Chapter 8
Josie
Seth told me what he saw in Long Beach: the destruction and the death, the heartbreak he witnessed as people pulled their loved ones out of rubble. He knew the exact number of those he found who’d passed away.
Fifty-six.
Four of them were children.
My heart broke for them and it shattered for Seth, because this…this was a hard lesson to learn—a lesson that wouldn’t be forgotten for a long time.
Comforting someone who was basically responsible for an unnatural disaster wasn’t something I was particularly skilled at, but I quickly realized that all I needed to do was let him talk and just be there.
And I meant what I’d said to him earlier. I would do anything and everything to make sure that Seth saw that he was going to be the most wonderful father and that our child would never grow up to be ashamed of him or fear him.
When Seth finally fell asleep on the couch, I think it was more a case of passing out from exhaustion than anything else. So I curled up against him, my hand on his chest. I feel asleep that way, feeling his deep and even breaths.
I wasn’t sure how many hours had passed when I felt an arm snag me around the waist and tug me to the side. I ended up against a warm, hard chest, and I blinked my eyes open.
Thick, dusky lashes lifted and two amber-colored eyes met mine. “Hey,” he murmured.
Sleep clung to my thoughts as I realized we were in bed, lying on our sides, facing one another, and Seth’s hair was damp, his face free of dirt. “How did we get in bed?”
“I carried you in here a couple of hours ago. You’ve been dead asleep. Didn’t even wake when I got your shoes and jeans off. Or when I took a shower.” He tucked a strand of my hair back from my face. “Or when I got back in bed.”
“Really?” I yawned. “What time is it?”
“Pretty early.” His hand left my hair and he trailed the tips of his fingers over my brow. “Sorry to pass out on you on the couch.”
“It’s okay.”
A different kind of smile played out on his lips. Not a bad one. More of a boyish one. “You’re lying.”
“Na-uh,” I murmured.
“That couch is about as comfortable as a two by four.” His finger skipped down the center of my nose. “Then again, I was there, so it was probably the best sleep you’ve ever had.”
I let out a sleepy laugh. “Your ego never fails to amaze me.”
His gaze searched mine as his finger found its way to my bottom lip. “You never fail to amaze me.”
“Why? Was I snoring again?”
He chuckled. “No. But the fact something so beautiful can sound like Chewbacca getting run over by a van is pretty amazing.”
“I do not sound like that.” The sleep was finally clearing from my thoughts. “You’re a liar-liar, pants on fire.”
Seth winked, and I rolled my eyes. “But I wasn’t talking about that. You just…you amaze me, Josie.”
A goofy grin tugged at my lips. “I do?”
“Yeah.” His finger dipped to my chin. “I just thought I’d let you know that.”
“Thank you.” Faint light tracked underneath the blinds, washing over the curve of Seth’s cheek. “How are you feeling this morning?”
There was a time that Seth probably would’ve shut down and not answered the question. Made some joke and laughed it off. He didn’t do that now.
“I’m okay,” he said. His lashes lowered as he dragged his finger down the center of my throat. “Thinking about things, about what I saw, but I’m…okay. You?”
“The same.” I placed my hand on his bare chest, and he jerked a little at my touch. I liked that, knowing that something as simple as me touching him had such an effect on him.
His gaze flickered over my face. “I owe you a thank you.”
My brow puckered. “For what?”
“For last night. For just being there and listening to me.” His finger skated around the edge of my collar. “You have no idea what that means to me.”
I think I knew how important it was. “I’m always going to be there for you. No matter what. I love you, Seth”
Those three little words had been so hard to speak before. There’d been a time when I didn’t have the courage to say them. Now I wanted to shout them from a rooftop like a goofball.
His eyes heated to a warm, tawny color. “Say it again,” he whispered, pleaded really.
My gaze met his and I said it again and then again, and I kept saying it until his mouth silenced me. His lips were gentle on mine, a sweet sweep that was at such odds with his enormous strength and power, and even though it was such a gentle touch of his mouth to mine, I felt it in every part of me. Seth kissed me softly as he lifted up just enough so that I could see him. He leaned back. Guiding my hand off his chest, he clasped his fingers around mine and drew our joined hands to his mouth. He kissed the center of my palm.
“I will never get tired of hearing that.” Lowering my hand back to his chest, to where his heart beat so strongly, he then folded his hand around the back of my neck. “And I’ll never stop feeling it. What I feel for you increases every waking moment and sometimes that scares the hell out of me, but I love you. Yesterday. Today. A thousand tomorrows from now, I will be in love with you.”
Warmth poured into me. Hearing those words was like basking in the sun, and Seth drove those words home with a kiss that went beyond the soft, gentle one we’d just shared. The way he kissed me was as if he was claiming me with the act, and I was claiming him in return.
What we felt for one another was said over and over again in every kiss and every touch. Somehow the blanket got pulled down and then Seth’s hands gripped my hips. He pulled me to him, pressing his body to mine. The loose sweats he wore proved to be a thin barrier between our bodies, and the minty taste of his kisses and the way his hard body felt against mine made me greedy.
I wanted more—wanted him so badly that not only every part of me ached, but the wanting went beyond the physical, deeper, etching into my skin, seeping through my bones and settling in my muscles.
It was crazy how intense all of this could still feel—as if it were our first time kissing one another, touching one another. Maybe that was what being in love did. I had nothing to compare it to, but I like to think that was why. It had to be, because each time was like this, like it was our first and it would be our last.
“Beautiful,” he said, voice thick as he trailed his fingers across the tip of one breast. I jerked as my heart jackhammered as his hand dipped, drifting over my stomach in a way that was reverent. His lashes lifted as his stare pierced me. “And I know in the upcoming months, you’re going to become even more beautiful.”
My heart swelled so fast and so big I thought I’d float right up to the ceiling. He meant that. There was no denying the truth in his words.
Then he was kissing me again, and these moments, those words he’d just spoken, were precious and powerful.
His lips skated over the curve of my jaw, toward my ear. A shiver danced over my skin as a heady flush followed, causing my muscles to tighten. “I know we have a busy day ahead of us.”
“We do,” I whispered back.
He kissed the corner of my lip as he drew back. “I know we need to get with the rest of them and talk about what happened here yesterday.”
I cleared my throat as I let my eyes drift shut. “Yeah.”
He started a line of tiny kisses that trailed from my chin down my throat and then further still. “And then we need to talk about this demigod.”
My fingers dug into the comforter when his mouth found his way to one of my breasts, stopped and then lingered, drawing a shuddering gasp from me.
Then his lips skimmed over my ribs, hitting a ticklish spot. “We need to get that demigod before the Titans do. If he’s anything like his father, we don’t want the Titans deciding he’s more valuable than being a battery pack for them.”
That was true. Especially if he was able to influence others to become violent. That was a useful talent for those with nefarious goals.
He kissed just below my belly button. “But there’s something we need to do first.”
My thoughts were a bit scattered. “What is that?”
“You didn’t go to the infirmary yesterday, right?”
“No.” I opened my eyes and tilted my chin down so I could see him. “I wanted you to be there even if they just tell us we have to go somewhere else.”
Seth looked up and grinned in a way that caused my heart to flop around. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
His gaze coasted over me. “We need to do that first before the day gets crazy.”
“Agreed.” I caught his gaze and grinned. “We should get ready right now.”
Chuckling, Seth rose once more, climbing over me. “Oh, we are not doing that right now.”
“We’re not?” I placed my hands on his warm shoulders.
His arms were huge and powerful as they came down on either side of my head, planting deep into the mattress. “I think I must’ve misspoken,” he said, his lips brushing mine. “There is one other thing we are going to do first.”
My stomach fluttered. “And what is that?”
“Well, it’s something you’re going to do first.”
Air hitched in my throat as his mouth took control of mine. Folding my arms around him, I held him close. His tongue swept over mine. Then Seth was on the move again, sliding down and taking his sweet time doing so. Somehow my panties were gone. There was nothing between my skin and his hands and mouth. It had to be godly magic, because they seemed to disappear, and then I realized it was magic, because his tongue found the oddly sensitive crease between my thigh and hipbone. I lost my grip on his hair as he worked his way down my inner thigh, nipping at my skin and then soothing the illicit little sting with his tongue. Each sweep of his tongue was like touching a live wire.
I shuddered as his warm breath drifted over the most intimate part of me. “What…what am I going to do first?”
His lips tilted in a downright wicked, mischievous grin. “You’re going to scream my fucking name.”
~
Seth
With Josie’s hand firmly wrapped around mine, we followed the walkway to the two-story building adjacent to the training facilities.
It was still early and only a few students were out milling around, most of them heading to the cafeteria for breakfast.
The sun was bright, the air was warming up, and what I’d done to Josie in that bed still had my body thrumming. Yesterday was fucked up in a whole lot of ways, but today…today was already better.
“How many students do you think are registered here during the summer?” Josie asked.
I glanced over at her. She’d thrown her hair up in some kind of twist that looked like it was seconds from toppling off her head. Had to be some kind of girl magic that kept it up there. “Not sure,” I answered. “If I had to guess, I would say probably a couple of hundred? Maybe a thousand or so.”
“I don’t know if that’s a lot compared to a normal college.” She glanced over at one of the statues of the muses. “But that seems like a lot.”
“Some of the students probably don’t have a home to return to.” I pushed past the cold feeling that poured into my chest. “A lot of them were displaced during the war with Ares. I imagine they use summer courses as a way to have a place to stay.”
She looked over at me. A moment passed, and she squeezed my hand.
“Why are you asking?”
One shoulder lifted. “The campus just seems empty. It’s probably a good thing, with what happened yesterday.”
I nodded. “True.”
Stepping in front of her, I opened the door to the infirmary and led her down a wide hall, to another door that opened into a waiting room.
We walked up to the square window where an older half-blood sat. It was a little strange seeing a half in a position like this. Before the Breed Act, halfs were either Sentinels, Guards, or servants. They weren’t in positions like this, and I doubted this was commonplace yet. The University would be one of the first places employing halfs. The rest of the communities would be slow to follow.
She looked up, and I immediately recognized that she must’ve been a Sentinel or Guard at one point. There was a daimon tag—a bite mark—on the woman’s left cheek.
Fucking daimons.
They were assholes like that.
Her nervous gaze bounced between us. She sensed what we were. “How can I help you?”
“We’d like to talk with a doctor, if one is available,” Josie said.
Still holding onto her hand, I placed one elbow on the ledge and leaned in. “In other words, a doctor needs to be available.”
This time when Josie squeezed my hand, there was nothing reassuring about it. I sent her a wink.
She rolled her eyes.
The woman behind the window nodded. “I have a feeling we have one available. Take a seat.”
Raising my brows at Josie, I backed away from the window, tugging her with me.
“Behave,” she murmured as the secretary disappeared from view.
“Always.”
She pinned me with a knowing look as she sat and reached toward her head, but stopped with a frown. I knew what she was doing. Whenever Josie was anxious, she messed with her hair, twisting the length. She must’ve forgotten she’d pulled her hair up.
Not wanting her to be anxious, I placed my hand on her back and rubbed. “Hey.”
Josie looked over her shoulder at me. “What?”
“After this, we should make a pit stop and grab some bacon.”
Her eyes lit up. “Sold.”
I chuckled as I continued rubbing her back. “Then we’ll go find Alex and Aiden.”
“Sounds like a plan.” She bit down on her lip as she eyed the window. “Keep rubbing my back. I like it.”
Smiling, I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “Wasn’t planning on stopping.”
“Good.”
Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was the secretary. No sooner had the half reappeared behind the window when the door to our right opened and a female pure-blood appeared. She was wearing blue scrubs and a white lab coat. “You two need to see a doctor?” she asked.
I had a feeling that a doctor didn’t normally come out and retrieve the patient, but then again, I doubted the infirmary was accustomed to a god and a demigod asking to see a doctor.
Josie slipped her hand free and stood. “Yes.”
The doctor glanced at me and then nodded, holding the door open. “Together?”
“Of course.” Josie motioned at me and then started forward. Rising from the not-so-comfortable chair, I followed behind her, making a promise that I’d keep my mouth shut and behave, because it was obvious that Josie was nervous.
The doctor waited for us in a narrow hall. If she was wigged out by being in our presence, she didn’t show it. Her expression was one of professional interest and nothing more. “I’m Dr. Morales.” She extended a hand.
“Josie.” She shook the doctor’s hand and then twisted to me. “This is Seth.”
The doctor folded her cool hand around mine. “Nice to meet you both. Why don’t you two step in here?”
Dr. Morales opened the door to a small room that looked like any other normal doctor’s office. Josie hesitated for a moment and then walked over to the exam table and sat on the edge. I stayed close to her, keeping my hand on her back.
“So, what are you two here for?” Dr. Morales took a seat on one of those leather stools with wheels on the legs.
Josie glanced at me, and then drew in a deep breath. Her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. “I’m pregnant and he’s…he’s, um, the father.”
I resisted a grin. Josie was just so damn adorable sometimes.
There was a flicker of surprise that rolled over the doctor’s face. I was sure she didn’t see a lot of people our age having children. Halfs had always been required to take birth control, and pures typically didn’t have children until they were much, much older.
“I don’t know if you know what we are,” Josie added.
Dr. Morales crossed a leg over the other. “I know who you two are.” A quick smile appeared. “I’m pretty sure everyone here knows who you two are.”
“Okay.” Josie looked relieved. “I don’t think I’m very far along or anything, but we really don’t know what we’re supposed to do other than get an appointment with an OBGYN.”
“There aren’t any OBGYNs here,” Dr. Morales said.
“We expected that,” I intervened, still moving my hand along Josie’s back. “Not like a lot of students here are having babies, but we figured it would be a good idea to get checked out and find out what our options are.”
“Okay.” Dr. Morales rose, reaching for the stethoscope around her neck. “What I can do is do a general exam and make sure that all the vitals for you are normal, and then we’ll go from there, all right?”
Biting down on her lip, Josie nodded, and then it was time for me to step back and give them some space. Dr. Morales got down to work, listening to Josie’s heart and then her lungs. Josie even got her ears checked, as well as about every orifice except for the interesting ones. Then Dr. Morales moved onto questions. Personal ones. Ones that made Josie flush even deeper.
Was this her first pregnancy?
Was she positive she was pregnant?
When did she think she got pregnant?
That was when I jumped in. “It’s been about five to six weeks.”
“You can sit up now,” Dr. Morales said after palpating Josie’s stomach. I had no idea what that did. “All of your vitals are perfect, and this is definitely an early pregnancy. Usually at this stage in a pregnancy, it’s a wait and see period.”
“What does that mean?” Josie straightened her shirt as I returned to her side and got back to the rub-down.
Dr. Morales sat back on the stool. “What do you two know about pregnancy among our…among our kind?”
I lifted my brows. “Well…”
Josie shrugged as she started gently swinging her feet. “Is it not like a…a mortal’s pregnancy?”
The doctor smiled then. “In terms of pregnancy length? It’s nine months. Some don’t make it to full term, just like with mortals, and have the baby a little early. That does appear to be more common with our kind, especially the pure-bloods, and I imagine that will be the same for you two based on the amount of aether you both have.”
“Wait.” Concern rippled through me. I didn’t know a lot about babies, but I knew delivering early could be bad, real bad. “How early?”
“Nothing too serious. Definitely in the third trimester, usually around eight months, but…” She exhaled hard. “Pregnancy between two pures is notoriously hard to carry out of the first trimester, and with half-bloods, it’s even harder.”
I stiffened, but I didn’t let my hand still. “I didn’t know that.”
“I didn’t think so. I know that pregnancy is not something that is often discussed among…” She trailed off, but I knew what she meant. Since I was a half-blood while I was Apollyon, pregnancy was forbidden. “No one really knows why. Some truly believe it’s just Fate and nothing medical.”
My upper lip curled. Fate. Gods.
“Is there something I can do to make sure I don’t lose the pregnancy?” Josie asked.
“We’ve had women go on bed rest from the moment they found out they were pregnant and it hasn’t made a difference. It’s something that will either hold.” Dr. Morales looked at me. “Or it won’t.”
That sounded like utter bullshit to me.
Josie glanced up at me, her eyes wide.
Dr. Morales focused on Josie. “Right now, you still have several weeks to go before you make it to the second trimester. I can tell you that typically women in their third trimester are more symptomatic.”
“What does that mean?” I curled my hand around the nape of Josie’s neck, smoothing my thumb along her pulse.
“More fatigued. Nausea and vomiting usually affect our mothers in the third trimester and not the first, like with mortal pregnancies. Backaches and other things like that, but you two…you two may be entirely different.”
Josie inclined her head. “In what ways?”
“As far as I know, and granted, it’s been a long time since I took Myths and Legends, but I do not recall there ever being a child of a demigod and a god.”
Shit.
Both of us had been so sure that there had to be another case like ours. If there wasn’t, that meant…
Josie’s feet stopped swinging. “So, you’re saying that we’re the first?”
“First documented case that I know of.” Curiosity filled Dr. Morales’s gaze. “Anything is possible with the pregnancy.”