The handles released Ursinus’s chains but did not unshackle him. I saw the conceit now: not only would he fight without weapons, but he was to fight with his arms and legs chained.
“No, father, it’s not fair…” I sobbed, hanging my head.
“It certainly doesn’t seem sporting,” Quintus said uncomfortably. My father turned to his son with a grim look.
“There is a time for being a good sport, and there is a time to show your power. That bear of a man is my property and I’ll have him killed however I want to.”
The warriors began to circle Ursinus, who seemed dazed. He seemed not to completely understand the danger of his situation. I hoped that he would awake, that he would show the true power that lurked in his bones…
The warriors began to attack slowly, tentatively—probably they had heard of my beast, and they knew his reputation. As if in a daze, Ursinus parried their blows easily with his chains.
“He’s not bad,” my father murmured. And then he yelled: “Kill the big bastard!”
This set the plebeians off screaming, demanding blood. I shrieked in turn:
“Ursinus, I’m here! Wake up!”
And then, he turned to me. I saw his handsome, beaten down face turn into a smile. In that moment, one of the warriors plunged a long spear into his arm.
I screamed and Ursinus’s face contorted into a grimace. And then… He began to transform.
He grew, impossibly larger, doubling in size and height as his shoulders broadened and his body hair grew thicker and darker. His nose lengthened into a snout and his hands grew into paws, tipped with razor sharp claws that seemed to glint in the Roman sunshine.
The transformation drew cheers from the crowds. They thought they were seeing some sort of planned spectacle: a magical warrior from the Northern lands.
My father’s face was drained of blood. I looked at him with a triumphant smile of victory on his face but he couldn’t even return my gaze.
The giant bear in the ring now shattered his shackles as if they were made of twigs. He threw his head back, groaning and roaring and tearing the spear from his leg. One huge paw lashed out and crushed the warrior who had attacked him, smashing in his helmet and all but tearing off his head.
The remaining warriors began to back up slowly. Clearly, they had not been expecting this. But Ursinus was too ready for battle. He charged them and leapt into the air, his huge body flinging itself atop one of the soldiers who tried to throw a net around the beast but without effect. The bear dug its teeth into the warrior’s throat and then, picking up the armor-clad corpse, hurled it at yet another warrior.
In this way, he picked off the gladiators, hunting them, pouncing on them, immobilizing them with the bodies and weapons of their comrades. In less than three minutes, the coliseum ring was littered with the bodies of gladiators and one victorious bear.
The crowds loved it. The emperor shot, from where he was sitting, a dangerous look at my father: this had not been the plan. Not at all.
And then, the bear charged towards the coliseum gates which the guards wisely opened, allowing the beast to disappear into the motley fabric of Roman itself at dusk.
~
That night, I was all but forgotten about.
My father was summoned to the palace to answer for his actions. Several of the emperor’s favorite gladiators, including some who were about to buy their freedom, had been among the warriors slaughtered at the paws of the werebear. My father apparently had promised that it would be an easy victory, a bloodbath that would please the masses.
Instead, what they had gotten was a bloodbath that fired up the masses, which seemed to show that a single nobleman could defy the emperor and embarrass him in front of the entire city.
In all the confusion, I was forgotten about and that was fine with me.
Lephora made me a simple meal of boiled buckwheat for dinner, which I picked at, but I wasn’t hungry.
It was hard to conjure up an appetite after all the bloodshed I had seen… And considering the uncertainty of my future.
I went to bed early, sinking into a dark miasma of misery. What I didn’t expect, however, was the knocking on my window that came in the middle of the night.
My eyes fluttered open and there he was: my werebear, dressed in the armor of a legionnaire.
“Ursinus!” I cried out.
“Did you enjoy the show today?” he asked cockily with a wry grin.
“You bastard! How’s your arm?”
He showed me his left arm, bandaged, but seemingly fine.
“I’ve had worse. Get your things—I don’t want to spend anymore time in this blasted city.”
I nodded and began to pack my things as fast as I could—a few outfits, a few scrolls of poetry and learning, a bag of coins. In ten minutes, I was ready to go.
“Is this real life?” I asked, with a pleasant gasp. “Are you really taking me away from here? Am I really free?”
Ursinus smiled deeply.
“You are, my love,” he whispered, pulling me into a kiss. With that, he led me to the window and we began our climb down, in our future, the Roman night sky winking overhead as if approving of our union.
Enjoy this tale of passion and pleasure? Then sign up for Champagne Jackson’s sexy BWWM mailing list! You’ll get exclusive deals and access to updates about the hottest new stories that Champagne has in store. Don’t miss this one!
Did you enjoy this sexy tale of passion? Then keep an eye out for Champagne Jackson’s NEWEST and SEXIEST titles… Including Becoming His Queen, new for April 2015!
Excerpt:
I began to undress, removing the gown and hanging it carefully in my closet. I was left before the Wolf in only my undergarments: a thin, cotton shift that barely left anything to the imagination.
“You ought to go further,” advised the Wolf. He settled down into a chair to watch me.
“I won’t touch you if you go further and show me what I’ve bought,” he said with a sly smile. A sly wolf’s smile, the smile of a beast that’s caught and cornered his prey and wants to play with it before he eats it.
“As you wish, my lord,” I said, trying to maintain a calm demeanor as best I could. I slid my cotton shift off my body and discarded it, standing before the Wolf totally naked. He could see everything: my small, pert breasts, the triangle of dark brown pubic hair between my legs, my milky chocolate dark skin, my brown nipples, hard in the cool night air…
“Acceptable,” the Wolf said, clearly unimpressed. My eyes widened.
“Acceptable?!” I shrieked. “That’s all I am to you?! Acceptable?!”
I realized, all too late, that he was laughing. Laughing at me, at my reaction.
“Why should you care?’ he roared. “You’re being forced into this, aren’t you? Why should you care what I think?”
“I… I… I care because… I don’t want you to go back on the deal,” I said lamely. “I don’t want you to take one of my little sisters instead.”
“Because you’d be jealous.”
“No!” I scowled but maybe he was right: maybe I would be jealous. I had already fantasized about this man, this man who was looking at my naked young body now. I had already given myself to him in my mind, in my dreams, and the idea that he would take someone else, anyone else, but especially one of my little sisters…
I reached down to my sex and spread it for him with one hand.
“How about this, my lord?” I spat at him. “Is this acceptable?”
“I should hope so. I trust you’re a virgin.”
“To my knowledge.”
“To my knowledge? What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?”
I pressed a finger inside of myself, gasping as my warm wetness closed around it. Goodness, but I was getting quite wet. The Wolf’s hungry eyes saw to that.
“I’m tight enough,” I said huskily.
“Continue,” the Wolf said with another sly smile after a second.
Copyright 2
015 Champagne Jackson
All rights reserved.
Conquered by the Werebear (BWWM Interracial Paranormal Shifter Werebear Alpha Male Erotic Romance)
Book Design by Champagne Jackson.
Cover Image © CURAphotography - Fotolia.com
Conquered by the Werebear (BWWM Interracial Paranormal Shifter Werebear Alpha Male Erotic Romance) Page 5