Lycan Gladiator (Wolf Maiden Saga)

by Gordon, Eva

  Floretta scowled, “Do you insult or compliment me, gladiator poet?”

  Nox glowered at him and released a low rumbling growl.

  He laughed, “Domina, the only thorns around you are Nox’s fangs.”

  Floretta seemed placated and tempered her tone, “Will you join me in the gardens?”

  “I must return to arena practice.” He stretched his taut muscles. “The physician says I’m completely healed.”

  “Well, then I will have fine Germanian beer sent to you. You are a hero.” Floretta glowed in pride. “All of Rome speaks of how you saved thousands from the claws of the man bear.”

  He snorted, “Beer would please me.” He turned to Cassia, “My thanks for attending my wounds.” He winked at Floretta and left.

  Cassia had the urge to flee. “I too must return to my duties.”

  The viper fiercely furrowed her brow. “Have you worked on the Emperor’s hair tonic?”

  Thank Feronia she is not pressing me with jealous questions about Ulric. She nodded. She had mixed a paste of aromatic herbs that soothed. By relaxing the scalp, the mixture would encourage hair growth. A fertilizer for the few weeds left on his head. “Yes, here, smell it.” She reached for a round ceramic container and removed the lid. She brought it beneath the harpy’s nose. “Does it not smell much more pleasant than the emperor’s current concoction?”

  Floretta took a whiff. She closed her eyes in approval. “Hmm. Very pleasant. Minty.”

  “That’s the aroma of the creeping Pennyroyal leaves. I added it to keep the head free of lice and to allow the other ingredients to work on the root hairs.”

  Nox grabbed the jar, dipped her finger, and spread some on her skin. She wrinkled her nose. “Very strong, no doubt it must do something.”

  Floretta smiled like a snake before swallowing a mouse. “Emperor Domitian invited me to attend a banquet next week. I promised to bring you to test out your tonic. If it works, do not be surprised if he buys your freedom.” She narrowed her eyes, “Don’t look so astonished. Only my husband wants you here.” She circled Cassia. “Forbidden to kill you, I have no other alternative than to get rid of you by other means. Your freedom and promise to leave Rome.”

  Freed? A perfect opportunity to escape and wait for Ulric in the safety of Etruria or even Gaul. She lifted her chin. “We both agree. I very much want to leave.”

  Nox drew her in and scented her neck. “Is that Ulric I smell on your neck?”

  Floretta’s mood darkened. She shrieked at her body slaves, “Leave us!”

  Cassia pulled at her palla. Nox has just delivered my death sentence. Only the revelation of my true nature will save my life. She sputtered, “I…must…prepare the tonic. The Emperor will need more than a few jars for his scalp.”

  “Stay!” Floretta glanced at the ten containers on the shelf. “You have enough!” She turned to Nox, “Did he kiss her?”

  The alpha grabbed her face in a vice grip. Cassia twisted away but could not break the werewolf’s hold. “Let me be!”

  Nox stabbed her tongue into her mouth, probing and raping. The alpha just as quickly let go and Cassia nearly lost her balance. She gagged in disgust and spit.

  Floretta tugged at Nox’s cloak. “Well, has the gladiator kissed her?”

  Nox straightened and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She sighed in satisfaction and shot Cassia a wolfish grin. “His scent is embedded throughout her mouth.”

  Floretta’s face contorted into a medusa-like mask of fury, “Whore! Macula commanded you not to make love with the gladiator!”

  Cassia braced herself for a slap that did not come. Her pulse raced but she found her voice, “The roguish gladiator merely wanted to thank me for tending his wounds.”

  Nox gave a sinister laugh. “You are indeed a poor liar.” She opened her cloak, exposing her long whip.

  Floretta hissed, “Strip her and give her twenty-five lashes.”

  Cassia’s eyes widened in panic. The pain of the lash was one thing but worse, her wolf mark would be exposed. She pleaded, “Whip me if you must but leave my bottom tunica on.”

  Nox sneered. “I will flog you naked.” She raked a claw, ripping the tunic so it effortlessly fell about her.

  Cassia slapped her hand over her coin-sized wolf mark. Too late.

  Floretta gasped, “You are a wolf maiden!”

  Nox gaped. “It’s red. That is why the gladiator is so fond of you; he claimed you.”

  Floretta stared at it. “No.” Her eyes wild. “She cannot be claimed. Not by him!”

  Cassia stood frozen. Dead as a trapped hare.

  Nox touched it and Cassia flinched. The alpha lifted a brow. “Master Macula will take her as his.”

  Floretta shrieked, “No! He must not find out.” She paced around Cassia. She snapped her fingers and grinned, “No one will know.”

  Nox shook her head. “I will not blaspheme Feronia by killing a wolf maiden, no matter how much we despise her, domina. We cannot!”

  “Fool! I know the law. We will not have the blood of a wolf maiden on our hands. Unless she betrays our kind.” Her brow lifted in what must be scheming. She took a strand of Cassia’s loose hair. “You do not wish to be discovered. Why else did you refuse to enter the public bath? We will keep your secret and hide the evidence.” Floretta threw a shrewd smile. “I have the solution.”

  Her voice small Cassia sputtered, “What…do you mean?”

  “Nox, help her dress and follow me.”

  “Where?” Cassia begged. Her body trembled as she gathered her tunica from the floor and dressed. Nox draped her woolen cloak over her.

  Floretta warned, “Make a sound or protest and your mate will be poisoned with wolfsbane.”

  Cassia had no doubt the viper would carry out her threat, especially with the knowledge Ulric had claimed her. She heeded her words and walked towards the stables. Would she be given a horse, told to leave and never come back? As they rounded the corner near the pasture, they headed toward the blacksmith shed. She dug her heels in. “No. You cannot mean to brand over my wolf mark.”

  Floretta smiled. “Yes, my perceptive Judean witch. If Macula notices, I will tell him I wanted you branded. He knows me well enough to accept my decision.”

  As they entered the shed, a big male beta approached. Floretta whispered in his ear. He smiled and left. Even he would not be trusted with their secret. Cassia kicked and screamed, but her struggle against a powerful alpha lycan proved futile. Nox bound her hands and feet with rope and rendered Cassia helpless. Nox searched for a brand. They decided on a large oval shaped brand with an ‘M’ in the center. A brand marking her as property of Macula. “No! This is sacrilege!”

  Nox tied her to the branding rack and gagged her mouth.

  Floretta hissed in her ear, “Ulric is mine!” She turned to Nox. “Do it.”

  Nox tore off her tunica.

  Cassia flinched, as the red heat of the brand grew closer. The brand seared over her wolf mark. Muffled, she screamed in silent agony until darkness took her.

  ***

  Ulric ran a jerky hand through his hair as he paced in the training arena. He had not seen Cassia in two days. Something was wrong. During his sleep, he had a nightmare. Cassia in pain. That night he sneaked into the villa and into her quarters and sniffed. Gone. Her bed had not been slept in. Had Macula discovered her wolf mark? “Let me pass,” he growled at the beta in front of the gladiator quarters.

  “What for?”

  “I’m to give Lucius a lesson in weaponry.”

  “Very well, but return by dusk,” the beta snarled.

  The villa guards cast their eyes down and growled as Ulric stood by the entrance. “I am here to see Lucius. He wishes me to teach him javelin throws.”

  Granted entrance, he found Lucius in his study. He sprang to his feet. “Ulric, what are you doing here?” He guided him in and closed the door for privacy.

  Ulric could not hold back. He whispered. “It’s Cassia. Sh
e has not been in her quarters or come to check the gladiators.”

  Lucius poured him a glass of wine. “Please sit and drink first.”

  Ulric gulped the entire cup and slammed it down, “Where is she?”

  “She was moved to the villa rustica.”

  “I thought her quarters would remain here.” He quipped. “I suppose it’s better for her to be far from your mother.”

  Lucius’ face grew somber. “Nox found your scent on her. Floretta threatened to kill you with wolfsbane if Cassia allows you to show her affection.”

  His mood darkened. “I knew it!”

  “I met with Cassia last night.” His voice grim, “What mother did was criminal.”

  Ulric stiffened and his heart ceased to pump blood. “Is she dead?”

  “No. She lives.” Lucius drank most of his cup as if to muster his courage. “As Feronia’s Eros I must tell you the truth. Just promise me you will not rage and shift to seek vengeance.”

  His hackles rose. Was she hurt or ill? His despair and blind fury clouded his mind. Something horrible had happened to Cassia. Fur carpeted his arms and his claws sprang out like small daggers. He growled, “What?”

  “Blood promise you will remain in control, not shift.”

  Ulric stood and hurled his wine cup across the room, ready to do the same to Lucius. “Curses to nemesis, tell me now!” He blew out hot air and retracted his claws. “Very well, blood promise.” Anything for an answer. He laid a fist across his heart. His vow to remain calm would not be broken.

  “Mother knows Cassia is a wolf maiden.”

  A cold chill ran down his spine at the new revelation. He took a breath in to contain the beast. “How?”

  “Nox caught your scent in her mouth and Floretta order her flogged.”

  He flinched as if he felt the flaying of skin. He had endured the whip for so many years; he knew the pain of the lash and the raised welts, like the sting of a thousand wasps. The urge to kill took over his being. His inner wolf howled in rage and for a moment, he lost control. To think of her soft flesh torn maddened him. Half man, half wolf, he emitted a dangerous growl.

  Lucius cut through the haze of his fury. “She was not flogged! Mother intended to but when Cassia was stripped they saw her reddened wolf mark.”

  Not flogged. Vow or not, those two words stopped him from becoming as enraged as the bear man he had fought to the death. “So she was not harmed?”

  He cast his eyes down. “I wish I had better news…”

  His voice, more beast than human, “Did Macula take her?” The thought of her beneath his enemy infuriated him. Only the taste of his master’s ripped heart in his mouth appeased him.

  “Father will never know Cassia is a wolf maiden.”

  Relief washed through him, but then his skin grew cold. “Why?”

  “She did not want me to tell you but I must. Mother branded her wolf mark with my father’s slave brand.”

  The brand that Macula had always threatened him with. The one he used on omegas that dared escape. “No.” That explained the nightmare of Cassia screaming in agony. Though it would hide her identity, it was the mark of her bond with him. Every night before falling asleep he thought of her unblemished loveliness. How could he face a life of seeing Macula’s ugly brand where her bond to him should be?

  Lucius bowed in reverence, “I will make an offering to Feronia to remove the brand.”

  Ulric snarled, “Do you really think the goddess that turned her back on you and Nidia will make the brand disappear?”

  Lucius’ face paled, and he appeared young. No longer a man but an innocent boy. His eyes widened. “Feronia promised me I will be reunited with Nidia. It will happen. It must!”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled. “Will you promise to help us escape as you once did?”

  “I made a blood promise and solemn pledge to Feronia I would.”

  Ulric did not want to include Lucius in their escape plan. When the boy drank, his tongue loosened, but he left the possibility open. “When the time comes, we will count on you.”

  “Of that you can depend.”

  “Please, I must see her.”

  “Let us practice near the pasture behind the stables. I will fall because of my bad leg and we will send for her.”

  ***

  A slave banged her door open. “You must come! Lucius fell. You are needed to bind his leg.”

  Cassia grabbed her physician’s sac and limped after her. The brand still ached.

  The slave stopped. “He is angry at himself for falling and wants you to go alone.”

  Cassia shook her head. “Lycan pride.” She reached the field and looked around. He waved to her from a wooden bench. Behind him in the shadows of the trees stood a big silver gray wolf. She froze. Ulric. How could she see him? His claiming mark gone and replaced with Macula’s ugly brand. She must stay away. Floretta’s threat weighed heavily on her.

  She hesitated but as if in a trance, ambled toward the man she loved. Ignoring a smiling Lucius, she wrapped her arms around Ulric’s thick furred neck. “My beloved.”

  He whined and licked her tear soaked face. She released him and stepped back. He shimmered into his human form. Naked. His magnificent muscular body that of a god’s. Ulric, king of the Chattian wolfen.

  Lucius handed Ulric his cloak and stood as sentry. “We don’t have much time; speak and then we must return.”

  Ulric drew her in to kiss, but she turned away and sniffed. He let go and lowered his head. “Cassia, I’m sorry.”

  She wiped her tears. “Floretta warned if we kissed again she would poison you. His hand covered her burned wolf mark. She bit her lip. Though tender to the touch, her vanished paw print heated like it always had.

  His tone darkened. “I know how she branded you.”

  She gasped. “But…”

  “It doesn’t matter. I love you, wolf mark or not.” He fingered her hip. “Does it still hurt?”

  She gave him a wan smile. “My healing balm helps.”

  “If it were not for Lucius, I would have lost control on learning of your torture.”

  She brushed the new beard growth on his cheek. “It’s over and soon we’ll leave this blood lustful city.”

  “I will send Mother to come get you out of here, perhaps under some pretense.”

  “No. She is safe in Etruria. In a few days I travel to Domitian’s palace with Floretta to deliver the hair tonic.”

  He met her gaze and growled, “No! Do not go anywhere near that cursed ass.”

  “Floretta wants me to leave the palace and never return. Besides now that she knows I’m a wolf maiden, she can no longer kill me.”

  “Not outright but you know she is devious.”

  Lucius touched his shoulder. “I’m going as well. I will make sure she is safe. Father is not going and I will explain that somehow she slipped away.”

  She added, “I shall prepare the masking powder to hide my scent.”

  He rested his head on his fist. “When you leave, go to my mother. She’ll see to your safety.”

  Lucius sniffed the air, “Ulric, shift and return to your quarters.”

  He gave her a fleeting look before disappearing into the bramble.

  ***

  Cassia had fallen into the viper’s lair. Domitian’s palace. She reclined next to Lucius as the seven-course banquet ended. On her belly Floretta let the tyrant feed her grapes as musicians and dancers entertained. Nox stood next to the emperor’s Praetorian Guards. Her only purpose, to protect her mistress. There were at least one hundred other guests, many worried-looking senators and rich patricians. Domitian had few real friends. He did not rule by might or wise leadership but by brute terror. Floretta basked in all the attention the emperor paid her. Since he took the blood vow, he had become devoted to the Caninus family. A tyrant allowed access to lycan society, a far greater threat than when Nero burned Rome.

  A man came and whispered in Domitian’s ear. He slammed
his cup down. “What!”

  The hall shuddered into silence; even the musicians stopped as the maddened ruler paced, ready to strike at whomever caught his attention first. “That fool!”

  An old, rich patrician dared ask, “My lord, what troubles you?”

  He inhaled, pausing in seething contemplation. Would he condemn even the poor fool who voiced his concern over their emperor? “My decree to kill all the Jews and known Christians from all of Rome must be delayed.” He shook his head. “Consul Clemens took poison in protest to delay my order,” he hissed, “since with one less consul the decree would not have enough of a vote. To think my niece is married to such a treacherous son of Nemesis.” He scoffed, “A sympathizer of the Jews.”

  Cassia looked at the evil tyrant. She knew of his hatred of Jews and the new cult of Christians but to slaughter them all was pure evil. If only Gauis’ assassination plan had worked.

  The guests didn’t dare look at Domitian. Lucius gently placed his hand over hers as if to offer some reassurance.

  Emperor Domitian yelled at the musicians. “By Minerva! Play, you sons of jackals!” They immediately played festive tunes. He sat back on his couch. A slave approached with a silver tray and offered a fresh cup of wine. The boy at his side took a sip and did not fall dead. Domitian took the cup and drank to the last drop. His demeanor changed from angry to jovial. People socialized and soon the hall turned into a forced din of laughter, discussions, and music.

  Floretta motioned to Nox and the alpha brought forth a sample of Cassia’s hair tonic. Domitian sniffed it and smiled.

  Cassia’s hands chilled. She whispered. “Lucius, she has my tonic.”

  He nodded. “Nox brought all your salves, why?”

  “Dear Feronia, what if she poisoned them to implicate me?”

  He frowned. “I see your point.”

  In horror, they watched as Domitian drew in the young boy, a simpleton who smiled always and never left the Emperor’s side. He turned to another slave. “Apply it to Echo.”

  The boy bent his head down and the slave rubbed the balm on his forehead and then scalp, massaging it in as the boy giggled. If it were poison that penetrated skin the poor child and slave would soon writhe in agony.