Chapter 27

27

R om was aching, but his wounds were healed, and he could feel his body recovering from whatever magic had been on Remus's claws. He had been saved twice by Laverna. His mate. His mate who had accepted the bond and used it to share her strength and magic with him.

Rom stripped her out of the ruined shirt and kicked off his pants. He needed to feel her heartbeat and skin against his.

"You have an amorous look in your eye, and we don't have time to follow where it leads," Laverna teased him. She turned on the shower taps, and the dark stone shower turned misty. Rom grabbed a cloth and ran the soap over it before reaching for her.

"We might not have time for sex, but I need to be touching you right now," Rom said and began to wipe the cloth over her. They stepped under the spray together, and Laverna leaned her back against his chest. She was so much smaller than him and so much more powerful. "Did you run into any trouble out the front of the villa?" he asked.

Laverna shook her head. "No. I saw the bodies and the wounds that were the same as those that killed my people, and I fucking knew they were here. I grabbed the gun off a body and ran to find you."

Rom rinsed the remaining dirt and ichor from his body before tipping some shampoo into his hand and working it into her thick hair.

"You saved my ass," he said, bending to kiss her neck. "And you killed Sagana just when she thought she could do her little smoke trick and vanish."

"You would have recovered in that fight. I just wasn't going to risk Remus doing any more damage to my property," Laverna said, a possessive edge to her voice that went straight to his dick. "As for Sagana, I was pissed, and I wasn't interested in a fair fight. I've always fought dirty, and I don't care. One less witch for us to kill, and it will throw Canidia off her game a little. Is it too much to hope that she won't be able to do her spell without her?"

Rom moved her under the spray more and began to rinse the soap from Laverna's hair.

"It will slow Canidia down but not stop her. She will have a backup plan. This game of hers has been in the making for a long time. She would have known that losing some of her followers could happen and would have prepared for it," he said and grabbed the conditioner. "Sagana has been with her for centuries. I know if I lost Claudius or any of my praetorians, I would be devastated. I'm hoping that because we didn't find Sidonius that she still has him stashed somewhere."

Laverna turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "We will find him, Rom, wherever he is. We won't stop until we do."

Rom tipped her head back and kissed her gently. "Thank you, my love."

"Canidia is going to have her own army. She can't be this bold without having more than Remus to back her up," Laverna said. She took the cloth from him and started to soap him over, her brows drawn together.

"The other praetorians and I won't have any choice but to turn tomorrow night when the moon rises," Rom said, his worry for her growing. He couldn't hide it from her, not with the bond in place.

"You guys are hardly powerless as wolves," Laverna pointed out. Just like he couldn't hide his worry, she couldn't hide her own feelings from him. He wrapped his arms around her.

"You won't be alone, Laverna. Neither one of us will ever be again," he said, resting his cheek on top of her head. Her grip on him tightened a little. "We both have lots of backup that we will take with us. We might be wolves, but there will be plenty of others who won't be. We are going to fight them together. And then you and I are going to take some time to explore this mating bond of ours."

Laverna lightly rubbed her belly against his dick. It had been hard for a while.

"Are you struggling a little, lover?" she asked with big, innocent eyes.

"You're naked and have accepted the mate bond. I can't help it," he replied, letting out a soft moan when her hand slid between them to stroke him. "We... They are going to be waiting for us."

"They will survive," Laverna said, smirking. "You can't go and greet our visitors with this now, can you?"

All of Rom's protests died in his mouth as she lowered herself to her knees in front of him. Laverna licked his tip. "I promise I won't waste any time getting you to come."

Rom's hands braced against the tiles above her, the alpha in him roaring to the surface at her act of submission. "Go on then. Prove it," he challenged.

Laverna's eyes flared, and she gave his tip one more playful lick before she deep-throated him.

"Oh, fucking hell," he gasped, fingers clawing at the tiles. "Look at me, baby. Fuck, just like that."

Rom dropped one hand to stroke her jaw and neck. Her mouth was better than anything he could have imagined in those dark hours when he would allow himself to fantasize about what it would be like to have her. Her own arousal rebounded through the bond, and he swore again.

"You feel like you're in pain. Can't have that now," Rom said, his hand cupping the back of her head to stop it from hitting the tiles. "Fuck your fingers for me. I'm about to pound this pretty mouth of yours, and I want to feel you come with me."

Laverna groaned around his cock, and her hand moved between her legs. His wolf was close enough to the surface that he could smell the sweet musk of her arousal. His mouth watered, wanting to taste it. There would be time later for that. Right now, he needed to come all over her pretty face.

Rom gripped her hair and thrust deep into the hot heat of her mouth. Her expression was hazy, lost in the pleasure riding them both. He took that to mean she could take it and began to fuck her mouth with abandonment. His orgasm was starting to build, his toes curling on the tiles as heat roared through him.

The bond hummed between them, and Laverna's muffled cries alerted him to her own orgasm before it hit him in a wave. His knees shook under the intensity of it. He had just enough sense to pull his cock back, and he came hard over her mouth and neck.

Rom braced his forearms on the tiles, his breath coming in gasps that matched her own. He ran his fingers through his come on her lips before drawing her up off her knees and kissing her. He took her shaking hand from her pussy and licked her fingers clean too.

"Fuck, Laverna. We really need to kill those fucking witches so we can do that all day," Rom said, gently washing his come off her before kissing her again.

"Agreed," she said and stuck her tongue in his mouth. She wrapped a leg around his hips when her stomach growled.

Rom laughed huskily. "First things first. Let's go and see about breakfast before your poor stomach eats itself."