Seth pressed his forehead against mine. “You’re right,” he said, his exhale shaky. “I should’ve told you what I was doing.”
“You should’ve,” I agreed, letting my fingers tangle in the soft hair tied back at the nape of his neck.
He ran his thumb along my cheek as he spoke, his voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t want anything between us. Starting now.”
Chapter 2
Seth
“You weren’t joking when you said you wanted nothing between us starting now,” Josie said. “I didn’t realize you meant that so literally.”
“Was not joking at all.” The strand of hair curled around my hand wasn’t blonde or brunette. It was a stunning array of colors, from the palest blonde to spun gold. I had no idea how hair could naturally have that many shades in it.
“What are you doing?”
Dragging my gaze from the strangest and most beautiful hair I’d ever seen, I found myself staring down into bright, denim-blue eyes.
Pressure squeezed my chest as my gaze roamed over Josie’s face. Her cheeks were flushed pink, which probably had to do with the fact I’d stripped every piece of clothing off her moments before. Seeing all that pretty color to her cheeks almost made me forget about how pale she’d been in the weeks after being held by the Titan Hyperion. She’d been through hell, and there were things I knew she’d kept from me. Things she hadn’t shared because she was either not comfortable or because she was worried I’d set fire to half the Western Hemisphere in anger.
The latter was always a possibility.
I had been known to react first and then maybe, depending on my mood, ask questions later.
“You still mad at me?” I asked.
Her head shifted on the pillow. “If I was, I wouldn’t be lying here naked. You’re talented, but not that talented.”
I laughed. “I don’t know. I like to think I’m that skilled.”
“I’m sure you do.” Her eyes met mine. “When will you have to do it again? Recharge?”
My gaze flickered to her hair. I liked how she called it that instead of what it truly was. Feeding. Recharging sounded a lot…cleaner. “A couple of weeks. It all depends on if I have to go badass god on anything.”
“I want…I want to go with you next time.”
I looked at her. “For real?”
“Yeah. Then maybe it won’t feel like a secret anymore.”
A huge part of me didn’t want her there for that, but I’d do it for her. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.”
“Then it’s a plan,” I said. “By the way, why were you out in that field today?”
“I was practicing with the elements. Figured that was the safest place for it.”
I grinned, but it was quick to fade. “Why were you out there alone, though? Luke could’ve been with you.”
Josie snorted. “Luke doesn’t want to be anywhere near me when I’m working with the elements.”
“Then you could’ve gotten Deacon, or even Alex or Aiden. I don’t want you out there by yourself.”
She arched a brow. “It’s not like I went traipsing around outside the University. I was safe.”
“Need I remind you that the Covenant walls have been breached more than once?”
“And need I remind you that I can take care of myself?”
“I know you can,” I sighed. “It’s just not…” Rubbing my thumb over the thick strands of hair, I looked down at her where her hands rested on her lower belly. My damn heart jumped in my chest like it was on a trampoline.
Josie was pregnant with our child.
A wealth of raw, contradicting emotions rose up and consumed me. Terror. Happiness. Fear. Anticipation. It was crazy how you could feel so much all at once.
The pressure in my chest intensified. What I was feeling was scary as hell, but it was also the good kind of pressure. The kind that told me I’d do anything to keep her and our child safe. Coat my hands in blood if necessary, and I had. More than once, and I carried very little regret for doing so.
Love outweighed regret.
Something I never thought I’d ever truly feel for another person, and when I first met Josie, it sure as hell wasn’t love at first sight. Probably a little lust at first sight. I’d also been disturbed by the fact of who she resembled and who her father was.
Never would’ve crossed my mind that day in the stairwell that I would end up falling in love with Apollo’s daughter. Hell. Kind of wanted to laugh now, but that was what happened.
Getting here, to this very moment, hadn’t been easy.
Gods know I’d fought my feelings for her. Timing was shit for a relationship when I first met her. Back then, I had no future. I was being used by the gods to carry out Remediations—hunting down and destroying those who’d sided with Ares. And, once the gods figured out how to kill me, I would then get to spend an eternity serving Hades. But that had been when I was the Apollyon. Now I was a god, and I had a future that didn’t involve catering to the whims of other gods.
But it was more than all of that. A lot of it had to do with me. Thinking I didn’t deserve her. Believing that she’d be safer without me around, better for it. That after everything I’d done and been a part of, I wasn’t worthy of love.
Truth was, I still wasn’t worthy of her, but I was working at it.
“Seth?” Her soft voice snagged my attention. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” Lifting my gaze to hers, I grinned. “I’m trying to figure out exactly what your hair color is.”
“You’re so weird.” She untangled her hair from my fingers. “So weird.”
Lowering my hand to where hers rested, I swallowed the sudden knot in my throat as the image of her swollen with my child formed. Gods. That killed me in the best possible ways.
“You’re beautiful,” I said, letting myself look my fill. She was bare to my eyes, all soft curves and flushed skin. “Have I told you that yet today?”
“This morning, and then right after lunch.”
“But I haven’t in the last hour?”
“No.” She rolled onto her side, facing me as she placed her hand on my chest. “We should really get out of this bed.”
“Why?” I kissed the tip of her nose. “I just got you naked.”
She laughed. “We’ve spent all morning holed up in this room.”
“So?” I dragged my hand over the flare of her hip. “What else do we have to do?”
“What else? We have a lot to do, Seth.” Josie snuggled in close, wiggling a long leg between mine, which did absolutely nothing to sway me to get out of this bed.
I swallowed a groan when her breasts pressed against my chest. “Like what?”
“We need to talk with Deacon and Luke and see if they’ve finalized their plans to leave for Britain.”
Sliding my hand over her hip to her ass, I was rewarded with a quick inhale. “You mean, we need to see if Aiden has allowed Deacon to leave yet.”
She laughed softly as she ran her fingers along my chest. “I’m afraid he’s going to lock Deacon in a room.”
“He might.” I squeezed, pulling her hips closer to mine. “Aiden is what you would call overprotective when it comes to his brother.”
“Takes one to know one,” she quipped.
I pulled back. “What is that?”
The corners of her lips turned up. “All I’m going to say is that I think you and Aiden have way more in common than you want to acknowledge.”
Rolling her onto her back, I rose above her. “I think I’m offended.”
“It reminds me of these two girls I knew at college.” She placed her hands on my shoulders, pressing her nails into my skin. “They absolutely hated one another, and the funniest thing was, their personalities were freaking identical.”
I put my weight on one elbow. “Aiden and I do not have identical personalities.”
“Doth protest too much?”
Nipping at her lip, I curled a hand around he
r hip. “Doth talk too much?”
Josie kicked her head back and laughed. “Asshole.”
“That’s not what you were calling me earlier, just want to point that out.” I brushed my lips over hers.
Her chest rose against mine. “Stop trying to distract me.”
“Distract you from what?” I asked, my lips coasting over hers as I spoke.
“What we need to do.” She gasped when I settled between her thighs. “Seth—”
I kissed her, silencing whatever good reasons she had for why we needed to get out of this bed, and there were a lot. A shit ton. But I didn’t want to think about any of that. Not right now. We had later to deal with reality. It wasn’t going anywhere.
As my lips moved over hers, Josie made this breathy sound that told me she wasn’t too eager to get out of this bed either. Tilting my head, I flicked my tongue along the seam of her lips, coaxing her lips apart. Not that she needed much persuasion.
Everything about Josie softened under me.
There was a time when I had tried to hold back, but not anymore. I dove right in, the kiss deep and raw as my tongue stroked hers, and Josie was there for it. Sliding one leg up mine, she curled it over my hip, pulling me in closer. The feeling of her against the hardest part of me fried every single one of my nerve endings.
I used to think I was addicted to aether, to that rush of cool power, but I’d been wrong.
I was addicted to Josie.
To the way she tasted. To the sounds she made when I knew she was getting close to release. To the way she called out my name. To the way she argued with me before and after. To the way she just was.
She sucked in a quick breath, and I took it for my own as she looped one arm around my neck. Her hand caught in my hair, tugging my head back. Nipping at her soft lips, I lifted up and stared down at her. Those thick, silky lashes fluttered open. Our gazes locked.
“I forgot what I was going to say,” she admitted, her voice breathy.
Chuckling, I kissed the skin under her chin and got back to work on the real imperative stuff. “Must not have been very important than.”
“It was.” Her hand slipped to my shoulder as I worked my way down her throat. “I’m pretty sure it was really important.”
“I know what’s important.” I blazed a trail to the rosy tip of one breast, tasting every square inch of skin and not missing a single spot. “This is very important.”
Her breath was quick and shallow. “I’m going to have to agree with you. Just this once.”
“Oh, I think it’s going to be more than once.” Grinning, I lowered my mouth to the taut nipple. Her back arched as her hips pushed up against mine, tempting me to skip all of this and just sink deep into her. I wanted nothing more than that, but I took my time, because today, this lazy afternoon, we had time. I made my way over to her other breast. Wouldn’t want it to feel lonely.
I was considerate like that.
Sliding my hand down her stomach, I slipped it between her thighs. Her sharp cry was like a supernova exploding in every direction. I traced the mark between her breasts, the one left behind by Apollo when he unlocked her abilities, and then I started making my way down over her stomach, stopping to nip at the skin just below her navel. Her fingers tangled in the edges of my hair again, and I hoped she pulled.
I loved it when she pulled.
Using my shoulder, I nudged her legs apart as I settled there. I looked up, thrilled to see that her eyes were open.
And I loved it when she watched.
What I loved more, though? What I saw looking up at her. Such a damn beautiful sight. Her chest was rising and falling in deep, quick breaths, her nipples hard and glistening, and those lovely lips parted, eyes gleaming with desire.
I couldn’t help but tease her. “Do you think we should get out of the bed now? You said there were important things to do.”
She bit down on her bottom lip.
“That’s not an answer, Josie.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I think you can find a better use for your mouth instead of talking.”
I laughed. “Damn, girl.”
She grinned at me as she rose onto her elbows. “Just speaking the truth, Sethie.”
“That you are.”
And so I did.
Josie didn’t stay up on her elbows for long. She was on her back, arching and twisting as I took her with my mouth. I drove her to the very edge and then tossed her right over with a curl of my finger on that one spot. Her body was still trembling when I rose, and her hoarse shout was drowned out by mine as I thrust into her, seating myself deep.
I held myself still for as long as I could, barely able to get air in and out of my damn lungs. Muscles in my arms trembled and my stomach clenched. All I could focus on was the way she felt. No matter how many times I was right here, this moment would always be the best, even if I thought that every single time.
Josie folded her arms around me as she stretched up and kissed me softly. “I love you.”
“Gods,” I growled, kissing her deeply, thoroughly as those three words echoed. I couldn’t remain still for a second longer.
I began to move, relishing every second of the way she tightened and pulled at me. What started off slow quickly escalated. I slipped my arms under her shoulders, anchoring her to me as I thrust deep and hard.
She matched me in every way possible, and when I felt it hit her all over again, I couldn’t hold back any longer. I followed, dropping my head to her shoulder as a hoarse cry of release shook me to my very core.
“I love you,” I said against her heated skin.
She whispered those three words again and they mingled with my pounding heart and roaring pulse.
Neither of us moved for what felt like forever. Hell. A damn Minotaur could’ve strutted naked into the room and I would’ve been lying there, but my weight had to be crushing her, so I rolled my ass off, but I didn’t go far. I brought her with me, positioning her so she was lying across my chest. I liked her like that. No space between us, hands free to touch her. One found its way to her hair.
So damn lucky.
Another three words that kept replaying over and over. The thing about luck, though? It was bound to run out. Always.
I closed my eyes, clearing my throat. “Boy or girl?”
This was a question we’d been shooting back and forth many times over the last week. You’d think we’d get tired of it by now, but we hadn’t.
Josie’s fingers skimmed along my sides. “Girl.”
“Okay.” I blew out a long breath. “How about Agatha? It means good-hearted.”
“I like it, but I think it’s a little old-sounding.”
“You’re right. Let me see. What about Aileen? It’s like Eileen, but special.”
She laughed and her breath puffed against my chest. “What does that mean?”
“Torch of light, I believe.”
“I like that.” She yawned. “What about…Serena? I don’t know what it means, but I’ve always thought it was a pretty name.”
“That is a good name.” I started to trace glyphs across her back. “We’ll put that one on the table.”
Josie kissed the space above my heart. “What if…?”
When she didn’t finish, I tipped my chin down. “What?”
She didn’t answer for a long moment. “What if something happens? Like, to the baby?”
“Nothing will happen to the baby. I swear it on my—” My heart lodged somewhere in my throat, and I moved without thinking. Sitting up so we were at eye level, I clasped her cheeks. “Wait. Do you think something is wrong?”
“No. Not at all. I mean, I think everything is fine. I feel fine, but it’s early.” She wrapped her fingers around my wrists. “Like way early, and I know that anything can happen in normal pregnancies and we…we don’t know if this will be normal. We don’t know anything about this pregnancy.”
My heart started to slow down. Not by much, though. Christ, I thought I was goin
g to have a heart attack right then, and I was pretty damn sure gods didn’t have heart attacks. But what Josie had just said was a hundred percent right. We didn’t know much about this pregnancy at all. There had to be a god and a demigod at some point that got pregnant, though. There was no way we were the first.
Crazy how having a kid was something I’d never thought I’d ever want until hearing Josie say those words. I’m pregnant. From that very second, this kid—our kid—was what I wanted with every fiber of my being. The mere thought of losing this child was like being doused in ice water. I experienced the kind of terror I’d never tasted before.
Scared the shit out of me.
But I didn’t want her to stress, though, and if that meant swallowing my own concern, then that was what I would gladly do.
“I’m sure it’ll be normal.” Wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her to my chest. “It’ll be the most boring pregnancy ever.”
She laughed as she wiggled her shoulder under my arm, getting as close as possible. “I don’t think any pregnancy is boring.”
“Ours will be. It’ll be so normal, you’ll even forget you’re pregnant.”
Josie shook her head. “Even if the pregnancy is normal, we’re not normal. I’m not normal.”
Knowing where she was going with this, I closed my eyes as I kissed the top of her head.
Her hold on me tightened. “I still have to entomb the remaining Titans. We still have that to deal with and…they aren’t going to go quietly into the night. It’s going to be a fight, a knock-down, drag-out fight.”
I didn’t say anything at that moment, because I doubted she’d want to hear what I had to say about her fighting the Titans.
Today had been too good to ruin.
And this afternoon had been so…normal. How I imagined mortal couples spent their time when they had nothing but each other to explore and spend time with.
This moment of normalcy was over, but there were going to be more moments. I’d make damn sure of it, starting with something I wanted to do, something that had been sloshing around in the back of my head ever since I found out she was pregnant.
The Prophecy Page 2
