Chapter 1

I stood at my post in Lissa's suit on guard as I always did. Christian and Lissa were sitting on the love seat lost in their own little world. They had no idea how lucky they really were. Even back when we were in school they never had to hide their feeling or hold back the heated passion that they felt for eacthother. They never had to lie awake at night dreaming about each other but thinking they could never really be together. That's how I always had to be with Dimitri.

Oh Dimitri. The love of my life. The man who made my heart soar. The guy who understood me more than anyone else in the whole world. He was finally mine. But I still felt so cut off from him. I felt like he was always so far away from me. As I look over across the room I saw him standing in the appropriate guardian stance. His features were all business. But as his gaze briefly met mine I could see his true emotions. He felt the same way I did. Deprived. Deprived of the love that we felt for each other. If I had it my way Dimitri and I would be back at our apartment in each other's arms.

As I watched Lissa drape her legs over Christian's lap and scoot closer to him I felt a sudden rush of relief. I was glad that she was happy. They both were. And it was almost time for us to leave at the end of our shift. As I heard the other guardians walk in to the room to switch our posts I fought back a smile. A female guardian named Samantha took my post and passed me with a polite nod. A male guardian I didn't know the name of replaced Dimitri. That seemed to be the moment that Lissa actually noticed my existence. She stood and walked over to me and wrapped her arms tight around me.

"I'll talk to you later ok Rose?" She said still hugging me.

"Of course Liss", I said as I gently hugged her back, keeping to the line of professional while still trying to be friendly with my best friend. As I pulled back from the hug I gave her a genuine smile. I'm glad that she and I had some semblance of a love life but sometimes I miss the days when it was just us.

I nodded to Chris who seemed kind of bummed that we were being switched with guardians he barely knew. Something told me he would rather be alone with Lissa instead of having guards watch them but he would rather have people he knows in the room as opposed to people he feels uncomfortable around.

As I headed to the door I took a deep breath and let my tension go. As I took a few steps out of the suit I felt Dimitri's callused hand hold mine. I laced my fingers with his as we walked down the hall and headed for the stairs. We kept on our guardian face but in that one touch I felt a thousand things he wished he could do or say. I felt the same.

As we walked down the hall I resisted my strong urge to kiss him with every fiber of my being. And as we walked down the halls of court I could see several sets of eyes on us. Some of them were accusing eyes and others were much tenderer than you would expect. You see when Dimitri and I went public with our relationship there were a lot of mixed views about it. A lot of people thought it was wrong and disgusting for two dhampirs to be together because they thought we were wasting the genes we could pass on to other dhampir offspring. They would shoot us dirty glances as we walked by.

Others seemed to be a lot more accepting of our relationship. That mostly stood for the people who knew us best like Lissa and Chris. Or even people who knew about us by reputation and accepted us for it. They would nod to us politely or even make comments about how cute we looked together. They saw that nothing was wrong with us being in love just because we were both dhampirs.

But, I do understand that some people don't approve of the relationship because we fell for each other when Dimitri was my mentor while I was attending St. Vladimir's Academy. But in some sense we were both adults. I may only be eighteen but I won't be for long. I turn nineteen soon. And I know that means I'm still a teen and not a full blown adult but I have been through so much that I like to think that I grew up faster than most people my age.

We finally got to our apartment and I took my keys out of my pocket. As I unlocked the door I felt Dimitri walk in behind me. I threw my keys onto the small table next to the door and the next thing I knew I was being pinned against the wall. Dimitri trapped me in the corner with him body and pinned my arms back against the wall. Before I could do or say anything he pressed a passionate kiss to my mouth. I couldn't help myself. I responded instantly our of instinct. We spent so long bottling up the love and passion we had for each other that now it felt like a new world was dropping around us when we kissed. Well at least that how I felt.

He slipped his hands from my wrists and laces his fingers with mine as he pressed my hands against the wall. His lips moved eagerly from my mouth down my jaw and then to my neck. I used to hate it when he was anywhere near my neck because of what happened in Russia. Bout, now that I have come to terms with it I am no longer scared.

Then as he started to kiss over to my shoulder I said something that even I wasn't expecting.

"Dimitri, stop," I said even though my passion for him was so string it could knock over a bus. He raised his mouth from my neck and gave me a look of confusion.

"Why do you want me to stop my love?" He asked with a bit of hurt in his voice. I didn't mean to make him hurt or feel rejected.

"I'm just not in the mood Comrade," I said. I wasn't exactly lying. I was still feeling kind of distant from him and I didn't think sex would do the trick this time.

"I can tell something is wrong with you Roza. Please tell me," he said. I held back a shiver when he said my name in Russian. It set my world on fire when he said that. As I looked into his eyes I saw that he truly loved me and trusted me. I always so genuine worry and concern for me.

"I just don't feel right. I feel so far away from you all the time. Lissa and Chris can show off their love every moment of the damn day. We hide in our apartment like rats. I hate that," I said more forcefully then I meant to. But his features never changed. His loving gaze never faltered. He released my hands and I slowly let them drop down to rest on his chest. He laid his hand on the side of my face and softly strokes my cheek with his thumb. I leaned into his hand somehow feeling like I wasn't I alone anymore. It didn't completely fix everything but when he was sweet and tender the sun was a little brighter in my world.

I slightly turned my head and kissed the palm of his hand. His rare smile spread over his handsome face and I could stop myself from smiling as well. He made me happy. So, so happy. Standing there looking into his deep chocolate brown eyes I knew he felt the same as me. And my smile grew wider.

And with Dimitri being the amazing man that he is, he knew exactly what I needed. He swooped me up into his arms and carried me to bed. He always knew when I was exhausted from work. He sat me on the bed and got down on his knees and slid off my shoes for me. I leaned close and kissed him softly to say thank you. As I got up I changed into my pajamas. Nothing special just one of Dimitri's t-shirts that were about 8 times too big for me. But I liked sleeping in his clothes. They all smelt like his after shave. I swear that smell was like his calling card. That and his duster that he was now slipping off and outing in the closet. I swear he would rather lose his left leg than lose that damn duster.

And personally I love what he wears to bed. Pajama pants and no shirt. Can you see the brilliance here? I sure as hell can. He laid in the bed as I brushed my long hair. I could see him watching me with a tender smile on his face. He always loved my hair. And I knew it. When I finally finished I turned to him and smiled.
"What are you smirking at Belikov?" I asked playfully.

"Just you my love. Always you," He said with a tender note in his voice. When we were around others he was bad ass Guardian Belikov. But when we were alone, he was a love sick puppy with teddy bear tendencies.

"Cute baby. Cute," I said with a smile. He pulled back the blanket giving me room next to him. I walked over to the bed and lay next to him. He laid the blanket over me and brought me closer to him. The warmth of his bare skin was more than enough to keep me warm even without the blanket that wrapped us together.

As I looked into his he slid his fingers over my thigh. He never did tire of studying my body. The feeling of the light brush of his fingertips sent addicting chills down my spine. I smiled softly as I felt my eyes droop with sleepiness. I sighed then. I wasn't sure if it was our of happiness or sleepiness. Maybe both. I was too tired to know for sure. Dimitri smiled softly.
"You need rest my Roza. You are tired. Sleep now love," He then pressed a loving kiss to my forehead and held me close.

"I love you Dimitri" I said as I rested my head on his shoulder.
"I love you to Roza" he said in a warm tone. I love him. I really do. But I still felt so far away. And the pain in my gut didn't help with the tears I tried to hide. And as I closed my eyes to rest my sleep was unkind to me as I dreamt of the day Dimitri was stolen from me.