The Return

“I shouldn’t have told you that,” I retorted. His thumb smoothed over the inside of my wrist. “And can you stop touching me?”

His grin spread as he slowly slipped his hand away from my wrist. A heartbeat passed, and then he leaned in. I inhaled sharply. His scent…there was something intoxicating about it. He was close, so close that if I shifted an inch forward, our noses would be touching. That wouldn’t be the only thing touching, either.

“I need to make sure you understand everything I said to you,” he said, his bright gaze locking onto mine. “Because they know you’re here. That’s why the shades are here—why one of them was in your room.”

“He was another student. I think he…he lived on the seventh floor.”

“He’s nothing now.”

I flinched, my stomach unsettled.

A muscle thrummed along his jaw. “That was a bit insensitive of me.” There was a brief pause, the next words sounding almost forced out of him. “Was he your friend?”

“I didn’t know him well, but that doesn’t matter. He was a living, breathing person and now…” And like he’d said, now he was nothing. “This can’t be good. None of this.”

He shook his head and his hair slipped over his cheeks. The movement brought him even closer. “No, Josie, none of it is good, and there’s more I need to tell you.”

“There’s more? How could there possibly be more? Or are Transformers real, too? Or aliens? What about fairies and vampires and—”

“Josie,” he murmured.

“What?” I wanted to throw my hands up, but I’d end up hitting him if I did. “I didn’t believe gods existed and they do, so why not the other stuff?”

He cocked a brow. “Your father fears that Hyperion is going to come directly for you. He’s a Titan your father entombed.”

My stomach twisted. “Isn’t that why the…the shade was here?”

Shaking his head, he met my gaze. “The shade could’ve been scouting for any Titan. After all, they’re going to be looking for any demigod to snack on.” When I winced, his expression remained impassive. “But Hyperion has a revenge hard-on for Apollo and there’s a chance he’s going to take that out on you. You don’t want that.”

“No,” I agreed, and my head was starting to spin again. The walls of the room were getting closer. “What does this mean?”

“It means that your life changes right now. You have to leave here, and that’s where I come in. My job is to get you to the Covenant, which is a stronghold in South Dakota, where Apollo believes you will be safe.”

The twisting motion stopped, because my stomach bottomed out. “South Dakota? I’m not even sure I can point out where South Dakota is on a map.”

The slight curve of his lips appeared again. “It’s between nothing-there-interests-me and land-of-the-great-nothing.”

A surprised giggle escaped me. Seth…he could be funny, but I clamped my mouth shut, because I was afraid that if I started laughing, it would become that crazy kind, and then I wouldn’t be able to stop.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to let everything soak in, but my brain felt like an overflowing bathtub. A bit of fear trickled into my blood like a small, icy stream. I cut it off before I slipped into the kind of panic that left people rocking in the corner. I had to be smart about this, because the last thing I wanted was to end up dead. “So, I can’t stay here and my life as I know it is virtually over.”

“Or your life is finally starting,” he suggested. “You could look at it that way.”

I wanted to lean back, but I was already pressed against the headboard. There was nowhere to go. “I need a shower,” I blurted out.

His brows knitted. “You need to shower?”

“Yeah. Yes. I need to shower. It helps clear my head,” I went on, the words coming out in an anxious rush. “And I really need to get my head clear, because this is a lot. So I need to shower. Lots of steam. It helps me think.”

For a moment I thought he was going to tell me no, but then he pulled back and pushed off the bed. Suddenly feeling chilled, I watched him back away from the bed, but I could finally breathe with the space. “There’s a Jacuzzi tub in there.”

I hesitated for a moment, and then I tossed off the covers. Springing from the bed, I headed straight for the bathroom door, my head full of so much I thought it would explode.

“Joe.”

Clenching my hands, I faced him. “Don’t call me Joe, Sethie “Sethie?” A laugh burst from him.

I folded my arms across my chest, ignoring the fact that he really did have a nice laugh even if he wasn’t human. Well, if I believed him, I wasn’t completely human, either. “What?”

His bare chest rose, and I forced my gaze back to his face. “I…” He shook his head. “Nothing. I’ll be waiting. Don’t take forever.”

I stared as he turned to a bag resting on a large chair, and I hoped he had a damn shirt to pull out of it. Turning back to the bathroom bigger than my dorm room, I pulled the door shut behind me and all but collapsed against it.

Closing my eyes, I listened to the absolute silence of the hotel room. If he was moving around out there, he was part ghost. So much information rolled around in my thoughts. Part of me wanted to deny everything, but he…he had to be telling me the truth, and that caused little darts of panic to shoot through me. My body trembled. Demigods. Gods. Apollyon. Titans. Even Pegasus. All of it was real, and I was one of them? And all of this… It felt too real to not be.

I opened my eyes and stared at the huge tub.

I seriously hoped Seth found a shirt.





CHAPTER

8

WHEN I heard the water come on in the bathroom, I exhaled loudly and then tugged the shirt on over my head. There were no windows in the bathroom for her to make a crazy escape, and while she could be using the quality one-on-one time to convince herself none of this was real, at least she was still in there and not running screaming back to campus.

This conversation had gone better than the last, which was a positive.

Sighing, I zipped up the bag and then moved to the wet bar. Opening the mini-fridge, I grabbed a beer and then walked over to the chair. Popping off the cap, I didn’t even bother trying to summon Apollo. I knew he wouldn’t show.

I took a long drink before I dropped down in the thick cushioned chair I’d parked my ass in when I’d brought Josie to the hotel. I’d sat there for a few hours, watching her sleep like some kind of creep before I’d hopped in the shower to wash away the faint¸ lingering scent of the Underworld. But I did have a valid reason for keeping an eye on her. She had cracked her head pretty good. It had to have been the blood she carried in her veins, even though her abilities were bound, that kept her from needing a trip to the ER.

Tipping the bottle to my lips, I wondered if there’d been situations in the past where she’d walked away from serious accidents or injuries virtually unscathed. Had she ignored them, chalked them up to luck?

Did she also know she slept like the dead?

From the moment I’d laid her down in that bed and tugged the blankets up, she hadn’t moved from where I’d put her. Not once. Didn’t flip onto her side. Roll onto her stomach. Didn’t even twitch.

The constant drum of water ceased in the bathroom. Finally. There had to be enough water in that tub for her to drown herself.

I lowered the bottle to the arm of the chair as I turned my narrowed gaze on the bathroom door. She wouldn’t…

I didn’t know her at all, so I had no idea what she was capable of. The girl had been worried that she was sick like her mother, and maybe she was.

Dammit.

Pushing up from the chair, I set the bottle on the wooden stand and went to the bathroom door. Unease gathered in the pit of my gut, the sensation traveling upward. I reached down, turned the knob, and found it locked. Not a problem. The energy of the fire element rolled down my arm, and heat wrapped around my palm, searing the knob and melting the insides of the lock.

Lock be gone.

Ha.

Mentally preparing myself for anything, I pushed open the door. What I saw I was definitely not prepared for.

Josie was in the bathtub, not drowning herself, which was a good thing. Bad thing was being in the bathtub meant she was completely naked. Maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. Okay. Definitely not a bad thing.

She froze in the jetted tub for a few seconds—seconds that felt like the longest of my life but still not enough time.

She was tucked into one of the rounded corners of the tub, her knees breaking the whirling water. Her hair was pulled up, but light-brown and blonde tendrils snaked around her neck, sticking to her damp skin. My gaze followed the longer strands that traveled well beyond the slope of her shoulders. As I tall as I was, I had a clear view into the tub. At that point, I should’ve looked away. Maybe apologized. That’s what a decent person would have done.

But I was not a decent person.

So I looked my fill.

I’d been right. She’d been hiding some major assets under the baggy sweaters. Gods, the top half of her was perfect. They were more than a handful, but not overly large, with creamy swells and rosy pink tips.

Sweet. That’s what came to mind. Everything about what I saw was sweet.

Then she moved.

Josie shrieked as her arms shot out and over her chest. Water flew like a little rocket had hit the tub. She curled up, pressing her knees against her arms, covering all that glorious skin. “Oh my God! What are you doing?”

Good question. For a moment I’d forgotten why I’d come in here. “I was making sure you didn’t drown yourself.” My voice was deeper, rougher.

Her wide eyes narrowed on me. “Well, obviously I didn’t drown myself.”

No. No, she had not.

“Have you ever heard of knocking?” she demanded, her gaze doing a quick scan of the room. “And I locked that door.”

“Knocking is…cumbersome. And locks are annoying.”

Her brows rose quickly, and I was fascinated by the way a pink flush spread across her cheeks and down her throat. I bet it flowed over her breasts too, but unfortunately, she had them covered. A moment passed. “You’re still in here,” she said.

“I am.”

Her lower lip thinned. “You shouldn’t be. It’s rude.”

“Is it?” I leaned against the doorframe, getting comfortable.

“Yes! I’m in a bathtub. And naked!”

My lips curved up. “You are most definitely naked.”

“That’s the point!” she shouted, and my grin spread. “What? Do rolly-pollys not have basic manners or any personal boundaries?”

“Apollyon,” I corrected absently. “And like I said, I’m not good with boundaries.”

“Whatever.” Her voice pitched high.

A chuckle rolled out of my throat, surprising me. I needed to get out of here before…before I did what? Stripped off my clothes and joined her? Parts of me really liked that idea, but that wouldn’t be smart.

Josie wasn’t some girl I had picked up for a few hours.

Forcing myself to move, I turned, but her voice stopped me. “Seth?” she called, and I looked over my shoulder at her. Her tongue darted out, wetting her bottom lip, and I swallowed a groan. She had no idea. “Your eyes…they’re kind of glowing.”

“They do that sometimes.”

She looked like she wanted to ask another question, but seemed to remember that she was naked in a bathtub. I really needed to get out of the room. Grabbing the virtually useless doorknob, I stepped out and shut the door behind me.

“Damn,” I groaned.

I was as hard as I was the first time I saw breasts, and that was a long time ago. I thought I might even be harder this time.

What was I doing here?

Adjusting myself sure as hell didn’t ease anything. I walked over to where I’d left the beer and grabbed the bottle. Taking a long drink, I wondered how I’d ended up in this place, at this very moment, with a naked chick a few feet from me, and I wasn’t in there with her.

My life was completely out of my hands.

Laughing out loud, I dropped back in the chair and kicked my feet up on the bed as I rested the bottle in my lap. That shit was funny. Since the day I’d been born, I hadn’t had an ounce of control over my own life. I’d been groomed to be an Apollyon, which meant I was trained like any other Sentinel.

Truth was, if Apollo released me tomorrow from the deal I’d made and told me I had control of my life, I wouldn’t know what to do with it. Hell. I didn’t know who I really was anymore.

The Elixir, a special brew that had been used to sedate halfs who went into servitude, was gone now. So were a lot of the rules, but I hadn’t been around the Covenants or in the communities to see how much things had changed. I doubted they’d changed very much at all. I guessed I’d be finding out soon enough.

I glanced over at the bathroom door, exhaling softly. She’d been in that bath long enough to be a prune by the time she climbed out. What a shame to wrinkle all that pretty skin.

Now I was thinking about all that pretty skin.

And I’d seen a decent amount of it.

Had I thought she was plain before? Plain and pretty? I was reevaluating that observation when the bathroom door finally opened and Josie emerged.

Oh for the love of the gods hiding in Olympus, she was wearing a robe. Not even one of those awful terrycloth, unisex robes a lot of hotels had. That wasn’t how this hotel rolled. She’d found a thin, silk one that had been hanging on the bathroom door. It was cinched tight in a way that drew attention to her small waist and rounded hips.

The robe was beige and damp in interesting areas, like right below her navel, above the belt, and in the valley between her breasts. She sucked at toweling off. Not that I was complaining. My gaze moved to her breasts. Her nipples were clearly visible, pressing against the thin material.

Gods.

I spread my legs, hoping she didn’t look at my lap. Nylon pants don’t do much when it comes to hiding an erection.

She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t want to put the other clothes back on,” she said, peeking at me through thick lashes. “You’re…you’re the one staring now.”

My eyes were glued to her. “I am.”

Her stare met mine for a moment, and then flickered away. “Rude,” she muttered, glancing back at me.

I grinned. “Your friend is supposed to bring your clothes over. It will probably take her a while. Some of the mortals were too close to your dorm room when we were there. She needs to make sure anyone who thought they might have heard or seen something doesn’t repeat it…or remember it.”

Sucking her lower lip between her teeth, she looked away. “How will she do that?”

Dropping my feet to the floor, I set the empty bottle aside. “She’ll use a compulsion to make them either forget what they heard or saw, or she’ll make them think something else happened.”

That got her attention. Those deep blue eyes were on mine again. Her brows knitted in confusion, pinching her face in a way that was almost…cute. I drew back. Cute? “So a compulsion is kind of like mind control?”

“Yeah.” I brushed my hair back off my face. “Pures can do it. Any of the gods can. Halfs can’t. They are vulnerable to compulsions like a mortal would be.”

She seemed to consider that. “Can you do it?”

I nodded.

Her fingers nervously fluttered over the knot in her belt. “Does compulsion work on me?”

“It shouldn’t. You’re a demigod.” I paused. “But your powers have been bound, so who knows? I can give it a try.” The look on her face said she’d rather I didn’t, but that didn’t stop me. My gaze met hers and held it. “Take off your robe.”

Her lips parted, and then her mouth gaped open. “What the hell?”

Disappointment rippled through me. “Guess it doesn’t work.”

“You’re a pervert.”