefox didn’t know what to say, but the words definitely stung. Yeah, this was going to be ugly. “I should go, because this definitely won’t work,” he finally said, as his eyes never left his brother’s face. He wasn’t sure if Ethan planned on swinging again.
    “Gabe’s my boss, and if he sent you then I have to deal with you. Have a seat, Callen.” Blackhawk wasn’t going to lose his temper again. The moment had passed. In fact, he was starting to feel bad he acted like a teenager again, and that wasn’t something that made him proud. It was his damn past creeping from behind him to haunt his present. All this was over a woman. Granted that woman was his wife, and she was worth the fist fight. The last one they drew blood over wasn’t.
    Callen Whitefox took a seat, and didn’t miss how Elizabeth Blackhawk had immediately sided with her husband. She offered him her seat behind her desk, and stood alongside him, almost protectively like a sentinel. 
    “Chief Whitefox, do you want some ice for your jaw?” she asked, not using his name. Aware that the only reason her husband reacted was because of her proximity to the other man. If possible she was going to keep her distance, so not to hurt her husband and stir the pot anymore.
    “If you don’t mind, Director Blackhawk,” he answered, also using her title. “Your husband has a wicked right hook,” he muttered, rubbing his jaw. “It didn’t hurt as much when I was eighteen.”
    Elizabeth laid her hand on his shoulder. “Ethan, I’ll be right back.” She rubbed the tense muscle in his neck and then left the room. They were going to have to work this out on their own, if they were going to be working this assignment together. But if the man upset him she wouldn’t mind taking the next shot. It wouldn’t be the first or last time she would knock someone on their ass for her husband.
    Blackhawk waited until his wife left the room, and he leaned forward in her desk chair, taking in the man before him. “She’s off limits, Callen. Do I make myself clear? I’ll help you with this assignment, and so will she, but if I even smell inappropriate I’ll kick your ass back to granddad. My wife is just that. Mine , and I don’t share what I own, and I own this relationship!” He held up his ring finger, showing him the band. He made it very possessive and very proprietary, and Blackhawk didn’t care if his wife heard them. There was no doubt on how he would stand on this. Elizabeth wasn’t going to be a piece of ass his brother could chase and play games with behind his back. She was all his and he didn’t care if it made him sound like a Neanderthal caveman.
    Whitefox nodded and understood. “I'm betting she could handle herself, Ethan, and I get your warning. I won’t even think inappropriate thoughts around her,” he said, hoping he could pull it off or at least fake it. What happened between him and his brother years ago changed his life and ruined it. If he could go back and fix what he did, he would in a heartbeat or he’d let him beat the hell out of him to erase it.
    “She isn’t like Kaya Cheek. Elizabeth means everything to me, and while I chose to walk away from a woman when we were nineteen and eighteen, I won’t now. Let me assure you that I’ll kill for her, whether you’re my blood or not. That’s the woman I love.” He didn’t care if it got him fired. If his brother touched her there would be hell to