by Gordon, Eva
Cassia pretended shock. She need not worry that a wolf maiden would detect her lie.
“Don’t look so disturbed.” She whispered in a sultry, lusty voice, “There is nothing more thrilling than a wolf man.”
Her words sent tingles up Cassia’s spine. Images of Ulric mounting her from behind made her blood rush. Her cheeks burned and she quickly changed the subject. “Your son will welcome a visit?”
“This is not a visit. I’m here to bring Lucius home.”
Cassia raised a brow and moved out of the way as the two men carried the litter in. “Did Caninus Macula say he wanted his son moved?”
“No, it’s my decision. My husband is on a small Imperial campaign with Emperor Domitian in Ravenna.” She sighed and waved her hand dismissively. “He will return shortly.”
The mere mention of the brutal ruler worried her. Gaius and Senator Cato were in Ravenna. Her heart drummed. Cato had openly criticized Domitian. No. It was a coincidence, nothing more. No doubt, Gaius had received her message and was already on his way home. “I see.”
Floretta smiled at Cassia. “Good fortune comes your way, healer. You saved our son’s life. My husband will reward you well.” The Roman woman bowed. “Accept my gratitude.”
She bowed her head. “Thank you, domina, but I must verify he is ready for travel.”
“You are coming as well—at least until you think he’s well enough to be tended by our slaves. A wagon with special bedding will arrive soon.”
Go? To the Caninus pack compound? No. Her voice shaky, “But my master Gaius has not given permission.”
Floretta shrugged. “Nonsense, the Lupercii will understand.”
Ulric stepped from behind the curtains. He wore a dry tunic but the tips of his long hair were still wet. He threw Cassia a guarded look.
Floretta beamed at him. Her eyes flirtatious. “Ulricus, you must be bored guarding my son.” She walked around him and traced her fingertips around his taut shoulders. “Macula will not be back for another week. You are welcomed to stay and guard our home.” Her gaze focused on his brawny chest. “You appear rested.” She picked up a strand of damp hair and frowned. “Why is your hair wet?”
Cassia wanted to shrink. Would she think they had bathed together?
He took her fingers and held them. “On seeing you approach, I had time only to dunk my hair in the trough. I will take my leave and tie it in a knot.”
Floretta looked at her captive hand and smiled. “I’m pleased you missed my touch. Perhaps on our return I shall massage your unblemished back.” She glanced at Cassia. “I must buy this salve that prevents scarring from the fiercest of floggings.”
Ulric dropped her fingers as if they were hot cinders. “The healing salves on my well-deserved wounds were the same that saved Master Lucius’ skin from scarring.”
She clasped her hand and lowered her voice, but Cassia heard. “Ulricus, don’t make me punish you. I wish only to love you.”
He stood still; his eyes stared straight ahead as if he were the fierce statue of the Germanic god Wodan. Cassia sensed his hidden rage. She knew he did his best to hide the beast inside of him, the beast that wanted to claim his mate. Or had he decided she was not his wolf maiden but just an available one? Would he succumb to Floretta’s seduction? Cold jealousy poisoned Cassia’s blood at seeing the woman tempt Ulric.
Floretta laughed lightly. “Cassia, I hope you didn’t find the gladiator’s stoic presence threatening.” She walked up to her and whispered in her ear, though distance and pitch would not hide its message from lycan ears. “I doubt he would have killed you, even if I had ordered him to. He vowed never to kill women and children.” She narrowed her eyes at him as if trying to read his hard look. “Especially one as attractive as the physician.”
Cassia cast her gaze down. “I’m glad to hear it.” The tension between Floretta and Ulric felt like a tight rope around her neck. One blunder and she’d end up strangled.
Floretta’s tone turned harsh as she glowered at Ulric, “A friend told me she saw you at the Subura, running like a madman and carrying some helpless woman. Fornicating with some whore while my son lies here unprotected. Is that true?”
Before Ulric said anything that would endanger them, Cassia spoke, “Not possible. He was with me, guarding Lucius who shifted during his sleep. I begged him not to leave his side. You can imagine my fear of a wolf in my house.”
Floretta lifted her chin. “Are you saying my friend lied to me?”
“No, domina, I’m just explaining that I never saw him leave.” A partial truth. Cassia held her breath as eerie silence followed.
“Mother.” Her son called. She turned to leave, but before she pushed through the curtains, she looked over her shoulder and scowled at Ulric. Her eyes then narrowed on Cassia as if in warning to stay away from the gladiator.
Alone at last, Ulric drew Cassia into his arms and engulfed her mouth with a possessive kiss. Was he mad or moon touched? She pushed him back but to no avail. Though she shuddered in dread of discovery, her wolf mark burned with desire. She wanted him but not at such a cost.
He released her, gently bit her ear lobe, and whispered in a husky voice, “You are mine.”
She pleaded in a soft whisper, “Please, don’t you see she is mad with jealousy? She must have heard you say I am yours.”
He looked toward the boy’s room and tilted his head as if pinpointing a minute sound. “No. Lucius is spouting out his anger at her about the death of his mentor Eco.”
The boy shouted. “Leave me alone!”
Floretta shouted from the room. “Ulricus, come here!”
He cupped Cassia’s face with his calloused hands. “The harpy calls her dog.” He kissed her forehead before leaving to face his nemesis.
Cassia followed, worried the boy had reinjured his legs.
Ulric dashed in and stood near Lucius. Floretta walked up to Ulric and slapped his face. He did not react except for a small twitch in his upper lip. She shrieked, “You had no right to tell Lucius about Eco!”
Lucius glared at his mother. “I’m a man and an alpha. It is my right to know the truth.” He sniffed loudly. “Do not lie to me again, Mother!”
“No, my son, I wanted to tell you but…”
Lucius spat, “You are human and reek of lies including the real reason you came for me.”
She stiffened and then smiled with pleading eyes. “I came here to make sure you are well, and return you to the love and care of our pack.” She fingered his brow. He flinched at her touch.
“Father will pay for killing my best friend and Rome’s finest charioteer.” He furrowed his brow at her and then eased into a sinister smile. “Letting you fuck the gladiator will be the best revenge. Yes, let us return so you can soil Father’s bed with Ulricus’ semen.”
Floretta sat beside Lucius and took his hand in hers, pressing it to her white face. “No, son. You are my life. The next leader of our pack. Do you think you are less important than some passing fancy?” She kissed his hand. “Please, do not hate me. I would not have killed Eco.”
He scowled. “What about Nidia?”
She raised her eyes in hurt. “You don’t still think I killed her? You know she died of a fever, like humans often do.”
He shot her a suspicious look. “She took ill when no other human had.”
Cassia sensed the girl’s death had severed his trust in his mother. She straightened and approached the boy. “Domina, let me exam him before we go.”
Lucius raised a brow. “You are coming?”
Cassia never abandoned her patients and she had no choice. She nodded. “For a short spell. I’ll instruct your slaves on your care and leave the next day.” What could go wrong in one day?
He turned to his mother. “Leave us so the physician can determine if I’m well enough to go.”
Ulric spoke. “Come, domina, Ferox will prepare a meal for you.”
She melted at his invitation. “Yes, of course.” She gazed a
t her son once again with a mother’s smile and followed Ulric out.
Lucius lay back on the cot with an arm under his head. “I suppose I’m ready to go back.”
“Good. Your mother will see to it that all your needs are met. At least the betas will keep you company and not us boring humans.”
“Cassia, you are anything but boring. Without you, I would be dead.”
She pressed a gentle hand along his ribs. No longer broken. Lycan healing always amazed her. “I must admit you put my chirurgery to the test.”
His eyes penetrated as if he knew the hidden truth. “No. It was you, not your salves and mending instruments. When you touched me, I experienced an inner peace and my pain disappeared.”
She gulped but laughed his words off, “Such are the effects of the poppy plant. Not to mention the full moon’s healing energy.” She remained calm in the art of hiding emotions from lycans.
He lowered his voice, “I know the gladiator cares for you. I smell his scent when he is around you. I beg you, Cassia, beware my mother. If she suspects his fondness for you, she will have you killed. Trust me. I know.” He grimaced as her fingers felt around his leg fracture. “Mother has the authority to do as she pleases.”
Her curiosity won over her duty not to pry. She leaned closer. “Like she did with Nidia?”
His voice grew sad and distant. “Nidia was a human girl. The daughter of one of our human slaves, a scribe.” His gaze turned inward with a ghost of a smile. “Destined to be a brilliant writer, taught by her father.” He met her eyes. “Like you, more intelligent than men. I had not known humans were so pleasing until…”
“You loved her?”
Tears welled in his dark eyes. “Yes. Despite lycan law against our bond. I took her as my mate. When my mother found out, she told Nidia’s father to leave. Mother warned him to keep Nidia from ever seeing me. No lycan should ever love a human unless she was a wolf maiden. Nidia was not. I told her I didn’t care. I would keep Nidia and do my duty to produce a lycan heir with a wolf maiden.”
Poor boy. His mother murdered his first love and his father his best friend. “And they left?”
He nodded. “Immediately. While I was away on a hunt with our pack. No farewells. Just gone. In rage, I ripped my room apart. Mother promised that during the next Lupercalia she would find me a wolf maiden.” He snorted, “But Nidia and I still met clandestinely. Soon after, she died of a sudden fever.” He hissed, “It was no illness, but poison. I smelled aconite when I visited her as she lay dying. Aconite poison is mother’s favorite tool to rid her of enemies. Mother’s loyal alpha female assassin and spy, Nox murdered Nidia’s father. His headless body was found along a paved road leading north.”
She would heed the boy’s warning. Best to keep her stay at the Caninus villa short. Best she pack poison testing drops to check her meal for poison. She remembered seeing an alpha female with a black wolf’s aura when Lucius first arrived. “Nox? The dark haired woman dressed in light armor.”
He nodded. “That’s her, my nemesis. Fortunately, she’s not here with Mother. No doubt, she is carrying out some nefarious act. If Floretta orders Nox after you, there is nothing you can do but pray to the gods.” He shot her a quick wink. “So take care with the gladiator.”
“Don’t worry about Ulric. He loves all women, of that I’m well aware.”
“No. You don’t understand. He feels for you like I felt for Nidia.”
Was it more than a nature driven desire? Did Ulric love her? “I suppose he can never take a wife.”
“Only if he is freed and Father plans never to free him even with pressure from the Lupercal.”
Cassia finished examining him and secured his leg bindings. “You’re ready for the journey home.”
Ulric pushed the curtains aside. “The wagon is here. Shall I gather your things?”
Lucius smiled. “All I have is my cracked helmet, but I suppose Cassia could use help packing her healing potions.”
“No. Ferox can do that.” Cassia bowed to Lucius. “I will pack for a short stay.” She dashed by Ulric and sensed the heat of his desire. And hers.
***
Ulric walked behind the wagon where Lucius lay secured so as not to be jostled. Floretta’s litter followed and at the very back was Cassia’s litter. He was torn. Pleased to have his wolf maiden nearby, but worried conniving Floretta would mete out some foul accident or poison to Cassia if she discovered his feelings for her.
As if in tune with his thoughts, Floretta opened her curtain. “Ulricus, why such a sour face? Are you not happy to be returning home?”
“Home, my domina, is in Germania.”
“Come now. The cold bogs, forests, and men wearing animal skins cannot compare with the grandeur of Rome. You are fortunate our pack brought you back.”
Ulric remembered well enough how Macula’s pack had thrown him in the barred wagon with his wrists and ankles manacled but held his tongue. His voice distant, non-caring. “Yes, my domina.”
Floretta huffed and closed the curtain. She preferred an argument to acquiescence.
The crowds moved out of the way as they navigated through the narrow streets. The wafting, strong, almost painful aroma of incense accosted his senses, and the senses of the betas. The wind slapped him with the smoke of it. He snorted out the stench from his nose like a bull’s exhalation before he charged. They were about to collide with a funeral procession of an important person. An older man wrapped in gauze but with the distinct smell of rot upon his flesh was carried on a cart. Ulric moved to the front. “Let them pass.” Flute players, chanting mourners, and a long line of slaves traveled alongside the funeral bed carried by relatives. A few family members wore their ancestor’s masks. Other men covered their heads while the women had theirs uncovered as was customary in Roman funerals. The priest clad in white robes glared at Ulric as he walked by.
A gladiator’s death did not call for such an honorary funeral. After the coliseum fights, the bodies were grasped on hooks like a bull’s carcass and carried out of the Libitina Gate so named for the goddess of corpses. Like refuse, they were dumped into a communal grave. The shame of it made him vow never to die in the arena. Still, paraded as a decomposing corpse was just as dishonorable.
Cassia walked up to him and stood on her toes to look. “I wonder who he was.”
He glanced down at her unsure if he should smile or growl. “You should return to your litter.” Despite the heavy incense, he delighted in her sweet aroma. Even here, surrounded by his enemies, he became aroused at her nearness and fought the urge to grab her and run. But to where? Macula’s pack numbered close to one hundred betas and thirty loyal alphas. As a friend of Emperor Domitian, he also had access to Rome’s human Legion, an army that conquered all.
She adjusted her veil. “I would rather walk. I’m not used to being carried on a litter like some caged dove.”
He looked over his shoulder. The betas carrying Floretta’s litter struggled to push through but the dense crowd prevented it. Better Cassia wait with him until the procession was over. “Stay close.”
She nodded. She continued gawking at the procession as did the throngs alongside its path.
Floretta called out, “Ulricus, come here!”
He ignored her by pretending to look over the crowds.
Cassia gazed up at him with a mischievous smile. “It appears your mistress calls for you.”
He scowled and tugged at his slave collar. “I will not be long.” He made his way to her wagon. “Yes, domina. What do you need?”
“I want you to stay close to me, and by the gods, tell the physician to return to her litter.”
“I tried. She prefers walking.” He glanced at Cassia as the procession finally moved and no longer blocked their passage. “I will have her return.”
Floretta gripped his arm. “No, let her be. Though she is a worthy physician, she is only a slave and knows little about luxury. Allow her to walk like the commoner she is.”
&n
bsp; Ulric suppressed a retort for her insult of his life mate. He made to disobey her but quickly thought the better of it. He could not let her suspect he cared for Cassia. Instead, he barked at the betas that held Cassia’s litter. “Attend to the physician.”
The two burly betas nodded and marched forward. One of them turned around. “She is not here.”
Ulric shot a glance at where he had left her. He sniffed the air. His mood darkened. “Stay here while I find her!”
“Ulricus, you will do no such thing. Help Sextus carry her litter back to the wagon.” Floretta turned to the other beta. “Silo, get her.” The bulky beta turned and left, flaring his nostrils toward the market.
Ulric lifted the litter and fumed. The brutal beta, Silo once had devoured one of Macula’s human slaves because he accidently had dropped the beta’s meat on the ground. Ulric clenched his jaw, tempted to shift and protect his mate. He contained his wolf. Silo would not harm the woman who had saved Lucius. As they made their way, he growled at thugs who looked on with interest. He was most dangerous when he worried about those he cared for. His mother and enslaved den brethren. And now, Cassia, sweet Cassia, untouched, unclaimed. A low guttural sound escaped his throat.
***
Cassia spotted a stand selling acetum. No harm since the procession blocked their path anyway. She pushed her way to the stand and bought a small jug of the solution. Though its malodorous aroma bothered lycans, acetum proved to be the best cleanser and antiseptic. She hurried back before anyone, especially Ulric, noticed her absence. She slowed. What if she left? No. Lucius still needed her. However, what if she succumbed to her desire for Ulric? Not possible. Floretta kept him on a tight leash. Avoid Ulric, administer to Lucius, and leave by dawn. Once Gaius returned, he would know what was best. Cassia fought her way back, but the traffic of people blocked her way. In the distance, Lucius’ horse driven wagon and litters ambled up the hill. Hmm. They had left without her.
A large hand gripped her arm. She gasped and whirled around. She recognized one of the burly betas who had carried her litter.
He growled, “You should have not left our caravan!”