The Struggle(99)
“Missed you,” he said, pressing another kiss to the corner of my lips.
Sliding my hand to his shoulder, I rested my forehead against his. “You haven’t been gone that long.”
His nose brushed mine. “Long enough.”
I shivered in his arms, relieved that he was back and okay. It was strange, knowing that there were only three beings in this world that could take Seth out and still worrying about his safety. “Aiden’s okay?”
“Of course.” Seth chuckled again. “Not like I’d leave him there.”
Leaning back, I raised my brows.
Seth’s grin twisted my stomach into pleasant knots. It was just so damn . . . devilish. “Ye of little faith.”
“Uh huh.”
His hand slid up my spine, tangling in my loose hair. “How are you feeling?”
“Good,” I said, taking a breath. I needed to tell him about the whole pregnancy thing, but this was also important. “Find out anything?”
“Yes.” He kissed the center of my forehead and let go. “I think you were definitely held in an area east of Houston.”
Hope smacked through me as I sat down on the edge of the bed. “Did you find the warehouse?”
Running a hand through his hair, he shook his head. “No, but we did find shades, and they’re definitely there because of the Titans.”
I folded my hands in my lap. “How do you know?”
“Turns out I’m more awesome than I previously realized.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep.” Still grinning that ridiculously sexy and often infuriating grin, he said, “We caught one. And it turns out that being a god means I can actually stop the shade from leaving its body. That meant we were able to get some info out of it.”
I really didn’t want to think about how they went about that. “What did you learn?”
A coldness settled into those deep amber eyes. “The Titans are in Texas. Or they have been.”
Everything was bigger in Texas. A hyena-sounding giggle almost escaped.
The shade knew of you,” he explained, and I tensed. “You said you were kept near a wooded area. Aiden and I learned there’s a place called Piney Woods not too far from there. We’re going to start scouting out areas in that location.”
Like before, there was something just on the fringe of my subconscious that I couldn’t quite pull forward. “I feel like . . . like I’m forgetting something—something I saw. It’s right there, but I just can’t remember it.”
“It’ll come to you.”
I nodded as I inhaled roughly. My pulse started to pick up as I peeked up at him. Seth was going to be a dad.
Oh my gods, I was going to be a mom.
But he was going to be a dad.
A really hot dad—like the kind you saw with a baby that made your ovaries go boom. Except my ovaries apparently already went boom.
Holy crap, what was I thinking? I did not need to be thinking about him as a hot dad, because he didn’t even know he was going to become a dad. I needed to tell him.
Anxiety rose in my chest, causing me to clasp and unclasp my hands. “This is all . . . good, though. At least we have a general idea.”
“Right,” he replied, his eyes warming to a tawny glow as he watched me. “How did things go with the kidnapped demigod?”
“Um, good. We got her to open the door and Deacon was going to get her some food,” I said, looking away when his gaze caught mine. “She understands that we’re here to help her. So that’s a few steps in the right direction.”
“Cool.” Seth reached down to his hips and I saw that he had daggers. “We can head back to the island if you want.”
We so needed to stay, at least until tomorrow—well, wait. I had no idea how safe the whole poofing thing Seth did was. I guess it was okay, because he’d done that quite a few times. “Can we hang here for a little bit? It’s safe, right?”
Seth nodded.
“When did you get the daggers?” I asked.
“Made a pit stop in the weapons room before we went to Texas. I guess I really don’t need them, but they’re fun to use.”
“Oh, that’s smart. Not the fun part, because that’s a little creepy, but the grabbing them part.” My heart was racing so fast I thought I’d be sick. “When are you going to head back out?”
He unhooked the daggers. “Soon. Was thinking about checking out Piney Woods tomorrow.”
That was good, because we needed to find Mitchell. I just hoped we weren’t too late. But if Seth was going back out there tomorrow, should I tell him about the whole baby thing? He could come face to face with one of the Titans. Being distracted was the last thing he needed.