The Return (Titan 1)

My life was completely out of my hands.

Laughing out loud, I dropped back in the chair and kicked my feet up on the bed as I rested the bottle in my lap. That shit was funny. Since the day I’d been born, I hadn’t had an ounce of control over my own life. I’d been groomed to be an Apollyon, which meant I was trained like any other Sentinel.

Truth was, if Apollo released me tomorrow from the deal I’d made and told me I had control of my life, I wouldn’t know what to do with it. Hell. I didn’t know who I really was anymore.

The Elixir, a special brew that had been used to sedate halfs who went into servitude, was gone now. So were a lot of the rules, but I hadn’t been around the Covenants or in the communities to see how much things had changed. I doubted they’d changed very much at all. I guessed I’d be finding out soon enough.

I glanced over at the bathroom door, exhaling softly. She’d been in that bath long enough to be a prune by the time she climbed out. What a shame to wrinkle all that pretty skin.

Now I was thinking about all that pretty skin.

And I’d seen a decent amount of it.

Had I thought she was plain before? Plain and pretty? I was reevaluating that observation when the bathroom door finally opened and Josie emerged.

Oh for the love of the gods hiding in Olympus, she was wearing a robe. Not even one of those awful terrycloth, unisex robes a lot of hotels had. That wasn’t how this hotel rolled. She’d found a thin, silk one that had been hanging on the bathroom door. It was cinched tight in a way that drew attention to her small waist and rounded hips.

The robe was beige and damp in interesting areas, like right below her navel, above the belt, and in the valley between her breasts. She sucked at toweling off. Not that I was complaining. My gaze moved to her breasts. Her nipples were clearly visible, pressing against the thin material.

Gods.

I spread my legs, hoping she didn’t look at my lap. Nylon pants don’t do much when it comes to hiding an erection.

She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t want to put the other clothes back on,” she said, peeking at me through thick lashes. “You’re…you’re the one staring now.”

My eyes were glued to her. “I am.”

Her stare met mine for a moment, and then flickered away. “Rude,” she muttered, glancing back at me.

I grinned. “Your friend is supposed to bring your clothes over. It will probably take her a while. Some of the mortals were too close to your dorm room when we were there. She needs to make sure anyone who thought they might have heard or seen something doesn’t repeat it…or remember it.”

Sucking her lower lip between her teeth, she looked away. “How will she do that?”

Dropping my feet to the floor, I set the empty bottle aside. “She’ll use a compulsion to make them either forget what they heard or saw, or she’ll make them think something else happened.”

That got her attention. Those deep blue eyes were on mine again. Her brows knitted in confusion, pinching her face in a way that was almost…cute. I drew back. Cute? “So a compulsion is kind of like mind control?”

“Yeah.” I brushed my hair back off my face. “Pures can do it. Any of the gods can. Halfs can’t. They are vulnerable to compulsions like a mortal would be.”

She seemed to consider that. “Can you do it?”

I nodded.

Her fingers nervously fluttered over the knot in her belt. “Does compulsion work on me?”

“It shouldn’t. You’re a demigod.” I paused. “But your powers have been bound, so who knows? I can give it a try.” The look on her face said she’d rather I didn’t, but that didn’t stop me. My gaze met hers and held it. “Take off your robe.”

Her lips parted, and then her mouth gaped open. “What the hell?”

Disappointment rippled through me. “Guess it doesn’t work.”

“You’re a pervert.”

I shrugged. “Been called worse.”

“I bet,” she muttered crossly.

“You have no idea.” I stood, raising my arms above my head and stretching. Her next question surprised me.

“You said you can use the elements? Can you…show me one?”

Lowering my arms, I watched her. “So you want a show and tell?”

She hesitated and nodded.

My first instinct was to tell her no, because I’d had enough of that in my life, but that’s not what I did. Lifting my arm toward her, I opened my hand, palm up. While pures usually only excelled at using one element, usually the ability that ran in their families, summoning any of the elements was second nature to me. I guessed it would be the same for her once she was able to tap into her abilities.

I didn’t even have to really think about it.

Heat rolled across my skin, licking into the air around me. A spark appeared above my palm, followed by the faint scent of burnt ozone. A second later, a small ball of amber-tinged flames appeared, the outer layers of the fire encasing my hand.

“Holy wow.” Josie pushed off the bed. “Your hand is legitimately on fire!”

My lips twitched. “It doesn’t hurt.” I moved my hand, flipping my palm down and then up. “It goes where I want it to.”

“Wow…” she repeated, walking around the bed, inching closer to me. She stopped a few feet shy and the glow of the fire reflected off her dewy cheeks. “That’s…just, wow.”

I closed my fingers, extinguishing the flames as I met her awed gaze. “You’ll probably be able to do it, too.”

She shook her head as her fingers went back to fiddling with the knot on her robe. “I can’t even wrap my head around that.”

The edges of the robe had started to gape under her throat, teasing me with a flash of pale skin. “You will. You’ll have to.”

There was a pause. “I’ve been thinking.”

“So that’s what you were doing in the bathtub for twenty hours?”

“I wasn’t in there for twenty hours.” Her arms lowered to the side, and the material gaped further, revealing the gently curving swell. Back to sweet again. “You said I have to go to South Dakota.”

I dragged my gaze to hers. “Yes.”

“And then you’re just going to leave me there?”

I didn’t have an answer for that. Apollo’s orders were to get her to the Covenant. That was all. I sure as hell wasn’t hanging around there.