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

man. “He took me in and made sure I was at school and had my homework done. My grandfather was my surrogate dad. My mom was a kid when she had me. It was no big deal if I was gone, she didn’t really want to be a mother, so I lived with granddad. Timothy Blackhawk took me in as his own. I didn’t have the Blackhawk name, but I had the family blood.”
    Elizabeth could hear the hurt in his voice. It was the same pain she heard in her husband’s voice when he talked about his past. These two men were cut from the same damaged cloth , whether they knew it or not.
    “I used to stay with granddad to be with my brother, until I got crazy and started breaking the law. The old man couldn’t contain me anymore, and I was removed and shipped to foster homes. Once I turned eighteen I came back for a year. Callen and I were inseparable that time. They called us the raven and the fox.” Blackhawk took a deep breath. “I once told you someone back home was the reason I had the tattoo. My brother is that person,” he said softly, then looked up at his wife.
    “Then I should thank you. T hat’s my favorite tattoo on his body,” she touched his cheek with her knuckles and smiled down at him.
    Whitefox nodded. “We got drunk, we got tattoos, and then we realized h ow stupid it was after the fact.” He couldn’t help but laugh at the memory.
    “Stupid is a generous word,” Blackhawk added , laugh lines forming around the corners of his eyes.
    “Isn’t that the truth? How we survived adolescence, I’ll never know.”
    Blackhawk smiled and nodded. “Yeah, I regretted t hat tattoo for a long time, and now not so much.” He winked up at his wife and earned himself a kiss on the lips. Public displays of affection in the office meant she was feeling pretty damn bad for him at that moment. Elizabeth didn’t do kissy-face in the workplace.
    “Damn straight, Cowboy,” she leaned against him when he wrapped his arm around her waist , and she played with his ponytail. “Then what happened? You don’t go from best friends, tattoos, and beer to punching out your blood relatives in the office of the FBI,” asked Elizabeth.
    “My brother betrayed me, and we went our separate ways on that day.” Blackhawk kept it detail free. This was a conversation he wanted to have with her in private, and not in front of his brother. “I’ll give you the details later, baby. I don’t really want to relive them in our workplace,” he said, turning back to his brother. “I think we’ve strolled down memory lane enough today. Let’s start this assignment.”
    Whitefox agreed with Ethan. He was well aware of what he did to turn his brother against him. There was no reason to have both Blackhawks wanting him dead. Right now, he had to stop thinking about the woman his brother was married to, and that was going to be a feat in itself. He was drawn to her inexplicably.
    Elizabeth understood that he wasn’t going to go any further, and nothing would make him until he was ready. “As I was telling Chief Whitefox, I think we need to visit th e scene and bring the tech team and also our anthropologist. They’ll be able to give us a bit more before we start trying to figure this one out.”
    “Agreed,” replied Blackhawk. “Callen, can we call in t he anthropologist immediately or will that make the Natives restless?”
    Callen Whitefox shrugged. “ As I told your wife, they aren’t going to be happy about anyone who is an outsider being there, but if I meet your anthropologist and your tech team on scene, then I can sooth the ruffled feathers and cut off any issues before they start.”
    “What about grand dad?” Blackhawk hadn’t spoken to his grandfather in over ten years, and suddenly he felt anxious at the thought of going there. He was pretty sure he was going to give him hell over how he left, and when he found out he married an outsider the shit would really be hitting the fan.
    “He knows I’m here, and he’s going to want to