Page 173 of Hades

Claire shook her head. “I didn’t know he was dangerous.”

I stepped closer. “You mean you didn’t care until he took something you thought belonged to you.”

Her face crumpled. I wanted to tear it off. “He was sweet,” she said. “He brought me things. Flowers. Books. He remembered what I liked. He called me Carol like I was a woman and not just some sick thing in a room.”

“You’re not sick,” Rykard said. “You’re poison.”

She glared at him. “You don’t get to judge me.”

“I do,” he said. “I damn sure do.”

A truck engine roared from the side street. Cerberus announced himself before I saw him. The sound wasn’t a bark, but a roar. Deep, savage, furious enough that every person near the booth backed away at once. The prospect driving barely had the truck stopped before the back door flew open, and Ares hauled the massive black dog out by his collar and a fistful of leash. Cerberus hit the ground like hell had grown legs. He went feral. Not restless. Not protective. Feral. He lunged toward the booth, teeth bared, body shaking with rage. His head whipped from the table to the crowd to me, then toward the service lane. He smelled her absence. He knew. Whatever lived in that dog’s bones understood Lettie was gone, and the grief in him turned violent.

“Easy,” Ares grunted, both arms straining. “Fuck, he’s strong.”

I took the leash. Cerberus snapped his head toward me, eyes wild.

“Find her,” I said.

His body went still for half a breath. Then he dragged me. Not walked. Dragged. Through the gap beside the booth. Past the quilt tent. Into the service lane. He hit the dirt where I’d found the lavender and let out a sound that turned my blood to ice. Nose down, shoulders bunching, he followed the trail to the drag mark, then to the place the SUV had waited. There he lost it. He threw himself against the end of the leash, snarling at the empty road, claws digging gouges into the dirt like he could rip the trail back out of the ground.

“Vehicle,” Hermes said behind me. “Trail ends here.”

“No shit,” I growled.

Zeus came up beside me. “Cameras?”

“Checking,” Hermes said. “Vendor dashcam caught the SUV heading east out of the service lane. Coeus is pulling traffic cams.”

I looked back at Claire. Ares had dragged her closer. She stared at Cerberus like she’d finally understood Lettie belonged to more than her lies.

“You know where he’d go,” I said.

She shook her head. Cerberus lunged toward her so hard Ares cursed and I nearly lost the leash. Claire screamed. Good.

“Try again,” I said.

“I don’t know!”

Cerberus barked once, violent and sharp.

Claire sobbed. “He mentioned a place once. That’s all. I don’t know where it is.”

“What place?” Zeus asked.

“A house. Quiet. Away from town. He said he liked places people forgot about.”

Hermes’ fingers flew across his phone. “Property records under Dakota Stone. Shell companies. Rentals. Hunting leases. Give me more.”

Claire cried harder. “He said there was water nearby. Not a lake. A creek, maybe. He said you could hear it from the porch when it rained.”

Ares glanced at Zeus. “That narrows fuck all in East Texas.”

“Shut up and let her bleed details,” Zeus said.

I crouched in front of Claire, still holding Cerberus back with one hand. “Listen to me. Lettie’s gone because you wanted to be loved by a man who used you. You spent years whining to him about my woman neglecting you, about the club taking her time, about me putting her first. He took her because you taught him she mattered.”

Claire shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “No.”