The Champions Series

You win, you live. Lose … you die. Wine, women and winning: the three things that all gladiators want. Cassian, recovering from the illness that nearly killed him, wants them more than most. A champion gladiator, a man of unbridled passion but never love. He has sworn that he will never let another woman into his heart after Nala. His title and keeping it are all that matter to him. Until her. Violetta, innocent and devout, her only desire is to survive serving the monster who bought her as a slave at thirteen. Years later her dreams of serving the temple are destroyed when she is given as a gift, not to the gods of Olympus as expected, but one that rules the arena sands, and her heart. Owned by different men Cassian and Violetta fight and pray for each chance to lay eyes upon each other, to reach out and touch one another. A bargain between the lanista that trains him and the silk merchant that owns her means that Cassian's victories will bring Violetta to his bed. With his woman as the prize Cassian will fight any enemy, even his own pride, to have her in his arms. The only question is; with stakes this high what is the cost of a loss?

After claiming the greatest prize, can their love survive the torment of Vitus? Following the loss to Proximus, Cassian, the Celtic Champion Gladiator of the city of Velletri, feels the burn of challenge and the exhilaration of a man in love. His joy is short-lived when he discovers that the bargain made between his master and that of his lover, Violetta, means that any loss he suffers in contest results in a physical punishment for her. Unable to train due to the injury from the German Proximus, Cassian is brought to the market by his master, Tiberius Tertius. A bargain struck over a jug of wine sees the Champion's greatest dream and worst nightmare come true. Though Violetta chose pain over sharing a bed with Vitus, the cruel and devious son of her master, when faced with punishment for Cassian's loss in a test of gladiatory skills, she still must deal with his obsessive rage. When a simple trip to the market results in her lover being brought to the house of Census, she is faced with the joy of daily life beside the man she loves and the nightmare of her master's son. When the storm clears, will Cassian and Violetta still stand side by side or will Vitus' wrath destroy everything in its path, including love?

Who will pass the test and who will fail? The Champion's Test, book three, begins moments after the conclusion of The Champion's Torment. Violetta will begin her training as a medical assistant to the aloof druid, Arturo, forge a strange and strained friendship with the lanista's body servant, Jovian, and find a way to make herself invaluable to the jealous wife of her new, temporary master. Cassian must train for the greatest fight of his life, in the great arena of Rome, while he is recovering from the injury delivered by Vitus Census. If that was not enough he is also faced with training side-by-side with a fallen champion from the same city that he is about to fight in and train a younger man to join him in that renowned city. All of this must be accomplished while helping Violetta adjust to life in the ludus and his brothers adjust to her presence among them. Amid the drama caused by a woman in the ludus and the excitement of the impending games in Rome another love story, even more forbidden, more erotic, and dangerous has begun. Will it burst into a beautiful flame or erupt like a deadly volcano?

Once a Centurion rising through the ranks of the Legion of the Republic Julius had his eyes set on the future and glory. There was a time when Julius Lucius, the bodyguard of Velletri's champion, saw slaves, even gladiators as property to be made use of. He never dreamed that one day he would become one. It was a tactical error on a simple mission that changed everything in his world. One morning he was a soldier and the next he woke as a prisoner that would be forced into slavery to survive. His hatred for his captors was matched only by his desire to be free. Until the line between love and hate blurred, then disappeared entirely. A person of influence and power among the villagers that were using Julius as a beast of burden in their fields became a friend though kind words and small gestures of mercy. Slowly hatred turned to love between them and the need for escape became paramount. The villagers would never understand the love and passion that they shared. A late-night breakout set them on the path back to Rome but became an unrelenting hunt. They were running a race against those who sought to put an arrow in the back of the slave or the acolyte who loved him.