Chapter 9

9

R om was prowling the villa, agitated by Laverna's texts and the photo of Canidia. He should have ripped her throat out centuries ago. He would have except the night they closed in on them, the witches had vanished from Rome and hadn't returned in the centuries that followed. He sent the photo to Claudius for the wolves searching the nearby towns.

He needed to see Laverna and what other information her people had put together. It had taken less than a day for them to get a photo, which meant they knew where to look.

His churning thoughts were interrupted by his phone buzzing angrily on the kitchen counter. He ignored the disappointment he felt when it was Claudius and not Laverna. Fates, he needed to get laid or something to stop him from obsessing so much.

''Claudius? What's wrong?" Rom answered.

"It's Sidonius. He's not answering his phone, and I'm still out at the reserve. It's not like the old guard not to answer any of my calls, and I'm worried," Claudius replied.

Rom frowned. "Leave it with me. I'll go around and check on him," he said.

"I'm on my way back, so I will meet you there. Take the goddess as a backup. I have a bad feeling, and she will keep your better half calm," Claudius replied, hanging up before Rom could object.

Four wolves had been Rom's original guards from when he was king—Claudius, Sidonius, Lucius, and Eolus. They still ran most things for him, including his group of mercenaries. They affectionately were called The Praetorians or the Old Guard amongst his people.

They were his brothers and his pack, and if Sidonius wasn't answering calls, it was worth looking into immediately. Rom was too tense about the witches and their fondness for capturing supernatural creatures for their organs and magic.

Rom went to his weapons room and slid on a shoulder holster that carried a gladius down his back and two daggers. He put on a leather jacket over the top to hide them and headed for the garage. His Ferrari was still a mess, and now the whole garage carried Laverna's scent.

With a curse, he pulled out his phone and called Laverna. Surprisingly, she answered the first ring.

"Romulus."

"Goddess. I was wondering if you are up for an excursion this afternoon," he said, finding the keys to his Porsche. There was something wrong with his other Ferrari since he took it to the reserve. It kept sporadically playing Mambo No.5 whether anyone was in the car or not. He had a feeling he knew exactly who to blame for it too.

"I'm busy. Why? What's wrong?"

"Sidonius isn't answering his phone, and I'm worried," he admitted. Being honest with her seemed to be working lately.

"Sid is missing? For how long?" she demanded.

"I'm not sure if he is missing. He's just not answering his phone. Since when have you called him Sid?" Rom replied, a growl in his voice that he couldn't hide.

"Since forever. Just because I don't like you doesn't mean I don't like all your lackeys. Pick me up from the Catacombe di Commodilla entrance," Laverna said and hung up on him.

Rom slid into the driver's seat, and the frustrating, anxious feeling that had been eating away at him all morning calmed down. He rested his head against the steering wheel and cursed under his breath. She's only one woman. She has no right to be affecting you like this.

Not woman. Mate. Stop fighting it.

"Never," Rom replied through clenched teeth. "She is worth more than us. She is a goddess and will never have us. Accept it." Whatever the wolf said in reply was drowned out by the engine's roar.

Laverna was slouching against a car, talking with Roberto, when Rom pulled in to pick her up. As usual, she looked like she had rolled into the first available clothes she had on hand and still somehow looked amazing. Rom eyed the black blazer, obviously a men's blazer, that she had rolled up the sleeves on.

He had hoped she was joking about getting into an orgy of priests earlier in the day, but he had learned never to assume anything about her.

Laverna nodded at whatever Roberto was saying before she walked out into the street and opened the passenger side door. Her perfume rushed over him, and there was no scent of sex or anyone else on her. She had been stirring him up, after all. He hated that her baiting worked every damn time. His snarling inner beast finally shut the fuck up. He tried not to sigh in relief.

"You bored with driving Ferraris or something?" Laverna asked, fiddling with the air conditioning.

Rom managed a grin. "It's strange, but every time you get near one of my cars, something mysteriously goes wrong with it."

"Hmm, maybe you should let me drive occasionally then," she replied and started to rummage through his glove box.

"Here," he said and passed her a protein bar from the stash in his driver's side door.

"Healthy food," she grimaced like she always did.

Rom waved it at her. "It's chocolate flavored."

"Okay, but it better be good," she grumbled and took it.

"I swear your appetite is as bad as a wolf's," he said and poked her bicep. "How can you eat so much and still be so hungry? Don't they feed their goddess in the catacombs?"

"I have an active lifestyle," Laverna said with a shrug. "Being this awesome burns a lot of energy. What's going on with Sid?"

"I don't know. Hopefully, he's just had a big night out and is sleeping it off. He's not answering his phone," Rom replied, guiding the Porshe through the afternoon press of cars.

"So you're checking up on him like a mother hen? I didn't think something like this would warrant your attention," Laverna said through a mouthful of protein bar.

"My wolves are my family," he replied, worry eating away at him. "I might be their alpha, but that just means I am responsible for keeping them all safe. Usually, I wouldn't be so concerned, but the witches attacked you. Makes sense they would target me next."

Laverna chewed her way through another mouthful before asking in a small voice, "Did you really never sleep with Canidia? Because she boasted about it. Like...a lot."

Rom shook his head. "I never did, Laverna. I swear on my wolves." It was about as sacred as a vow he could ever give anyone. He had never held any gods sacred because he knew too many of them. "I wouldn't join her schemes and share the city with her. She took it personally. Though I can't believe she told you that we fucked or why she thought you would care."

Laverna just hunched further into her big jacket. "Yeah, I don't know either."

Rom could sense the lie but was wise enough not to call her on it. He liked this strange and tentative peace they currently held.

Sidonius lived in a penthouse apartment in Parione, not far from the Piazza Navona. Rom pulled into an illegal parking spot and opened the passenger door for Laverna.

"You know you can't park here," she commented with a sly grin. "I hope I'm not starting to rub off on you."

"You haven't rubbed off on me once," Rom replied with an innocent smile. Laverna rolled her eyes, but her grin widened. "The police will call me before it gets towed. That's how I knew where you left the Ferrari the other night."

"Ah, friends in low places. Lead the way," she said.

Rom keyed in the security code of the building's front door, and they stepped inside the warm hush of the building's foyer. He pressed the elevator button and glanced around.

"What is it?" Laverna asked.

"There's no one at the desk," Rom pointed at the empty counter.

"Maybe, they are just peeing," Laverna said, but her smile was gone. "Can you smell anything strange?"

Rom shook his head. "Only cleaning products and whatever air freshener they are using."

The elevator opened, and they stepped inside. Laverna leaned against the steel walls. "Maybe we are just getting paranoid in our old ages," she said and chewed her bottom lip.

"We got to our old ages because we are paranoid," Rom pointed out.

Sidonius owned the whole penthouse floor, so Rom wasn't shy about banging on the white and gold door and shouting his name. When they got no reply, he turned to Laverna. "Okay, goddess, you are up."

Laverna raised a brow. "Me? To do what?"

"Break in. Are you a goddess of thieves or not? Surely you can pick a lock," Rom replied, putting his hands on his hips. "Why the surprise? You didn't think I wanted you to come along because you are so pretty?"

Laverna pulled two hairpins from her messy braid and side-eyed him. "Since when have you thought I was pretty?"

Rom's neck went hot as she knelt down in front of the door. "Since the day I saw you standing by the Tiber. I just never assigned your value to your looks."

"One day, we are going to have a conversation about the day we met because I think we remember it very differently." Laverna slid the pins into the deadbolt. "I suppose that's complimentary in a way that you don't think I'm just a pretty face. You assign value to my lock picking though?"

"It's a skill," he said. "One I've never learned."

Laverna turned her attention back to the locks. "If we survive the witches, maybe I can be convinced to teach you sometime."

"I might take you up on that," Rom replied as the locks clicked and she let the door swing open. The scent of blood hit him like a punch, and he pulled Laverna behind him as his wolf roared to the surface.