Chapter 16

DPOV

If Abe was surprised I was there, he didn't let on.

"Dimitri. What a pleasure."

I sat down in a chair opposite him.

"I need him gone and soon." I didn't waste any time. Because time was something Rose and I didn't have. My father might be content with breaking Rose for a few days in the soldier courtyard but eventually he would want her back.

My palms cut in the chair and my eyes started to glow even as I thought of the things he would do to her.

"And I need protection for someone before we do."

Abe took all of this without blinking. I don't think he was taking my glowing eyes personally.

"He crossed a line didn't he?" There was a humorless smile on his face. He was obviously glad I was willing to join him, but he knew that somebody had gotten hurt.

"He did."

"Very well, who do you want me to protect? your mother?"

I didn't know how Abe knew exactly about my mother, but I didn't doubt his sources. But apparently those sources weren't too recent.

"She will need looking after, but she isn't in immediate danger. It is someone...else"

I didn't really know how to describe Rose. my concubine might be accurate but didn't do her justice. I wanted to call her my mate, but even if she would be that soon, she wasn't yet. But girlfriend or lover didn't really cover the load either. She was simply mine.

But luckily Abe didn't make me explain.

"Where can we find her?" Of course Abe thought it was a 'her'. I had found someone to be free for. I think he recognized it too. I walked a little taller, sat a little straighter and was a little stronger, because I had someone to fight for.

"Can you come to my quarters tomorrow? I think it is time you meet her and explain what you want to do? She can help."

Abe looked a little funny.

"Dimitri, staging a coup is dangerous and …"

I held up my hand. "I know what you are going to say. But she is Alpha, and slid the King's throat when he forced himself upon her. Too bad it wasn't deep enough. Hence her need for protection. Trust me, I want her safe too, but there is no way she is sitting this one out. If we don't include her in the plan, she will make her own."

I chuckled. If I let her, Rose would stage a coup herself. But one way or another my father won't be on the throne at the end of it. She was right, even though it was risky we just had to make sure it didn't fail.

Abe laughed at my description of Rose. "She sounds like an amazing girl."

There was something sad in his eyes all of sudden. He started to open his mouth to say something, but closed it again with a slight shake of his head.

"I will meet this girl of yours in the morning. First we will take down your father and afterwards, I will need you for something else. Something … personal."

I wanted to ask him what it was. I didn't like making a bargain without knowing the price I had to pay, but taking him in, I didn't think he was plotting something. He might actually mean personal. Maybe he was seeing if he could trust me.

I nodded as I made my way towards the door. I turned back thinking of something.

"You mind if I borrow some clothes from your mate?"

That took Abe by surprise and he started to laugh. I frowned thinking back to how I framed it. "I mean. The King didn't leave a lot of clothes on her. And I don't have access to clothes in her size on such short notice."

He waved me off, indicating he had known what it was for. He moved towards a trunk and pulled out some clothes.

"They might be a little short. Janine isn't very tall." No she wasn't. But surprisingly she was similarly built to Rose, even if the pants he had selected might be a little short.

I checked the hallway making sure no one had seen me come in. Although an alpha visiting another alpha wasn't rare, I still didn't want to be seen with Abe all that often.

I quickly made it back to my room and recalled my wolf as I climbed into bed myself. I pulled Rose against me. Her naked body against mine felt amazing. This was really happening.

I would get to hold Rose like this for the rest of my life. Be it a week or many many more moons. I grew hard just thinking of the next full moon. There was nothing holding us back. And for once I didn't have to control anything, not with her. If she would let me I would claim her as my mate then.

Rose sighed in her sleep and snuggled closer. I breathed in her scent and buried my face in her hair. This is where I belonged.

RPOV

I woke up deliciously sore. Dimitri was already awake and next to me on the bed. Dimitri had on some loose fitting pants and was reading a book. He sat up against the headboard, his legs crossed and one hand in my hair. He was slowly stroking it from the top of my head to the tip of my hair. It was one hell of a way to wake up.

There was some food on the table and my stomach growled in response. Dimitri chuckled and put the book down.

"Good morning." He said.

I got up a little, pulling the blanket to my chest. But I was only covering the basics. My right leg was completely exposed and my back was bare. "Good morning."

He got up off the bed and brought the food to me. He placed it in front of me and joined me in the bed again. The plate in between us.

"Now I could get used to this. Breakfast in bed, a handsome almost naked man in bed with me."

He laughed. "Also in that order?"

I smiled a wicked smile. "A girl has got to have her priorities."

He chuckled as he picked up a piece of bread and gave it to me. He leaned in and his eyes held a spark of mischief and desire I wasn't used to seeing but decided I loved. "And after you are fed?"

My breath caught in my chest. The way the words rolled off his tongue, they were pure sex. The invitation was clear. I felt my stomach clench. But I was also sore. I didn't know if I could have sex again so soon, even if my body was already shaking with the tought of experiencing that pleasure again. Also I realized I was sticky all over. I couldn't see all of him, but he must have some evidence of our loving last night.

"Maybe a bath would be better." Those words did nothing to dim the lights of desire in his eyes and I realized his bathtub could hold the two of us with ease.

"But it would take a long time to fill." I said. He shook his head.

"It has already been filled."

I looked at him with fear and pulled up the blanket. Had someone seen me naked. I didn't think Dimitri would have accepted that. But he just chuckled.

"Don't worry, nobody came in. I filled it. Took me half the time too." Well of course because he could probably hold twice as many water jugs.

I frowned. He got food, got dressed and filled the tub? I raised an eyebrow.

"You are a heavy sleeper." was his chuckled response to my non-verbal question. I was, if I felt safe and it had been a busy night.

"You'll need to hurry though. We have a visitor this morning."

When I looked at him questionaly he just waved me off, I guess I will see who it is when they get here.

I walked towards the bathroom, the blanket in my hands and wrapped around me as best I could. Just because I had been completely comfortable being naked with him last night, didn't mean I wanted to walk around naked all the time.

When Dimitri didn't make a move to join me in the bathroom I pouted. I moved towards him and stood in front of him. "Aren't you going to join me?"

He shook his head and was about to say something along the lines of no time. I placed a hand on his naked lower abdomen and any words he had wanted to utter were silenced.

"But you are all sticky." I demonstrated by scratching a piece of skin that indeed had crusted over a little with all kinds of fluids. He growled and then pulled away the blanket and picked me up and moved to the bathroom. He took off his pants...somewhere... and we ended in the bathtub before I could say anything else. I giggled. Apparently the General had very little control when it came to me. Good to know.

He sat with his back against the tallest piece of the bathtub and me against his chest.

"We really don't have long. He reiterated even as his hands stroked my stomach in lazily circles that did nothing to expedite the bath but did everything to expedite our hunger.

"Then maybe you shouldn't keep doing that." My voice was already strained from that mere touch. I guess I didn't have a lot of control around Dimitri either.

I let my head rest against his chest. I could feel his heartbeat at my back. My head was just a little next to his neck and I breathed in his scent. Even in the bath he smelled amazing. Strong and musky. I kissed the side of his neck and he stiffened underneath me.

"How much time do we have? Enough for…" I moved my hands over his thighs going from his knees up as far as I could reach before my own body got in the way.

He growled again and something was starting to stain against my lower back. "Rose." It was as much a warning as it was a plea. "You need to heal first."

He was right. I could feel myself getting slick with need, but I also felt a little sore. Having all of him inside me right now might exacerbate the scaffing. But there were other things we could do.

I turned around in the bath facing him. I was on my knees. I moved in between his legs for a kiss. With him sitting and me on my knees we were actually equal in height. I kissed him and he pulled me close. It was never just a kiss with him, not in the mood we were in. His tongue danced with mine.

He pulled back all too soon. "First we get clean." he said as he bent over the bathtub to get a washcloth. "Then we get dirty again."

He handed me a washcloth too. He also picked up a cup and some shampoo. "Turn around." I did as I was told and Dimitri started to wash my hair. There was no contact between us other than his hands in my hair, and I think it was deliberate. He picked up the cup and rinsed my hair. The shampoo didn't have the strong floral scent my shampoos at the concubine garden did, but it was fresh and my hair had been in need of some washing. I had felt some dried blood in there and it was a little dusty from the schoffel at the courtyard.

Funny, how I thought that meant dirty hair now. When I was with Sorokin I was glad I got to wash my hair once a week. I turned back around facing him when he was done.

He then took his washcloth and starter to scrub himself but I stopped him and shook my head. I took my washcloth and started at his chest and arms. When I dipped a little lower he hissed. I always just missed his rigid cock. I went to his thighs and back up bypassing him again to wash his abdomen. I could see his muscles flex under the strain of my cleaning. But of course what I could do, he could do. Except he didn't seem to have any problems with my intimate areas. I was on my knees again but sat up a little so I was actually taller than Dimitri. He washed my breasts and stomach and my inner thighs like I had with him, but he moved to my folds and gently brushed the cloth over them. Because I was on my knees, my knees slightly parted, he had perfect access.

I had my hands on his shoulders steadying me and he slowly built up the pressure. He lingered at the little pleasure nub, circling it twice, three times, leaving me kind of breathless, before he gave me a reprieve and moved higher. "Bastard" I muttered. He just smiled.

"I thought we didn't have time?" I asked.

He pulled me on top of him, his cock against my nub but not entering me. His hands went to my hair and he pulled me close by my hair. It was a little rough, but it spoke to the animal within me. "We'll make time."

Oh that voice. That delicious voice devoid of any higher reasoning, simply undiluted carnal pleasure. It did things to me. I moved a bit against his cock. The friction actually doing wonders for my own pleasure. If I kept this up I could come, even without him penetrating me. It also stayed clear from any rug burn I had from last night. But I wondered if it was enough for Dimitri. His eyes were molten gold and I knew he was enjoying himself. But by the state of the massively hard steel in between us he needed release too.

I rubbed myself up and down until I could feel the strain and the need for release and when I was almost there, I lifted my hip a little higher and came down hard on his cock. The water broke some of the intensity so it didn't hurt. What it did do was send a shockwave of pleasure to the both of us. I came there and then, the feeling of him inside me as I came was amazing. I could feel myself clench around him. The sudden jolt of pleasure had been enough for Dimitri too as I felt him flood me.

We were silent for a few moments coming down from our highs. I fell against his chest, deliciously spent. "Now I have to wash down there again." He chuckled and I could feel the rumbling of that in his chest.

I moved off of him and reluctantly he climbed out of the tub after cleaning himself a bit more. All six foot seven dripping delicious nakedness of him. I was almost sad when he started to dry himself off.

He went into the bedroom and I could hear some rustling. Presumably he was putting on some clothes. I got out of the bathtub myself but realized I didn't have any clothes. I had the tunic, and I had dirty panties and some scrapes of broken bodice. That is it.

A half dressed Dimitri came in and handed me my stack of clothes. I put it down on a shelf and first started to dry off. I first put a towel on my hair to keep it from dripping and started to dry my body. Once finished I looked over the pile of clothes. They weren't Dimitri's clothes. They were way too small for that. I realized they were female clothes. It seemed to be a very practical outfit. Some stretchy but form fitting pants, a top with some built in support for my breasts and a blouse for the cold and modesty, even the panties were practical. When I put the clothes on they were a little short, but with some boots on, nobody would notice, besides who would see me in this? The pants were also a little snug around my hips and the top was tight around my breasts, but not by much. Whoever this belonged to had a similar body type as me, just a little less of everything.

I couldn't imagine who would wear this and where Dimitri got these clothes from. I knew female slaves and servants usually wore dresses. Maybe this is what they wore out in the field. Maybe this was an outfit of his mother.

Once completely dressed I started to take the towel off of my head. Then I heard a knock on the door.

This was probably our visitor. I dried my hair as best as I could and combed it so it wouldn't tangle. Then I stepped outside the bathroom, still running a few fingers through my hair.

I rounded the corner so I could see who it was that had entered.

I had been very curious who Dimitri would invite into his personal quarters. There weren't many people he trusted, certainly not with me around.

Maybe my curiosity is what first stopped me from taking in the scene in front of me. Or maybe it was just shock. Because before me sitting in the chair by the library was a man I didn't know and one other person. It had been years since I had seen her, but I would recognize her anywhere.

"Mom?"