The Struggle (Titan 3)

“Shut up,” Alex growled. “As if you know how to cook food.”

Seth smirked as he swaggered forward, picking up the forgotten bowl. “I am quite the chef, among other things.” Passing a pointed look at Aiden, he leaned against the counter. “Unlike some.”

Aiden turned his head, scowling. “Just because you’re a god doesn’t mean I won’t punch you.”

“Just because you’re a guest in my house doesn’t mean I won’t drown you in the ocean.”

“Oh dear,” I murmured, wide-eyed.

Ignoring Seth’s threat, Aiden pushed back and looked at me as Alex hopped off the counter. “It’s good to see you up and moving around,” he said. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m good.” I inched into the kitchen. “Just a little tired.”

“You look so much better,” Alex said, and it was probably a lie. She walked over to me and gave me a quick, tight hug. She drew back a few inches and whispered, “Is everything okay with you and Jackass over there?”

“I can hear you,” Seth replied, dumping the eggs in a heated skillet.

“I don’t care,” Alex sang back.

“Yeah.” I nodded and smiled. “Everything is . . . It’s good.”

Relief flickered through her warm brown eyes. “I’m happy to hear that.” Wrapping her arm around mine, she guided me toward the island with several high-back chairs surrounding it. “Believe it or not, we were making everyone breakfast.”

“Sure looked like it.” Seth picked up a spatula.

Aiden turned around with a sigh. “Would you like anything to drink, Josie?”

I stopped. “I can get it.”

“I’m closer,” he said, walking toward the fridge. He peered inside. “Well, the options appear to be limitless. What would you like?”

“Um, orange juice?” I sat down.

Alex climbed up on the seat next to me as Aiden searched down a glass. “We talked to Deacon and Luke last night. They’re relieved to hear you’re okay.”

“I’m happy to know they’re safe at the Covenant,” I told her as Aiden placed a glass of OJ in front of me. “Thank you.”

He nodded. “They’re not exactly safe. They left yesterday to search down the demigod in Canada.”

My gaze darted to Seth. He was flipping the eggs, and it was more than weird to see him doing something so domestic any other time, but knowing that he was a god now made it all the more . . . fascinating to watch him fiddle at a stove. I imagined he could just whip up omelets out of thin air or something cool like that. “Will they be okay? The Titans are still searching for the other demigods.”

“They’ll be as safe as any of us are.” Aiden rubbed at his brow. “I’d prefer that they’d stay at the University where at least there are wards, but Deacon isn’t . . .”

“A kid anymore?” Seth finished for him. He raised a brow when Aiden frowned. “What? Deacon wants to help. And he has Luke. He’s not going to let anything happen to your brother.”

Aiden snapped his mouth shut as he stared at Seth. “That was almost . . . reassuring. Are you feeling sick?”

Seth rolled his eyes.

I smiled a little and then took a sip of orange juice. My stomach twisted uncomfortably at the acidic burn. “Has anyone heard anything from . . . from Apollo or any of the gods?” A sharp pain lit up my chest at the mention of my father. What a dickhead. Seriously. “Before I was taken, I thought . . . I thought I saw furies in the sky.”

“There weren’t any furies that I saw, and they are kind of hard to miss.” Alex propped her chin on her fist. “No gods, either. Not a damn thing, but that’s not really surprising. Whenever the world dons its crazy pants and gets ready to throw down, they all disappear.”

Aiden was still staring at Seth with a mixture of wonder and confusion.

“They probably won’t come anywhere near us.” Seth lifted his left hand and several plates flew from the cabinet, settling gently on the counter like something straight out of Beauty and the Beast.

“Show off,” muttered Alex.

He looked up through thick lashes and grinned in a way that replaced that dull ache in my chest. “The gods know what I am. They know I can end them. So they’re going to stay far, far away.”

“And are you planning to do that?” Aiden dumped slices of bacon on each plate. “End the gods?”

Seth shrugged a shoulder as he scooped up some eggs. “You know, I haven’t decided.”

I raised a brow as I glanced down at the bacon. My stomach grumbled with hunger, but it also churned unsteadily.

Seth’s gaze flickered to mine. “There are one or two I really would like to straight-up murder.”

Knowing he was talking about my father, I simply widened my eyes as I took another drink. The queasiness increased.

“Well, maybe you should try to control your murderous impulses,” Aiden suggested. “You never know when the gods might actually be useful.”

Seth snorted as he placed the last of the eggs on a plate. “That is just as likely as you actually being useful.”

One side of Aiden’s lips kicked up. “You know, I think you have a crush on me.”

Seth simply smiled in return, and it was a bit of a creepy, hide-your-kids kind of smile that actually reminded me of Apollo, and that really made it even more weird.

“It’s like the Twilight Zone,” murmured Alex, her eyes big. “Watching them work together on anything, even when it’s just eggs and bacon.”

I laughed under my breath.

Aiden’s lopsided grin spread as he picked up two plates and brought them over to where Alex and I sat. In a few minutes, Seth was beside me and Aiden was next to Alex.

“Supposedly I don’t have to eat food anymore.” Seth held up a piece of bacon. “But there is no way I’m going to stop eating bacon.”

I stared at him. “Really? You don’t have to eat anymore?”

Seth nodded as he bit down on the crispy slice.

What the hell? I was a full-blown demigod and I still had to eat.

“You’re a freak,” Alex said.

Thrusting a fork full of eggs into my mouth, I decided it was best at the moment to not dwell on how different Seth was now.

We ate in silence for a few minutes. The eggs were amazing, fluffy and buttery, and they seemed to settle my stomach down. I could eat an entire skillet of them, and bacon was always delicious as long as it was crispy and greasy.

“So,” I said, clearing my throat. “What’s the plan?”

Aiden frowned. “The plan?”

“Yeah. What are we doing now? I’m here and I’m okay.” I’d forced the last word out, because I wasn’t sure how okay I truly was, but hey, I was alive. And it wasn’t like anything was going to wait around for me to get my shit together. “What are we going to do about Mitchell?”

Aiden’s dark brows snapped together. “Mitchell?”

“Yeah, the demigod that . . .” I trailed off, looking at Seth. “You haven’t told them, have you?”

“Haven’t exactly had the time,” he replied, putting down his other slice of bacon. He continued before I had the chance to respond. “The plan is for you to stay here, to heal, and then after you heal, you’re going to continue to stay here.”

Slowly lowering my fork, I raised my brows. “Nice of you to include me in this decision you’ve already made.”

“You’re welcome. And just so you know, I’ve made a couple more decisions,” Seth tacked on, and I preemptively put the fork down before I turned it into a weapon. “You’re not doing the whole search-and-rescue mission. We have to figure out how to get those damn bands off your wrists. That’s the plan.”

“Uh-oh,” whispered Alex.

Aiden leaned forward, resting his arms on the counter. “Seth sort of has a point.”

“Holy shit, someone record this,” Seth said.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed, but he ignored Seth. “You need to get better, Josie. You need to heal.”