It fucking called to me.

It reached inside, wrapped its thready fingers around every muscle fiber and taunted me, lured me. My mouth watered.

Footsteps approached from the kitchen and my head swung sharply in the direction of the opening. Gable stepped out, blond hair disheveled and pants wrinkled.

Bad time for a midnight snack.

Sleep clung to his eyes. “Hey, aren’t you—?”

I shot forward, clamped my hand over his mouth. I started to swipe him with the blade, but I didn’t know if it would kill him. So I shifted my hand until his nose and mouth were covered, and I held on until his legs gave out. I caught him and then tossed him over my shoulder. I figured Poseidon wouldn’t be happy with how I dumped his kid on the couch, but oh well. Could’ve been worse.

I could’ve done a lot worse.

Back out in the hall, I forced myself to keep going toward the front door, but before I even knew what I was doing, I was in front of the library and was opening the door, stepping into the dark room, closing the door behind me.

My heart rate picked up, responding to her proximity, and as I stepped forward, I had no idea if it was because of what coursed through her veins or just because it was her.

It was both.

But it was her.

Josie was curled up on the couch, and even in the pale moonlight streaming in from the window above the couch, I could see that she still wore the shorts I’d seen her in last. Her hair was free, falling over the side of her face and over her shoulder, tangling with her curved arm.

So freaking beautiful.

I need to leave.

I walked toward her.

I need to get the hell out of here.

I knelt by her side.

I need to leave her.

I reached out, brushing the tips of my fingers over her lips. They parted on a soft inhale, and a second later she stirred awake. Those thick lashes fluttered, sweeping up and revealing deep blue eyes.

Our gazes collided and locked, and in her eyes, I saw surprise and then—then I saw relief, and holy shit, that broke me.

Broke me right apart.

“I’m sorry,” I told her, repeating the last thing I’d said to her before the Titans attacked.

“Seth,” she whispered, reaching for me.

I don’t know if it was the relief I saw in her eyes, even after what I’d done, or the way she reached for me and said my name, as if it was a benediction, but all restraint within me broke.

Common sense dived face-first out the window, and in under a second I was on her.

Rising fast, I clasped the sides of her cheeks and tilted her head back. I kissed her, and there was nothing soft or smooth about it. She jolted in surprise and then grabbed my shoulders, her little nails digging through my shirt and into my skin. I nipped at her bottom lip, and with a soft moan, her mouth opened. I tasted her, drew her in as I dragged my hands down her throat over her arms. I wasn’t thinking. There wasn’t a part of my damn brain that was catching up to what was happening. Everything was focused on the way she felt, the look in her eyes, and the way she said my name.

I was lost in her.

My fingers brushed the edge of her shirt and I tugged the material, lifting it up. We broke apart long enough to get the damn thing over her head, and then everything else came off in a rush. My shirt. Her shorts. Mine. Then everything else. Nothing was between our hands or our bodies.

Pressing her into the couch, I moved over her and against her. There was no hesitation in Josie. No questions. No putting on the brakes. One of her legs wrapped around mine. Her hands slid down my back, to my ass. She grabbed me, pulling me closer. Our chests crushed together. Her small, hard nipples pressed into me, driving me freaking insane. The room was filled with the breathy sounds of her moans and the rougher ones of mine.

I shouldn’t be doing this. It was too risky. My emotions were all over the damn place. No restraint. All it would take is a second to tap into her, to pull from her, to do exactly what the Titans planned to do to her.

But the way she moved, the arching of her hips and how she felt, wet and warm against my length, drove me forward, beyond the point of return. She curled her fingers through my hair as she gripped my arm with the other.

“I love you,” she whispered in my ear as I settled between her thighs. “I love you, Seth.”

Those words gutted me, cut me right open. I didn’t deserve that. I didn’t deserve this, but I had to get in her, feel her, one last time, and the memory of this joining was going to have to carry me until the gods laid down their punishment. Reaching down between us, I wrapped my hand around my dick. I groaned as I felt her readiness against the tip. There wasn’t a damn thing between us.

I didn’t stop.

Josie didn’t stop me.

It was foolish. Risky. Fucking idiotic. But as I slid into her, felt every inch with nothing between us, the sensation blew me apart, shot straight to the very core of my being.

Nothing. Nothing had ever felt like this before.

Stopping, I lifted my head and stared down at Josie. Her long neck was exposed, her lips red and swollen, eyes half-open. Her chest rose fast and deep. She smoothed a trembling hand down my chest.

Her touch. I couldn’t . . .

I caught her hand, pulling it away from me and pinning it above her head. Her eyes widened as I captured her other hand and drew it above her head, joining it with the other. I kept them there with one hand around her wrists and then gripped her rounded hip.

“Seth,” she breathed.

I slammed in to the hilt. Her head kicked back as she made this soft, keening sound that almost made me lose it right there.

Things were frantic.

My body moved against hers, in her, and her arms strained. She wanted to touch me. Gods, Josie loved to touch me, but I held her in place as I thrust into her. I felt her the second before she came. Her hips jerked up, her back arched, and those blue eyes were wide.