Prologue #2
“So, choose,” Michael stated. “Do I fuck you now, Graham, or later. How badly do you want it?”
Oh, well, he wanted it desperately.
Who was he kidding?
Only, when he opened his mouth to tell him the eggs could wait, Michael’s phone rang, and he sighed.
Damn it.
The universe had plans of its own, and after this call, their time alone there would be coming to an end.
They just didn’t know it yet.
“Let me get that,” he said. “In the meantime, I still need you to decide if we’re eating those eggs now or later. I can do cold eggs or hot eggs, but either way, I’m doing my husband.”
Holy.
Shit.
He sincerely hoped that would be the case.
In fact, Graham’s body reacted to his very bossy husband and in the best way possible.
An erection.
Setting him free, Michael headed over to the counter and grabbed his ringing cell.
On the screen, he saw the name, and now, it was safe to say that he was curious.
He could count on one hand—one finger—the times that this man called him when it wasn’t work-related. Since Michael wasn’t an Archangel in their employ anymore, he had no clue why he’d be calling him.
Now, he was curious.
And worried.
Something had to be going down, and he’d bet his Purple Heart that it wasn’t good.
“Gene is calling,” he said. “That’s not normal for him,” he stated.
And that was the truth.
Of all of the Blackhawks, it would most likely be Elizabeth, Callen, or Chris ringing them. Oh, Ethan might call, but when he did, it was a birthday call, and since it was neither of their birthdays, that was out.
Since Chris and Callen were their business partners, and the castle had been bought for Elizabeth, they tended to reach out to deal with them directly.
But Gene?
That alarmed Michael.
Answering, he went there.
“What happened? Do you need me?” he asked, more than willing to suit up and head back to the States to protect his family from the shit hitting the fan.
Once an Archangel, ALWAYS an Archangel. Marines didn’t change their ways when they retired.
Ever.
From the other end, there was a sigh.
Oh, shit.
That said it all.
It was going to be what he expected.
Trouble.
Putting it on speaker, both men crowded the phone on the counter, waiting to see what happened.
After all, they’d been put on alert.
They all knew that the Blackhawks were up the creek, dealing with the bullshit of a serial killer.
In fact, Michael had offered MULTIPLE times to return to the US to protect Elizabeth, but each time he went there, she wasn’t having it.
Mom had put her foot down.
Basically, she told him to keep his ass there but to be aware of his surroundings.
So, that’s exactly what they did.
They had been locked down on the property—in case the asshole she was chasing found out about Ravensmire. Food and packages were delivered to the gate, but never allowed inside the place for safety’s sake.
Gene heard his worry, and he tried to take it down a notch. Things were better on the serial killer front, but not the family front.
Sadly.
“I don’t need you to come to us,” Gene said, “but we do have a situation and need your help. Hopefully, you’re available to assist.”
Well, shit.
Sign him up.
The man didn’t have to even ask that.
If his family needed him, he would certainly suit back up and step back into his role of protector.
Family came first, and the Blackhawks had given him not only a family to call his own, but Elizabeth had managed to get him back to Graham.
That was the ONLY reason Graham was still alive, and Michael had found his one true love again. If she needed him, or his kidney, she was getting it—even if he had to remove it himself.
“What’s going on?” Michael asked.
From where he stood, Graham saw the immediate change. He didn’t know much about Archangels, other than the biblical ones, but his husband had a change of demeanor when one needed to come out.
He’d have to be blind not to see that.
There was tension and determination there, and that told Graham all he needed to know.
The shit was getting serious.
At his question, Gene told him what was going down. Since trouble was headed his way, and by trouble, he meant emotional turmoil, they needed to know.
“Twenty minutes ago, I put Elizabeth on a jet alone. She’s heading there. The shit hit the fan here, and she needs a place to regroup. Ravensmire is the ONLY place we have now that’s officially off the record. All of our other homes were burned in this case. Somehow, the killer found them.”
His eyebrows went up.
At what part?
THE ALONE part.
That made him all kinds of nervous that his family was now in danger because their hidey-holes were outed. Oh, and that his mother, the woman who saved him and gave him the life he had, was in danger.
Yeah, he didn’t like that.
At.
All.
So, he went there.
“She’s traveling by herself? Where’s Ivan? Normally, Toady is so far up her ass, he’s cuddled up against her colon. That’s not like him to let her wander around without having a stroke or conniption about it.”
Yeah, well, nothing about what happened was normal, and he knew it.
As for the last part…
Oh, that was still coming. When Gene went back to the office, after saying goodbye to his other family, The Hunters, he fully expected a blow-up.
Tantrum.
Fit.
Or whatever Ivan opted to have.
There was no doubt it was coming.
So, he explained.
“She took down Devon Slater, but it cost her a lot. She’s battered and bruised emotionally.
No one knows where she’s heading but me.
I think Chris knows, but I’m not sure. Either way, she needs a place to lay low, and the castle is the safest for the time being until the family can regroup.
It’s outside of the US, and no one knows about it. ”
This was bad.
REALLY bad.
Elizabeth was in danger non-stop, and if she boarded a jet, alone, to head to the haunted castle weeks before the wedding, she was in a bad place.
Michael knew her well enough to say that with nothing but absolute fact.
Elizabeth didn’t like the woo-woo. In fact, she ran from it at any given chance. All she had to hear was ghost, and she started backing out of a room.
Before Ravensmire, he had felt that too.
Now, he’d learned the place grew on you.
LIKE MOLD.
“I don’t like that she’s alone,” Michael said. “Mom is always a target. That she’s flying in, and Ivan isn’t aware, tells me that he’s not able to track her.”
Gene was aware.
When she’d asked him to help her, he knew this was going to cause waves in the unit, because she didn’t want anyone to know where she was.
Yeah, Gene had to prepare for when Ivan was going to shit his britches.
All.
Over.
The.
Place.
Now, he was stalling in order to buy her some time. Just an hour ago, he and The Hunters had a post-victory breakfast with Elizabeth and helped her catch the flight.
Off the record.
Never let it be said that having favor with the President of the United States wasn’t one hell of a perk. She was now, OFF THE RADAR, quite literally.
“I know. That’s why she’s heading there. You’re there, and I need a favor.”
Michael didn’t need him to ask.
He was volunteering.
This woman was his mother. Maybe not of her body, but of her heart. She’d told them all constantly that she didn’t need to birth them to claim them.
So now, he was claiming the duty needed to keep her safe.
“I’ll guard her here,” he offered. “If this piece of shit who killed Jet is handled, and she’s needing a break, count on us. Graham and I will settle her in. You don’t have to worry about her while she’s here.”
Thank.
Freaking.
God.
The last thing Gene needed was to deliver her into another situation. Their family was on the brink, and one more inconvenience and it was going over the edge.
Gene warned him.
“She’s not in a good place, Michael. We don’t know if she’s coming back to the FBI when she regroups. She has been under an exorbitant amount of pressure. At this point, it’s a rescue mission because she’s broken.”
Oh, he knew that she was carrying a burden.
Elizabeth was the strongest person he knew, and if she was on the verge of breaking, that told him all he needed to know.
Bad things were coming.
So, he needed to step in and do his part to protect his family any way he could.
“Like I said, I’ve got her. When is she landing?” he asked.
“Because I’ll personally make sure our mother is safe here. You don’t have to worry about that. You know I’ll do anything in my power to protect her.”
Honestly, Gene didn’t doubt that for a single second.
He knew the relationship between Michael and Elizabeth was incredibly strong.
Hell.
All of the other Archangels joked about how Saint Michael was her favorite.
After losing Jet, it was clear that she needed to be by one of her Marines and his new husband.
She’d chosen this location more than just because it was their last safe place that hadn’t been outed.
Gene told him what he knew.
“Later tonight, your time, the private jet is touching down. Jim is bouncing her around to a few stops to refuel and make sure they’re off the record before her final place. If anyone does figure out the plane is off the record, it’s going to come back as a cargo trip.”
That worked for him.
That gave Michael time to prepare for her arrival.
Gene wasn’t done.
“She wanted to come there. I think she misses you, and she needed to. So please, be ready for her, and remember, I’m the ONLY one—to my knowledge—that knows where she’s heading. So, if anyone asks, you haven’t seen or heard from her. In fact, Elizabeth who?”
He understood the assignment.
This arrival was classified.
Mum was the word on this one. Truthfully, that was fine with him, too. That would mean she’d be safe, and he doubted the family would be pissed at him.
In fact, he would just not answer any calls.
That would solve that problem. This was his newlywed time with his husband, and he’d pretend to be bedded down for some sexy moments if need be.
It wouldn’t be like that was a lie.
Now would it be?
As for her wanting to get to him, that told him all he needed to know. Elizabeth was NOT a runner. If she was, that meant something HUGE was chasing her.