Page 16 of Leashed

Ryan looked over at him and smirked. “Want me to draw her away for a few days?”

His hand hovered over the beer cans in before he kicked the door closed, his chest constricting uncomfortably. “What the fuck?” he hissed. “No.”

Ignoring him, Ryan began reciting their address to Alex, flicking through his search app to give a few location markers Hades or Persephone could use to pinpoint their location from the underworld. “Got all that?” he asked, snatching his phone away from Bo’s reach and turning off the speaker. “Good. I’ll call you sometime next week. Say hi to Charlotte for us.”

Bo grabbed his plate and scraped it into the trash, his appetite gone. “What did you do that for?”

Rising from his chair, Ryan started to clear the rest of the dishes. “I need to touch base with them on the Pirithous hunt,” he replied. “I think I found something, and I need some advice.”

*

Persephone’s melodic voicecut through the air of the shop. “Oh, my sweet boy! You’re positively filthy!” The techs and mechanics stopped in their tracks, their eyes locking on the stunning woman as she flitted over to Bo, her tiny hands reaching up to cup his face. “Please tell me this will wash off. I don’t like this look at all.”

His jaw flexed under the intense scrutiny of his mistress and his audience, his temper already short from working while dealing with the unsettling deep in his core. He glared at his mouth-breather of a brother who was leaning against his car in the parking lot with Hades, smirking. “What are you doing here?”

Seph rubbed her thumb along the stubble on his chin, her delicate brows furrowing in concern as she assessed the grease she’d transferred to her pristine skin. “Orion showed us around his office and suggested we come see you.” She smiled graciously at the young tech who ran over with a wad of damp paper towel. “Such manners. Thank you.”

The kid shoved the soiled rag into his back pocket. “My pleasure, miss.” He grinned. “You Bo’s girlfriend?”

“Oh my, no!” Persephone laughed, patting Bo’s chest. “I’m his mist—”

“Stepmom,” he growled, fixing the tech with a glare. “Bay six is almost ready. Why don’t you call in the electrician to run the power so I can test it?” He motioned toward the parking lot, careful not to touch Seph’s white dress with his grime-laden hands. “I need a fucking cigarette.”

Persephone’s lips pursed in disproval. “Language, Bo. And I dislike the smell of those things.”

“Good thing we’re outside, then,” he grumbled, lighting up and flipping Ryan off. “Hey, Hades.”

His master’s onyx eyes locked on the smoke he was blowing out. Hades opened Ryan’s passenger door, assisting his wife into the seat and gently closing it. “I expect that by the time you arrive for supper, your attitude will be checked and your appearance less offensive.” He looked to Ryan. “Shall we?”

Ryan nodded, watching Hades fold his huge form into the back seat before he gave Bo an apologetic shrug. “Sorry, man. I didn’t really think it through when I was rushing them out of the office.” He stepped in tight to him, his lips barely moving. “Hades got in my boss’s face when he was giving me the lowdown on next week’s accounts and started the whole ‘I’m the only one who tells him what to do’ stuff. I was desperate.”

“You’re a dick,” he grumbled, tossing his cigarette on the ground and snuffing it out with his toe. “And you owe me.”

*

Bo crouched besideSeph, careful to keep his stained hands away from her immaculate clothes and out of her sight. “So that’s the guy?” he asked, looking up from Ryan’s computer. “Micah Wheaton?”

Hades touched the laptop screen and the photo disappeared from the desktop. He arched his neck slightly, glancing behind the computer screen for a moment. “Where is it?”

Leaning over the back of the sofa, Ryan tapped the picture back to the center of the monitor and gently nudged Hades’s arms down. “I think that’s him. It’s the only name linking to his photo. And this”—he double-tapped another photo—“may be his girlfriend. I can’t pull any other names or links or info at this point, and his name doesn’t bring up any viable leads.”

Persephone wrinkled her nose as the woman’s face filled the screen, her bright rainbow makeup palette drawing an immediate reaction from the Goddess of Spring. “His choice in women in questionable.”

Closing out the woman’s picture, Ryan pulled up a map and traced his cursor across it. “I’ve managed to eliminate every Micah Wheaton with a social media presence. I’m now cross-referencing those with deeper public records searches to narrow the area, but this is going to take some time.”

Hades lifted his hand to the screen, snarling in frustration when the computer desktop reappeared. “What do you need to complete the mission?”

“That depends on how quickly you want this done,” Ryan replied, closing the laptop. “The North American population has increased significantly since the last time we had to track down one of the more elusive Pirithous. With Alexandros distracted, we’re down one hound on the hunt.”

“And I’m pretty fucking useless until Ryan narrows down the location,” Bo added, pushing himself to his feet and heading toward the kitchen. “Anyone else want a coffee?”

Persephone’s polite decline was drowned out by Hades. “What are you saying?”

He turned the coffee maker on, his eyes narrowing when Ryan avoided his gaze. “Yeah, man. What are you saying?”

Turning his back on the group to set his computer back on the small desk, Ryan squared his shoulders. “Times have changed, Hades. It took thirty years to hunt down our last kill, and finding him was nothing but a fluke. Technology, the modern economy, this globalization? There are video cameras everywhere. News reaches across oceans within seconds. We can’t afford another thirty years transforming in this climate. We will get caught. It’s no longer a question of if, it’s a question of when.” Ryan faced Hades, refusing to look at Bo. “I can’t balance both jobs anymore, trying to get my topside work done between the hours I’m investing in tracking this last target down. And right now, Bo is on his game. He’s sober and working. But we know it won’t last. I need to take advantage of this time before he goes off the rails again and I’m back on babysitting duty, bailing his drunk ass out of trouble while trying to pay the bills and track the Pirithous.” His jaw flexed. “I’m sorry, Bo. But Hades, I formally request you cut me loose from the others until the job is done.”

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