RPOV

"You can let go of her hand now," Dimitri growled as Adrian continued to hold on to my hand.

"Don't worry, Big Hybrid," Adrian said releasing my hand. "I can see your Claim, you've nothing to worry about from me."

Dimitri didn't look too convinced as Adrian gave him a lazy, carefree smirk before winking at me.

"So, Little Hybrid, would you like to catch me up on all that's been going on around here?" He asked gesturing me over to a couch. Adrian had arrived this morning while Dimitri and I were enjoying our shower.

As soon as Dimitri had dried off, he Shifted. Abe later gave a tentative knock at our door to inform us of our recently arrived guest.

I sat down on one of the couches and Dimitri immediately placed himself at my feet in between myself and Adrian. Adrian looked amused at Dimitri's overprotective and jealous nature, but Dimitri continued to look the part of the jealous boyfriend.

We spend the next hour filling Adrian in on what had been happening with me and my pack.

"So, let me get this right, Lissa, Princess Vasilisa Dragomir, is a Spirit user?" Adrian asked after we'd finished our explanation. I failed to see how that was the first question he pulled out of our tale, but upon further inspection, his interest made complete sense.

"As are you from what I can tell," I said tuning in to his Darkness. "You're harboring quite a bit of Darkness."

"I'm impressed, Little Hybrid," Adrian said with widened eyes. "Yes, I am a Spirit user. I haven't had the privilege of meeting many, but I'm curious to know how you knew."

"I've got a few gifts of my own," I responded with a smirk. His eyes flicked all around me and his expression settled on confused.

"You've got the colors of a normal Lycanthrope but you also look like a Spirit using Moroi. I realized you were a Hybrid, but I didn't realize how unique your combination was." He said focusing his eyes back on mine.

"I got my wolf half from my mother and my Moroi half from my father," I said with a shrug. "I believe it was my unique combination that led to my Spirit power."

"Seems like it could make sense." He mumbled. "What's your ability?"

"I can take Darkness," I stated simply. I smirked knowingly as his eyes widened beyond belief.

"Don't you know that's dangerous for you?" He asked astonished.

"She knows, but that's just the kind of person she is." Dimitri cut in sounding slightly frustrated. I sighed and started running my fingers through his fur to calm him down.

"I don't take it all, I just take enough to make you feel better and less insane." I amended. "The Darkness doesn't affect me as much as it would you or Lissa. I just get hungry and end up having to feed. Perhaps the next time we go hunting I'll syphon off a little of your Darkness just to let you know what it feels like."

"I'm not sure I can agree to that," Adrian said hesitantly glancing down at Dimitri with a flash of worry in his eyes. I could feel what he was probably seeing: anger and annoyance.

"As long as I feed soon after it really shouldn't be a problem," I said more to Dimitri than to Adrian. Dimitri only looked up at me with narrowed eyes. They held skepticism and a definite 'no.' "Yes, dear."

He seemed appeased as he laid his head back down at my feet.

"So, what are you doing in the meantime? It's not like you could just go charging into a Strigoi stronghold, assuming you actually knew where she was." Adrian asked relaxing into his seat.

"Well, we probably could, but no. We're going to train my pack. We're going to get ready to storm into a Strigoi stronghold. We're going to get stronger." I said determinedly.

"We're going to keep our Alpha safe," Dimitri added with a pointed look toward Adrian.

"There's something different about your aura, too," Adrian said ignoring Dimitri's subtle threat. "I'm guessing it's because you're bonded with Rose."

"Different in what sense?" Dimitri asked.

"You've also got a similar coloring to a Spirit user, but it's faint and muted. I would assume that you could do a similar service as your Pair, but it would most likely affect you more than it did her." Adrian explained, his eyes coming back into focus.

"Well, we've got a Spirit user joining us here sometime tomorrow. You're welcome to join Lissa as she learns more about how to use her gift." I said steering the attention away from myself so Dimitri could relax slightly.

"That sounds wonderful! I haven't had the pleasure to meet any Spirit users, at least none that knew they were Spirit users." Adrian chuckled. "And, Dimitri, I know Rose is extremely important to you. I can tell you just from this meeting that I would not let anything happen to her should it be in my power to protect her. You don't have to worry about me, you have my word to protect Rose with every fiber in me."

"I really appreciate that, Adrian. I'm glad to have your loyalty, and I speak for both of us when I say it means a great deal that we've gained your support." Dimitri said standing up. Adrian looked a tad bit frightened as Dimitri stood to his full height before smoothing his face back out to a grin.

"We've got some training to do. You're welcome to join us for combat, or you could join Abe as he works with Christian. I think Lissa is going back and forth between the two just to observe." I said standing. I jumped up onto Dimitri back and settled my legs around his wide ribcage giving a smile to Adrian before Dimitri started outside.

The rest of the pack, minus Christian and Lissa, were already warming up around the grounds. Dimitri took me to a corner on the outside of the house and let me down while using his body to block the view anyone might have had as I Changed.

Dimitri moved out of the way as I grew. When I shook out my fur, I heard a gasp. We both turned our heads to see Adrian staring at me with an awestruck look.

"Beautiful." He muttered quietly to himself, though with our enhanced hearing we heard. Dimitri immediately spread his paws slightly wider as he turned to face Adrian. His ears were pitched forward and his lips curled back in a snarl. "Sorry, dude, it's strictly platonic."

Adrian backed away quickly with his hands raised in surrender, however, Dimitri didn't back down. In fact, he took a couple of slow, menacing steps forward. Adrian's eyes widened as he scrambled further back.

I quickly made my way in between them and gave Dimitri a threatening growl.

"Comrade, back off. He's harmless." I told Dimitri in a firm tone, but it didn't seem to get through to him because he took a few more steps forward until he was almost on top of me.

I opened my jaws and placed them at the base of his while releasing the loudest growl I have. I felt Dimitri tense beneath my teeth, and I saw his ears flatten against his head. I tightened my jaws slightly and was rewarded with a slight whimper.

"Alright, Roza. I got it." He said quietly. "I didn't like the way he was looking at you."

"I know you didn't. You don't like the way any guy looks at me." I sighed releasing his throat from my grasp.

"I can't help it." He grumbled before trudging his way to where the pack had gathered to watch the exchange. Yeva was still in human form and wore an amused smile as Dimitri approached them.

"Sorry about that. He gets really protective sometimes. I'm working on it." I apologized to a frazzled looking Adrian.

"No. No, it's fine. I didn't mean any offense by it, but I've never seen such a striking creature. Every time I see a Lycanthrope I'm caught off guard by how different they tend to look from their human forms, but your Shift was more drastic than I expected. Don't get me wrong, I meant what I said. You are beautiful, but I didn't mean to anger your Pair when I said it."

"It's fine. I'm pretty sure that he knows that, but not everyone is as kind and understanding as you." I said gesturing with my head in the direction of the pack. I walked slowly as to keep pace with Adrian as we made our way over to everyone else.

"Everyone, this is Adrian Ivashkov. He's Tatiana's great-nephew and will be working as a liaison between us and the queen. He'll be staying with us here for the time being. Both Roza and I have verified his intentions." Dimitri introduced. Olena stepped forward to embrace Adrian, and Yeva gave him a quick smile in greeting.

Sonja gave a slight half wave while Mason and Eddie gave the standard solemn nod. Everyone else, who were all in wolf form, gave a similar nod, though Paul and Viktoria accompanied their movement with a gently wagging tail.

"It's nice to meet all of you, I'm sure I'll learn your names at some point, but I'll just be observing progress," Adrian said with a kind smile. I noticed Dimitri and Derek eyeing him critically, but they didn't say anything as I narrowed my eyes in their direction.

"Alright, Sonja, I don't want you doing too much. You're not allowed to leave the wards unless you're accompanied by at least three pack members." I stated receiving a grateful smile from Sonja as she rubbed her slightly swollen stomach. "Olena, I don't know how much combat experience you have, but you'll be following Eddie and Mason through their paces, just do whatever is comfortable for you. Yeva, you can do whatever you want. I can feel you're still strong, but I don't want to assume so you can either join the wolves or the Novices."

"I think I'll join the Novices today. I'll work with you and Dimka tomorrow." Yeva responded with a kind smile. I noticed that I was always on the receiving end of Yeva's smiles while Dimitri only received stern looks. "And, please, child, call me Babushka."

Eddie and Mason took Olena and Yeva to the side to start their work while I set Dimitri and Derek to work with Karolina and Viktoria. I was working one on one with Paul. Paul was big for his age, but still too small to be working with wolves the size of Dimitri and Derek.

"Alright, little man, show me what you've got," I said facing off with the young brown wolf. His eyes took on the same determined look that Dimitri always got before fighting as he firmly planted his paws.

His first move was to lunge at my paws. It was a smart move for a smaller opponent, but he wasn't quite fast enough to use the maneuver effectively. I jumped over his small form and landed lightly on the other side of him, turning before he had a chance to begin changing directions.

His face became more determined as he prepared for the next attack. This time he went high, and I was surprised by his clearance. He landed on my back but slid off as I turned my body quickly.

He landed with a grunt but quickly shook it off to get back up on his paws. He tried the same move again and successfully landed on my back without falling off.

"That's good if you're fighting another Lycanthrope or Pricolici, but jumping over a Strigoi or any person would leave you vulnerable," I instructed as I shook him off a second time.

He smiled under my praise before charging at my paws again. This time, it worked only it wasn't Paul's doing that got me off my feet. Right as I leapt over Paul, Dimitri lunged at my side and tackled me to the ground.

He used his weight to keep me there but nipped gently at my ear playfully. I heard Paul laugh and felt him jump on me as well. I grunted at the added weight and reached back to nip at Dimitri's fur.

"Aren't you supposed to be working with your sisters?" I laughed as he scrambled out of my reach.

"I was, but Viktoria went on a run and it seems that Derek and Karolina are working well together, so I thought I'd help Paul out." He answered still dodging my attempts to reach him.

"Paul. I think we need to teach your uncle a lesson about attacking the Alpha." I said looking down at the young Lycanthrope whose tail immediately began to wag at the suggestion.

Paul turned his attention to Dimitri and lunged at his paws as he had done with me. I took a page from Paul's book and jumped on Dimitri's back. Dimitri tried to shake me off, but in his attempts to dodge Paul, he couldn't get me off his back.

I nipped at Dimitri's neck as Paul targeted all of his paws. Dimitri finally tripped over his own paws in an attempt to escape Paul's small teeth and landed on his face which in turn pitched me forward.

We were all laughing when Viktoria ran back up to us.

"What's so funny." She asked hesitantly.

"Nothing. Your brother was just being taught a lesson." I responded, giving Paul a wink. Paul giggled but didn't correct me, and Viktoria just looked more confused.

"Alright, well if you're done teaching Dimka a lesson, could we focus on those of us that actually need the help?" She asked when we still hadn't stood from where we'd fallen. Dimitri was the first to stand, and he reverted back to the serious look he'd had earlier.

"You're right, let's get back to training."