Author's Note:

My chapters may be shorter throughout the summer. As much as I enjoy writing longer chapters, I know I will probably be busy. I don't think I have a lot of fans out there, but I don't want to really lose the ones I have ^.^ Maybe it will give me some chances to rack up a few more reviews to see if people like the story. It's a compromise. I'll keep updating, although the chapters will be shorter, and you guys review ;) I really don't want to take a hiatus for the summer.

Chapter 6

Dimitri had quite a time waking me up that next morning. I was exhausted and sore. It was definitely sore in a good way though. My center was sore from being stretched so well by Dimitri, and my body was sore from the amazing positions he had put me through last night. I knew that we each had jobs to accomplish today, but that didn't make it easier to wake up. With all the sex we have been having lately, it must be depleting my energy levels. I haven't always had such a hard time getting out of bed, but then again, I hadn't always had a Russian god exhausting me in and out of bed.

"Five more minutes." I grumbled, pulling the covers over my head. They made me feel like I was sleeping on a cloud.

"That's what you said five minutes ago." He countered, yanking the covers away. He was fully dressed already. It was apparent that this wasn't the first time this morning that we had this conversation.

"Ten more minutes then." I said yawning and pulling the pillow over my head. Several minutes passed, and I thought Dimitri was going to give me more time to rest. Maybe he would tell Lissa I wasn't feeling well. I didn't care, I was starting to fall back into a peaceful slumber. All of a sudden I felt arms around me, and I was soaring the air. I let out a little unexpected shriek. Dimitri held me close, and I felt his bare chest as he carried me somewhere. I wasn't sure where we were going, I was still too groggy. My mind was working slowly, and my eyes were having a hard time focusing because it was so bright. Why couldn't it still be dark so I could continue to sleep? All of a sudden a thought occurred to me. Hadn't Dimitri already been dressed? Why had he taken his shirt off? Seconds later I had my answer. I shrieked again as water started cascading down our bodies. The water was cold too.

Our new accommodations had a master bedroom with a bathroom attached, along with a guest bathroom located elsewhere. The master bathroom had a huge tub, big enough for two people, along with a walk in shower that could also accommodate more than one person. Apparently in the few minutes I had been lulling myself into a false sense of security, Dimitri had stripped off his clothing and come to turn the shower on. He had carried me right into the walk in shower, drenching both of us.

"Holy shit!" I shrieked, fighting to get out of his hold. This wasn't a very nice wake up call. My body was shocked, and I was pissed. In the midst of me fighting to get away from him, he calmly placed my feet on the tiled shower floor.

"It's about time you're awake." He said quietly. I glowered at him. I was directly under the stream of water now, facing Dimitri. He was still getting sprayed, but much more sporadically than I was. My hair was soaking wet and hung heavily on each side of my face. I continued to glare at him, not breaking eye contact, as my saturated pajamas clung tightly to my body. I had chosen to put on a white nightgown last night, and I was sure that it was currently see through. What an unplanned added bonus for Dimitri. This thought only made me angrier. My rage continued to rise when he finally broke the eye contact and his eyes scanned my wet figure. I could tell he liked what he was seeing, and I wasn't happy about it.

"There are other ways to wake up a woman than by being an asshole." I spat. Instead of being insulted, he seemed amused.

"You spurned every other attempt to awake you this morning." He said softly, with a smile in his eyes.

"What attempts? I only remember the one a few minutes ago, and this one." I asked, accusatorily. He chuckled, which didn't make me feel any better.

"I've been trying to wake you up for an hour Roza. You even pushed me away when I tried to rekindle our passion from last night." He said, his eyes twinkling. Now I certainly hadn't remembered that. A confused look must have crossed my face, because Dimitri chuckled again. Had I been that exhausted? It wasn't uncommon for us to have morning sex. It's the best way to start any day after all. It always seemed to leave me in an excellent mood. But what happened this morning? Dimitri slowly lifted his hand up to my cheek, caressing it. He continued to gaze down at me lovingly. I could slowly feel that rage melting away with each droplet of water that was hitting my head and back. Let's face it, I was basically being pelted by a waterfall every second. He reached behind me and turned the water up, making the water assaulting me become warmer by the second. I realized then that I had basically been shivering. The cold water had woken me up, and chilled me to the bone. Now my body was growing warmer, and I could feel the electricity radiating from where Dimitri was caressing my cheek.

"You realize that I'm going to have to get you back for this shower stunt." I stated, giving him one of my flirtatious smiles. That earned me back one of his genuine full smiles.

"I would expect nothing less." He murmured before bowing his head down, gently pressing his lips against mine. I could feel the electric current sparking between our lips, it was like receiving a jump start. Those lips were the road to my salvation. It took only seconds for such an innocent kiss to get hot and heavy. My body had be soaked due to the shower, but now it was my center that was awakening and moistening. My body could recognize Dimitri anywhere. My arms flew around his neck, pulling him closer to me. Would I ever be able to get enough of this man? It didn't take much urging for him to press himself against me. We backed up against the side wall in the shower. My white nightgown offered little resistance between us, and moments later Dimitri was pulling it over my head and throwing it on the ground. Our lips crashed together once again, and this time my skin was against his. It felt so sensual, so raw, so amazing. Before my mind could completely clog with lust, I remembered my responsibilities.

"Aren't we going to be late?" I asked, panting from our deep kiss. His eyes were still sparkling, and he smiled at me.

"I texted Lissa before I took you into the shower, telling her that we were going to be late." He whispered into my ear, his body pressed against mine. I could feel his excitement, which only caused my body to burn with a deeper intensity. I couldn't help but grin widely back at him before our lips crashed upon each other again. We didn't have long, but we had enough time to sate our lust for each other.

Oooooo000oooooO

When we finally made it downstairs, we found that Lissa was in the dining room, eating her breakfast. After a trip to the kitchen, I found a personal chef who was waiting for us to arrive in order to cook our meals. I just thought I would grab a banana or something. Apparently, that wasn't going to be the case. Lissa looked pleased when I came back out and sat down next to her. For now this was acceptable behavior. Guardians were currently lining the walls. Lissa was safe enough. By sitting next to her, someone would have to go through me to get to her. Lissa had wanted me to sit next to her. She had also been the one to order the chief to cook for us as well. We were best friends, so I should have been surprised. I guess I had just thought that things would change more once I was an official Guardian. In guardian training, it was customary for groups of guardians to keep eyes on each other and use eye contact to relay certain signals like all clear, stay vigilant, or danger. I found that no matter who I looked at, no one would actively look at me. The troubled look on Dimitri's face seemed to be saying the same thing. Christian was also at the table, eating his breakfast with Lissa.

"So it was a good thing I informed the guard about ignoring certain sounds coming from your suite. Apparently one of the guardians wanted to break in last night to check everything was alright." Lissa said energetically, with a wide, knowing smile. I couldn't help myself, I blushed. Glancing over at Dimitri, I think he had blushed as well.

"So, um – I guess the walls aren't more soundproof than those in my last building?" I said, stumbling through the wording a little, my cheeks still flushed. Lissa and I didn't really talk about my sex life much. She laughed at my comment openly.

"Either that, or you're just that loud." She teased, thoroughly enjoying the subject.

"From what I heard the guardians saying, Dimitri really ran her through the ropes last night." Interjected Christian. I shot him a snide look. I wasn't pleased about his eagerness to help Lissa in this moment.

"Just wait, my goal is to keep Christian up all night. I guess we will have to be louder next time, right Dimitri?" I said sweetly, looking at my boyfriend. Dimitri chuckled, while the color drained out of Christians face. It was obvious that he didn't really want to hear that. Looking up, I finally caught the eye of one of the guardians I knew well. He blushed and immediately looked away. It finally dawned on me what the problem was. Many of them had apparently heard Dimitri and me, so they couldn't look us in the eye. For some reason, I found that exceptionally amusing.

It didn't take much longer for the chef to deliver Dimitri's and my food. After eating, both of us assumed more normal guardian duties. Christian had some of his own errands to run, so Dimitri and I parted ways. It's not like it was bothersome, we didn't need to spend all day together. Lissa had several Queenly duties to fulfill, so I was left alone with my own thoughts. I couldn't get the attack out of my mind. We knew with utmost certainty that there were dissidents willing to kill in order to upheave Lissa from her throne. I had no doubt in my mind that they wouldn't be dissuaded from attempting assassination. Lissa was my charge to protect. It was more than that though, she was my best friend. Her safety was at the top of my priority list. The problem that was currently bugging me had to do with Lissa's security. We had hidden Jill, but we couldn't do the same for the queen of our society. Lissa had plans to attend Lehigh University, but it was hardly one of the secure University Campus's that Moroi usually attended. I knew she had her sights set on receiving her degree however. She wasn't going to let being a queen keep her from higher education. Finally, that evening, I had a chance to address Lissa on the topic.

"Hey Lissa, do you have a moment?" I asked, pulling myself off the wall. She looked up, smiling.

"For you? Always. You may be a guardian now, Rose, but you will always be my friend, my advisor, my confidant." She said, moving aside the paperwork she had been focusing on so diligently. I knew she was working hard to get the ball rolling on the quorum law. I fully appreciated my special guardian/advisor tactic. It had probably been quite a long time, if it had ever happened, that the best friend of the Queen was a Dhampir.

"I have some – security issues I would like to talk to you about." I said with a brief pause in the middle. It didn't escape my notice that several guardians in the room shifted uneasily. I hoped I hadn't offended them, as if they weren't good security; or maybe they shifted uncomfortably because I hadn't addressed these 'security issues' with people in charge of security. Lissa nodded, looking at me expectantly. "You know the current situation as well as I do, Liss. There are people out there right now with radical ideas willing to kill in order to get you out of office. I don't feel like Lehigh is a secure enough environment until we can get this situation under better control." I finally continued, knowing she wasn't going to like what I had to say. I was right. She looked like I had just slapped her in the face.

"So what, you want me to live my life in fear? You think I should just give up my dream of a College education until it is safer for me? I may never be safe again!" With each word, her anger seemed to increase, as did her volume. I began to wonder how much spirit was affecting her. I could no longer take the darkness from her. I hated not being able to help my best friend fight her demons that way. I still felt at a loss due to our broken bond.

"No Liss, listen to me. I know you're always going to be a target. I've been thinking about this all day. I know you can't put your life on hold indefinitely. But I also can't let you just risk your life nonsensically. Once your reign isn't as threatened by this quorum law, your life will be more stable. The dissidents may grow accustomed to your rule and the threat may lessen. Until then, I don't think you should physically attend Lehigh, but that doesn't mean I think you should give up on your dreams either. I think you should change your schedule and find online classes. That way you are still working toward your goals, yet we can still keep you safe. It's a compromise. Next semester if things have settled down, then you can attend in person. We can cross that bridge when we get there." I said fervently, looking her directly in the eyes. She didn't respond right away. She looked down, although her thoughts were turned inwards. I could tell she was turning over the thoughts in her head. "Please Liss, do this for me. Take some core classes online, and stay here. I don't want to lose my best friend." I continued, hoping to drive my point home. She looked back up at me. I ardently wished that our bond was still in place. I had been so used to hearing her thoughts, knowing her mind. I almost felt isolated from Lissa. We could be sitting right next to her, but I was used to being more intricately linked to her. I felt like I lost part of myself. She finally swallowed hard.

"Alright. I'll – I'll look into online courses. I'm sure this quorum law could get changed faster if I am here to work on it than being away at Lehigh. This hasn't been easy on any of us." She said quietly, as if still lost in her own thoughts. I knew Lissa had a lot to handle. Not only was she Queen of the vampiric world and had to run our society, she has to deal with being in a dying family. The weight of her family heritage rest on hers and Jill's shoulders. Not only does Jill add to her list of things to deal with, but Christian and school. I can only imagine the amount of pressure she is currently under at the moment. Lehigh might have been an escape for her, but it was a risk I couldn't let her take just yet. Lissa is my best friend, and there was no way I was going to let her be in excess danger, if I could prevent it.

The rest of the day went smoothly, and soon we fell into a routine. Dimitri and I spent every night together. During the day we worked our separate duties, although sometimes we got to spend time together. I had to keep reminding myself to stay vigilant. There are dangers out there, Strigoi and Moroi.