Dr. Olendzki was in her office drinking herbal tea when the call came through. She tried not to drink caffeine after dinner because it kept her awake, and she needed her sleep since she never knew when it would be interrupted to tend to a patient. It had been a quiet week, considering the students and staff were all back on campus. Other than the odd headache, a few scrapes, and one sprained wrist, all was well. She should have known it was too quiet to last.
Draining her teacup, Dr. Olendzki straightened her pristine white coat and moved out to reception preparing to meet her patient.
"There's no need to manhandle me!" a familiar sarcastic voice growled. "I'm perfectly capable of walking, ya know?"
"Sorry, Novice Hathaway. The instructions from Court were that we had to bring you to the infirmary without delay," a disembodied voice said, attempting to defuse the situation.
"Yeah well, you know what? Fuck that! Fuck Court and especially fuck you, Adrian!"
"Don't be like that little dhampir," Adrian replied calmly as Rose, 'escorted' by two Guardians, rounded the corner into the infirmary reception. "We're bringing you here for your own protection."
"Like anyone actually believes that!" Rose spat back, furious at Adrian and indeed the whole Moroi establishment.
"Rose? Lord Ivashkov?" Dr. Olendzki greeted, moving them along the hallway into the triage room. What she had been told her over the phone seemed farfetched and fanciful, yet nonetheless, she was duty-bound to investigate it. "What seems to be the issue?"
"Dr. Olendzki, it appears Rose has presented as Omega. She spent the time after New Year hiding in a cabin on the edge of campus because she was going through estrous. You know the regulations—she must be detained and taken to Court for her own protection!"
"That's bullshit!" Rose shrieked. "I'm a Beta, you moron! You just want to take me to Court so you can try to convince me to go out with you. Well, it's not going to happen! I don't like you! I wouldn't touch you with a forty-foot pole. I wouldn't touch you with someone else's forty-foot pole! In fact, speaking of that pole, I have a few ideas what I'd like to…"
Dr. Olendzki put her hand up to silence Rose's verbal assault of Lord Ivashkov.
"What proof do you have to substantiate these claims?" she asked the Moroi Lord.
"Rose told me," a very smug Adrian replied.
"Like hell I did!" Rose snarled, trying to wrench her way out of the Guardians' grasp and smack Adrian out of the infirmary and a good way towards the weekend after next. "You just can't take no for an answer, can you pretty boy? Well fuck you—the answer is still NO! Not now. Not ever. NEVER!"
"It doesn't sound like something she confessed," Dr. Olendzki said dubiously, taking in Rose's furious expression and colorful words.
"She regretted telling me," Adrian replied, adding the tiniest bit of compulsion. Not enough to convince—just enough to add a degree of plausibility. "I explained to Rose she'd be sent to Court, and that's when she started behaving like this."
An Omega declaring so late was rare but not unheard of; and Lord Ivashkov was, unfortunately, correct. If there was any suspicion Rose was Omega she needed to go to Court—at least to be tested.
"Let me call Guardian Petrov down here. Lord Ivashkov, please wait outside."
"I'm sorry, I can't do that," Adrian said firmly. "My directions were to make sure Rose was detained and could not get away."
One of the Guardians nodded. "He's right, doctor. I got a call from Guardian Headquarters saying the same thing."
"And I'm sorry, but you have no choice. Omega or not, Rose is my patient and your presence is not helping here. If you're worried about her absconding, the Guardians can stay."
Grumbling but recognizing a fight he wouldn't win, Adrian stepped out into the hallway, keeping the only entrance to the triage room firmly in sight. As soon as Rose had spilled about her estrous, she'd tried to run, taking off towards the Moroi dorms. Adrian shouted out to two nearby Guardians to detain her, which they had. While Rose had struggled to escape, Adrian called Court explaining the situation. Finally, a Guardian had handcuffed Rose to a railing, preventing her flight. Both Guardians had wanted to radio Alberta for further instructions, but Adrian had asked their names, relaying their details to Court then asking them to wait for further instructions. Moments later Court called their cells, the Guardians tasked with getting Rose to the Academy infirmary.
"What in Vlad's name is going on here?" Alberta asked as she stormed into the infirmary headed straight to the treatment room. In her years at St. Vladimir's the Head of Guard had seen pretty much everything, but Marena Olendzki's phone call had alarmed her.
"Guardian Petrov? It's Rose. She's an Omega," Adrian Ivashkov said, standing up and intercepting the fifty-something Guardian. Alberta regularly relied on her poker face, but never so much as now.
"Pardon?" she asked, stopping to face the Royal Moroi rake.
"Novice Rose Hathaway," Adrian repeated, sounding apologetic. "She confided in me she's Omega. I'm sorry. I had to call Court, and they told me to bring her here."
Alberta humphed under her breath, suggesting she thought Adrian's claims were ridiculous. Not those about Rose being Omega—she knew that to be the truth. No, her disbelief was about Adrian claiming to be sorry.
"Wait out here," she said to Adrian, letting herself into the triage room. Inside she found Rose sitting in a chair flanked by two Academy Guardians. "Burke, Kalluk. Wait outside."
The two Guardians looked to one another uneasily. Their instructions had been clear. "We were told not to let her out of our sight," one said to Alberta regretfully.
"Fine. You can watch her through the glass in the door," Alberta dryly commented, determined to put both Guardians on permanent ward duty if they didn't step outside immediately. Once the young men left, Alberta shut the heavy door and turned to Rose.
"What happened?" she asked Rose quietly while eyeing Marena.
"Patient/physician privilege. Nothing said here will be reported to Court," the Moroi doctor assured the two dhampir. Like most of the staff who had seen her grow up from a little girl, Dr. Olendzki had a soft spot for Rose and was distressed this was happening to her.
"Adrian compelled me. He asked me where I was after New Years' Eve. I first said I was off visiting my mom, but she was at Court, so he knew I was lying. So, I told him I stayed on the edge of campus in an old cabin. I said I just wanted some time alone, but then he compelled me, and I told him I was in estrous."
"So, it's true?" Marena gasped, regarding the young woman sadly. Dhampir might hope to become Alpha, but the same was not true about being Omega. By all accounts, an Omega's life was not their own.
Rose nodded, tears trailing down her cheeks. Being discovered as Omega before Dimitri could legally claim her was her worst fear come true.
"That's all he knows?" Alberta asked.
"Yes. I ran, he had those two tackle me, and they brought me here. He also called Court and they're preparing a plane to take me there."
Alberta was muttering a range of colorful words under her breath. The Academy had an aircraft stationed at the airstrip most of the time. If they planned to use that, she had very little time to action anything.
"You're certain he compelled you?" Dr. Olendzki asked.
"Yes—not that it matters. He'll deny it, then it will be my word against his," Rose mumbled.
Alberta agreed. "If they're taking you to Court, there's nothing I can do to stop them."
"What will happen?" Rose asked, trying not to appear concerned.
"They'll test you," Marena explained. "It's a combination DNA and blood test and it will take up to a week for the results to come back. They'll detain you in the interim."
"Will they drug me?"
"Maybe it's better if they do…" Alberta remarked.
"What do you mean you had her drugged?" Dimitri shouted, fighting his urge to tear apart anyone involved in this shitfest, including his supervising Guardian. His mate had been abducted, and Dimitri was adopting a take no prisoners approach with her recovery.
"As a Royal order, I couldn't stop them taking her, and Ivashkov insisted on accompanying Rose on the Academy's plane to Court. He compelled information out of her—but he can't do that again if she's drugged! He doesn't yet know Rose went off campus, nor that you have claimed her. The best I could do was to have Marena sedate her and send her to Court with a female Guardian to protect her," Alberta explained to the frantic man pacing her office.
"Who did you send?" Dimitri demanded, beside himself with worry for his mate.
"Celeste Matthews. As a Guardian to the Princess, she knows Rose best. She'll keep her safe, and more to the point she'll keep Ivashkov away from her."
"What the hell do I do?" Dimitri asked, his hands shaking with rage. "Ivashkov already wants her. He'll want her more now he knows she's Omega. If he's compelled Rose once, what's to say he won't do it again?!"
"You do whatever you need to do to protect your mate! As of this moment, I am approving leave for you. A lot. As far as I know, you are visiting family. I'll backdate the leave application and leave it open-ended."
Dimitri was prepared to hand over most of his savings to buy Emil's motorbike, but the taciturn Guardian turned him down, despite Dimitri offering a lot more than the junker was worth. Emil did, however, offer to drive him to Billings. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, Dimitri had everything important from his room packed into his duffel and was ready to go in ten minutes.
"I'm happy to pay for your time and gas," Belikov said, climbing into the passenger seat of an Academy SUV.
"No need. Alberta ordered me to drive to Billings to buy some boxes of Krispy Kremes. Since you need to go there, too, I'm happy to drop you to the airport." Dimitri hadn't said a word about why he needed to get to Billings, so it was obvious Alberta had some sense of what he intended. Without a lot of time to think it through, the initial plan was to get to Billings, get a domestic flight to Pennsylvania, then sneak into Court however he was able.
"I appreciate your help," Dimitri replied, not knowing what else to say.
"We were all young once," Emil sighed, saying nothing else during their lengthy drive.
At Billings, Dimitri boarded a flight to Williamsport Pennsylvania, the closest human airport to Court. Still a good forty minutes away from the Moroi seat of power, Dimitri would need to beg, borrow or steal transportation to the remote center of Moroi government.
Folded into his economy seat, Dimitri spent the whole flight planning how to approach things at Court. He had Celeste's number, and it would be easy enough to call her to get news about Rose, but he wasn't sure if she'd help him, and even if she would he loathed putting her in a professionally compromising situation. He kept trying to sense Rose through their bond, but it was blank, and that stressed him even more.
Dimitri felt her panic when Adrian must have cornered her. He'd called MacAllister to relieve him, but by the time he could leave his charge, and found Alberta, Rose was already en route to Court. He had sworn to protect Rose for the rest of her life, and mere days later he'd failed her. One thing was certain… When Dimitri caught up with his cousin, he was going to give him a very physical lesson about minding his own business—particularly when it came to Dimitri's mate!
Hans Croft was waiting at the Court runway for the Academy plane to land. The information received from Lord Ivashkov seemed far from credible, but given his close relationship with Her Majesty, any claim would have to be taken seriously and fully investigated. While the Omega was apparently not currently in estrous, as a precaution Croft arranged for only mated Alpha Guardians to accompany him to the plane. During a call he'd received from Alberta while the plane was in transit, she'd mentioned she'd sent a heterosexual female Guardian with the Novice, and had released that Guardian to stay with her at least until they received the test results.
Watching as the plane lined up with the runway, the small aircraft drifted toward the ground where it touched down effortlessly, tires hitting the runway with a small whisper of smoke. Walking to the door once the plane had taxied across to the terminal, Croft climbed the steps onboard.
"Lord Ivashkov," Croft greeted coolly. He'd never warmed to the Queen's nephew. Still, he liked his job, so Hans was unfailingly civil.
"Guardian Croft," Adrian replied, charm itself. "I'll carry Rose to the vehicle." Pointing to a small brunette buckled into a window seat, it was obvious she'd been sedated and wouldn't be walking anywhere. Beside her, a twenty-something female Guardian bristled at Adrian's words.
"That won't be necessary, thank you Lord Ivashkov. In fact, we'll take her from here," Croft replied.
"It's no bother. I'd like to make sure she's comfortable and safe."
"I understand, but it isn't appropriate. You'll be happy to know Guardian…?"
"Matthews," Celeste supplied, responding to Croft's look.
"Matthews and another Guardian will tend to Novice Hathaway during her stay. She'll be perfectly safe with them."
Adrian kept a nonchalant façade, but he was fuming. He'd assumed he'd be helping to look after and entertain Rose. It would be so much easier to seduce her if he was the one she spent most of her time with. Other people caring for her had not crossed his mind.
"I'll have to talk to Aunty. She might want Rose to stay as a guest at the palace… She'll be more comfortable there." And it would give Rose a taste of what she would enjoy as the wife of a prominent, wealthy and very well-connected Royal Moroi, Adrian mused.
"Her Majesty has already given me specific orders regarding where, and with whom, Novice Hathaway is to stay," Croft said, declaring the matter closed.
"I still think she'd be happiest staying with people she knows," Adrian argued, confident he could convince his great-aunt to agree, particularly once he explained his interest in the Omega beauty.
"Indeed. Which is why, besides Guardian Matthews, during Novice Hathaway's stay she'll be attended by her mother."
Arriving in Williamsport, Dimitri caught a cab downtown before looking around for a vehicle to 'borrow.' Avoiding the colleges, he found a parking lot behind an all-day bar, choosing a nondescript car that would not attract attention. Vowing to return it, if he could, Dimitri had the ignition casing off and hot-wired the vehicle, putting it into drive and pulling out onto the main drag, headed north toward Court.
Although he'd stopped at Court on his way to St. Vladimir's, it would be Dimitri's first time approaching it by road. In some ways, arriving at Court during daylight hours was a good thing. There'd be fewer Guardians working, and no Moroi around, which would make getting into Court undetected easier. Well—as easy at breaking into a heavily guarded facility in the middle of nowhere could be.
As he drove, Dimitri ran through the possibilities. He could scale the perimeter fence and double fenced ward line, but even in daylight, he was likely to be seen. Another option was to try to trick his way in, however, that was every bit as dangerous as his first idea. His final option was to get help from the inside—but since he only knew two people at Court, his options were limited; Matthews or Croft. Pulling out his cell he dialed Celeste, putting the phone on speaker and resting it on his lap.
"Hey MacAllister," she greeted, picking up on the first ring. "I can't talk right now 'cos I'm at Court and busy with something. Can I call you back in ten or fifteen?"
"Sure," Dimitri said, appreciating Celeste must be with other people and couldn't talk. That she'd called him MacAllister hinted she had at least some clue of why he was calling. "Call me back on this number."
"Just put her down on the bed," Croft ordered Lund, a recently mated English Alpha, pointing to the double bed in the comfortably appointed room. Celeste followed carrying a duffel of Rose's belongings and her own hastily packed bag. When Alberta called to strong-arm her into a gig accompanying a potential Omega to Court, Celeste wasn't thrilled. Hand-holding some sophomore during estrous held no appeal. Finding out it was Rose changed things a lot.
At first, she'd wondered whether that's why Belikov was interested in Rose, but she quickly ruled it out. If it was just sex, they wouldn't be sneaking around and making eyes at one another. If there was something between Belikov and Hathaway it was something more.
Since she liked Rose and guarding a dhampir not in estrous should be easy enough, Celeste was quite happy with her duties for the next week. Indeed, learning the esteemed Guardian Janine Hathaway would stay with them just made it sweeter. The woman was a legend, and Celeste was fangirling at the prospect!
"Dr. Olendzki said she'd be out for about twelve hours," Celeste explained, taking Rose's shoes off and checking she was comfortable. "It's been five, so don't expect much until the morning." She was about to continue when her cell rang. Checking the display, she saw it was Belikov. By now he must know Rose was at Court. Pretending it was MacAllister she made short work of the call, saying she'd call back shortly.
Croft asked Celeste to step outside, leaving the Guardians to watch over Rose. He didn't talk until they were outside in a rose garden.
"Who was that?" Croft asked.
"Just a colleague from St. Vlad's," Celeste answered, grateful she didn't have to lie outright.
"Belikov?" he asked.
"Yes…" Celeste replied, feeling like absolute shit. She'd help Rose and Dimitri wherever she could, but she wouldn't lie to Court's Chief Guardian. She couldn't risk her career.
"Humph. It figures. She reeks of an Alpha. I scented it the moment I stepped onto the plane."
