The Return

I shrugged. “Been called worse.”

“I bet,” she muttered crossly.

“You have no idea.” I stood, raising my arms above my head and stretching. Her next question surprised me.

“You said you can use the elements? Can you…show me one?”

Lowering my arms, I watched her. “So you want a show and tell?”

She hesitated and nodded.

My first instinct was to tell her no, because I’d had enough of that in my life, but that’s not what I did. Lifting my arm toward her, I opened my hand, palm up. While pures usually only excelled at using one element, usually the ability that ran in their families, summoning any of the elements was second nature to me. I guessed it would be the same for her once she was able to tap into her abilities.

I didn’t even have to really think about it.

Heat rolled across my skin, licking into the air around me. A spark appeared above my palm, followed by the faint scent of burnt ozone. A second later, a small ball of amber-tinged flames appeared, the outer layers of the fire encasing my hand.

“Holy wow.” Josie pushed off the bed. “Your hand is legitimately on fire!”

My lips twitched. “It doesn’t hurt.” I moved my hand, flipping my palm down and then up. “It goes where I want it to.”

“Wow…” she repeated, walking around the bed, inching closer to me. She stopped a few feet shy and the glow of the fire reflected off her dewy cheeks. “That’s…just, wow.”

I closed my fingers, extinguishing the flames as I met her awed gaze. “You’ll probably be able to do it, too.”

She shook her head as her fingers went back to fiddling with the knot on her robe. “I can’t even wrap my head around that.”

The edges of the robe had started to gape under her throat, teasing me with a flash of pale skin. “You will. You’ll have to.”

There was a pause. “I’ve been thinking.”

“So that’s what you were doing in the bathtub for twenty hours?”

“I wasn’t in there for twenty hours.” Her arms lowered to the side, and the material gaped further, revealing the gently curving swell. Back to sweet again. “You said I have to go to South Dakota.”

I dragged my gaze to hers. “Yes.”

“And then you’re just going to leave me there?”

I didn’t have an answer for that. Apollo’s orders were to get her to the Covenant. That was all. I sure as hell wasn’t hanging around there.

Her eyes closed and her chest rose sharply, straining the robe. Fuck me. Seriously. This girl was off-limits for a multitude of reasons, especially considering who her father was, and while I would have loved to piss him off, I didn’t want a lightning bolt in the ass. But my fingers itched to touch the skin peeking out from the robe, to slip my hands under the material.

“My life here is important. Everything I’ve been working toward means nothing now—my education, what I wanted to do with my life.”

I really needed to stop staring at her chest. “You are a demigod. You will eventually help save the world and blah blah. That’s more important than…What were you studying?”

“Psychology,” she answered. She laughed, the sound soft and sad. “I know that probably isn’t important to you, but it is to me. It means a lot to me, and now that’s been stripped away and I…” She stopped talking, her expression taking on a distant quality.

She had no choices now. She had a destiny she’d never known about, probably didn’t want, and might end up getting her killed. I got how much that sucked. My heart pounded in my chest for no reason. “I’m sorry.”

She blinked as if surprised, and then she turned to the side. That expanse of exposed skin was killing me. “I just realized something.”

I wasn’t really listening. Moving toward her before she could speak another word, I caught the edges of the robe. The backs of my fingers brushed her skin, revving me up. Her breath caught as her body stiffened. Her neck craned as her eyes widened, met mine. There was so much depth in them, more than what I’d realized before. There was so much emotion. Confusion. Unease. Innocence. Oh, but there was more. Fear existed in their depths, but so did curiosity. There was a crater-sized part of me that wanted to slip the robe off her shoulders, to see how she’d respond, how deep that innocence ran, and if the curiosity I was tracking in her gaze, in the way her lips parted, was stronger than the fear.

I tugged the edges together. “Distracting,” I murmured.

She exhaled softly as pink infused her cheeks. Reaching up, she grasped the edges just below my hands. Our hands didn’t touch, but my knuckles pressed against her skin, scalding me. For a moment, neither of us moved. We seemed to be stuck in a moment in time.

“Your eyes are kind of glowing again,” she whispered.

They tended to do that when I was feeling anything strongly, and I had lot of feels right then—all of them inappropriate. I let go and forced a step back from her. “What did you realize?”

Several moments passed before she spoke, and when she did, I noted the change in her voice. The sound was huskier, softer. Interesting. “I don’t know if my mom is crazy anymore,” she said, and talk of her mom effectively slaughtered my hard-on. “She said my father was an angel who visited her. It wasn’t an angel. It was… God, I can’t even believe I’m going to say this, because it does sound really crazy, but it was Apollo.”

“Yeah, it was him, creeping into the bed of a young lady,” I muttered, eyeing the wet bar. I wanted another beer.

Josie forged on. “And she said that everything that happened last year with the natural disasters, the whole world on the brink of war, was the world on the verge of ending. She was right, wasn’t she?”

I nodded. “Kind of like the gods bowling with Earth.”

“There…there must’ve been so many times when I thought she was hallucinating—it might all have been true, and we—my grandparents—they put her on meds. Antipsychotic meds. And those meds, if you aren’t schizophrenic, it can… You shouldn’t be on them. Oh my God…” She plopped down on the bed, her expression starting to crumble. “We probably made it worse for her.”

My gut twisted with helplessness as I stared at her. The glassy sheen to her eyes told me she was seconds from crying, and I wasn’t good with that shit. Emotions—they were bad. But I stepped toward her.

Her chin rose as she drew in a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. The shininess in her eyes was still there, but no tears fell. I stopped halfway to her, wondering what I was doing. She exhaled roughly. “I want to go home. I need to go home. Now.”





CHAPTER

9

“YOU WANT to go home?” Seth repeated. He stared at me like what I’d just said was the craziest thing spoken that night. And there had been a lot of crazy.

I’d used every moment soaking in that tub—that awesome tub—focusing on keeping my head on straight, and I’d barely pulled that off. Having him bust into the bathroom hadn’t helped. I still couldn’t believe he’d thought I was in there drowning myself. And I really couldn’t believe I’d been totally naked in the same room as him. I was kind of naked now, since this robe left so little to the imagination, but I wasn’t going to think about that. I was pretty sure he’d gotten an eyeful of my breasts in the bathroom anyway.

At least now he was a couple of feet from me, staring at me like I was insane. That was better than him right in front of me, his fingers curled around the edges of my robe, his knuckles against my skin, and staring at me like… My breath hitched as a strange flutter danced low in my stomach. He’d been staring at me with eyes that were slightly luminous, and he’d looked hungry.

I couldn’t recall any guy ever looking at me like that unless I was holding a basket of chicken wings or something. But in that moment, with the back of his hands searing my skin, if he had lowered his mouth to mine, there was a good chance I would’ve stood there and let him.

I wasn’t sure what that said about me.

Pushing those thoughts aside, I rose as I reached for my belt, making sure it was still tight. “I need to go home to see my mom. I need to talk to her.” Guilt churned through me even though I knew it was ridiculous. Who would’ve thought that any of what she had been saying for years was true?

Seth folded his arms as he eyed me. “And you can’t just, I don’t know, pick up the phone and call her?”

“I can, but I want to see her.” Frustrated and feeling about a thousand other emotions, I reached to tug my hair loose, but stopped when the stupid top of the robe gaped open again. Clutching the edges, the flutter was back when I noticed the way he seemed to breathe deeper. I needed to focus—and not on the flutter. “I don’t expect you to understand or even care, so I’m not going to go into the million reasons why what I need to say to my mom—the huge apology I need to deliver with probably a garden of flowers—is not phone-call appropriate. I want to be with her. I want to hug her. Okay? So I need to see her. Not call her.”

Those elegantly arched brows climbed slowly. “Do you realize you ramble? A lot.”

Heat swept over my cheeks. “No. I’ve never been told that.”

“I find that hard to believe,” he responded dryly.

My eyes narrowed, and when he grinned, I was torn between wanting to knock it off his face and…and grin back at him. That was an infuriating response. “You’re supposed to take me to South Dakota. Why can’t I stop in Missouri and see my mom on the way?”

“I never said you couldn’t.”

My eyes met his. “Then I’m going to see my mom before you cart me off to the middle of nowhere.”

He tilted his head to the side, and his hair, now dried in soft waves, brushed his face. “I don’t think it’s smart.”

“And I didn’t ask your opinion.”

One eyebrow rose.

I squared off against him, drawing in a deep breath as my grip on the robe tightened. “You can’t stop me.”

He stared at me a moment and then tipped his head back, laughing deeply. A shiver curled around my spine. Such a nice laugh. “I can’t stop you? You can’t stop me, Joe.”

“Don’t call me Joe!”

His chin dipped as amusement curled his lips. “Sorry, Joe-sie.”

“Oh my God, you’re so annoying,” I muttered as I started pacing along the length of the bed. “What is your job? Like, why are you here with me? You’re my babysitter, right?”

His amber gaze tracked my movement with unnerving intensity. Did he always stare at people like he could see right into their innermost private thoughts? “I prefer the term ‘guard’ over ‘babysitter.’ I’m supposed to keep you alive, not fed and watered and entertained with Disney cartoons.”

“Whatever. You’re a hot, ninja-esque babysitter who has to protect me,” I amended, distracted for a moment by the sudden glimmer in his tawny gaze. Drawing in a shallow breath, I raised my chin. “Because my…my father ordered you to do so. And he’s like Apollo—the real deal—and I’m guessing he’s super-powerful and not someone you want to tick off. And I’m also guessing, since he had other…people watching over me, he doesn’t want me dead, so he’d be pretty ticked off at you if I end up not breathing, right?”

His lips pursed as the glimmer faded in his eyes. “Something like that.”

“So, to make your job easier, you should just let me go see my mother. If not, you’re going to have to spend half the time worrying about killer mythical creatures gunning after me, because the moment I can make a run for it, I’ll do it. I can promise you that, Sethie. And then, if I’m there running amok with no protection.”

His mouth opened slightly as he cocked his head to the side, and then he shocked me. He laughed again as he unfolded his arms. “That was clever.”

I tried and failed to hide my triumphant grin. “I thought so myself.”

“It’s not smart,” he added with a shrug. “But, hey, what’s the worst that could happen? You end up dead and I end up wishing I was dead. Or the Titans or shades follow you home and put your entire family in danger. It’s a risk, but no biggie.”

My grin slipped off my face. Well, that didn’t sound good.

Walking over to the other side of the bed, he picked up a pillow, fluffed it, and dropped it back against the headboard. Then he pulled the heavy blanket and sheet back.

“When are we leaving? Now? If so, I need clothes.” I needed clothes like five minutes ago. “And probably my purse and cellphone. I guess I need my identification stuff. You never know when—”

“Your friend will be bringing that stuff over, probably in a couple of hours. Not only is she doing clean-up, she’s out there scouting and making sure nothing gets close to this hotel.”

I had to wear this robe for a few more hours? I could put my old clothes on, but they smelled weird—musty and dank.

Seth looked over at me. “So we’re not going anywhere until the morning.”

“The morning?”

“Yep.” He threw himself on the bed, causing the mattress to bounce, but he did so with a level of grace that was sort of astonishing. Sprawled on his back, he folded his arms behind his head. Nice biceps—that position really showed them off.

“What are you doing?”

He wiggled his hips. “What does it look like?” Whatever it was, it looked good.

Those lips formed another grin, and I prayed that he couldn’t read minds. I might need to ask about that later. “Unlike someone, no names mentioned.” He looked pointedly at me. “I didn’t just take a four-hour nap. So I’m going to use these next couple of hours to sleep.”

My mouth opened, but I clamped it shut. I couldn’t complain about him wanting to sleep. That was just rude. But what the heck was I supposed to do while he was getting some shuteye? Holding onto the robe for dear life, I shuffled my weight from one foot to the next as I looked around the spacious hotel room.

“Josie.”

I turned to him, my breath catching. How in the world did anyone look that…that good simply lying in bed? “What?”

His eyes were at half-mast, drawing attention to the thick, spiky lashes. “Come here.”

Another shiver slipped over my skin. “Are you trying that mind-control thing again? Because it’s not working.”

He chuckled. “No, I’m not. Just come here.”

My heart tripped up in my chest. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Really?” he murmured, grinning lazily. “Why?”

I didn’t have a good answer, because what I was thinking was really presumptuous of me. When I didn’t answer, he rolled onto his side and extended his arm over the empty space between us.

“Come here,” he said again.

Digging in, I shook my head. “Why?”

“Because it’ll make me feel better.”

“That’s definitely not a good enough reason.”

He chuckled again. “That wasn’t very nice, Joe.”

“I don’t like you,” I whispered.

His grin spread until it transformed his face, taking some of the raw edge off his beauty. “Look. I’m not going to molest you or anything.” He wiggled his fingers while I dealt with a really weird and really disturbing sense of disappointment, which made me feel like I needed therapy. “I need to get some sleep, so I can be alert later on, but it’s hard to do that when you look like you’re seconds away from darting toward the door. All I want you to do is sit here. You can even watch TV. I’ll sleep through it, but I need you here, beside me.”

I need you.

I nibbled on my lower lip. Of course, he hadn’t meant that he needed needed me, but there was still a dangerous coiling low in my belly. Mentally slapping myself, I needed to get control of my hormones. I didn’t know this guy. I didn’t even know myself anymore. Sex and all things naughty needed to be the furthest things from my mind.

The bed was huge. I could easily sit on one side while he slept on the other. His reasoning sounded logical, and I wasn’t going to be stupid and make a run for it as long as he played nice. I knew I wouldn’t be able to defend myself. I didn’t have any cool powers like setting my hand on fire.

I needed him, and God, that sucked.

Gathering up my courage, I didn’t take his hand as I put one knee on the bed while still holding the edges of my robe. I teetered there for a moment.

Seth was on me before I even realized he’d moved. One second he was lying there, all lazy-like, and the next I was flat on my back, my eyes wide, and his leg thrown over mine, all but trapping me in place.

With shallow, uneven breaths, I turned my head toward him. Those eyes were half-open, the grin full of mischief. He moved his hand, wiggling something black and slender in my face. The remote! How in the world did he get the remote between lying there and doing nothing and practically tackling me?

The fucker was a ninja!