The Return (Titan 1)

When he opened the door, a male nymph was suddenly there. Up close, I realized, numbly, that he was as unearthly pretty as the female. “Your mother is safe,” he said. “Your father made sure of that.”

I stared at the elfin creature, unable to speak. Seth loaded me up and I sat in that front seat, staring straight ahead but not seeing anything, not hearing a single word Seth spoke to me as he got behind the wheel and spun the Porsche around.

It wasn’t until we hit the rural road that I realized I still clutched the shotgun to my chest.

Chapter 16

GODS, THAT couldn’t have gone any worse.

Fucking Hyperion. Apollo had been right. The Titan had gone straight for Josie, and he’d tried to tag her—maybe he had. He’d had his hands on her, positioned in the way to feed. I knew how it was done that way.

My hand tightened on the steering wheel and a flare of pain danced over my aching knuckles. The fucker had a hard head. My knuckles weren’t the only things hurting, but I wasn’t concerned about the ass-kicking I’d just gotten handed or even the fact that the Titan had been the only thing in a very long time that could kick my ass.

For the hundredth time since we got into the SUV, I glanced over at Josie. She was still, her eyes on the road ahead. At some point, she had let go of the shotgun and it now rested across her knees. The only words she’d spoken to me since we’d left the house were when I asked if she was okay, which was a lame-ass question. Her lip was bleeding again. Blood had dried along the front of her throat, but the bruise around her neck was painfully visible, forming a handprint, and wasn’t that a punch in the gut to know that Hyperion could have choked the life out of her or snapped her neck, while I’d been right there.

Fuck.

Before, when Apollo had told me about the Titans and I’d thought he’d wanted me to go after them, I hadn’t cared if I fell in a fight against them. Hell, there’d even been a little part of me looking forward to it, but now it was different. If I went down in a fight against Hyperion, so would Josie.

But I shouldn’t care about that. I couldn’t. Caring about anything or anyone was futile at this point in my life.

I had to get her to South Dakota and then she would be safe. Sort of. And I would be…I needed to get away, but right now I was focused on her.

“I think we can stop for a few,” I said, breaking the silence as I glanced at her again. We’d been on the road for about five hours, with about four more to go. “Enough time to get a look at you and—”

“I’m fine,” she cut in, still staring straight forward. “I don’t want to stop. I just want to get to where we’re going.”

A wisp of unease curled in my gut. “Josie, you were tagged this morning—twice—and you faced off with a Titan. Your throat was bleeding and I…” I also wanted to make sure she was okay, and not just in the physical sense. What she had seen happen to her family, on top of everything else, it was a lot. Too much for anyone to really handle.

“I’m…I’m okay. Like I said, I…I don’t want to stop. I want to go. I want to keep going and get as far away from there as I can.”

The muscle in my jaw spasmed in response to her words. Aw, damn, this…this wasn’t good. “Josie, I’m…I’m sorry about your grandparents. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“You were right. You said it was dangerous, but I didn’t listen. I shouldn’t have gone back home.” She drew in a sharp breath that hitched. “It’s my fault.”

“It is not your fault. You didn’t hurt your grandparents, Josie. Hyperion did. Don’t put that kind of shit on yourself.”

She didn’t respond, and when I looked over at her, I could tell that those words hadn’t changed a damn thing. My gaze focused back on the road. Traffic was getting congested the closer we got to Sioux Falls. There’d be tons of hotels, but there was also a rather large pure community nearby, which meant there’d be more daimons.

After a few minutes, she spoke again. “The guy…the nymph, he said my mom was safe. That Apollo took her. Would he do that?”

If so, he failed to mention that fact, but then again, Apollo rarely told anyone what he was doing. I decided to be Positive Paul with this. “He probably knew that Hyperion would eventually learn where your family was and knew he could use your mom to lure you out.”

“So, she’s safe?”

I didn’t say anything, because I hoped for her sake that she was.

Josie drew in another ragged breath. “I couldn’t fight him. I couldn’t do anything to stop him or to help you.”

Wasn’t what I expected her to talk about right now, but at least she was talking. Shifting into the next lane, I passed a slow-ass sedan. “You’re not trained, Josie. You’re not—”

“Can you train me?” she said, and I could finally feel her gaze on me, and I was sure she saw my mouth hanging open. “Can you train me to fight like you?”

I had no idea how to respond to that. Slowly shaking my head, I pushed away the rising memories of training another person— another girl. Then again, training Alex had been completely different. Alex had already known how to fight, and I hadn’t been the only one working with her. “I am the best fighter that is breathing, and I’m not even trying to be arrogant about that. But I barely held my own against Hyperion. Besides that, training you won’t change what happened to your grandparents.”

“I know that, but at least I’d be able to do something other than stand there and scream. Or watch other people get their asses kicked, or watch them die!” Her lips trembled when I glanced at her. “If he comes after me again, I won’t be able to defend myself or anything.”

“You’ll be safe at the University,” I told her, and acid churned in my stomach, because I wasn’t sure how safe she would be. It wouldn’t take Hyperion long to find out where she was stashed away, and I had no idea how they planned to keep the Titan out. There were probably wards—protective spells—but no ward was a hundred percent foolproof.

“I can’t stay there forever,” she replied, raising a hand to her neck. She started to touch the spot where the daimon had tagged her earlier, but jerked her hand away. There was a tense pause. “Will you do it? Train me?”

Muscles in my shoulders tensed. Training Josie, like I’d trained Alex? I almost laughed at the fucked-up irony of it all, but nothing about any of this was funny. “Josie, I’m…I’m not sure what I’m doing after I get you to the University. Your father might have other plans for me and…”