DPOV

I felt the first Strigoi move toward Roza, and I leapt toward the closest Pricolici. I seemed to catch it off guard because I had its throat detached from its body before it could respond. The second Pricolici jumped over me, trying to get to Roza. I thrust a claw upwards, slashing at its underbelly, hoping to do some damage.

I managed to turn its attention from Roza to myself. The situation was better but not ideal. Flashes of my previous encounter with a Pricolici bombarded my mind, but instead of Ivan's body, it was Roza's. I expected to feel sorrow and pain, but as the rage coursed through my veins, my bloodlust grew.

The remaining Pricolici took a step back and fear flashed in its eyes. I took the moment of hesitation to charge forward, aiming for the neck of the undead beast. My body was already fueled by the blood of the first Pricolici, I had more than enough energy to take the second one. I could feel Roza still going strong, I knew she would be, so I focused my attention on the beast that had just dodged my jaws.

I released a growl of irritation and made another move toward it. My claws outstretched, I slashed at the monster's ankles, slicing the tendons, making his back legs useless. The monster tried to crawl away long enough for the tendons to heal, but I was already placing a paw on the center of his back to hold him down.

He struggled for a moment until I pushed down hard, severing his spine. The whimpers of the Pricolici rose above the snarls that Roza was releasing and the grunts and screams the Strigoi made as she killed them. Not wanting to delay and leave Rose alone for any longer, I clamped my jaws around the beast's neck and pulled the blood into my mouth.

The more blood I took in, the more my rage subsided. I felt full as I pulled my teeth from the dead beast's flesh. I quickly looked around to see where I could help Rose, but she was standing over two Strigoi, bodies littered the ground around her, and her coat was stained crimson.

I made eye contact with her and discovered that she'd been watching me as I fed from the Pricolici. I felt oddly aroused by the idea of Rose watching me as I drained the undead life from the monster, but I reigned in my thoughts and made my way to Rose's side. I place one of my paws on the chest of the Strigoi under her left paw.

"Are you okay?" She asked, looking up at me with worry clear in her eyes.

"I am now," I told her while nuzzling my nose against her neck. She allowed the affection for a few moments before she turned back to the squirming bodies underneath us. Like the last Strigoi she had me catch for questioning, they look terrified. "Have you gotten anything out of them?"

"I was waiting for you. I think you'll be the best person to ask the questions."

"I'm going to take that as a compliment," I said looking up at her in amusement. Turning back to the struggling Strigoi, I crouched low, keeping ample pressure on the Strigoi's chest. "The person your boss is working for, who is it?"

"We don't know. We know she is a Strigoi, but we don't know who she is." The one under Rose sputtered out.

"She?" Rose asked looking up at me.

"Yeah. She. I overheard Victor muttering about some arrogant Strigoi woman who was trying to kill him. He then proceeded to yell at us to get you sooner rather than later. We figured that we'd wait till tomorrow night. Guardians would think that you got drunk and stumbled off, they'd look for you in the woods, but wouldn't declare you missing officially until a few hours after that. By then, Victor would have you far away where no one could find you." Even though the Strigoi were frightened, they still had a menacing tone, full of hatred and anger.

"Does this Victor have a last name?" I asked after processing their failed plan.

"Yes." The one under me said but didn't elaborate. I growled low and bent closer to his face. The one beside him yelped and spat out an answer.

"Dashkov!" He said, and I heard Rose gasp.

"Victor Dashkov?" She asked quietly. Both the Strigoi nodded. "Finish this, Dimitri. Get the answers you need, and let's head back."

"I think I have everything I need, Roza. I'm not sure they know anything else." I told her before turning back to the undead. "Thank you two for being so forthcoming."

Without another word, Rose and I bent down and ripped their heads off.

"Are you hurt?" She asked as soon as the head the airborne. Her eyes scanned my body for any injuries, but I couldn't feel any, so I was probably okay.

"I don't think so. I feel so full, I really just want to nap." I answered truthfully. I looked her over as she continued her assessment of me. "You're bleeding," I said a little worriedly. I could smell her blood, though I couldn't identify where it was coming from because she was covered in blood.

"Yeah. I got a little cut on my side. It's nothing major. We'll look at it when we get back into the wards." She said moving past me, keeping the side she'd gestured to out of my line of sight. I decided to let it go until we were back into the safety of the wards, not that we couldn't defend ourselves, but she'd really need to be in human form for me to get a good look at her injury.

"You do realize this means that someone is after you, not Lissa," I said as we exited the caves.

"What do you mean?" She asked looking up at me over her shoulder.

"I mean, we assumed that Lissa was the target because she's a Princess and a Spirit user. It's not like Spirit is a secret element, the numbers of Spirit users are growing, if Victor wanted a Spirit user, there are plenty of other Moroi that he could have taken with little to no detection. It didn't make sense that he was after a Spirit user, a Royal, maybe, but not a Spirit user."

"But what about the note." She asked slowing her pace.

"It just said that they know what you are. They could have been talking about Lissa, sure, but she's declared her magic, so, again, it isn't a secret. However, not many people know you're a True Hybrid. There aren't any others in existence currently, so it makes sense to keep your identity hidden. What if you can do something that you don't know you can do. Maybe that's why Victor Dashkov is after you." I explained before stopping mid-step.

"What? What's wrong?" She asked looking around at the surrounding trees, trying to identify what caused my step to falter.

"Victor Dashkov. He's the one currently looking for you, but he's taking orders from a Strigoi. What Strigoi would have that kind of power over a Moroi? Why wouldn't the Strigoi just kill the Moroi? Why do business with them?" I asked hurriedly.

"Calm down, Comrade," Roza said nuzzling her snout against mine. I felt myself calm immediately, though I don't know if it was her words or her actions that caused the change. "We'll talk with Abe and Alberta when we get back and check out my side."

I nodded and followed her all the way back to the wards. We found our way back to the clearing, only running into one Guardian on the way. The Guardian looked like he wanted to ask what had happened, but he instead shook his head and walked in the other direction. I waited for Rose to Shift first.

She groaned as she stood up straight, raising her left arm over her head to get a good look at her side. She had a deep gash running from the middle of her ribcage down to her hip bone.

"Roza! You said it was nothing major!" I cried as I rushed to her side, gently cleaning the blood, both hers and Strigoi's, from her wound with my tongue. She released a moan as my tongue caressed her side, but I ignored it as I continued to tend to her wound. Thankfully, the healing process had already started, but it would be a full day until it was completely healed.

"It's not that bad, Dimitri." She said before she winced as she put her arm back down by her side.

"Don't lie to me. It's deep and will take a full day to heal. That's major for a Lycanthrope." I scolded. She rolled her eyes at me before bending to pick up her clothes. "Don't put those on yet."

"We can't do anything while you're in wolf form, Comrade." She said with an amused expression.

"Not for that, Roza," I said with an exasperated sigh before Shifting. "I'm going to go get bandages so I can wrap that. I know there's little risk for infection, but I'm not taking chances with you anymore."

She let out a sigh but shooed me toward campus. I quickly pulled on my shorts and shirt and ran to the on-campus clinic. The nurse on duty tried to get me looked at because I was covered in blood, but after reassuring her several times that it wasn't mine and I needed to tend to my Alpha, she let me go with the needed supplies.

I returned to Rose, who was sitting on the ground in a meditative position, most likely doing just that. Her eyes snapped open as I entered the clearing but didn't stand. I knelt beside her and she raised her arm without being prompted.

I cleaned the wound with an alcohol wipe, apologizing when she winced. If this wound was on any other creature, I would probably suggest stitches, but on Rose, she needed a patch and she'd be good to go. I carefully cut a patch the side of the gash and wrapped the cloth in place with a bandage around her body.

When I was done, I placed a light kiss on her forehead and handed her clothes to her to dress.

"We'll go back and shower before meeting with Alberta and Abe," I said as I extended a hand to help her up.

"You're telling me that you just dressed my wound only to take the dressing off in a few minutes and repeat the process?" She asked narrowing her eyes.

"Yes," I stated simply as I placed a hand at the small of her back and pushed her in the direction of the Guardian dorms.

"Unbelievable." She muttered and continued on in silence. The sun was out at this time, curfew was getting closer, but there were still plenty of people out and about. We stuck to the shadows as much as possible and went in the back entrance to the Guardian building. Most Guardians knew what we were doing, but we didn't want to alarm anyone with the amount of blood we had on ourselves.

Thankfully, Lissa was in her room with Christian when we entered the suite. She was a sweet girl, but she squealed a little too much for my liking. Derek looked up at us with a raised eyebrow, but Rose didn't acknowledge him as she headed to our bathroom.

"We're good, no worries," I said as I followed Rose. I paused to close and lock the doors to the bedroom and the bathroom. When I turned around, Rose was already naked and started to unwrap her bindings. I stripped quickly and helped her remove the patch on her side.

She stepped into the water stream, hissing as the water hit her side. I quickly moved her out the way and shielded her with my body.

"It's water, Comrade. It's not going to hurt me." She said with a chuckle.

"Then what was the hiss?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I didn't wait for a response as I lathered a washcloth with soap to scrub the blood from our bodies. I started with Rose, gently removing any trace of the Strigoi from her body and avoiding causing her more pain. She closed her eyes as my hands traced her body.

"Am I going to get to clean you off?" She asked after a few moments.

"No. You're not allowed to do anything but stand there and let me take care of you," I said gently.

"So, I can't take care of you?" She asked opening her eyes and looking up at me.

"Not this time, Roza," I said with a smile. She huffed but reached up and placed a soft kiss on my lips in acceptance.

"I love you, Comrade." She said with a smile.

"I love you, too, Roza," I said. We finished our shower and dressed before I called Alberta.

"Petrov." She said from the other side of the phone.

"Alberta. It's Dimitri. We got back from hunting a little bit ago, and we've discovered some new information. Could we meet with you and Abe in the morning?" I asked watching Rose climb into bed.

"Sure thing. Are you sure we don't need to meet right now?" She asked, worry lacing her words.

"I'm sure. We're both extremely tired, and it would be best if we waited until we were alert to relay all the gathered information."

"Alright. I'll see you bright and early in the morning. Come by after breakfast. I'll have Abe send Pavel as a temporary replacement for Lissa." Alberta said. We bid each other goodnight, and I hung up.

Rose was already asleep when I crawled into bed. Carefully, I pulled her close to me, trying not to jostle her awake or place pressure on her side. I kissed her temple before my body sagged with exhaustion.

With my Alpha tucked safely against my body, I fell into a deep sleep.