Page 49 of Laverna

"I tremble in fear of your punishments." Laverna thought about the last time he said she was going to pay. They ended up fucking on a wolf skin. She opened her mouth, but Romulus put his hand over it.

"Don't you dare say whatever it is you just thought of."

Laverna licked his palm until he moved it. Roberto slowed and parked.

"Show time," she said brightly and unclipped her belt.

"I hope you didn't think that just because you mated with her, she was going to behave herself," Eolus commented from behind her.

Laverna ignored them and stepped out into the night. It was humid but clear, the moonlight casting the archaeological park in ghostly black and white.

The building in front of them was the Santi Cosma e Damiano, with access to the part of the building that once housed Romulus's temple around the back. Laverna walked to the driver's side door, and Roberto dropped the window.

"I'll go in first and make sure the way is clear. Wait until midnight and then follow. I won't have you all popping out of the ground just to get murdered," she said.

Roberto nodded. "We are with you, boss. All the way."

Laverna squeezed his hand resting on the steering wheel. "Thank you, my friend."

She made sure Roberto was in position before she walked around the back of the church and to the entrance of the Tempio di Romolo. The other wolves were already shifting in the light of the full moon. Romulus was fighting it off for the chance to talk to her once more.

"You going to be okay getting in here?" Romulus asked, looking at the faded green paint on the double doors.

"I'll be fine. I'll make sure there's been no cave-ins and that it's safe for the others to come through," Laverna replied. The other wolves were fully changed and waiting for him. Laverna put her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a searing kiss.

"Be safe," he said.

"Watch out for witches' traps," she replied and let him go.

Romulus pulled off his shirt. "I swear I step into one trap, and everyone thinks I'm incompetent."

"Just don't do it again, and we will shut up about it." Laverna doubted that. Romulus rarely made mistakes, and they were never going to let it go.

Romulus standing naked in the moonlight was going to be seared on her mind forever. The pale light loved every muscle and dip of his powerful body. He must have felt her appreciation through the bond because he huffed out a laugh and shifted. He was slightly bigger than a normal wolf and was jet-black.

Laverna touched the bond, and it felt the same. She would know through it if he got into any trouble, and that thought comforted her.

"Watch your asses," Laverna told them and placed her hand on Romulus's head. He licked her hand once and then bounded out through the ruins, the other three wolves falling into place behind him. Laverna wished she had a talent for painting because they looked dangerous and majestic.

"No time to linger," she said and shook herself. She dug in her pockets and pulled out her lock picks. The locks popped in quick succession, and she opened one of the doors and slipped into the darkness. There was a keypad next to the door for an alarm, and she quickly disabled it too.

The interior had been turned into a small archaeological exhibit that she had no time to admire. She remembered when the temple had smelled of incense and offerings. When the priests wore very different robes, and when she had thought sinking a tunnel into one of Romulus's sacred places was great for a laugh. Laverna walked through the halls until she sensed where the entrance to her tunnel was. Unfortunately, it was now a supply closet, but it didn't take long for her to move the shelving of cleaning products out of the way.

Laverna crouched down and laid her hand on the cool marble tiles. She was a goddess of earth and darkness, and the tile creaked and lifted away. Laverna worked quickly and tried to keep her nerves in check. She had to trust that Romulus, his people, and hers all knew what to do. She couldn't control what happened next; she could only do her part as best as she could.

When the hole was big enough, Laverna cast a small light of her divine power and sent it down to illuminate her path. There was nothing she was going to hurt herself on, so she dropped down into the hole and cast an illusion over the hole she had created. Just in case a security guard decided to check the cupboard before Roberto and his people could get inside. She had left the path open for them, and they weren't afraid to knock out anyone who noticed them.

Laverna found an ancient torch and lit it. The tunnel stretched out before her, and she dropped her human form. She was the Lady of Bones; this was her kingdom, and she would fight for it until her last breath.

30

Memories threatened to drown Laverna with every step she took through the tunnel. She had snatched more than one prisoner out from beneath the emperor's clutches over the years. As far as she was concerned, it was her judgment or Romulus's that mattered in the city. Laverna did what she had to do to protect her own. The thieves who were murdered in the Colosseum had always been trespassers or those who deserved what they got.

The earth around her was so soaked with blood and ghosts that she could hear the dead whispering around her. Ghosts tended to find her because of what she was, but no one had ever tried to hurt or harm her. She was no psychopomp to lead them on to their afterlives, but the dark caverns in the earth were hers as well as theirs.

It was a seven-minute walk to the Colosseum above ground, and the winding paths of the tunnels took longer than that.

You have time, she told herself. The witches were waiting until midnight before they would attempt the spell. Something that powerful, Laverna would feel it if it had begun already.

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