~

Josie

“You sure you’re going to be okay?” I stood in the doorway of the room Seth had been given the last time we were here, dazed by what felt like an out-of-body experience. I found myself nodding at Alex’s question.

We’d walked back to the dorm in silence. At least, I think we did. If Alex had spoken, I hadn’t heard her. My mind was still back in that minty-smelling room.

I was pregnant. Pregnant.

The nurse had taken my blood to just confirm the stick test results. I quickly learned that pregnancy among the pures, and I guess the halfs since the Breed Order had been abolished, was like a mortal pregnancy. Apparently the blood test would give me a better understanding of how far along I was, but I knew I couldn’t be more than three weeks unless one of the condoms Seth had used before had broken. That was possible, I guessed.

But the problem with that was, according to the nurse, it wasn’t common to have noticeable symptoms so early on. Some women did. Then again, I wasn’t mortal and I wasn’t a pure-blood. The nurse admitted that pregnancy for a demigod could be something entirely different.

There definitely weren’t any “Expecting Demigod Mothers” pamphlets in the room.

The blood results would be back tomorrow, but I already knew deep down what they’d confirm. I was pregnant.

A look of doubt had crept into Alex’s expression. “Do you want me to stay with you until Seth gets back?”

“Thank you, but no. I need . . .” I trailed off as my stomach took a dive to the floor. What did I not need at this point? I was pregnant. I was actually impregnated by Seth. There was a fetus inside me that could be mortal, could be a demigod, or could be an actual god.

Hell, the baby could be a minotaur for all I knew.

So I needed a lot of things, but only one thing at the moment. “I just need to be alone for a little while. I need to process this.”

“I understand.” Alex popped forward and gave me a quick, tight hug. “It’ll be okay. Especially once you talk to Seth.” She stepped back, but stopped. Her gaze met mine. “Congratulations.”

I sucked in a soft breath. A knot plugged my throat as a flutter took root in my chest. From the moment the first thought of being pregnant popped into my head and right up to Alex saying congratulations, I hadn’t thought of being pregnant as a good thing. Mainly because I couldn’t even let myself truly think about it.

“Thank you,” I whispered, and I meant it.

Alex smiled and then gave me a little wave.

Closing the door, I turned and walked past the sitting area, shuffling into the bedroom. The bed had been made and the room was neat and orderly. Thankfully there were no creepy portraits of my father or any other god in this room.

I’m pregnant.

“Oh gods,” I whispered.

Stopping at the foot of the bed, I tugged up my shirt and exposed my belly. It wasn’t flat, but it had never been flat in my entire life. My stomach looked the same as it did before.

But there was a baby in there.

Dropping my shirt, I started to press my hand to my stomach but stopped. I turned and plopped down on the bed. Running my hands over my face, I shook my head for the hundredth time.

How was this going to work?

I had no idea what this meant for a demigod and a god—none whatsoever. Like, would I carry this baby for nine months? Would it come out like Seth, with a baby six-pack and the ability to control things with its mind?

And we had Titans gunning for us—gunning for me. My heart turned over heavily as I lowered my hands to my lap. If Hyperion found out I was pregnant? God, he would . . .

I couldn’t even let myself think about what he would do—what the other Titans would do.

None of us were safe, and bringing a baby into this was crazy.

Because once I got these bands off my wrists, I would have to fight the Titans. Seth wanted to kill them all, but that could have horrific consequences. We needed to entomb them, and that meant I needed to fight alongside the other demigods.

How could I do that while being pregnant?

How could I not fight?

But even if I was just a mortal and didn’t have the whole Titan thing going down, I was nowhere near mentally or emotionally ready to pop out a child. I was so not mother material.

I was only twenty.

Seth was only twenty-two.

We loved each other, but we hadn’t been together long and there was so much we were still trying to work out. I didn’t even know if he wanted kids.

I didn’t even know if I wanted kids.

Kind of late to be thinking of that now.

A strangled-sounding laugh escaped me as I lowered my gaze to my stomach. My breath caught, and I did it. I placed my hand on my stomach. It felt normal, but . . .

But I was pregnant.

And this baby . . . gods, this baby wanted to be born, because I don’t think if I was mortal, or if this child was mortal, it would’ve survived everything that had happened. My fingers splayed across my lower belly. Somehow I knew that this kid was going to be strong.

“You’re a little fighter, aren’t you?” I said to my stomach, and then I flushed beet red, because I was seriously talking to my stomach.

My lips twitched as I lifted my gaze to the beige wall. I needed to start Googling this whole pregnancy/baby thing.

The space in front of me suddenly warped and then, without any warning, Seth was standing there.

Yelping, I jerked my hand away from my stomach as I nearly slid off the bed. “Holy crap!” Jumping up, I smacked him—smacked him hard on the chest. “A warning would be—”

He caught my hand, and all I saw was a flash of golden eyes a second before he hauled me against his chest. His other arm circled my waist and then his mouth was on mine.

Seth kissed me like he was taking his first breath of fresh air. It was deep and scorching. Sensation rushed over me, pouring into my system and pushing everything aside. Kissing Seth was like finally waking up from a deep, endless sleep, and when he lifted his mouth from mine, I made this sound I barely recognized and which caused Seth to chuckle.

“Missed you,” he said, pressing another kiss to the corner of my lips.

Sliding my hand to his shoulder, I rested my forehead against his. “You haven’t been gone that long.”

His nose brushed mine. “Long enough.”

I shivered in his arms, relieved that he was back and okay. It was strange, knowing that there were only three beings in this world that could take Seth out and still worrying about his safety. “Aiden’s okay?”

“Of course.” Seth chuckled again. “Not like I’d leave him there.”

Leaning back, I raised my brows.

Seth’s grin twisted my stomach into pleasant knots. It was just so damn . . . devilish. “Ye of little faith.”

“Uh huh.”

His hand slid up my spine, tangling in my loose hair. “How are you feeling?”

“Good,” I said, taking a breath. I needed to tell him about the whole pregnancy thing, but this was also important. “Find out anything?”

“Yes.” He kissed the center of my forehead and let go. “I think you were definitely held in an area east of Houston.”

Hope smacked through me as I sat down on the edge of the bed. “Did you find the warehouse?”

Running a hand through his hair, he shook his head. “No, but we did find shades, and they’re definitely there because of the Titans.”

I folded my hands in my lap. “How do you know?”

“Turns out I’m more awesome than I previously realized.”

“Oh really?”

“Yep.” Still grinning that ridiculously sexy and often infuriating grin, he said, “We caught one. And it turns out that being a god means I can actually stop the shade from leaving its body. That meant we were able to get some info out of it.”

I really didn’t want to think about how they went about that. “What did you learn?”

A coldness settled into those deep amber eyes. “The Titans are in Texas. Or they have been.”

Everything was bigger in Texas. A hyena-sounding giggle almost escaped.

The shade knew of you,” he explained, and I tensed. “You said you were kept near a wooded area. Aiden and I learned there’s a place called Piney Woods not too far from there. We’re going to start scouting out areas in that location.”