Gladiator Heart by Alyssa Morgan Read Free Book Online Page B

have to pass his entire camp to be heading in the right direction.
    “Hey, who’s there?” one of the men shouted after her. “Is that you, Daric?”
    Valeria forced herselfto keep moving forward and tried to ignore them. There was a chance they were speaking to someone else and hadn’t noticed her.
    “Ho, you there!” The shouts grew louder.
    Heavy footsteps pounded after her in pursuit and she broke into a panicked run, the snow crunching beneath her boots. She couldn’t fight these soldiers, so she’d have to outrun them.
    It became obvious that wouldn’t happen when she stepped out of one of her boots, stumbling as she almost lost her footing. A strong arm locked around her waist and lifted her off the ground. Valeria screamed and kicked, sending the other boot flying off as she dropped her bundle of food. The man swung her around and set her on her feet so she faced four other men. Her warm fur was stripped away and tossed to the ground.
    “What have we here?” The man behind her grasped the long rope of her braid and gave it a firm tug, jerking her head back.
    “Looks like a fine piece of woman.” One of the other men walked up to her and ripped the legionary cloak away, leaving her in only the thin tunic.
    Valeria shivered from the cold, then from fear. She saw in these men’s eyes the things Tristan hadn’t done to her that they would.
    “Looks like you could use some warming up.” The man dragged his leering gaze over her, then snatched her by the arm. He forced his mouth down over hers and his foul, stinking breath sickened her.
    Valeria slapped him away. “Don’t touch me!”
    The men laughed and she knew there was no way she could escape them, but she would fight. The man forced her to the cold, hard ground, bruising her as he climbed on top of her, while the other men now shouted with encouragement, circling around them. He tugged at her tunic, lifting it, and she struggled to reach down and free the dagger tied to her leg.
    “Hold still,” he said, one of his hands fumbling with his breeches. “I’ll give you something you’ll really like.”
    Valeria’s fingers brushed the handle of the dagger, but the man’s movements above her kept her from reaching down all the way to grasp it. When he pulled back to force her legs open, she was able to sit up and close her hand around the handle.
    She brought the weapon up and slashed the sharp blade across the man’s cheek, then held the tip pressed to his throat. Blood trickled forth from that wound as well.
    “You will unhand me.” This time she spoke the words in his language.
    The man’s eyes widened with surprise. “You cut me! The bitch cut me!” Anger darkened his eyes and he caught Valeria’s wrist, struggling to disarm her.
    “Get off me!” She screamed in pain as he twisted her hand, forcing her to drop the dagger.
    “Now you’ll pay.” The man fought her kicking legs and drew her tunic up to her waist. “Hold her down.”
    Her hands were held pinned to the ground above her head, effectively immobilizing her. Valeria didn’t give up. She screamed and kicked and struggled. A few times she bit at her attackers, but that only earned her the back of a hand cracking across her face that brought blurry spots to her vision. When the man lowered himself over her body, she screamed even louder, cursing him in his own language while she fought even harder, but tears burned her eyes because she knew it would do no good.
    Suddenly the man’s weight was gone. Cold air breezed over her and her hands were released. She looked up in shock to see Tristan beating the men back from her, then he scooped her off the ground and swept her into his arms.
    He didn’t speak or look at her as he swiftly carried her back to his tent. She could feel his body tense and harden with rage and knew he would punish her for trying to escape, but she was so grateful that he’d found her, she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face against his