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.”
Like before, there was something just on the fringe of my subconscious that I couldn’t quite pull forward. “I feel like . . . like I’m forgetting something—something I saw. It’s right there, but I just can’t remember it.”
“It’ll come to you.”
I nodded as I inhaled roughly. My pulse started to pick up as I peeked up at him. Seth was going to be a dad.
Oh my gods, I was going to be a mom.
But he was going to be a dad.
A really hot dad—like the kind you saw with a baby that made your ovaries go boom. Except my ovaries apparently already went boom.
Holy crap, what was I thinking? I did not need to be thinking about him as a hot dad, because he didn’t even know he was going to become a dad. I needed to tell him.
Anxiety rose in my chest, causing me to clasp and unclasp my hands. “This is all . . . good, though. At least we have a general idea.”
“Right,” he replied, his eyes warming to a tawny glow as he watched me. “How did things go with the kidnapped demigod?”
“Um, good. We got her to open the door and Deacon was going to get her some food,” I said, looking away when his gaze caught mine. “She understands that we’re here to help her. So that’s a few steps in the right direction.”
“Cool.” Seth reached down to his hips and I saw that he had daggers. “We can head back to the island if you want.”
We so needed to stay, at least until tomorrow—well, wait. I had no idea how safe the whole poofing thing Seth did was. I guess it was okay, because he’d done that quite a few times. “Can we hang here for a little bit? It’s safe, right?”
Seth nodded.
“When did you get the daggers?” I asked.