Arena Shifters (A Paranormal Romance Novel)

by Evans, Casey

  “Isn’t that what I just said? They are coming up with something particularly nasty so you’d better be ready.”

  “Yes Doctore.”

  “Now take a break.”

  Petronia returned her swords to the weapon’s master and sat down under an awning and out of the incessant rain. She watched the other gladiators work each other over under the watchful eyes of Doctore. The men trusted him so he seldom need to use his whip. It was usually on the new guys as he was forced to use it to keep them in line.

  The day ended no different than it had begun, with her forced to train men who had no chance of winning their first fight in the arena. They were basically fodder for the few men who did have a future in the arena. If she could only be paired with one of them at least she might have a little fun.

  That night she couldn’t sleep. She paced around in her cell until she noticed the door wasn’t quite latched all the way. It was a perfect invitation to sneak around the villa. She knew she would be in for some lashings if she was caught but she really didn’t care. She was bored and unhappy and in need of a distraction. Quietly she left her cell closing the door all but just enough so it didn’t latch, locking her out for the night. Right away she knew where she wanted to go. Her internal clock told her it must be just a couple hours before dawn. That meant that any sentries, if any, would be nodding off after spending the better part of guard duty sampling wines. She was right. She slipped by the two guards who were supposed to be watching the entrance to the Dominus’ living quarters. The entire second half of the villa was the living quarters for the House of Tiberius. The Ludis made up the first floor. Once inside the living quarters she headed for the baths thinking she might even slip in for a quick one herself. She was just approaching the baths when another sound caught her attention. Somewhere down the hall she heard a series of low guttural sounds like that from some kind of animal; a wolf maybe. The closer she got the more certain she was. And there was a strong feral smell wafting down the hallway, a smell that reminded her of dogs. Towards the end of the hall she came upon a room with a door that was partially open. The sounds from the door were quite loud and she really didn’t think anyone would notice her peeking in. When she did, what she saw shocked her to the core.

  There was a large expanse of cushions and blankets spread out over a large area on the floor. Occupying the blankets and cushions were the Domina and three female friends. Each woman was in the throes of ecstasy brought on by what appeared to be wolves. But that wasn’t the really odd thing. The four giant beasts kept changing from man to beast and back to man again. She watched the woman nearest to her. She was a beautiful blond Roman woman with perfectly coifed hair, delicate skin, and ample, firm breasts. She also noticed the woman was completely shaven down below. Her companion was a large grey and black wolf. He was straddling her loins, and driving his member into her rhythmically as she bucked wildly. Even as the beast entered his prey, he changed to a large muscled, bronzed man with long black hair. She admired his muscular back and his rounded firm ass. She watched, mesmerized by the muscles in his ass as they clenched with each powerful thrust. One second he was kissing her lips, and the next he was biting her neck with fangs that dripped with blood and saliva. It was a weird thing to watch, this man beast fucking a well- bred Roman woman.

  In spite of herself, Petronia felt her body responding to the raw, feral passion in front of her. Without even intending to her fingers found her smooth hairless sex and began to slide her fingers up and down from clit to anus and back again. Her heart began to thump in her chest as she moved her fingers faster and faster. She continued to watch the man beast and the woman in the throes of passion.

  She watched, fascinated as the beast withdrew his cock and thrust it at the woman’s face. She took his ass in her hands and pulled him to her until his cock was parting her lips and thrusting in her mouth. Petronia watched breathless as his glistening rod began to spew his hot white cum on the woman’s face, across her ruby red lips and down her throat. Then with one final thrust he reverted back to best and collapsed on the cushions beside the spent woman who it seemed was already drifting off. The noise from the room grew as each couple reached a climax, and it was so loud that Petronia was not aware of the man behind her until it was too late. Her fingers were still in her throbbing sex when a dark hood was thrust over her head. Rough hands bound her and marched her down the long hall. For the first time since coming to the House of Tiberius she was afraid for her life and she wasn’t even in the Arena.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN:

  Taken

  * * * * *

  Angry hands yanked off the hood that was covering her eyes and nearly suffocating her. Before she had a chance to look around a powerful hand struck the side of her head, sending her to the ground in a heap on the cold stone floor. Despite her head spinning, she made to get up, when the kick came. A booted foot hit her squarely in the stomach driving out her breath in on gasp and knocking her on her back.

  The man who was standing over her, straddling her waist was familiar to her. He was in the confidences of the Dominus and Domina, and he was known to be a wicked man. His name was Primo. He was a slave, but he had more liberties than most, and that included a small, private room and bath, and that’s where he’d taken Petronia. It was doubtful that anyone would go looking for her here in this pig’s sty.

  As the man undid his loincloth Petronia considered kicking him in the stones. From her position it would be easy and he’d never see it coming. However, unless he died from the blow there was little chance of her escaping, and her punishment would be severe. She did not think he would kill her. Her status as favored gladiatrix guaranteed her safety…well sort of. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to spend the next few days as the sadistic bastards plaything. He dropped his smelly cloth on her face, then knelt down so that his cock was dangling above her closed mouth; sadly, she knew what was coming next.

  He grabbed her by the hair, pulling her face up to his member. The smell of it nearly choked her before she even had it in her mouth.

  “Couldn’t you have bathed first?” She croaked.

  “Funny girl. Pray I don’t take a shit before we play.”

  “Isn’t that what I’m staring at right now? One long piece of-”

  She didn’t get to finish her remark. His left hand came out of nowhere and pounded the side of her head so hard she saw stars.

  “I’d watch my tongue if I were you slave, while you still have one to speak with. Now you’re going to put it to good use.”

  Taking her hair in both hands he brought her mouth up to the dewy end of his cock. Knowing what was expected of her, Petronia opened her mouth to accept his foul member. She wasn’t sure which was worse, his foul smell, or the rancid taste. Either one was enough to cause her stomach to rebel. As his cock began to grow and pulsate in her mouth she forced herself to think of more pleasurable things. Anything but the foul man who was forcing himself on her.

  When she closed her eyes she immediately saw Domina’s body slave Mok. He was a fine specimen of a man. She imagined herself laying on his pallet as he straddled her with his massive thighs. She ran her hands over his heavily muscled torso before taking his massive cock in her hands. It was a beautiful thing, long and smooth with a huge head. Even in its relaxed state it was enormous and she longed to taste it. She moaned as she caressed his member, relishing in the feel of it growing because of her touch. He reached down and lifted her head up so she could take him into her mouth. She touched the head with her lips, then she ran her tongue around the head, longing to taste his cum. She closed her mouth around his head and enjoyed his taste. She sucked him into her mouth as far as she could bear. His moans of pleasure sent thrills shooting through her pussy. The more she sucked him the harder, the longer he became and the more she wanted him. As he began to thrust into her open mouth she could taste the fluid oozing from his head and dripping along her tongue. His taste made her sex throb in
anticipation of more thrusting, more cum. She cried out in ecstasy when he began to spew into the back of her throat. She could feel powerful orgasms shooting through his rigid cock as he came and kept coming. She swallowed what she could and the rest ran down her chin and pooled at the base of her neck. When he finally withdrew his cock she took her fingers and scooped up the sticky strands on her neck and fed them into her mouth relishing his taste. Oh what a man he was!

  “That’s right bitch, drink it up!”

  The sound of the foul man’s voice brought Petronia crashing back to reality so fast her head was spinning. He mouth was full of his putrid fluid and it was all over her face as well. When he finally let go of her hair she turned her head to the side and began to vomit. The sour taste of her stomach’s contents were far better than the foul man’s semen.

  “Can’t handle a man’s juice bitch? How pathetic. Guess you’re just a little girl after all.”

  “I’d rather lay with a feral dog-”

  “Perhaps that can be arranged,” he said, interrupting her.

  “I’m sure you know lots of them. I bet you take it up the ass from them every day. You seem like that kind of-”

  She never saw the blow coming. She just felt an explosion on the side of her head, just before everything went black. She had no idea how much time had passed when she woke up again, but the throbbing in her head and the ache in her bones told her she’d been worked over while she was passed out. She didn’t know it, but over the next 20 hours she was beaten and used as his plaything. Her only saving grace was that for the most part she was unconscious and had no idea what was happening to her body.

  She probably would have been beaten to death had it not been for the Dominus’ son, Lucius. Out of habit he would go to the balcony to watch the gladiators training and became suspicious when Petronia didn’t show up the next morning. When she was a no show in the second morning he went looking. He only just managed to surprise Primo in the process of trying to sneak her out of the Villa before she died in his hands.

  He ran into Primo as he was making a payoff to one of the House guards who would be letting him out of the gate at the appropriate time. Under threat of torture and death the guard gave up Primo and Lucius took him and together they confronted Primo in his quarters.

  When Primo saw them approach he knew immediately what happened. He could only hope to bully the kid and have the guard killed later before Dominus found out what was going on. When the kid couldn’t be frightened or dissuaded he finally had to let him into his quarters where they found Petronia unconscious and under his sleeping pallet.

  Overcome with emotion, Lucius knelt by Petronia’s side, fearing he was too late and she had gone to the afterlife.

  “Petronia…it’s me, Lucius.” He said as he uncovered her head. She was almost unrecognizable. Her face was black and blue and swollen severely. When she finally did open her eyes she could barely see out of them.

  “Petronia,” he began. “Did Primo do this to you?” He knew before he asked that the man was responsible for her injuries.

  When she saw him, at first she pushed him away, crying out in pain and fear. Lucius just kept stroking her hair and cooing in her ear until she stopped shaking and trying to get away.

  “It’s over Petronia. You’re safe with me. He won’t touch you again.”

  She tried to sit up, but the pain rocketed through her body causing her to cry out and collapse back onto the cold stone floor.

  He turned to the House guard. “If you expect to live another day, you better leave now and come back with our physician and more guards. Do it now!”

  There was no way he was refusing him. The man knew he was in trouble for taking the bribe. This was the only way he was going to get out of this alive. He ran out of the room half hoping Primo would kill the kid. That would also solve his immediate problem.

  As Lucius was waiting for the guards to return he noticed a dagger sitting on the night stand arms-length away from his position. As he looked at the blade and thought of what Primo had been doing to Petronia he began to rage. He looked at Petronia. He looked at the evil man. He looked at the razor sharp knife and got an idea.

  “She can’t breathe. Help me sit her up!”

  Taking his time, Primo sauntered over to where Lucius was kneeling beside his plaything. It was a shame he was going to have to give her up. But no matter. He could always get to her again. He was an important part of the House of Tiberius. No one would punish him as long as she lived. So…perhaps he should help. He knelt down by Lucius and reached out to the barely conscious girl. That’s when he felt a sharp jolt in his side. He looked down and incredulously there was a knife sticking in his side; his knife. The kid had stabbed him.

  Lucius yanked out the blade and made to stab Primo again but the man was too fast for him. He easily knocked the blade from his hand, and grabbed the kid by his throat with his other hand.

  “You’ll never get away with this,” croaked Lucius.

  “Oh I will you little shit! And I’ll find her again and make her my plaything again and again until she begs me to take her. And there’s not a thing you can do about it.”

  Lucius was certain the man was wrong. He couldn’t treat his father’s gladiators this way and get away with it. He was so certain he didn’t feel too badly about his failed attempt to kill the man. A few minutes later he heard the guards approaching, and was surprised to see his father in tow.

  “What are you doing here Lucius?” He asked his son angrily. “You shouldn’t get involved in things of this nature.”

  “What am I doing? I’m saving the life of one of your best gladiators, that’s what I’m doing father.”

  “And in the process insulting a very important man. And why is he bleeding. What’s going on here?”

  Primo smiled wickedly. “Oh it’s just a scratch really. We had a little misunderstanding, but we’re best of friends now aren’t we?” He said, looking at Lucius.

  Dominus addressed his physician. “Get the man taken care of, and when you’re done you can see to the gladiatrix’s wounds.”

  Lucius couldn’t believe what he just heard. The girl should be treated first, not that evil man. He was about to protest, but his father just turned around and walked out. Lucius could do nothing but follow his father out while making secret plans of revenge.

  * * * * *

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

  Punishment

  * * * * *

  His 15th birthday, his coming of age day came and went and he could not have cared less because the one person he wanted there was lying feverish in care of the House physician and unable to attend. Two weeks have passed since Petronia was nearly beaten to death by Primo, one of Dominus’ key slaves. In fact the man was so important, not only was he not punished for nearly killing the House of Tiberius’ most celebrated gladiator, he was given a virgin slave as a, sorry we had to take your plaything away, consolation prize. Lucius just wanted to kill the man!

  Petronia’s days and nights ran together in one long miserable scene. She was in such a state most of the time she didn’t know whether she was dreaming or awake. There was one face that stood out to her though, and when she saw his face she was pretty sure she was dreaming. In her dreams he would sit at her side feeding her, giving her drinks, and tending to her wounds. She knew it was a dream because no son of Dominus would even dream of doing those things for a common slave; even if she was The Gladiatrix. So she held onto those images in her dreams and it helped her get through those days when the pain was so great she knew she was awake!

  She was just about to go to sleep again when she became aware of someone entering the physician’s chambers. She didn’t feel like turning her head to see who it was but she assumed it was Doctore coming to see if she would ever return to the Arena. She was totally surprised when Lucius sat down on her pallet next to her.

  She heard the door close as the physician left to give them some well paid for privacy. He would of course r
eport the lad’s visits however much Lucius paid for his silence. He was, after all loyal to Dominus, not to his son who may never live to see power in his father’s stead. Too many people viewed him as weak, and a weak person was bad for the Ludis. What Lucius didn’t know is that his father was already looking into his options for someone else to inherit the Villa and his beloved Ludis. Lucius would not find out about that little detail until it was too late.

  “How are you today?” Lucius asked when Petronia opened her eyes.

  “So this is real? I’m awake?”

  “You’re very much away Toni,” he replied, using his pet name for her. “How do you feel?”

  “Fine,” she lied. In reality, she felt like death warmed over. It was the same everyday with little change.

  “You’re not fine, I can tell.” He replied. “Look, I brought you something.”

  And then he proceeded to feed her tiny bites until she’d had enough. His patience was endless. He never tired of helping her. In the early days when she had vomited in his lap yet another time, he never even thought to complain. He only cared for her. He staid as long as she was awake and sometimes he just watched her sleep. For him it was enough to be in her presence.

  When school started up again he was forced to forgo his visitations as he had too many responsibilities and too many duties as the heir to the House of Tiberius. When he finally did get a break from everything he hurried to the physician’s quarters to see her. When he arrived he was surprised to see she wasn’t there. He hurried out to the Ludis praying to the gods that she was there and had not been taken to the afterlife. He was pleased to see her there thrashing another gladiator headless of the rain. He wished he could go talk to her but it would not do to interrupt her training. Instead he would have to try to just run into her sometime later. He satisfied himself with just showing up and watching her training from the balcony of the Ludis. What he didn’t know was that his father was well aware of his attentions and had finally decided to do something about it.