Page 42 of Laverna

Laverna fucking loved it. Loved that he let her dominate him, despite his alpha side. Loved that they could switch, and she could just submit to him and everything he wanted to do to her.

Laverna gasped as a thread of his power reached out and tied itself to hers. She could feel all of him, the way he loved her and how the intensity of it frightened him, the strength of the creature inside of him and how it had longed for her, and the pulsing burden of the city that he was tied to.

"I love you, Rom. I've always loved you," she sobbed into the sheets.

Romulus cried out, shaking as he filled her, her name on his lips the best prayer she had ever heard.

25

Rom woke breathless and panicked, his wolf trying to tear its way out of him.

What the fuck? he demanded.

Danger. Protect mate. Protect pack! the wolf snarled back at him. Rom was out of bed and pulling on his sweats before he could think.

He shook Laverna gently. "Wake up, love."

"What is it? What's wrong?" Laverna's eyes snapped open.

"I don't know, but my wolf is freaking out, and he's never like this," Rom replied.

Laverna climbed out of bed and pulled on his oversized shirt.

"We had best find out what the fuss is about then," she said, hair askew and eyes burning with a power she had yet to leash. His wolf was insistent on protecting her, but Rom was starting to think that maybe he was better off letting her protect him. After having her claim him in her chthonic goddess aspect the night before, he didn't think he would ever worry again about her being able to take care of herself.

They moved silently through the house, and Rom stretched out his sensitive hearing to try to discover the source of wrongness that had woken his wolf. He opened a cabinet of weapons and grabbed a gladius. Laverna looked about with a delighted smirk. He could almost hear her thoughts.

"Rob me later," he said, and they stepped out the glass doors and onto the terraced gardens that surrounded the whole villa.

"You check this side. I will go around the front," Laverna said, holding her daggers in a light grip.

Rom turned back to the pre-dawn sky. Everything was so quiet, he couldn't tell what the wolf's problem was. It was so silent…too silent.

Rom suddenly realized what was different. There wasn't a single sound except those made by him. He couldn't hear any nighttime birds or creatures. He strained his hearing and didn't pick up any murmurs of chatter from the men on guard either.

Fuck. He stepped out onto the wet grass and lifted his nose to scent the night air. It took a moment, and then the breeze carried with it an unmistakable stench. He recognized it from the reservation where Laverna's people had been massacred.

The witches were there. He had expected them to retaliate after they claimed their house, but not so soon.

Rom pulled out one of his daggers and, on soundless feet, ran across the wet grass. He jumped down one of the terraces and smelled fresh blood. He followed the scent until he found a dead guard, his throat half missing.

Rom pushed down his anger. He would be upset later. Now, he just needed revenge. He stepped up to the next terrace, and the stench of rot and earth and musk hit his nostrils just before something drove into him. They crashed over the flower beds, and Rom pulled his legs up between them and kicked his assailant off him. He rolled to his feet, dagger ready, and got his first look at the creature that haunted his nightmares.

"Remus?" he whispered, his voice choked.

"Little brother," the wolf man said through fanged teeth. He was seven feet tall and a tank of muscle and fur. He didn't smell alive, but there was no doubt that the voice belonged to his dead twin.

"What the fuck did they do to you?" Rom asked, his heart breaking.

Remus's pale blue eyes narrowed. "They fixed what you did to me. They brought my shade back from the Underworld itself."

"You're not alive, Remus. This body they have animated is not really you."

"Sure as hell feels like it. Now I get to kill you and become king of Rome like I should have been all along." Remus scented the air, and a growling sound of amusement came out of him. "You smell like my mate. If you think her body is fun, wait until you taste her ichor on your tongue." His long gray tongue lolled out of his mouth.

Rom's grip on his dagger tightened. "You will not lay one rotting claw on Laverna."

"Who is going to stop me? You? You only managed to kill me the first time because my back was turned, and I never thought you were capable of it. You could never beat me in a fair fight," Remus chuckled and launched himself at Rom. Rom only just managed to dodge in time before Remus's long claws took his head off.

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