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The Struggle(100)

By:Jennifer L. Armentrout


It could be deadly.

I sucked in a sharp breath. If Seth came face to face with a fully energized Cronus, what would happen?

“Hey,” Seth said, drawing my gaze to his. “What’s going on?”

Wiping my damp palms against my knees, I forced a casual shrug. “Nothing. Just got a lot on my mind.”

Seth placed the daggers on the dresser. His hands dropped to the belt that had held them. “You sure you’re feeling okay? You’re looking a little flushed.”

And I was feeling like I was going to laugh and cry and throw myself face-first onto the bed. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

Unhooking the weapons belt, he draped it over the dresser and then crossed the small distance between us. “Look, you need to be honest with me if you’re feeling unwell. I need to know—I want to know.”

Mouth dry, I shook my head and tried once more to say something, anything, but nothing came out but inaudible sounds. What was I doing? How could I not tell him? Even though I had no idea how he would react, how he would feel about this, I couldn’t keep it from him. It was too big. Too important. This involved both of us.

This involved our future . . . if we had one.

A frown pulled at his lips as he stood in front of me. Seth knelt, placing his hands over mine, effectively stopping me from rubbing the skin right off. “Josie,” he said, his concerned gaze searching mine. “What is going on?”

“I . . . I have to tell you something important.”

His brows knitted together. “Okay.”

“I really don’t know how to tell you without just saying it.” My breath caught and it felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest. “I’m pregnant.”





Chapter 30


Seth

I choked out a laugh. “You’re . . . Wait, what?”

Josie’s ocean-colored eyes were wide and her cheeks a faint pink. “I’m . . . I’m kind of pregnant. I mean, I’m not kind of pregnant. I don’t think you can be kind of pregnant.”

The half-smile faded.

“Alex went with me, because I honestly had no idea where to find a pregnancy test, and yeah, that was a little awkward. Anyway, turns out they don’t just sell them here. You have to go get one done. So I did the whole pee-test thing and when they get a positive response, they repeat the test. Both tests came back positive, so I’m pregnant—pregnant with your baby.” She winced. “You probably figured that last part out already. The baby being yours part.”

My lips parted on a sharp inhale.

“That’s why I’ve been nauseous and puking,” she continued in a rush. “I guess the bands are making me heal slower than I should be, but I don’t think they are causing the tiredness and everything else. And I didn’t think it was that—you know, me being pregnant until I realized a few days ago I hadn’t had my period.”

Josie is . . .

I stopped breathing as her words settled through the shocked fog that had invaded my brain. A hundred different thoughts erupted in rapid succession.

“I thought it was just stress, but then—well, I went down to one of the infirmaries, like I said, and got the test.” She folded her hands together, pressing them against her breasts. “And yeah, it’s positive.”

I’m fucking sure my heart stopped for several beats as I stared at her from where I was crouched. My head tilted to the side as I slowly understood what she was telling me. Josie was . . . pregnant with my child?

A surge of unbridled emotion whirled through me, a wild mixture of acidic fear and brilliant joy—the kind of fear and joy I’d never in my life experienced. The emotions were so raw and so powerful I could barely make sense of them, could barely think around them.

Josie’s lower lip trembled. “Please say something, because I’ve been freaking out pretty much all day, and now you’re just staring at me, not talking.”

I hadn’t said anything? I needed to. I need to say a lot, but as I started to rise, I realized my knees were strangely weak. Like they were devoid of all muscle and bone. Somehow I lost my balance. I actually stumbled back and I went down, landing on my ass. The daggers rattled on the dresser behind me.

“Oh my God!” Josie jumped and reached for me. “Seth!”

Stunned that I actually fell over, I looked around the room as if there was some pint-size apparition that had just taken my legs out. Of course, there wasn’t shit. My knees had given out.

“Seth . . .”

Lifting my gaze to her, I finally got my tongue to work. “You’re pregnant?”

Josie pulled back, clasping her hands together. She nodded. “Yes.” Her chest rose with a deep breath. Those beautiful eyes—eyes that were like two polished sapphires—glistened with unshed tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.