Pregnant with the Tyrant Alpha's Heir

Valeria's husband Cassius cannot father children. He forces her to find another man to give them an heir and threatens her brother Marcus. She selects the slave who defeats every fighter, and buys him. That slave is Lucius, the blood-cursed emperor of Rome, masquerading as a gladiator and battling beasts to hold the curse at bay. If the senate learns of the curse, they will force him to abdicate.

They spend the night together. The curse flares, then quiets. Lucius wonders whether Valeria might be his cure. Next morning she offers payment and expects him gone once she is pregnant. He refuses to leave.

Lucius learns she is his nephew's wife. He calls her his cure and his salvation. Meanwhile Cassius humiliates Valeria, forces her into a servant's dress, and treats her unborn child as a bargaining chip for territory. Valeria is pregnant, and she holds secret letters proving Cassius colluded with the Gaulish barbarians.

At the banquet, three men tie Valeria up and threaten her. Lucius arrives, kills them, and insults Cassius. Cassius threatens to summon the Praetorian Guard. The Guard arrives first. The herald announces Emperor Lucius Valerius Augustus. Cassius recognizes him: "You're the emperor."

By imperial decree, Valeria carries the Augustus bloodline, and anyone who harms her is charged with treason. The slave is made an Imperial knight and Valeria's personal guard. Only Valeria can command him. Guests grasp that the emperor slept with Cassius's wife and that she carries the empire's future heir. Valeria wonders how she ended up here, when she was supposed to be lady of the house.