Chapter 20

20

I t was easy to lose time in the catacombs. Rom and Claudius followed Laverna and Roberto out of the maze of them in relative silence. Rom could all but feel Claudius's grin.

Maybe he shouldn't be so obvious about what was happening between him and Laverna for privacy's sake. He couldn't help himself. Every word he had spoken to her was the truth. He had almost lost her, and nothing, not even his infamous pride mattered to him more than her.

Outside, Rom was surprised to find the sun setting again. He had been living in darkness the past few days, and his body clock seemed out of alignment. His skin prickled with the threat of the full moon that would rise tomorrow evening. Claudius tipped his face to the sky, his eyes glowing softly for a moment. Rom wasn't the only one feeling it.

They needed to find Sidonius. A wolf driven into madness from torture on a full moon would be dangerous to everyone. He wished he had a god to pray to that Sidonius would be okay. Claudius was whispering a soft prayer to the goddess Luna, and Rom envied his faith. There was only one goddess he had always believed in, and she was waiting for him in his Porsche.

"There's not enough room in that crotch rocket of yours. Claudius will ride with me," Roberto said, and the wolf laughed.

"A good idea. There is only so much flirting between these two that I can stomach. They will probably make out at traffic lights," Claudius teased.

Laverna snorted. "He wishes. We will follow you."

Roberto nodded and gestured to Claudius to get into an Alfa Romeo. It would have easily held them all, but Roberto was right. He did want to flirt with Laverna, and having a spare vehicle wasn't a bad idea.

Rom opened the passenger side door for Laverna. She rolled her eyes at him, but she still had a small smile on her face. Every smile was a win. At least she wasn't running in the opposite direction after finding out that she was his mate.

"Do thieves really have to consult with you before doing a job in Rome?" he asked as he drove.

"Yes. It's a well-known fact in the circles that matter that it's required to get my permission and offer me a cut of the profits. That these thieves didn't bother tells me they are amateurs, or they knew I would never let them steal your rock," Laverna said, pulling out a lollipop from her pocket and unwrapping it. "Canidia must have promised them something amazing to get them to go against the rules like this."

Rom hummed thoughtfully and did his best to ignore her mouth on the lollipop. "Or Canidia purposely hired people who didn't know that they were meant to consult with you first and didn't care what you did to them."

"I suppose we will find out. If they give us the information we need, I might consider going easy on them," Laverna said as they pulled up at a traffic light. They shared a look. "I mean, it would be rude not to make out, seeing how they took a separate car and everything."

Rom laughed before kissing her. Laverna tasted of apple lolly and the heady myrrh flavor of her power. Her fingers twisted in his short curls, tugging them just hard enough to make him growl at the back of his throat. An angry horn blared behind them, making them spring apart and causing Rom to hurry to catch the green light.

Laverna giggled and put her lollipop back in her mouth. "Traffic is going to be so much more tolerable if we do that every time."

"Careful, goddess. We are very close to the full moon, and I have only two modes right now: Fight or fuck," Rom said, his voice all wolf.

Laverna pinched his nipple through his T-shirt. "Good thing we are so excellent at both."

Rom snatched her hand away from his chest and kissed it. "Keep being a brat, and I'll give you something bigger to suck on," he warned and put her hand down on the bulge in his jeans.

Laverna gave his dick a not-so-gentle squeeze. "Maybe later if you are a very good boy."

"I'll do my best," he promised, and she left her hand where it was.

The thieves had holed themselves up in a small apartment in a housing estate in Corviale. The estate had been part of a government building project in the 1980s, and the long, concrete block apartment buildings were an eyesore.

Laverna eyed the building, all humor vanishing from her face. She pocketed the lollipop stick she had been chewing on, her aura already shimmering with power. Roberto didn't seem to notice the change in her, but Claudius took a cautious step back.

There were people lingering about in the narrow hallways, but all of them took one look at Laverna and the three men behind her and looked the other way. They were smart enough not to get involved.

When they reached the apartment, Laverna didn't bother knocking. Her divine power was riding her, and all she had to do was touch the door, and all the deadbolts unlocked. Roberto wasn't concerned though Claudius's brows shot up.

The apartment smelled of takeout Chinese food, beer, and bong water. Voices were shouting in German in the lounge room, and it took the men a moment to look up from their video game and notice they had guests. A bong sat on the coffee table, and all of them looked bleary-eyed.

"Buona sera," Laverna said, her smile menacing.

"What the fuck are you doing in here!" one of them demanded, his accent thick.

Rom picked up the TV remote from amongst the filth on the coffee table and turned it off, making the room fall into an eerie silence. The three men looked at them like they weren't sure they were real. They had to be on more than just weed.

"I know you are all high right now, but I'm going to need your puny brains to pay attention," Laverna said.

Roberto dragged a chair from a small dining table and placed it in front of the TV for her to sit on. She crossed her legs and looked them over.

"What the fuck do you want, bitch? You can't—" one began, and Laverna raised a brow at him. The man shut up.

"Look. You clearly don't know who I am, and so if you tell me who hired you and where you took the black stone, I will be lenient with you. Understand, this is my city, and you did a job here without my permission." Laverna took out one of her daggers, tossed it in the air, and caught it again. "What was the old punishment for thieving again, Rom?"

"Cutting hands off was always a favorite," he replied, not taking his eyes off the men.

Laverna pointed her dagger at the man with bleached hair in spikes. "You. Linkin Park. Tell me who hired you."

The man licked his lips nervously. "She said her name was Claire. That's all. She contacted us using the usual dark web channels. She said if we managed to pull off the job, then she would pay us five million euros."

Laverna took a folded picture of Canidia from her pocket and showed it to him. "This her?"

All three of them nodded. They were smarter than they looked.

"Where did you deliver it to?" Laverna asked.

When none of them answered, her eyes began to glow.

"How strong were those mushrooms, liébling ? I think I'm getting a second high," one of the thieves whispered to the blond.

"Oh, then you'll love this," Laverna said cheerfully and unleashed her divine chthonic aspect. She floated off the ground, a black and red gown streaming around her. A crown of bones and laurel leaves sat on her wild hair, and a thick band the color of blood was painted across her eyes. All three men screamed and tried to scramble off the couch. Laverna held out a hand, and they were locked and frozen in place.

"Tell me, pathetic, mewling mortals, where did you deliver the sacred stone of my beloved?" she commanded, her voice echoing with an unnatural timbre.

Rom's pulse was racing, and he fought the urge to drop to his knees. She was at her most terrifying, and she had called him her beloved. Fates, he was going to kiss her stupid the first opportunity he got.

The blond put his arms protectively around his boyfriend and pointed to a piece of paper that was under a laptop. "There. That was the order for the job and the address. Big house. Very expensive. We put the stone in the garage and left as instructed. We saw nothing."

Laverna floated back down to the ground, and she was dressed in jeans and an oversized jacket once more. She gestured to Roberto, who dug out the piece of paper.

"He's telling the truth. They gave them this apartment to work out of while they were here," he said, scanning the page.

"The big house?" Rom asked.

"Aventine Hill," Roberto answered.

Laverna looked back at the cowering men. "You assholes are lucky that I got laid last night, and I'm in a good mood. Pack your shit and get the fuck out of Rome tonight." Her power lashed out, and all three of them groaned and clutched their heads. "Instant sobriety is a bitch, I know, but you need to get going. You dumb fucks messed with witches, and if you don't leave now, I doubt you'll be alive by morning."

"Who are you?" the blond one asked in a shaky voice.

"I am Laverna, the goddess of thieves, and this is my fucking city," she said and gave them an elaborate bow. "Now get the fuck out of it before I change my mind and start chopping things off you."