RPOV

I can't believe it. This was my first meeting with my father when I actually knew he was my father, and he hadn't even noticed me. And if that wasn't bad enough, he thought he could just waltz up to Dimitri and tell him what he should and shouldn't do with me?

I didn't let anybody tell me what to do. Not my mother, not Dimitri and certainly not my father. But Dimitri seemed to be the only one who accepted that.

I knew Dimitri was struggling with letting me go to war. I saw he was petrified of losing. I was afraid too, but I knew where I needed to be. And today I felt I could really contribute. Jumping through the air felt so natural. I suppose that was part of my Dragon heritage. I saw Dimitri had had a hard time deciding if he thought this was a good development. I knew he had reluctantly accepted my wish and his grandmother's order for me to go with them to war. But I knew what he said to Abe was true. If he had his way, I would never be put in any danger in the first place. But that wasn't me. And I was glad Dimitri didn't force me into what he wanted, instead treating me like a valuable resource in his forces.

Abe, on the other hand, hadn't gotten the message.

I threw myself onto the bed. It wasn't long before I heard footsteps coming around the corner. I had expected Dimitri to check up on me, but I what I saw was a very uncomfortable not to mention flashy clothed Dragon in human form. Abe struck me as the kind of Dragon that didn't do nervous. And the emotion now looked very foreign on him.

"Rosemarie...I"

"It's Rose, only my mother calls me Rosemarie, and I think she does it to annoy me. She knows I prefer Rose."

He nodded, wisely not siding with my mother on that, even though he was most likely involved in picking the name.

"Rose. I wanted to explain a few things."

I sat up on the bed. I crossed my legs and motioned for him to sit on a chair in front of me. I found it odd that there was a small chair meant for humans, or Dragons in human form, in a room clearly designed for Dragons, but it came in handy now.

He sat down. The movement almost seemed strange to him and I noticed that Dimitri seemed much more comfortable in his human body than Abe did. I suppose Dimitri spend more time in human form.

He was rubbing his hands, not really knowing where to start. I took mercy on him and helped him along.

"Why don't you tell me how you and Mom met, and how I ended up with a binding spell placed on me?"

He nodded. But the silence told me I didn't help much. After he had collected his thoughts for a few moments he took a deep breath and started.

"I met your mother, like all Dragons meet a human woman - while I was visiting a human tavern. Your mother was young and beautiful and fierce. She told me she was a handmaiden, but I suspected from the start that there was more to it than that. The moment she dispatched a man twice her size in the bar for trying to feel her up, I knew I was right. It was also the moment I think I fell in love with her. We spent almost every moment together for about a month. But she had to get back to her duty, and I had to get back to my own business. I was reluctant to leave her behind, but our lives were simply too far apart."

I knew the feeling. In the beginning, I thought Dimitri and I wouldn't be able to spend much time together because we both had responsibilities in our lives. I suppose it was the same for them.

"Did she know you were a Dragon at that point? Did you tell her from the start?"

He smiled. I am guessing he knew Dimitri had lied to me about being Dragon and by the smug look on his face he had handled it a bit differently with my mother.

"She did. I told her on the second night. She simply shrugged and told me she thought I was odd. She figured I wasn't human, because her first instinct with men had usually been to kick them in the balls, but she didn't have that with me."

I snorted. Not only couldn't I imagine my proper mother wording it like that, but it came eerily close to my encounter with Jesse. I didn't want to believe I had anything in common with my mother, but I had to concede on this point.

"We parted ways, and we lived our lives for a while. I didn't know where she was and I doubted she knew where I was either. One night I got nostalgic and came back to the tavern where we met. She was sitting there by the fire. She looked as beautiful as ever. As if she could sense me she turned around. A small but sad smile came across her face. When she got up, I saw the small swell of her belly and I knew in that moment the child was mine. She had just started to show. The first thing that I did was kiss her and hug her and put my hand on her belly. I felt you in that moment. You were too small for a human to feel your movements, but I could tell. From that moment forward my business wasn't the most important thing in my life anymore. You were. I would do anything to protect you."

"Like put a binding spell on me?"

He looked down at his hands, rubbing them together again.

"When I put my hand on her stomach I also felt how powerful you were. Even when you were that small. I knew the rumors of hybrids - how unstable they can become. And the more powerful you are, the more likely you are to lose control. So I went to Yeva to ask her to help me.

Once you were born, she put the spell on you. I felt the moment the spell bound your powers. It was like I could no longer see the part you inherited from me in you. Like you were cut off from me. You were human. Yeva told me my presence would weaken the hold of the spell. So I removed myself from your life. Or at least I tried too. I always kept an eye on you, protecting you from the shadows. I watched you grow up into this beautiful woman. I was always there. Even if you didn't know."

"But I did know. I just didn't know you were my father. But I knew a Dragon was watching over me."

My eyes locked with him and a smile appeared on both our faces. I suppose I hadn't had a father in almost eighteen years, but he didn't have a daughter for that time. But after this heart to heart and mushy stuff, it was time to show him some of the things I did inherit from him.

"If you have watched over me all these years, you know I have trained my entire life."

He nodded.

"If you have watched me, you will have seen me overcome countless obstacles."

He nodded again.

"If you have watched me, you will have noticed that I make my own decisions. And that ANYONE standing in my way or who tells me what to do is in for a rude awakening."

He paled a little as the words sunk in.

"If you want to build a relationship with me it is going to be on my terms. I decide what happens with my life. You have no say in it. I value your opinion, but you don't get to decide for me. I understand you and my mother made the decision for me when I was a baby, and I paid the price for that over the last eighteen years. Never fitting in; always feeling different, always feeling incomplete. I finally have that piece of me back. I am finally where I am supposed to be and I won't let anyone ruin that for me. So either get on the 'Rose is going to war' bandwagon or get out."

He just sat there, speechless. Again I don't think it happened very often.

"You can't ask me just to sit back and watch my daughter throw herself into almost certain death."

I could actually see the anguish in his eyes. I didn't know what it was like to have a child, but I knew there was nothing like the pain of losing one. And I could see the fear in his eyes. But If I gave in to him now, I would always do that.

"You can't protect me from everything. I can help people. I can help win this war. Yeva said I am crucial. I have to go."

He came a little closer and touched my cheek. The gesture was so gentle, so vulnerable; I was afraid he would crumble before me if I moved.

"I know. It doesn't mean I have to like it. Your mother was the same way. I would have supported her. I would have protected her. I wanted to take her away from the life she had. Where she had to protect someone else even if it meant her death. But like you, she was exactly where she wanted to be. Where she was needed. But you can't blame a father for wanting his daughter to take after him in that regard."

I smiled a little, although I think I take after him a lot too.

I got up as I moved past him, needing to get out of this room. The feels were starting to suffocate me. I had a strange sense Abe needed a different scene too after this emotional conversation. I suppose he didn't have these very often.

I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I suppose I will get back to training then, old man. Give myself a better chance of making it back."

He chuckled but walked me out of the room.

That afternoon was intense. My first practice session with Christian made us realize we would have to practice in a more remote region, preferably without trees around, or grass, or anything…alive. I had also been practicing the jumping. It required a delicate understanding between jumped and jumpee. And no surprise, Dimitri and I seemed to be in tune the most. I needed to jump toward the place where the Dragon was going to be, not where they were. I had nearly crashed to the ground when Mason and I were out of sync, but luckily Dimitri had caught me. He had looked horrified and I knew he had been moments away from banishing me to the rear of the battalion again, but as he had caught me, I had laughed and laughed. It was a little disturbing. But the last few days I have never felt so alive.

After a few hours of practice, Dimitri called it quits.

I was lying in the grass, the small patch still green, trying to catch my breath.

"I have a meeting with the Queen, I'll see you later."

I knew by the stormy look on his face, he wasn't looking forward to going to the queen. I nodded and waved my hand, honestly too tired to get up.

He chuckled as he walked away.

A few moments later I felt two boys lay down beside me on either side.

"You know, Rosie, I already feel safer with you by my side. You're amazing."

Mason sounded funny and seemed to be joking at first, but the last sentence contained more adoration than I was comfortable with.

I didn't know what it was with Dragons, but other than Jesse that just wanted me for the bragging rights, human boys stayed far away from me. But Dragons seemed to be attracted to me like flies. What was up with that?

"I am amazing. I also smell. I need a bath."

I got up with a loud groan, and Eddie lent me a hand so I could get up, all my earlier grace gone and replaced by the telltale gait of a person that has trained too hard and too long.

Together, we walked back.

"So Rose, where are you staying? I haven't seen you in the recruit dorm."

I cocked an eyebrow and I realized Mason didn't know. I saw Eddie shake his head behind Mason, although Mason was too focused on me to notice. Eddie seemed to have picked up on it, but Mason seemed clueless. Now I knew Mason had a little crush on me, but now I appreciated Mason thought he actually had a shot with me. The fact I always came in with Dimitri, left with Dimitri, and that he seemed particularly protective of me had apparently not registered with him.

I was about to say I was staying with Dimitri because we were together, but when Mason looked at me with big puppy dog eyes, I couldn't.

"In some private chambers in the palace."

"Cool."

Eddie gave me a look, like asking me if this was wise. But if he was so worried about it, he could tell Mason.

"Well, I'll see you guys around."

I waved them goodbye and walked towards the room. On my request, a bathtub had been delivered. There was a lake nearby where Dragons bathed but I wasn't comfortable there, and neither was Dimitri. So he had arranged for the bathtub. A rather big one, too. I noticed it was filled with scalding hot water when I walked in. He must have had it filled before he met with the Queen. He was so thoughtful.

I undressed and climbed into the bathtub, immersing myself in the heat.

The hot water washed away the dirt, grime, and ash from my body. I added a nice smelling oil which filled the room with its scent. Once I was finished, I climbed out of the bathtub and noticed the oil made me smell nice too. I was glad. I was smelling rather disgusting a moment ago.

I had just dried myself off when Dimitri walked in. His scowl turned into a smile, and then into a lustful smirk as he took in my naked form.

I sashayed over to him.

"Everything okay with the Queen?"

He nodded and sighed deeply.

"She is just nervous and with good reason. And Tasha had been berating her about leadership, so she wanted my opinion…again."

"Dimitri? About this morning…"

He put his hands up effectively silencing me.

"I know I shouldn't have said that. I know you make your own decisions. I just want you to be safe. But I am sorry."

I smiled.

"I thought it was cute. I get it. I get that putting me on the front lines is a hard decision. I also worry about you. But as long as we are together we can deal with anything. That isn't what I meant."

He cocked his eyebrow in confusion.

"I heard something about being tied up?"

His face changed instantly and a low growl erupted from his throat, so did a puff of smoke. I held out my hands in front of him and he was desperately looking around for something to tie me up with.

It didn't take long for him to find something and we moved to the bed. He was taking off his own clothes in a hurry on the way. He nearly tripped over his pants. I laid myself on the bed and stretched my hands above my head, joining them at the wrists. Dimitri bent over me as he tied my wrists together, letting his hands explore me a little on the way up.

The bed, well rock, didn't have a bedpost to tie me up to, but Dimitri quickly fixed that. He used one of his massive hands to keep my hands restrained above my head. Between his hand and the rope, I wasn't going anywhere. And why on earth would I want to?

I could feel his hard, straining cock against my inner thigh. He was kissing my neck and lapping at my ear. Sometimes he would whisper things in my ear. I couldn't understand them, but I clearly heard Roza in there a few times. His hot breath on my neck, his deep voice whispering beautiful things to me and his lips brushing against the sensitive skin on my neck and below my ear, all added to my desperation, and it wasn't long before I begged him to touch me, to take me.

He obeyed and moved one hand down towards my wet folds. He played on the rim a little, spreading my juices before he moved one finger inside, then two.

He moved them in and out at a leisurely pace at first. He quickly picked up the speed and I could feel that pressure building, but I needed a little more.

Dimitri lifted his head where he had nestled it in my hair and looked at me. His smirk was wide and I detected mischief in his eyes. What was he up to? I swear if he withdrew his fingers, now, I would drown him in the bathtub.

But he didn't withdraw his fingers. He plunged them deeper, and I could feel a strange sensation emanating from them. It felt like… oh, my god, he was heating up his fingers from the inside. The heat brought on an entirely different sensation. I could feel him everywhere, his heat penetrating my core, and spreading across my body. My toes started to tingle and I went slightly dizzy as I came hard, bucking against my restraints, throwing my head back and arching upwards.

Dimitri withdrew his fingers, grabbed his cock and lined up. In one fell swoop, he entered me and started to move within me even before my orgasm had subsided. His movements were large and frantic. I was practically screaming underneath him. I was so sensitive, and he had entered me just as my orgasm was fading, but it felt like he was just prolonging it now. He actually had to place his hand over my mouth. One hand was still restraining my wrists, the other preventing me from letting everyone know exactly what we are doing.

I was very vulnerable in this position. He had me completely immobilized. I could barely breathe with his hand covering me, but who needed air when you had a Dragon giving you the best and longest orgasm of your life? I couldn't actually tell if I came again, or just kept coming, but I suppose those were details. He buried his head in my hair, and I felt him flood me with his warm seed, letting out a loud growl. He fell on top of me spent. He did remove his hands, so I would be able to breathe again - something my body seemed to want now that it was satisfied in other areas.

"That…was…amazing."

He simply smiled at my compliment. He, too, seemed too exhausted to even talk.