AN: Once again thank you to everyone that has left reviews, anyone that writes can relate it is the best feeling in the world to see the feedback! One thing I should have mentioned in my ANs or maybe even in the story description is that the characters are going to often be OOC, especially Dimitri, and the spicy scenes . . . are going to be veeery spicy. So again this isnt suitable for anyone under the age of 18.

I hope everyone enjoys!

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Rose pov

We eat at the couch so I could prop my foot up on the coffee table and ice my knee and take turns asking each other questions comfortably.

He's so large he looks like he's sitting in doll furniture and I can't help but giggle.

"Was your mom on roids when she was pregnant with you or something?"

He smirks and shakes his head, "My sisters always teased me that I was changeling, switched at birth. If I annoyed them they would run outside to the woods near our home calling out to the fae to take me back."

I laugh freely, imagining a young Dimitri chasing his sisters, begging them to not let the fae kidnap him.

I tell him how close I am to Lissa and her family, about my mom; who turns out he's also met multiple times and even did a mission together where he received his Zvezda, a tattoo of a four point star that dhampirs get when a battle occurs and the number of strigoi kills can't be accurately accounted for.

"Where did you learn that move you did on Igor?" Dimitri asks, his tone very impressed.

I smirk, "UFC."

"Ahh, so I'm going to assume that you have a very unorthodox style compared to most of your peers."

I shrug, "Yeah, you could say that. I've never been the biggest or strongest so I've had to adapt, be unpredictable."

"Tell me about your family," I change the subject, dying to know more about him.

He smiles big and wide and I can see clear as day the love he holds for them.

"Well, you already met Vika, she's the youngest and we have two older sisters, Karolina and Sonya. Karolina has two kids, Paul who's five and Zoya is three months old. They both live with my mother Olena and grandmother Yeva in our home village in Baia that's just about 45 minutes from here by train."

He pulls his phone out from his duster pocket hanging from the arm of the sofa and shows me pictures of them and my heart clenches seeing all of them and their smiling faces, the family resemblance clear as day.

"These were actually taken yesterday, I went to visit them before coming here and that's when Yeva told me about you."

I gush over a picture of him with his nephew sitting on his shoulders, every iota of estrogen in my body threatening to drown me.

"Oh, gosh, what would the rest of them think about us . . . about her visions? Would they approve? Do they already know?"

Dimitri chuckles, "Are you kidding me, Yeva dropped the bomb at the dinner table for all of them to hear. My sisters were calling me out for not having a girlfriend and Yeva said I would very soon. They were ecstatic, my mother cried tears of joy."

I giggle, relieved, and feel myself blush, happy that I may be accepted easily enough.

"What about your family . . . it is rare for Moroi to claim their Dhampir children like that . . . oh fuck!" Dimitri exclaims, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"It finally settled in who my father is, huh?"

He doesn't say a word, just nods, making me laugh for the hundredth time tonight.

"Don't worry too much, Comrade, as long as he finds out in a . . . dignified manner, he'll be okay with us."

"I doubt that."

"Trust me, yes, he's got an edge to him, to say the least, but he just wants me to be happy. It's my mother you really have to worry about. But wait, how do you know him?"

Dimitri puts his bowl down on the coffee table and sighs, running a hand through his hair.

"He bailed me out of jail when I was 13."

I bolt upright, shocked as hell. "What? Why?"

He eyes me for a second, searching for something.

I scoot closer to him and rub his cheek like he had mine by the fireplace.

"You can trust me, Dimitri, but if it's not something you want to talk about, I understand. My dad said you're honorable and that can be enough for now."

His eyes lose some of their hardness and I think he finds what he was looking for in my words.

"Me and all my sisters have the same father. He's a royal and he liked my mother," He laughs humorlessly, "and would visit us often. At first he promised my mother the world and treated her well but once she was pregnant with Karolina he changed. He began to be violent with her. Small stuff at first but by the time I could remember anything about him, he would beat her so badly she'd sometimes need weeks to recover. No one could convince her to stop letting him come by anymore because with us kids she was reliant on the money he provided. On my 13th birthday he came over, drunk and angry and began beating my mother in front of me. By this time I was already bigger than him and excelling in my combat classes . . . "

"Please, tell me you beat the hell out of him." I beg, gripping his arm, pain scouring my heart listening to what he and his family endured.

"I did. I lost all control. I beat him so badly he almost died and I was arrested, sent directly to one of the worst prisons in Russia."

"Tarasov? I ask, my heart threatening to beat out my chest.

He nods. "My mother had tried to go to a bailman, but the courts blocked it and instead met your father through a mutual friend. He was well known even back then and she asked for his help. I don't know why or how, but he was able to get me out, all charges were dropped and we never heard from my father again."

By the end of his retelling I'm clutching his arm even tighter, tears welling in my eyes.

I have a very good idea of why they never heard from his piece of shit father again. My Baba is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but he loathes the abuse of women and children.

"Oh, Dimitri . . . I'm so sorry."

He smiles sadly at me and rubs my leg.

"It's okay, it was a long time ago and we've moved on from it. It's funny how things work out isn't it, that I would have this connection to the daughter of the man that kept me out of prison for the rest of my life."

I smile and stroke his arm looking at him in a whole new light.

"I always figured I'd end up with a guy that has a wrap sheet." I joke to lighten up his spirit and luckily it works.

We laugh and find ourselves inching closer and closer until our lips meet again, soft and slow, finding an intoxicating rhythm that makes the butterflies in my stomach flutter with a new intensity. My hands are buried in his hair and he's rubbing everywhere he can reach. Which is everywhere.

"We should stop, Roza." He mumbles against my lips.

"Not a sex on the first night, kinda guy?"

He looks deep into my eyes while brushing hair from my forehead and answers honestly, "Not with someone I want to get to know fully."

A part of my heart aches at hearing he's had other relationships, and one night stands it seems, but the bigger part of me is appreciative of the honesty and if I'm being really honest, it's reassuring to know he wants to get to know me and doesn't just want sex.

"What are we going to do, Dimitri?"

He thinks for a long moment, absentmindedly stroking my legs.

"As hard as it'll be, and as much as I don't want this, no one can know about us . . . but I'm positive my sisters have already filled Vika in on what my babushka has said, not having any clue that you are a student."

I nod and look at him sheepishly.

"Mikhail will probably also figure it out as well, Rhonda is his aunt and he eavesdropped on my reading."

Dimitri blows out a breath and runs a hand through his hair.

"Okay, so we need to keep it to just them, no one else can be allowed to even suspect . . . can Mikhail be trusted?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure, we're not very close . . . I'll have to talk to him if he starts to suspect anything. And by talk I mean threaten."

Dimitri smiles, his dimples popping out again making my stomach do a flip flop.

I want to ask him if he's heard anything screwy going on behind the scenes of the trials but can't bring myself to do it. I want tonight to get to know him and leave all the rest of the heavy for tomorrow.

Before I could ask him anything else my phone rings, looking at the caller ID I see it's my mom.

"Oh, no . . . Hi, mom," I put the phone to my ear, hoping I don't sound guilty of getting eaten out by my older mentor. If anyone would know what that sounded like in someone's voice it would be Janine Hathway that could sniff it out.

"I've been waiting to hear from you about the first trial! How did it go?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry, I thought Baba would have told you."

"Your father was there? Did you punch him for me, like I told you to?"

I roll my eyes, laughing despite myself, Dimitri grinning as well, "No, sorry, Pavel would have kicked my ass."

"Wuss. Now tell me all about it!"

I put her on speaker seeing as Dimitri can hear anyways.

"It was wild, Mom, we were randomly selected to go one-on-one and the losers were sent home! Wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, kick rocks! I'm on my way back to St. Vlads now . . ." I wink at Dimitri.

"What the feck did you just say, Rosemarie?!" Oh god, the Scottish accent is really coming out.

"Just joking, chill out, Red, you should know me better." I say deadpan, knowing it'll piss her off.

"Oh, my lordt in heaven, I almost fecking fainted." She moans, "Don't give me a fright like that, a bhobain, now tell me everything, I don't want to wait for the recordings!" I smile at the glee in her voice. My mom has an extreme temper, argo why I call her Red, that and her flaming red hair, but her love is always present too. Most people don't want the pressure of filling in their parents' shoes, but I love it. I know I'm going to be as great as her in time.

"I was awesome, Mom! There were no sparring rules and to win we had to knock out our opponents twice. We'll I was like the 11th or 12th match and some douchebag from here at St. Basils who was ranked #1 as well was my opponent and he made a comment about not wanting to fight against a bitch, and the guy was tall too, that's important cause to make up for our height difference he was crouching super low-"

"Oh, what a little fool!" Mom interjects, making me and Dimitri grin again.

"I know, right! So as soon as they said to begin, I ran and did a flying knee and caught him square in the chin! He started bleeding and was out cold. It was so bad, he couldn't continue to the second round and I won. The whole thing took like less than 10 seconds."

"Serves that little bastard right, what was his name? I'm going to speak to his mother!"

I roll my eyes, my smile never leaving me, "I don't think that's necessary, Ma, I think the jaw reconstruction will teach him a lesson."

"Mmhm, we'll have to see."

"Anyways, we were scored and re-ranked and I ranked number #1 and had first pick of who I wanted to be my mentor for the rest of the competition."

"Oh, that is fantastic, love! Who did you choose?"

"Dimitri Belikov, ever heard of him?" I ask, glancing at him, his hands kneading my calf.

"Oh, aye! Do you remember the den raid we did in Alaska?"

"Yeah, that was a few years ago. It was one of the few times Guardians were able to do a legit raid and take the offensive against strigoi, right?"

"Aye, love, he was on my team. I must admit, with his young age and huge size, I had written him off as another lumberjack that was going to be reckless and get in my way, but he proved me wrong for sure. You would never expect someone that tall and muscular to be so graceful and thoughtful but he had the most kills, I believe, and saved another guardian that was being jumped by four at a time."

"Holy shit, really?" I ask breathlessly as his hands travel farther up my thigh.

"Language, Rosemarie, but yes. Excellent choice, darling."

"Baba thought so, too."

"What that man thinks is of no concern to me!" She says in a haughty tone.

"Mhhm, we'll I gotta go, mom, it's getting late, I'll talk to you soon."

"Okay, darling, I love you. Give me a call tomorrow, I'd like to speak to Guardian Belikov."

Ugh.

"Okay, will do. Love you, bye."

I hang up the phone and Dimitri lets out a laugh.

"Well, that was interesting, glad to see I made a good impression but sad to hear what she first thought of me."

I pat his hand, "Don't be offended, it's near impossible to change her stubborn ass mind so my mom judges extra harshly and actually loves when people prove her wrong."

He nods his head, "Yeah, that sounds like the woman I met, and she doesn't like your father?"

I snort and shake my head, "No, she's totally in love with my father. It's actually kinda sad, they had me when my mom was 17 and he was 18 but even then he'd already been groomed by his father to take over the "family business". My mom had planned to be his guardian but then I came along and they thought the danger was too much so they tried long distance and it didn't exactly work out. I don't even really know the full story but now so much time has passed . . . " I wave a hand not really knowing what to say but a deep sadness taking over me. They could have been together and happy this whole time.

Dimitri and I look at each other, and I know he's thinking the same thing as me.

We lean in to each other at the same time, like magnets, kissing like we need to to survive. We don't try to go further, knowing this isn't the moment but feeling his arms wrap around me and his lips against mine, I know it's just a matter of time.

We wind up with me on my back on the small couch and his upper body on top of me again and we kiss gently, but deeply, and I'm yet again struck by Rhonda's words. Masculine is an understatement but we'll go with it. So erotically masculine it makes a very primal part of me awaken in a whole new way I've never experienced before.

We kiss and explore each other for what feels like hours but when our touches become less gentle and more demanding, his hands kneading my breasts so expertly it makes me start to rub against him again and I know we need to pause or there would be no going back.

"We should head to bed." I whisper and hate myself for it.

He pulls back, breath ragged, and nods, "You're right."

We don't stop right away, unable to let go of this feeling quite yet, but temper ourselves. After a few moments he pulls away from our kiss, stroking the side of my face and looking at me like I'm the most precious thing he's ever seen.

A plethora of emotions awaken in me and tears spring to my eyes.

Seeing this, he smiles softly and kisses each of my eyelids with a gentleness that takes my breath away.

"I know, Roza, I know."

Nothing else needs to be said, or can be really. There isn't a single word in any language to even begin to navigate the insane situation that we've found ourselves in.

We clean up our dishes side by side in a comfortable silence and he walks me to my bedroom, kissing me at the threshold but not entering, his tongue expertly playing with mine one last time, making my knees weak, before letting me go and telling me good night.

"Goodnight." I sigh back, gently closing the door, hating that I can't invite him in to do all the things my mind and body are screaming at me to do.

Once I'm alone though, exhaustion seeps into my body and despite the fact that all I want to do is crawl into bed and pass out, I do my night routine. Lotion up every inch of my body, do my skin care regimen, hair care and put my hair in a silk bonnet and let my mind wander to thoughts of him and of what tomorrow may hold.

I fall asleep with a smile on my face that hasn't existed for a long time.

AN: Please review!