BRENDEN STOOD IN an abandoned building north of Chicago. It took him and Hammon two days to find the place where the Rogues kept the boy. His scent was all over a mattress and blankets in the corner.

“There was very little magic used here,” Hammon said. “It is surprising.”

Brenden nodded, his animal senses picking up the same vibes. “It’s like they don’t want to be Olympians or something. When we fought them, they relied on their guns for protection, not their gifts. One or two fought with magic, that’s it.”

“They’re not trained to use their gifts. Olympians have become so reliant on Thracians for their protection, they will not even use magic to save their own lives.”

With a near silent pop, Keona showed up with Ryse, Avery, Dante’s friend Ixion, and two hounds.

“That’s a first.” Keona popped her neck. “Never had to blink out dogs before.”

“Is that what you call it? Blinking?” Ixion asked, a little too excited about it.

Keona grinned. “That’s what my sister calls it.”

“Cool.” Ixion smiled brightly, annoyingly. The obvious thrill of adventure was written all over his face. “Okay, where do we start?”

“Here.” Brenden pointed to the mattresses lined up on one of the walls. “From what I can scent, the same people who slept here were at the park. I’m betting these are our kidnappers.”

Ixion turned the dogs loose. The white glow of the god’s powers took over his eyes and he tilted his head to the side, almost like one of the hounds he was controlling. The tall length of his body went still and Brenden glanced over at Hammon, who shrugged.

Ixion spoke in a different tone when he channeled his powers. His voice was monotone and deeper, lacking the enthusiasm from before. “One scent was in both the house and the clinic, but not one of the bodies we searched. The scent of him was faint, possibly someone casing the place.” The dogs went to the boy’s bed. “He was here a long time. The scent is deep. Tears. Lots of tears. No blood. Traces of the mother. Not recent. Food and water. Medication of some sort.”

“They were holding him hostage,” Ryse said, taking in the scene.

“Drugging him, if I had to guess.” Ixion’s eyes lost the glow. “It’s in the saliva on the pillow where he drooled.”

Ryse’s brows raised in a quick expression of surprise. “Interesting. You can tell all that from the minds of dogs?”

“Yes, Master Ryse. Dogs are highly intelligent creatures. Their sense of smell is—”

“Fascinating, I’m sure.” Ryse held up a hand to stop his prattling, and Brenden covered his laughter with a cough. It would take the young Thracian time to get used to Ryse’s no-nonsense manner. “Okay, so we can conclude that the maid was the inside man because these assholes were holding her son.”

The dogs howled and barked at something behind a temporary wall. All the men ran around to check it out.

“I believe they just found another crime scene.” Ixion cleared his throat. “It’s the boy.”

The dogs sniffed at a pool of blood and drag marks that led to the garage door on the east side of the building.

Brenden studied the scene. Based on the blood splatter, the boy was low, maybe on his knees, execution style. He fell forward, left this pool of blood, then his killers dragged him to the van where he lay long enough for lividity to set in.

“How far are we from Evander’s compound?” Ryse asked.

Brenden had driven it this morning. “An hour and a half.” Plenty of time for the boy’s blood to settle and the texture and ridges of the van’s flooring to be imprinted on his skin. “These weren’t professional killers. Look at the mess. They left a damned bloody boot print, belongings, clothing, tracks, and fingerprints everywhere.”

“Brenden, do your thing. I want to know the make of the boots, the tread of the tires, all of it.”

“These idiots are almost making this too easy.” Brenden bent down and examined the boot print. “I need more guys on this crime scene.”

“Got it.” Keona saluted and blinked out.

“She really is handy-dandy, isn’t she?” Brenden completely understood why teleporters were sought after. Instant travel was great.

Keona blinked back five men with their equipment and wide eyes. “Thanks for flying Keona-Air; you are now free to move about the crime scene.”

“Good one.” Ixion laughed, his voice echoing off the walls of the empty building. “I get it…because…you kind of fly, right?”

Everyone stared at him.

Redness painted his face and he quit chuckling. “Sorry.”

Brenden went through his usual procedure of pictures, evidence tagging and gathering, and documentation.

“Hey, this looks important.” Ixion had found a laptop and was typing away. “It’s encrypted. Hold on…yeah, for the record, one-two-three-four is not a secure password.”

Brenden peered over his shoulder. “You know how to hack computers?”

“It’s not really hard when the people setting them up are idiots, but yes, I can hack into most anything.”

“I thought you were a dog whisperer?” Keona sat on the bed beside him.

“As fun as it is to be in their minds, they sleep a lot. I had to figure out something else to do.”

“Anything pertinent?” Ryse glanced over his shoulder.

“Right now, it looks like a lot of porn and video games.” Ixion hunched over the screen. “Hey, I like that one.”

“Yuck, dude.” Brenden blanched.

“I agree, this game is really graphic; lots of blood and guts.”

Keona chuckled and then busted out laughing. She waved her hands when Brenden met her black eyes. “Sorry. He’s just so oblivious. It’s cute.”

Ixion’s head tilted to the side. Finally, the light bulb illuminated. “Oh! You thought I meant the porn. Yeah, wow, took me a second.” He chortled and shook his head. “That’s not it. Oh gosh. I’m going to shut up now.” He slapped a hand over his face, which was now bright beaming red.

Brenden couldn’t help but feel for the poor guy. Ixion couldn’t meet Keona’s eyes for the rest of the day.

As much as he liked doing his job, Brenden’s mind kept going back to Nikki. He kept visualizing her naked and panting underneath him. At one point, he stood by the window of the building and stared out at nothing at all. He sighed, wishing he could take her back to that ritzy hotel and make love to her all over again. She was so beautiful, so passionate, so uninhibited. He had no idea sex could be so incredible. To think, she was waiting for him at home.

“I know that grin.” Ryse stood beside him.

“Sir?” Brenden straightened up and focused on where he was.

Ryse narrowed his eyes at him. “I take it things are going well with you and Nikki?”

“Yes. Yes, sir, they are.”

“Does she still wish me dead?” One of his dark brows arched on his face. “Or you, for that matter?”

“I’m too lazy to hold a grudge.” Brenden shrugged, but he avoided Ryse’s eyes.

“You’ve done fine work with this case so far.”

Now it was Brenden’s turn to question him. “You feeling sentimental, old man?”

“Maybe.” Ryse inhaled deeply and crossed his arms over his chest. Bren was no little man, bigger and bulkier than most humans, but Ryse made him feel small in comparison. “Maybe I’m just giving credit where it is due.”

Brenden huffed.

The two men were silent for a moment before Ryse let out another deep breath. “I’m glad you two have each other.”

“Me too.”

“Got something really good here.” Ixion waved his arm in the air.

Ryse whirled around. “Son, if you’re talking about porn again, I’m going to bust your balls.”

Ixion’s eyes rounded and his mouth dropped. “N-n-no, no, sir.”

“I’m joking,” Ryse said, completely devoid of a smile or anything that resembled an expression of humor.

Brenden elbowed Ryse in the gut.

“Ha.” Ixion faked a smile. “You’re a funny one, Master Ryse.” His eyes darted between Ryse and Brenden. He swallowed hard, trying to keep up like he wasn’t freaked out.

“What you got, kid?” Bren slapped him on the back.

“Uh, right. These are maritime charts and shipping schedules. I found the website in the browser history. They weren’t clicking on anything particular, but all the ships they did search for left from the same port up north. So I went back into the GPS and this place came up.” He showed the guys the last location they searched on the map.

Ryse cursed under his breath. “I know where they are. Keona!”

She jumped to her feet. “Who do you need?”

“All of them.”

“Got it.” She blinked out.

A snarl crossed Ryse’s lips as he glared at the screen. “We’re going to Ashton’s estate in Nova Scotia.”