RPOV
"He means can I teleport to a specific person." I answered Dimitri's question calmly. "Like you."
"I'll deal with you in a minute." I said pointing and glaring at my father. I could see the resemblance, he even had my trademark smirk. "You!" I turned back to Dimitri growling. "I've got a bone to pick with you."
Dimitri quickly rose from the chair he was sitting in and started to back towards the door, hands raised in a calming gesture. I narrowed my eyes and froze him in place.
"I'm not done with you." I ground out before turning back to my father. I stuck a sweet smile on my face, which he grinned widely at. "Abe, do you have a place where Guardian Belikov and I can have a nice, private chat? I've just got some personal matters I want to discuss with him."
"Upstairs, second door on your right." He responded immediately. I gave a quick nod and dropped my smile back to a snarl before turning back to a still frozen Dimitri. I felt his panic and reveled in it. I flung the office door open and dragged Dimitri out behind me.
I was vaguely aware of the huge expanse of a house before I stomped up the stairs with Dimitri in tow. I followed Abe's directions, which led me to a decent sized bedroom. I chose to ignore the bed and placed Dimitri in a desk chair across the room and started pacing in front of him. He was fighting my control, but I was too angry to let him go.
"You're going to sit there and listen to what I have to say before I let you go." I paced for a few moments longer before starting. I was angry, but my anger was starting to fade now that I've seen him but not enough to let him explain before I started ranting.
"I can't believe you were just going to leave me. You weren't even going to talk to me about it, you were just going to leave. I doubt that Stan knew anything. It's just the kind of person he is. He's not exactly intelligent, but he likes to screw with people's minds and this was a way to screw with yours."
He was fighting my control more and I think he could probably feel it weakening because he fought harder.
"You told me you loved me, but you just left. Do you know how I felt? How much it hurt to see you walk away? I love you, Dimitri! And you just left me there, with them!" I was aware that he had gained control, but the tears were already pouring down my face when he wrapped his arms around me. "You were the only person keeping me safe there. And you left." My voice was a whisper when I finished.
"I'm so sorry, Roza. I didn't mean to upset you, and I especially didn't mean to make you cry. I just thought that if I left, it would give you a greater chance of getting by undetected." He said placing soft kisses in my hair, rubbing soft circles on my back comfortingly.
"But with you leaving they would have come to me asking questions and would want to know all that I knew about you. Your leaving put me in danger, too."
"I'm sorry, Roza." He cupped my face in his large hands and stared into my eyes. "I'm here now, and you're with me. That's all that matters."
I don't know where all my anger went, but I wasn't angry anymore. Then the realization spread.
"Damn you, Dimitri Belikov!" I pushed him away. "You manipulated my emotions."
There was no calming my anger now, but he stepped closer to me again.
"Roza." He purred out.
"No! Don't touch me!" I backed away from him, but ended up backing into a wall, and he was still coming closer.
"I love you, Roza." His voice was almost hypnotic, I tried to fight it, but the truth was hard to fight. He closed the space between us as I continued to fight him off.
His index finger tilted my chin up so my eyes met his. There were so many emotions that shone in his eyes, but love was the brightest. I got lost in his chocolate brown eyes, and before I knew it, he was kissing me, and I was kissing him back.
I threw my arms around his neck, pulling him closer to me. His arms slid around my waist and lifted me up. I instinctively wrapped my legs around his hips and was rewarded with a soft growl. He was moving, but I didn't know to where, and I didn't care.
He placed me gently down on the bed and moved himself to where he was hovering over me, never breaking the kiss, but not maintaining contact with our bodies. I pulled back to get more air into my lungs. Dimitri lowered his head to nestle into my neck, placing soft kisses there and interspersing gentle nips.
My body craved more contact. My legs still wrapped around his hips, I pulled myself up to where I wasn't touching the bed below me. I was wrapped around him, hanging there. With one arm still around his neck, keeping me in place, my other hand moved to his chest and started unbuttoning his shirt. My hand lingered on his smooth skin, trailing downward.
"BELIKOV!" A voice came bellowing from below. I dropped from Dimitri as he flung himself off the bed, landing with a thud. Quickly recovering, he rushed out the door, trying to button his shirt as he went. "What were you doing with my daughter?" Abe's voice reached my ears and I rolled my eyes.
'Great timing, Dad.' I thought.
"Um...nothing, sir." Dimitri responded as I exited the bedroom. He was looking sexy, top two buttons still undone, hair slightly messy from me running my fingers through it. "We were just talking." I fought off a very un-ladylike snort.
"We were making out, Dad." I declared, rolling my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest leaning against the doorway.
"Okay, yes. We were making out…" Dimitri started before I interrupted him.
"And we were well on our way to something more, before those two blew it for us." I glared at Eddie and Mia, who had the sense to look a little contrite.
"Don't blame them." Abe defended.
"Oh, so you're telling me that you figured out we were getting hot and heavy all by yourself?" I questioned sarcastically. "Listen, Old Man. This might be your house, but it's my life that you haven't been a part of. You sent me Dimitri, so this is really your fault."
"I didn't intend for him to fall in love with you." Abe growled, glaring at Dimitri, as he moved closer to me, probably for protection. "He was just supposed to keep the Guardians from figuring out all you could do."
"Why would you do that? How did you even find out about me?" I asked. "Mom ran away from you and hid me." He fought a flinch but it still showed.
"I keep tabs on the Guardians. I have a friend on the inside that relays any important information that I need to know. When you showed up in the compound, she gave me a call. I told her I was going to be sending a new recruit and his process needed to be expedited and for him to be assigned to only you." He explained. "I tracked down Belikov here and told him he had to protect my daughter. He didn't question it, he just went."
"I've never met a female Guardian. Who is your friend?"
"Her name is Tatiana Ivashkov. She's not a Guardian, but she is in charge of the Guardian Program. She oversees everything."
"And why would she help you?"
"She comes from a long line of Spiriteds. She infiltrated the government and worked her way to the position she holds now. She herself is not Spirited, but she has a few relatives that are and she's kept them hidden for decades."
"Well, what are we going to do now? I destroyed the compound, so there aren't any more Guardians. Problem solved, right?"
"I wish that were true. The compound you destroyed was one of many worldwide. Tatiana is not the one running the show. She has a superior who had made it their mission to round up as many Spiriteds as possible. From what she's told me, he's looking for a specific power, but he hasn't found it yet."
"Who's her boss?"
"Victor Dashkov."
"I knew a Dashkov, once." Christian said. "A Natalie Dashkov, I believe."
"His daughter." Abe explained, looking at him more closely. "You said you were an Ozera?"
"Yep."
"Any relation to a Natasha?"
"Tasha?" Christian asked. "Yeah, she's my aunt."
"Your aunt? She's working with Victor." Abe provided. "When's the last time you saw her?"
"It's been before my parents were killed."
"Probably because she was in on the plot to have them killed." Abe said solemnly. "She has a large burn scar on most of her face because of the fire you set."
Christian looked stunned. The emotions playing were a mix of anger, betrayal, and uncertainty.
"Why would she help kill my parents?" He asked after a few moments.
"They were harboring Spiriteds. Well, at least that's the story she'd told the public." Abe explained, the rest of us were silent. I think Dimitri was still scared Abe might kill him, but the rest of us just didn't know what to say. "Your father was Spirited himself, but he didn't use his power ever, avoiding the government's notice, but he helped where he could. Dashkov is looking for a specific ability and hasn't found it yet. I'm not sure he'll ever find it, but now that The Academy is gone, he'll probably be looking harder for you, Rose." Abe turned his attention to me, leaving Christian to process the new information.
"Now that you've shown you're more powerful than any of the Guardians thought, he'll be coming for you. I don't know how he plans to find you, but I have no doubt he will."
"What do you suggest we do?" I asked.
"I'm not sure, yet. We will need to have a discussion, but for now, it's late." He said looking over at a clock on the wall, it was approaching 9 p.m. Not late, really, but I was exhausted from the journey here and from Dimitri manipulating my emotions. "There are a few bedrooms on this floor and some on the floor above us. The only people I care about when it comes to sleeping arrangements are Dimitri and Rose." He declared glaring at Dimitri.
"Don't worry, Dad. We'll be sleeping in separate beds." I said, appeasing him.
"I don't know about clothing, though. Dimitri brought his stuff, but none of the rest of you did. I have things that might fit Christian, Eddie, and Mason. But nothing for you ladies." He said apologetically. "I can have things brought to the house tomorrow morning, though, so all we have to find is sleepwear."
"Dimitri has a shirt I can wear, right, Comrade?" I asked turning to look at him.
"Of course, Roza." He said smiling down at me, he bowed his head as if to kiss me, but remembered my father was watching him and stopped.
"Would a sleep shirt do for you two, also?" Abe turned to Lissa and Mia, both nodded. "Wonderful. You guys get some sleep tonight and we'll start planning in the morning."
Abe disappeared into a room toward the end of the hall and returned with a stack of clothes. He distributed the pile amongst my six friends. Dimitri had slipped downstairs and was returning with his packed duffle bag. He pulled out a shirt and handed it to me with a loving look.
"Thanks, Comrade." I mumbled, suddenly very tired.
"There are two bathrooms on each floor should you decide to shower. Extra toothbrushes are in one of the drawers." Abe explained before bidding us all goodnight. When he was out of sight and the door to his room closed, Dimitri engulfed me in his arms, bringing his lips to mine.
"I love you, Roza." He kissed the tip of my nose. "Sleep well. Goodnight."
He released me and gently pushed me back into the room we'd just come out of. The bedclothes were still rumpled and I pushed to images of Dimitri hovering over me to the back of my mind as I stripped out of my dirty pajamas and pulled Dimitri's shirt over my head. I laid back on the bed and took a deep breath. His smell enveloped me and lulled me to sleep.