Page 36 of Laverna

Laverna smiled at the challenge. They would see about that.

The three-story house on Aventine Hill was painted a soft, sunny yellow with an ochre trim. They were in the richer areas where the rows of houses on either side of the narrow, winding street were all multi-million euro properties with high walls and pretty gardens.

Everything was so clean and tidy that it made Laverna's skin itch. It was exactly the kind of neighborhood where no one talked to each other and would purposely stay out of each other's business. It was perfect for Canidia and her coven to operate out of.

"Do you think the owner of this place is still alive?" Laverna asked. Romulus stared up at the house and shook his head. His wolf was close to the surface, and she could feel the violent aura radiating from him. He was in battle mode, and she leaned into the feeling of that strength. She would need it to deal with whatever they found in the house.

Romulus opened the small boot of the car and pulled up the bottom lining. Instead of a spare tire, he had neat metal boxes containing weapons. He slid on a leather holster that held a variety of daggers.

"Did you want anything?" he asked.

Laverna was still staring. "I think I want you to fuck me wearing that," she said.

"I meant daggers. No guns. It'll create too much noise," Romulus replied. "We can revisit your kink later."

Laverna unsheathed the daggers she had brought with her and rotated them around her fingers in a flashy move. "I'm good, but thank you for the offer. I know where to go now if I ever need some spares."

"You already steal my cars, and now you're going to steal my weapons too?" he asked with a shake of his head. "What next?"

"I don't know, what else do you have?" she replied, with a waggle of her brows.

Romulus shut the boot of the car. "Menace."

Laverna's smile vanished when two unmarked black vans pulled up, and men poured out. They were all dressed in black uniforms with Romulus's red wolf on the arms. Eolus, Lucius, and Claudius moved at the front of the pack to join them.

"I feel like the odd one out without my matching uniform," Laverna commented as the mercenaries started fanning out along the street, knocking out any CCTV cameras they found before waiting for Romulus's command.

"We will have to see if they make them that small," Lucius replied, and Laverna flipped him off.

"Still big enough to knock you on your ass when you get too cheeky, mutt," she replied, making the others grin. She turned to the electronic gates over the driveway. "Shall I get the door?"

Romulus nodded, his eyes fully golden in anticipation of the fight. The other three wolves grew serious, and their own wolves came to the surface. One day from the full moon, and she was leading them into fuck knows what. It was a good thing she had left all her people out of it. She didn't want them getting in the way if they went nuts from blood lust.

Laverna stuck her dagger under the keypad's casing and popped it off. She could feel the wolf's eyes on her, so she hummed jauntily as she cut the right wires and disabled the alarms.

"Open sesame," she said, and the doors unlocked and began to slide back. Romulus made hand gestures to his men and then filed through the gates and into the shadows of the garden.

"Keep your noses alert for anything that smells of magic," Laverna warned them. "They will have wards."

"That's why you should…go first," Romulus said through gritted teeth.

All three of his praetorians stared at him like he had grown another head. He looked physically pained even to say it. Laverna's heart soared. She rose up on tip toes and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, Rom. Stay close," she said and hurried up the driveway before he changed his mind.

Laverna reached inside and let her divinity come forth for the second time that night. It sharpened her senses and changed her vision. She could see the magic around her despite the darkness.

The first ward was on the front door threshold. Canidia's magic always felt like sticking her hand into writhing maggots, but Laverna was pissed off enough to push through it. She fed golden power into the dagger she was holding and used it to slice through the weaving of the ward. It shriveled up like burning hair and left the same smell in the air.

"Fucking gross," Eolus complained, his tongue moving in and out of his mouth trying to dislodge the taste.

Laverna ignored him, her focus entirely on not having Romulus be hit by another spell. She moved out of the way, and he stepped forward and kicked the wooden door in. All four of the wolves backed up as the smell hit them. Laverna didn't have their sensitivity, but she could smell the blood and rot. Horror crept up her spine, and she had to force herself to step through the door.

"Upstairs or down?" she asked.

"Secure down and make sure they have nowhere to run," Romulus replied, and they followed her down the hallway. The smell grew worse as they neared the doors leading to a garage. Laverna cut through the protective wards over the door before opening it. There was another on the threshold.

"They must be getting paranoid. Good," she said and turned on the lights. The garage had a metal table in the center of it and shelves stacked with jars and supplies. The walls were covered in sigils and other drawings and formulae that Laverna couldn't understand. She took photos of them all with her phone and sent them immediately to Hecate. Maybe she would have better luck understanding whatever the fuck they were.

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