Page 26 of Laverna

Claudius only rolled his eyes. "We will go and see about food, seeing how the goddess doesn't believe in keeping any in her kitchen."

Laverna didn't have the energy to deny it. Romulus carried her through the apartments and into the warm, wet heat of the bathhouse. He sat her down on a marble bench and crouched down to take off her boots.

"This is a bit weird," she said, fighting to stay upright.

"You can fight me about it later. Just let me take care of you now. My wolf is losing its mind and will take me with it if you don't let me do this," Romulus replied, peeling off her socks. He helped her stand before undoing the clasp on her dirty, wet jeans.

"Because it thinks I'm its mate?" she whispered, hardly able to form the words.

Romulus's hands paused. "What makes you ask that?"

"Remus. I'll tell you everything when I'm warm again," she said. She needed the time to put her thoughts together, and she was starting to shiver. Romulus didn't waste any more time. He stripped her off and made her sit on a soft towel while he got rid of his own muddy clothes. There were stains of golden ichor on them too, and Laverna swallowed hard.

"You found me?" she asked.

"I did. We will talk about it when you've warmed up." He pulled off his shirt, and a goofy smile lit up her face. "What?"

"Seeing you naked is helping my healing process," Laverna replied. He really was a beautiful brute of a man with scars and muscle all over him.

"You can stare at me later," he said with a soft snort of laughter. He picked her up and carried her into one of the medium-heated pools. Laverna's freezing skin pebbled and ached, but she grew used to it in a few moments and then sighed happily.

Romulus made sure she was sitting upright on one of the marble benches before he went to get some of the bottled water she always kept in there.

"You need to rehydrate," he said, opening a bottle and placing it on the lip of the pool beside her. Laverna took it without argument and drained half of it.

"Are you going to hand-feed me too?" she asked.

Romulus tilted his head thoughtfully. "Would you let me? The wolf likes the idea."

Laverna laughed and then winced. Fates, she was aching. Romulus climbed into the pool beside her. "What is it? Are you hurting?"

"I'm okay. Just my back. I think he might have broken some bones. They are healed, just tender," she replied, trying to get the worried look off his face. It didn't work. He made a strange whimpering sound of anger and distress. Laverna moved through the water and took his face in her hands.

"Rom, I'm okay." His eyes were blazing gold, so she pressed her lips lightly to his. "I'm fine. Just a little tender."

The gold of the wolf seeped out of his eyes, leaving them back to being whiskey amber. Romulus's hands slid to her hips and gently turned her before putting her in his lap again. Slowly, he began to massage her shoulders.

"You really have gone crazy, haven't you?" she said, leaning into his touch. "I knew it."

Romulus's hands paused. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me, Rom. My night has been traumatic enough." Laverna's heart was aching, but she pushed on. "You have been acting weird ever since I broke into your bathhouse. You've always hated me, and now you're being all kind to me and laughing and not being a raging dick, and I don't understand what's changed. My only conclusion is you've finally lost your damn mind."

Romulus began his massage again. "I've never really been sane around you. I just stopped fighting against myself when it came to you. I've always told you I wanted you under my protection."

"No, you've always wanted me under your control. You've always been all macho with your "Become part of my pack and surrender to my ruling over you" bullshit," Laverna said, trying not to let her anger rise. "The first day we met, you smiled at me, and then it was like you realized who I was, and I became something you scraped off your shoe. I don't fucking get you, Rom. So yeah, I do think you've lost your fucking mind, and I'm just waiting for you to come to your senses and start acting like an asshole again."

Laverna hadn't realized that her arms had come up and wrapped tightly around herself again. She was shaking, and it wasn't from the cold; it was all the messy hurt that she had never let loose pouring out of her.

"I'm sorry, Laverna. For everything," Romulus said so softly that her heart broke just a little. "I've always been afraid of you, and that has made me act aggressively. Part of it is the alpha wolf clashing against another alpha in his territory. Mostly, it's been that when I look at you, all I see is my weakness."

Laverna moved away from him, and he let her. She sat down on the other side of the pool before looking him in the eye. He looked crushed and vulnerable in a way that she had never seen before in their long, long history. He looked...broken.

"Remus said that I was going to be his mate and not yours," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "Am I your mate, Rom?"

"My wolf has always believed so," he replied and let out a tight sigh. "Yes. You are my mate, and Remus, or whatever that thing is, will never have you."

Laverna rubbed at the bridge of her nose. Maybe she had hit her head when she fell because she was struggling to believe any of this. "And I have no say in the matter?"

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