The Return (Titan 1)

“Seth said something about that changing?” I pushed my bacon around on my plate, not really hungry when I could feel a hundred beautiful people staring at me. Everyone knowing about my family’s business reminded me of high school; the only difference was that everyone here was hot. “A Breed Order?”

“Yeah, the whole law saying we can’t be together has been abolished, but you can’t erase thousands of years of assholery in a year.” Luke shrugged a shoulder, but his jaw strained. “Some pures think we’re below them and have looked down on us since the dawn of man. It’s going to take a while for that to change.”

“That’s terrible,” I whispered, fiddling with my bottle.

“It was just this last year that I finally had some control over my life,” he said, brows knitting together. Deacon reached over, placing his hand atop Luke’s, and my chest got all gushy. “I was always going to be a Sentinel. Trained since I was eight for it, because I didn’t have a choice.”

“And now you do.” Curiosity got the best of me. “So what are you doing now?”

He glanced at Deacon and grinned as their gazes met. A moment passed, and it was like they forgot about me for a second. “I still train. It’s stupid not to, since there’s obviously a lot of crazy things going on, but…”

“But he’s not an active Sentinel.” Deacon leaned back, folding his long arms across his blue sweater. “He’s taking classes.”

Luke’s grin spread. “A lot of halfs are now doing that. Some decided to keep on the path they were on, but it’s good…it’s good to have options.”

I couldn’t even fathom a life without those options. Then again, it seemed like Luke and I had reversed roles. The moment I found out what I was, I’d been stripped of those choices. And that thought messed with my already fragile grasp on everything, so I swatted it away for the time being. “So what are you studying?”

“Horticulture,” he answered.

My brows shot up. Was so not expecting that.

Luke chuckled. “Sounded different and interesting, so why not? He’s studying—or pretending to study—ancient history.”

Deacon snorted. “What about you?”

That knot swelled. “Psychology, but I guess…that doesn’t matter now.”

“Why not?” Deacon frowned, which seemed like it might be a rare sight on his handsome face.

I raised my hands. “Well, with this. It’s not like they’re letting me enroll in college. I’m here to…to basically be hidden. Not to continue my education.”

Luke studied me closely for a moment. “I’m sure, if you wanted to, Marcus would let you.”

Maybe he would, but what was the point? If I survived this, could I go back to my old life and be a psychologist? Could I go back and be anything knowing what really existed out there? Hell, all of that was banking on the very unlikely if I survived.

“Anyway.” Deacon said as he snatched a strip of bacon off my plate. “So, you and Seth? Have you hooked up yet?”

I nearly choked on my OJ. “What?”

“Hooked up? You know, got naked and had wild, animalistic sex,” Deacon clarified like I had no knowledge of slang. “It has to be animalistic sex, because I can’t picture Seth doing anything gentle and soft, like holding hands and gazing into each others’ eyes kind of stuff.”

Oh. My. God.

Luke rolled his eyes.

Warmth poured into my face as both guys waited for an answer, but I was kind of picturing that rough and raw in the flesh. Feeling like I needed to fan myself, I squirmed. “We haven’t… um, we haven’t hooked up.”

Both of their mouths dropped open, and that made me wiggle under their scrutiny more. To hide my embarrassment, I shoved bacon into my mouth, and almost moaned.

Holy shit! My taste buds orgasmed all over my mouth. It was the best bacon I’d ever tasted—salty and yet sweet, like it had been battered in maple syrup. What had I been missing sitting here and not eating?

“Wait a second,” Luke said, leaning forward. Over his shoulder, three students walked by, whispering as they stared at us. Neither guy appeared to care. “He did sleep with you last night, right?”

I nodded.

“And you two didn’t have sex?”

Shaking my head, I smashed another piece of bacon in to my mouth. God, it was the best.

Deacon stared at me like I was a mythical creature. Wait—I kind of was. “You two haven’t had sex at all?”

And yet another piece of pig made its way into my mouth as I shook my head again.

“Holy shit.” Luke rocked back in his seat. “I think that is more shocking than you being, well, what you are.”

Sadly, there was no more bacon on the plate. “Why is that so shocking?”

Deacon cocked a brow. “Seth’s a bit of a…playa. I mean, he kind of is a man-whore.” He chuckled. “And I’d know what it takes to be a man-whore.”

“True,” quipped Luke. “Deacon’s what I’d like to call ‘equal opportunity’ when it comes to sex. Well, not since me. We’re monogamous, but before…?” He shook his head.

Um.

“When he first showed up at the Deity Island Covenant— that’s where we’re from, originally—he went through half the dorm in record time,” Deacon continued.

I slowly lowered the OJ to the table as I felt my stomach drop to my toes, and that was an uncomfortable feeling when it was full of bacon. Went through half of the dorm?

“And then when he was at the Catskills, he was hooking up with this one chick.” Luke looked at his boyfriend. “What was her name?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Alex always called her Boobs, but I think it was something like Thea or Tori. Something with a T. She’s around here somewhere. Can’t miss her.”

Sitting back, I forced my lungs to work slowly. “We haven’t had sex. I mean, we just met each other.”

Luke wrinkled his nose. “That doesn’t matter when it comes to Seth.”

“Wow,” Deacon murmured.

I bit down on my lip as I tried to sort out the awful twisting motion in my belly. I shouldn’t have cared that he’d had sex with an entire college worth of girls before we met, because that was dumb. I shouldn’t have cared, because we weren’t together.

The twisty motion increased.