The Return (Titan 1)

The next breath I took hitched. Why did I care if I was just a job to Seth? It wasn’t like he was Erin, but for some reason, knowing that he’d also been ordered to be a part of my life, no matter how brief, also stung like I’d walked into a nest of hornets.

“Yes.” He blinked, looking away for a moment before his gaze moved right back to me. “She’s very important.”

This was getting really awkward, but at least he wasn’t kicking me out on my butt. I needed to use this to my advantage. “I want to be trained,” I announced, and yep, everyone was really staring at me again, including Seth. “Like the…the Sentinels. Can you do that while I’m here?”

Marcus sat back as he rubbed two fingers over his brow. “Trained?” He glanced at Seth and then shook his head. “Josie, our Sentinels are trained from—”

“From the age of eight. I know, but I got my butt handed to me twice—when we ran into daimons, and then Hyperion. I couldn’t do anything as those…those things bit into me like I was a cheeseburger. Then Hyperion handled me like I was a ragdoll. And he used these things…these shades to kill my—” My voice cracked, and I swallowed hard. “To kill my grandparents, and I couldn’t do anything. I’m absolutely helpless if he gets in here.”

“Josie—” Seth started.

“You’re planning on leaving, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t someone here that can help me.” I turned my gaze to the Dean. “Please. What can it hurt? If not, I’m just going to be sitting around, right? I can’t do that. I can’t just sit here. I have to do something. Please.” And then I laid the only cards I had on the table. It was a crappy thing to do, but I had no choice. “If you can’t do it, then I can’t stay here.”

Seth whipped toward me, eyes narrowing into angry amber slits. “You are staying here.”

“No one can watch me twenty-four hours a day. I’m smart. I’ll find my way out.” I met his glare with my own. “If no one can do this, then I’m out. And wouldn’t that suck, being how important I am?”

His mouth opened as he stared at me. “I didn’t just bring you halfway across the United States, get you to a place that is safe, for you to do something as incredibly stupid as threaten to leave. Do you have a death wish?”

“Do you?” I shot back.

He cocked his head to the side. “That response doesn’t even make sense.”

“Whatever,” I snapped, crossing my arms. “I don’t even like you and I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“You’re going to get my opinion, like it or not, Joe.” His eyes flashed a bright tawny color. “You’re not going to risk your life because you’re not getting your way.”

“Why do you even care?” I shouted, throwing my hands up. “Seriously? So shut up, Sethie.”

Seth drew back as the cut line of his jaw hardened. “You test my patience.”

“Children,” Marcus murmured tiredly.

I tested his? “You make me want to nunchuck you in the throat! But I can’t. Because I don’t know how to use nunchucks!”

His lips twitched, and I swore, if he laughed, I was going to physically hurt him with my bare hands. “Sentinels don’t use nunchucks, Josie.”

“I’ve used nunchucks before,” Solos commented.

Seth cast him a long look. “Seriously? Not helping.”

The Sentinel shrugged, but he was grinning, and not even trying to hide it.

“Then can you help me?” I asked the man. I wasn’t picky.

Seth turned on me. “He is not training you.”

“Stop interjecting yourself where you don’t belong!” I all but shrieked.

Solos made a deep, gruff sound. “Gods…”

A strange looked crossed Marcus’s handsome face. “You two remind me of…” He trailed off, shaking his head, and Seth cursed under his breath. “Well, it doesn’t matter.” Standing, he looked at me. “We’ll talk more about this tomorrow, Josie. Right now, it looks like you could use some rest.”

I pushed myself to my feet and bit down on my lip as my muscles protested the movement. “We talk about the training now.”

“For gods’ sake,” Seth muttered, shoving to his feet. “You have no idea how hard training is, Josie. I don’t even think you can do it.”

Something ugly and hot twisted in my chest. “Again, I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head. “This is getting repetitive.”

“No shit.” Then I flushed as I glanced at Marcus.

He stared at me, and I felt my resolve start to crack a little. I wasn’t a ballsy person. More like go with the flow, so it took a lot for me to stand there under his sharp, emerald gaze. But then he smiled, and it wasn’t a big smile, never reaching his eyes. “You remind me of my niece,” he said, and a burst of tension exploded off Seth. “I hope you two get to meet one day. I think you’ll like her.”

“Uh, okay.” And just like that, whatever energy I had left in me seeped out. My shoulders slumped. I was so tired, absolutely spent.

“We’ll find someone to train you,” Marcus continued, and I almost ran up and hugged the man, but he didn’t look like a hugger and it felt like that would get real awkward real quick, so I held myself back.

“Thank you,” I said, feeling a measure of relief. “Really. Thank you.”

He nodded as he looked at Seth. “We’ll talk more tomorrow. With that being said…” His gaze shifted from Seth and he eyed me with a mixture of awe and a measure of distrust. “Welcome to the Covenant.”

Anger reverberated through every inch of my being, and I wasn’t sure if it was directed at the now-quiet Josie, at Solos who was leading us to the dorms, or at myself.

Irritated on so many different levels, I ignored every attempt Solos made to make conversation, and he finally gave up by the time we crossed another courtyard. And I ignored the outright curious looks from the students when we entered the lobby of the first dorm.

Pures and halfs were actually huddled together around the couches and under the big-screen TV hanging from the ceiling. Josie must’ve been out of it, because she wasn’t paying attention to them or to the few Sentinels stationed in the lobby. I kept her close to my side whether she liked it or not. The students stared openly. They knew what I was, but they had no idea what Josie was. Josie would be a mystery to them, and they would be nosy, and she really didn’t need that right now.