Chapter 33
Seth
The rising sun crested along the horizon, turning the sky a burnt orange and deep violet as a warm breeze washed over my skin, stirring the gauzy curtains of the open doorway behind me. Having woken an hour or so ago and unable to lie still, I found myself out on the balcony, listening to nothing but the rolling waves and distant call of waking birds.
I wanted to be in there, asleep beside Josie, but my damn brain just would not shut down, damn near replaying every moment of my life the last couple of years. From the moment I found out I was the Apollyon, to when I first stepped foot on Deity Island and beyond, it was “Seth’s Greatest Hits,” and then not so much, on repeat.
It was like I was trying to figure out how, after everything that had happened and everything I’d done and after every good and bad moment, I had still gotten here.
Closing my eyes, I tilted my head back, letting the warmth of the sun bake my skin. The future was…it was here.
Sounded corny as hell to think that, but it was true.
How did I get so lucky? It was a question I’d asked myself a hundred times since I met Josie, but after I’d almost lost myself only to almost lose her and our child, it was a question I couldn’t shake. There were so many people who were better than me who had lost so much.
But here I was still tasting the bitter fear and rancid hopelessness as I’d watched the life start to seep out of Josie’s beautiful eyes. Probably be a hundred years, maybe even a thousand before I forgot that feeling. Hell, there was a chance I never would, but Josie was safe. Our child was safe.
And I wasn’t living with that fear and hopelessness. I wasn’t living that life of loss that Josie had experienced while I’d been trapped in that nothingness. Instead, we were…
We were home.
This island, this house, had never felt like home to me. Hell, no place had felt like a home, but this house? It had been a cold and barren place, no matter how bright the sun shone on it or how many people filled the rooms. This house was just the bones of a home, nothing of substance inside, tainted by memories of a cold mother and a fate I’d never asked for.
Until now.
Never before would I’ve thought of the house where I’d spent many lonely years as something I want to come back to, start a family in. I used to think of this place as a ghost, one that always haunted the fringes of my thoughts.
Not anymore.
Now it felt like a home, because my entire world was curled up a few feet away, sleeping peacefully. It even looked differently when we arrived yesterday. Brighter. Warmer.
Home.
This was going to be the place we would always come back to when we left. This was going to where we would raise our child, and I knew in my bones that every nook and cranny of this house that was once cold and empty would be filled with life and love. But home wasn’t really a place.
It was really a person.
Opening my eyes, I found myself back in the bedroom, standing at the foot of the bed. Josie was lying on her side, the sheet twisted around her hips. One of her lovely legs peeked through the sheets. Tempting. So damn tempting. Everything about her. Even the way her arms were crossed in front of her bare chest, her hands balled loosely. That amazing hair of hers, a wild array of blondes and browns streamed across the pillow.
Gods.
Unable to help myself, I moved closer to her.
A raw knot of emotion crawled up the back of my throat. Damn tears stung the back of my eyes as I brought one knee onto the bed and then sat beside her.
She was psychi mou.
She was my everything.
Reaching over, I curled a finger around a strand of hair lying across her cheek and tucked it back behind her ear. Her hips wiggled, and her fingers curled on reflex. The corners of my lips tipped up as the sunlight creeping across the bed reflected off the diamond on her ring finger.
She was my wife.
A hoarse laugh parted my lips. My wife. Gods, I never thought I’d be married. Pretty sure the vast amount of people who’d met me would’ve never thought that, but here I was.
Lucky.
My hand drifted down her arm, over the curve of her waist to the flare of her hip.
Josie let out this soft little sound as she eased onto her back. Thick lashes fluttered and then lifted. Bright, beautiful blue eyes focused, and I was blessed with a sleepy smile. “Hey,” she murmured.
“Hi there.” I swallowed, but the damn knot of emotion was still there, choking me.
She turned her head to the open doorway. A frown pinched her face. “What time is it?”
“It’s early. The sun just rose.” I placed my hand on the other side of her hip.
“Mmm.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you.” That was the truth. “You should still be sleeping.”
Lifting her arms above her, she stretched that beautiful body of hers, arching her back and giving me one hell of a show. Her breasts jutted up, all rosy and perfect as she bit down on her plump lower lip. The sheet slipped, revealing her lower stomach. There was a larger…bump there, a roundness that stole my breath in the best possible ways. There wasn’t a scar left from Enyo’s attack. Not a single blemish save for Apollo’s mark.
“You’re staring at me,” she said.
I was always staring at her.
Especially when she was naked and pregnant with our child. Kind of couldn’t help myself.
When I didn’t answer, she lowered her arms. The lingering sleepiness vanished. Her brows knitted and then she rose onto her elbow as she cupped my cheek. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I said thickly.
Her gaze searched mine. “You sure?”
“I am.” I folded my hand over hers. “I’m just…thinking about everything.”
One eyebrow rose as she sat up. Hair fell over her shoulders. “That’s a lot to be thinking about.”
Lowering our joined hands, I kissed the center of her palm and then pressed her hand against my chest, above my heart.
“Why are you awake?” Her gaze searched mine. “Talk to me, Seth.”
“It’s nothing. Everything is okay.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s just that…” I caught a strand of her hair and gently tugged on it. “I’m so damn lucky. I can’t stop thinking about that.”
She was quiet for a moment. “You think it was all luck?”
“I don’t know,” I answered truthfully.
“We’re both lucky.” She scooted closer. “But it’s not all luck that got us here. I think we worked damn hard to be here. We both fought hard to be here.”
That we did.
We had the scars that didn’t show on the skin to prove it.
“And we had help. Loads of it,” she continued, placing her other hand on my thigh. “And my father…”
It was hard to think of Apollo. There was a part of me that still got irrationally irritated just hearing his name, and the other half missed the annoying son of a bitch, popping in and out without any warning, but what he did for Josie and our son could never be forgotten. “Yeah, he really came through for us, didn’t he?”
She nodded, and I hated seeing the sadness creeping into her expression. I’d given her Apollo’s message once she remembered what had happened. It had been hard, watching as she fully understood the sacrifice Apollo had made. He’d given his godhood to save her and our child, and from what we could tell, his life as well.
And it hadn’t just been hard for Josie.
Alex and Aiden couldn’t process it even though they saw it with their own eyes. The god had been a part of their lives longer than Josie’s, and for Alex, it was also like losing a father.
It was hard for everyone.
Even me.
“I wish I had…time with him.” Her gaze dropped. “To actually get to know him. You know? Because I really didn’t know him at all.”
“I’m sorry.” It seemed inadequate to say, but I was. “He loved you. At the end of the day, he proved that and then some.”
“I know.”
“I just wish he’d showed it in a different way.” And that was the damn truth. “Like, I don’t know, taking you out for ice cream or some shit.”
Josie coughed out a hoarse laugh. “That would’ve been nice. Spending any real time with him would’ve been… Well, I really wanted that.” She cleared her throat as she lifted her gaze to mine. “So, it wasn’t just luck. We fought to be here. People sacrificed everything for us to get here, and not just my father.”
No, it hadn’t just been Apollo who had given his life. Solos. Colin had, before we even met him. Countless others. Some were nameless, but their sacrifices were just as important.
But Josie was…she was right.
I wasn’t saying some of it wasn’t luck. I used to think there was no such thing, but I knew better. And maybe some of it was even fate. I knew enough to know fate was a real thing. Fate could be reshaped, but it was a damn freight train at times, running right over you.
But we did fight to get here. I fought to get here. It wasn’t just luck or fate. “It was us.”
She nodded. “And it’s over. It’s really over, Seth.”
Words I’d never thought I’d have the luxury of hearing.
“No more creepy shades. No more Titans,” she continued, sliding her hand along my inner thigh. “The Olympians know their place and we know ours.”
“Yeah, we do.” My cock thickened as her hand came precariously close. “Our place is here.”
“It is.” She leaned in, kissing the corner of my mouth. “And whatever crazy things may come our way, we’re going to face them. Together.”
If the remaining Olympians were smart and played their cards right, they’d make it their top priority not to piss either of us off.
Alas, the Olympians were not known for being smart or playing their cards well, even though the last time we’d seen them, things had been cool. One never knew what they were going to get from the Olympians, but I’d be ready for them if they ever tried to step out against us.
Or if they tried to stop our son from taking his rightful place among them when he was of age.
I caught the fierce glint in Josie’s eyes and corrected myself. We would be ready for them.
“Together,” I agreed.
Her head tilted back as her gaze roamed over my face. She cupped my cheek again and then traced the curve of my jaw with the pad of her thumb.
Turning my head, I caught the tip of her finger between my teeth. Passion clouded her eyes as I nipped down.
“You need to stop doing that,” she said, pulling her hand away and sliding it down to my chest.
I raised my brows. “Why would I do that?”
“Because for some reason, these pregnancy hormones have me wanting sex for, like, nearly twenty-four hours a day,” she said, and hell if that didn’t go straight to my dick. “You do something like that, and I just want to climb on you like a sex-deprived manic.”
“Okay. I don’t care what you say.” Wrapping my hand around the nape of her neck, I kissed her. “I am so fucking lucky.”
Josie laughed against my mouth. “Because I’m horny all the time now?”
“Yeah.” I pressed my forehead against hers and drew in a long, slow breath. “And for the fact that, after all of this, you’ve never given up on me.”
“I could never give up on you.” She kissed me again, nibbling at my bottom lip. “Not just because I love you, but because you’re worth fighting for, Seth. You’re worth loving, and if takes a hundred years to prove that to you, I will.”
Her words were a lightning bolt to my chest.
“Hell,” I growled. Snatching the sheet that had pooled at her waist, I tossed it aside. The silk sheet floated in the air beside the bed and then fell quietly to the floor.
Needing to be inside her more badly than I needed my next breath, I willed my pants off.
Josie laughed as she fell back onto the bed. “That is a nifty talent, Seth.”
“That it is.” I climbed over her, stopping to kiss her lower stomach. “You’re jealous of it, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah.” Her fingers threaded through my hair. “Who wouldn’t be?”
Moving up, I placed a kiss on the raised mark between her breasts. “But I like to think I have far better talents then undressing myself with a thought.”
“You do.” She tugged on my head, guiding my mouth to hers as I settled between her thighs. “But that would make getting ready so much easier.”
My laugh was lost in her kiss, and then I got lost in her. Everything started off slow. I took my time, because hell if we didn’t have all the time in the world to slow everything down, to enjoy one another without a threat hanging over our heads, and to simply live.
So, that’s what we did.
I sipped from her lips, drank from her breathy sighs, and fed from her cries as I worked my way down her, exploring every dip and curve like it was my first time. And in a way, it sort of felt like that.
It always felt like that.
I’d never grow tired of those soft sounds she made, or the way her skin tasted. I’d never grow tired of her. Never.
By the time I slid inside her, we both were grasping at one another, hands greedy on slick skin, our breaths short and urgent.
Josie cried out my name as I thrust into her, and the sound was like touching a live wire. Those long, beautiful legs wrapped around my hips. I moved over her, arms shaking, hips pumping slow and deep.
She was having none of that.
Rolling me onto my back, I laughed and grasped her hips as she took control. She planted her hands on my chest. Head thrown back and back arched as she rode me, I’d never seen anything more beautiful. And when she came, clenching and throbbing all around me, my release powered down my spine.
I sat up, wrapping my arms around her as tight as I could. Her head dropped to my shoulder as her body trembled all around me. I pulled her down, grinding up and sealing our bodies together. There was not an inch of space between us when I came, shouting her name.
I fell back, bringing her with me as the aftershocks shook me to my very core. Good gods, I was rattled in the best possible way.
Clearing my throat, I glanced over at Josie. Breathing just as heavily and fast as me, half her body was strewn across me and her legs were tangled with mine. That was something about her I loved. Somehow she always managed to get her legs all wrapped up in mine. A lazy grin tugged up the corners of my lips. She was the best kind of octopus.
“Gods.” I dragged my hand up her spine as I turned my chin, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I could do that again and again and again.”
“Same.” She snuggled down. “That was…”
“Extraordinary? Heart-stopping? The best sex of your life?” I suggested helpfully.
She giggled. “All of those.”
“That’s what I thought.”
“Your ego never fails to amaze me.”
Dragging my fingers along the center of her back, I chuckled as I let my eyes drift shut. There was a good chance that I might’ve dozed off, because when I opened my eyes again, the sunlight had shifted from the bed to the floor and Josie was smiling at me, her chin propped against her fist, resting on my chest.
“Have you been watching me sleep?” I asked, retuning my hand to her back, because I knew she liked that.
“Maybe just a little.”
Lifting my other hand, I dragged it down my face. “How long was I sleeping?”
“A couple of hours. Not too long.”
“Shit. Really?”
She nodded. “I wasn’t staring at you the whole time.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” I paused. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s okay, Seth.” Josie smiled as she pulled back. “You can take naps. We have forever to be awake and annoying each other. Like literally. Forever. And soon, we’ll have a little version of ourselves to also annoy and take naps with.”
I don’t know why, but it struck me right then that we really did have forever—fuck, we really did. Not the blink and you missed it life. Not a future that ended hopefully when we were both old and gray, our muscles weak and our bones frail. We really did have forever.
“Yeah.” My voice thickened as I tugged her back down, right where I wanted her. Flesh against flesh. Heart to heart. “Yeah, we do.”
Josie kissed my chest, and another thing struck me as I lay there. Something fucking wondrous in a way.
I…I had gotten everything I could ever want in the end.
Me. The one some called the villain for a long time.
But it was true. I had the love of my life in my arms. My wife. I would have a child soon. I had a real future, one that I would look forward to every day.
I laughed before I could stop myself.
Josie lifted her chin. “What?”
“I was just thinking.” Smiling, I curved my hand around her arm, holding her tight to me. “I got everything. Every damn thing I never even allowed myself to dream. Crazy.”
Josie wrinkled her nose in that cute way of hers, and my smile grew. She let out a happy little shriek as I rolled her onto her back. Staring into the eyes of the woman who was truly a gift, I made a promise I’d never break. “I’m going to spend the rest of eternity proving to you just how much I deserve all of this.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You already do, Seth.”