by Gordon, Eva
As he moved to do so, she opened her eyes wide. Her bewildered green eyes reminded him of the spring leaves of the sacred ash tree grove of his youth.
He moved a strand of hair from her face. “Shh. You had a fit.”
Her eyes darted around the room. Disoriented. She turned her attention back to him and gasped at the raised welts on his shoulder that still burned, despite the curative salve. She mumbled, “Heal.” She pressed her hand on his shoulder.
He hissed in anticipation of pain. At her touch, the wasp-like stings disappeared. Relieved of the bothersome twinge, he turned to look at his shoulder. The lash cuts were gone. Fresh, unscarred skin. His heart beat like a war drum. What had she done? Was she a goddess touched healer?
Ferox leapt to his side and pulled him away. The older little slave ordered him as if he were a general in the army. “Step back! You stupid ox. She needs rest.”
Startled, Ulric obeyed.
She moaned. “Where am I? Gaius, is that you?”
Ferox knelt and held her hand. “No, Gaius is not here. You had a fit while sitting with the injured boy. Remember. In the infirmary.”
Suddenly aware, she sat and glanced to where Lucius lay. “How is he?”
Ferox patted her hand and gently pushed her back. “Still alive. You did a good job. He sleeps soundly.”
Ulric stepped away and tied a cloth wrap around his waist. He broke his stare from her and glanced at Lucius. His skin burns were nearly healed, fast even for an alpha lycan. His breathing normal, no longer shallow. The stench of death was gone. His wolf senses had detected the ruptured internal organs. A smell Macula and the other lycans had picked up. The foul beast Macula had ordered her death, knowing his son would not last the night. Yet he lived. Ulric no longer need deal with his dilemma of having to kill her. Rather than carry out the order, he had vowed to protect her, even if it meant his death.
He flared his nostrils and took in a long whiff. The internal bleeding had stopped.
She sighed in contentment and lay back on her cot. “Good.”
Ulric smiled down at her. “You are most skilled, but I suspect there is more to your skill than that of physician.” Before her fit, he had enjoyed her melodic humming. Yet it was not music but a healing chant.
She cast Ferox a worried glimpse and then turned to Ulric. “My training as a lycan physician prepared me for such injuries.”
He smelled her lie, her fear, and sensed the drop in her body temperature. Was she a witch? He flexed his back, healed from the painful stretch of his recent lash marks. “When you touched me, the sting of the lash disappeared.” He leaned to show her his shoulder. “The welts are gone.”
Ferox laughed. “Cassia had me apply the healing herb salve to your wounds, nothing more.”
He scowled at the slave who quickly cast his gaze down. Humans dared think their lies worked on lycans. He shook his head and turned to her. By gods, her beauty mesmerized him. “No, you healed me. The minute you laid your hand on my wounds.”
She sat and stared at him with her bewitching eyes. “Ulric. Your wounds were already mending. An alpha such as you heals faster than most lycans.” She squinted a hard smile. “That’s what my master, Gaius taught me.”
Master. If she had a master, he wanted it to be him. He drew in a long breath, ready to argue that his welts usually took at least a week to disappear. However, the stress in her voice and her quick pulse meant she guarded her gift. If she indeed used magic, he would keep her secret. Especially from Macula. He quipped. “True, I often forget I’m not human.”
She smiled in relief. “Thank you for helping. Ferox will watch over the boy for a few hours, and then it’ll be your turn to keep vigilance. Get some rest.” She collapsed back on her bed.
Ulric bowed and looked for a spot on the floor to sleep, afraid to crush the small cots with his hulk. Ferox sat by the boy while Ulric donned his tunic. The pain from his flogging was gone. At last, comfortable sleep. Before he lay down, he shot her a quick glance.
Pale and exhausted from her fit, she fell into deep sleep. Her pulse beat too slowly. Had the fit harmed her? She absorbed the boy’s pain to heal him. Ulric pretended to sleep. He opened one eye and watched Ferox. The slave kept his eye on him more than on Lucius. Do not worry old man; I will not touch her. He closed his eye. His life would never be the same, not with Cassia in his life.
***
Cassia, though exhausted from her seizure, sat behind Macula and Floretta as they sat next to their son. With tears in her eyes, Floretta held his hand and spoke quiet words of love. Devoted parents, glad their son had survived. Not even Gaius would have been able to help Lucius with the extensive internal injuries he had sustained. Would they grow suspicious that it had been more than good surgery that had saved him? Especially his burned skin. It looked like his skin reddened from too much sun rather than peeling off like burned parchment. Behind her stood the gladiator, his lash marks gone. Would they notice? She had been incoherent when she had touched him. If she had known, would she have healed him? Her mind said no, but her heart said, yes, yes, yes. Yet Ulric’s healed skin might make them ask questions.
Lucius turned to his mother, his voice weak, almost a whisper, “Feronia called to…I was dying. I saw her.”
Floretta held his hand and kissed it. “Shh. My precious son. Your strong alpha blood saved you.”
He smiled and closed his eyes.
Floretta turned to Cassia. “Thank you. You saved his life.” Macula’s wife’s hair hung down and her face was wiped clean of makeup. She looked almost ordinary. Vulnerable.
Macula nodded. “I smell that his internal bleeding has stopped.” He glanced at his sleeping son. “I no longer detect the fluid in his brain. And his skin? How did you manage it?”
He had known his son would die, yet had ordered her execution. Now he dared ask how she had saved his only son. She had learned well how to lie to lycans, a skill Gaius had taught her. “It took every skill I learned from my master Gaius and the best medicinal ointments brought from the East.” She smiled. “Of course Lucius has the good fortune of having strong alpha blood, like his father.”
Macula scrutinized her from head to toe, his gaze resting on her feminine legs and curves much too long. “Interesting that Gaius would train a woman in medicine and trust her enough to take the blood vow.”
Ulric spoke. “She worked all night with the skill of a natural born physician.”
Macula snarled at him. “No one asked for your opinion.” He turned back to Cassia. “Nonetheless, I’m grateful for my son’s life. Shall I prepare the litter to bring him back home?” He flashed a fanged grin. “You of course would be welcomed.”
“No. It’s best you leave him here for a few more days. The bleeding is contained, but he must not be jarred. Let him stay until his legs mend a bit more.” She hoped they would leave but offered, “If you wish to stay you may…”
Macula shook his head. “Not necessary, I trust him in your care. I leave in a few days on a military campaign. Ferox is cooking us fresh meat, then we will return to our villa.”
Her heart raced. She had not heard Egid’s usual morning baa. They had butchered him. “You didn’t kill my goat?”
Floretta laughed, “We were about to but Ulricus insisted the cook bake a goose.” She smiled at Ulric with familiar affection. “He knows goose is my favorite.”
Cassia sighed in relief. Grateful Ulric had respected how much she loved her goat. Or was it that he and Floretta were indeed lovers? She eyed the worried but still beautiful woman.
Macula called to his wife, “Come, my dear. Let us return home and send for Lucius when he is ready.”
Floretta fretted. “But he will need more care and this place is so small and will he be safe?”
Macula returned his gaze to Ulric. “You will remain here and guard the house, understood?”
“Yes, master.”
Macula took Floretta’s hand, but she stilled and eyed Ulric with a startled lo
ok. “Your lash marks are gone?”
“The lady physician provided me with a healing salve, my domina.”
Floretta threw Cassia a swift look. She then gave Ulric a worried glance. She turned to Macula, breathing hard as if stressed. “Ulric should not be treated like a common guard. Let us have a few alpha females stay with Lucius instead.”
“No, my dear, the moon will wax in a few days. Our son will need an alpha male to make sure he does nothing brash as he heals.”
Floretta furrowed her brow and then smiled, “Yes, my lord.”
Was she concerned Cassia, an unattached woman, might tempt Ulric? Macula must know his wife had feelings for the gladiator, though he showed little concern. Was there an arrangement of sorts? Not possible. No alpha would willingly share his wolf maiden.
Ulric bowed. “I will guard Lucius with my life.”
Cassia understood why Floretta had strong feelings for Ulric. A handsome undefeated gladiator with the body of a muscular, sculpted god that stirred her once calm blood. Please do not let Floretta think I am competition for the gladiator. The woman walked in high Roman society circles, a haughty and a vindictive viper. Gaius referred to Floretta as Rome’s most dangerous woman. How did Ulric feel about the wolf maiden? Why did it matter to her? She had no future with the attractive lycan gladiator. A slave without a pack.
After fussing over their convalescing, unconscious son, Macula, Floretta, and their entourage finally left. Only Ulric remained. She stepped behind the curtains to check on Lucius. She touched his forehead in what Gaius called healing sleep, an important power of her gift. Best he sleep through the painful process of bone mending. His left leg had a shattered kneecap. His spine was nearly crushed. He would at least walk once his bone fractures repaired but perhaps with a limp. She pressed two fingers on his forehead. She sighed. Cool to the touch. No fever. Lycans rarely suffered from septic poisoning.
She left him alone and walked out. Egidius chomped lettuce from Ulric’s hand. She smiled. A hungry wolf feeding a creature that should be his meal. “Ulric, thank you for not letting them butcher Egidius.”
He returned a roguish smile. “I will never forget our walk. If not for your pet, we never would have met. I owe Egidius a life debt.”
She laughed. “Not necessary. We would have met yesterday.”
He stepped closer as if he would draw her to him and kiss her. His eyes smoldering. “No, yesterday you met Macula’s slave. Our walk through the Subura was different. I felt free with you at my side.” He sighed. “I’ll remember our stroll as the most peaceful time of my life.”
Her heart broke to think a walk through the dust and throng of pushing people was the most pleasant experience he ever had. Yet she admitted the walk with the handsome gladiator had flooded her mind with thoughts of him claiming her as his mate. No such thing could happen. She had promised Gaius that no lycan in Rome would know the truth. Not with Macula as the ruling alpha. She gazed at the unblemished skin on his brawny back. “Why did Macula whip you?”
His eyes darkened. “I am too defiant, but of late, it is Floretta who has flogged me.”
Cassia gaped. She knew of Floretta’s cruel reputation and sensed her attraction to Ulric. Her reluctance to leave Ulric behind was evident on her soured face. “But why?”
He twisted a resentful smile. “Floretta has hated my mother since she had to share Macula with her. As a boy, she made me do the harshest and most demeaning of chores. Then I left to train as a gladiator. When I returned she called me in and ordered me to remove my tunic, which I did. Her eyes feasted on my naked body. She remarked how other women talked about my body while I fought in the arena. She said she would attend my next spectacle. I thought nothing of it, thinking my mistress had an interest in her trained dog. After the games, while Macula was in battle in the north, she ordered me to satisfy her and give her a child. Such an act would anger Macula, and place my mother and den kin in grave danger. I refused. She had me flogged until I blacked out.”
“That’s awful.” She could not imagine a lycan as strong and powerful as Ulric passing out.
“I do my best to avoid her, but every chance she gets she tries. Once after she made me drunk I came close to satisfying her, but her son walked in. He threatened to tell his father, and his mother told him it was an act, nothing more.”
“And she whipped you recently?”
“The day before Lucius had his accident. She followed me into the stable and gave me gifts of fine garments and a ring to show her undying love. She begged me to take her and tried to kiss me. I refused and she then ordered me flogged for defiance.”
She nodded. “At first I thought you two had a secret tryst when she protested so vehemently to leaving you here.”
He scoffed. “If it had been Gaius who remained and not you, she would not have been so concerned.”
She lifted a brow. “Why do you think…”
He moved with the speed only a lycan could muster, and she found herself in his arms, the heat of a flush spreading over her face. His smoldering blue grey eyes seared her soul. His voice husky, “She could not bear to leave me alone with the most beautiful woman in all of Rome.”
He drew her into his mouth with the hunger of a wolf. His tongue probing. Possessing. His satisfactory growls of pleasure sent a tingle throughout her core. She tried to pull away from the ravishing kiss but could not, would not. Dear Feronia, I want him. The heat of her wolf mark burned her flesh. Moisture gathered from the cleft between her legs. For the first time, her need to fulfill her own desires awakened. She fingered the slabs of muscles on his arms, an alpha worthy of her. Forced to be a gladiator. How he must have suffered at the hands of the Caninus pack. No. This could not happen. She had to push him away. If he suspected she was a wolf maiden, his primal instincts would overtake him. Claim her. Cassia’s tongue danced and curled in his mouth. Oh, but she wanted to be claimed. But not by a slave, owned by Macula. Reason won. She broke away from his kiss. It didn’t stop his fervor. He moved his mouth down the hollow of her throat. His fangs brushed against her exposed pulse. She turned shyly. “Please, Ulric do not…”
Ferox walked in. “My lady! The boy is awake.”
Ulric turned and growled. She licked her lips and ran to tend to the boy.
Chapter 5
Interrupted! Ulric clenched his fists lest he maul Ferox. He took a calming breath and remembered his duty. Keep the boy safe. Though Lucius improved, he might still succumb to his injuries. Knowing Macula, the poor physician would still pay for his death with her life. Not by my hand. Not by Macula’s. If Cassia, as he suspected, was a wolf maiden there must be good reason she kept her nature a secret. Still, she might be just an ordinary human, without the mark. He no longer cared. She is mine! He moved the curtains aside to check all was well. Her sweet aroma tempted him to ravish her. He mustered control.
Cassia’s delicate hand felt the boy’s pulse.
Lucius moaned. “My legs, are they…”
She pressed her fingers over his brow. He contained his jealous need to feel those fingers on his brow. Instead he admired her from afar. Cassia the beauty. A physician, gifted with a healing touch. A brave woman blood vowed never to reveal lycan secrets. A woman worth dying for.
She lifted the blanket. “I saved both your legs, but I’m afraid you may be lame.”
Lucius breathed out in relief. He groaned in pain as he attempted to sit. She pushed him back. “Lie still. You are healing. Ferox will make something for you to eat, but let me further examine you.”
Ulric glared at the boy. Without her healing magic, it would have been necessary to amputate his mangled legs.
The boy’s eyes widened as he stared at her. “I wanted to stay in the warm light, but Feronia told me to remain here and serve her.”
She twisted a smile. “The potion I made for you earlier causes hallucinations and vivid dreams.”
Lucius seemed satisfied with her answer, and bit his lip as she fingered his torso around
his ribs. He grimaced when she touched his broken legs. Unlike his other broken bones, his limbs didn’t heal as well.
Ulric sensed her quickened pulse at the mention of Feronia. She must be a wolf maiden. Yet she didn’t wear the traditional red cloak. And she had walked unprotected in the Subura. No wolf maiden travelled alone without the protection of a lycan. Instead, she lived alone with a Lupercii physician, protected by two worthless human guards. Was it possible no one knew? Not even the Lupercal? Or did her powers come from the gods?
She called for him. “Ulric, go in the shed in the back and bring me a jug of wine for Lucius. But first feed Egidius.” He turned to Ferox—better he go. Cassia frowned at him as though reading his thoughts. “Ferox will be getting more herbs. Go and take your time; Lucius will not need wine until later.”
He nodded absently and rushed to do as she commanded. He found the jug and closed the shed. Egidius dashed to him as if he were his best friend instead of a predator that relished the taste of fresh goat. Gods, he smelled delicious. The doglike goat butted him on his leg for his attention. He scratched the goat beneath his chin. Why did petting what should have been his meal calm him? First possessive feelings for a human and now fondness for a goat. Was he not the wild barbarian wolf man all of Rome feared? Perhaps living so close to humans corrupted his wild nature. He filled the goat’s bucket with grains and dusted off the jug.
His wolf hearing picked up a crash inside the clinic. Cassia. He dropped the jug and dashed in. Cassia thrashed on the floor in apparent agony.
Ulric held her arms apart and kept her from hurting herself. Lucius sat, his brows creased in concern. “She touched my broken leg and hummed. Then suddenly she fell and began a fit.”
Ulric growled at him. “Lie down.”
Lucius leaned back on an elbow. “What is wrong with her?”
She finally stopped her fit and slipped into unconsciousness. He lifted her and placed her on the empty cot. “She has a malady but other than that, nothing is wrong with her.”
The boy looked aghast. “The falling illness. Will I catch it?”