Updates may be a little slower after today...I pick up my first baby, Maggie, tomorrow. She is an eight week Sheppard mix pup 3

Happy Valentine's Day to me and the fiancee. And to all of you

DPOV

I knocked on the familiar door, knowing that someone had to awake by now. The sun was starting to rise over the water, casting the lake house in a pink and gold glow. I could hear footsteps coming down the hall, but they were so light I knew who it was before he opened the door.

"Hi, Gabriel," I said with a smile.

"Good morning, Guardian Belikov," he joked as he stepped aside for me to come in. I stepped inside and waited for him to shut the door. Gabriel gestured for me to follow him and he led me upstairs. I expected to stay in the boat house, but there was a guest room on the other side of Gabriel's.

"We didn't think that you should have to rough it out in the boat house like an outsider," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, that is much appreciated," I retorted in jest as I set my bag on the dresser, "Is anyone else awake?"

"No, this one is sleeping like it's her job. I think Mikey might be up now. He wasn't in his room when I walked by earlier," Gabriel explained jerking his thumb towards Rose's room. I nodded and followed him down the hall. He stepped into his room and closed the window that he had opened. His room was very clean and organized, nothing out of place. There wasn't much decoration wise, but there was a photo on his nightstand.

Gabriel noticed my gaze and smiled softly and icked it up, holding it out to me.

"My Ma," he said softly. I took the frame and looked at the photo, a small smile coming to my lips. It was him and a woman. He was younger, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old. Definitely before the lycanthropy genes became active. His hair was long, falling into his green eyes while the woman stood behind him, her arms wrapped around his shoulders.

She looked so much like her. They had the same smile and eyes. Her eyes were blue though, the same kind of blue that I saw when his wolf vision was in use.

"She's beautiful," I said softly as I handed it back to him.

"She really was," Gabriel said softly as he looked down at the photo, "She was the greatest."

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking? Rose said that she passed very suddenly."

Gabriel nodded and set the frame back down on the nightstand.

"We were mugged. She stepped between me and a bullet. I don't know if it was stress or coincidence, but I started my partial phases that night," he said as he rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, "We didn't have a lot. They wanted my dad's watch that she wore."

"I'm sorry," I offered earnestly, "How old were you?"

"Fifteen," he said with a shake of his head, "I've never had the heart to ask Rose if she stuck around. A part of me wants to know, and a part of me doesn't."

"What was her name?"

A smile grew on his lips again.

"Savannah-May," he said, "She was born in Alabama and met my dad in Chicago. He left before I was born. I never knew why and Ma never liked to talk about it."

I nodded and canted my head to the side. Gabriel cleared his throat and lead me down the stairs and into the kitchen. He went to the coffee pot and pulled two mugs out from the cupboard above.

"How is Michael doing?" I asked and accepted a coffee from Gabriel once we were at the island.

"He's doing better. Still a little freaked out at night, but he's been better," he explained, cutting himself short as Michael walked into the kitchen.

"Hey, kid," Gabriel smiled. Micheal wasn't completely awake, even with his hair wet from the shower. He blinked as he stumbled to the fridge before he turned, his brows coming together.

"Guardian Belikov?"

"You can call me Dimitri, Michael," I said with a soft smile.

"I didn't know that you were coming back."

I raised my brows. "You didn't know it was me?"

He shook his head and opened the fridge to get one of his smoothies.

"We just knew someone was coming back. We didn't know who," he explained and I nodded with a smile. Gabriel smiled at Michael as he drank more of his coffee, the rest of the house starting to wake. Emily and Bryce greeted me with smiles, Tilda and Sheila squeezing my shoulder as they passed. Martin clapped my shoulder as he passed by, welcoming me back to the house.

It wasn't until Michael was leaving for school that Rose woke up, looking slightly miserable as she walked into the kitchen.

"I haven't seen that face since I started making you run laps in the morning," I mused. Rose stopped in her tracks, not being able to see me from where I was sitting but I could see her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm the liaison," I said with a smile. Rose's scowl disappeared and she came around the island, leaning into me with a hug. It was sluggish and tired, her arms jerking as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders.

"Hi," she yawned.

I set my mug down and wrapped an arm around her waist, hugging her gently.

"Morning," I said and let go after a moment.

She yawned again and nodded at me as she went for the coffee pot, sloppily pouring herself a cup.

"What is your plan for the day?"

"Jerry," she yawned again and took a sip, "He's going to go over more technics for prevention. Mostly to give myself the ability to have a moment alone," she explained, leaning against the counter before standing up and reaching above the stove for the cabinet. She rooted around for a moment before pulling a white bottle out.

"Are those helping?"

She shrugged. "They help with the volume in a way. It doesn't feel like someone's stuck an amp next to me anymore. They make me feel a little off, but it's better than the overwhelming sounds."

I nodded and slid my eyes towards Gabriel for a millisecond. I knew that even if she was talking it up, he'd confirm it because he cared about her. He sharply nodded and I smiled at her.

"I'm glad it's helping," I said. Rose nodded again and popped the pill into her mouth. We kept up an easy conversation before the front door opened, Jerry calling out to us. Gabriel told him where to find us and Rose looked almost disappointed at his arrival.

Rose seemed very puzzled and perplexed. Her eyes were squinted as she focused on it. It was clear that what she was focusing on was spiritual, but she was perplexed.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand you," she said a moment, wincing back as if the ghost she was speaking to spoke too loud.

"I don't speak that language. I'm sorry," she tried to explain but held her hands up after a moment, "God! You're as stubborn as Yeva."

I snorted to myself, remembering that she had met my babushka, but she tilted her head slightly.

"You know that name? Yeva?"

I turned towards her, my tongue between my teeth as I watched her. We all were. But Yeva was a fairly common name.

"Nikandry?"

"Nikandr?" I asked. Rose's eyes grew.

"I think that's his name," Rose said, "Except I don't know what he's saying. I don't know if it's Polish or Ukrainian or Russian."

Rose sighed. "Vladimir?"

Rose screwed her face up. "Radimir?"

That name caught my attention. "Radimir?"

"Yeah, he's gesturing to a baby?" she said, her arms rocking in the motion of cradling a child, "And now he's pointing at you and saying deduska."

I asked in Russian if he had a son named Radimir and a daughter named Olena. Judging by the reaction she had, I was correct.

"He's just saying ya. What did you ask him?" she asked me.

"He's my grandfather," I said, "My Moroi grandfather. My babushka lost my mother's twin, Radimir when he was young to smallpox. My grandfather was killed by a Strigoi when my mother was fifteen."

Rose nodded and blew out a breath, seeming to end the conversation with my maternal grandfather. I leaned back on the couch and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Can I ask you something?"

Rose made notes in the notepad she had with her. I wasn't sure what it was for, but she always carried it with her.

"Sure."

"And not mention it to Gabriel?"

Rose looked up and smirked at me.

"He's not my keeper. I don't have to tell him anything. Why, what's up?"

"It's probably just my curiosity…can he hear us?"

"No, he went out with Sheila," she said as she crossed her arms over her chest, "What?"

"He told me about his mother this morning," I said and she knew where I was going. She smiled tightly and nodded her head.

"You want to know if she's been around?"

"Curiosity killed the cat," I mused. Rose sat beside me and shrugged.

"She has. She comes and goes. Usually, I just see her standing beside his bed while he sleeps. We've spoken once, but she begged me not to tell him. She's got quite the southern twang," she said with a small smile, "She misses him, and he misses her."

"Where did he go after she died?"

"He went into the system. He went into a foster family that was nice enough, but once he turned eighteen that was it. He was on his own after that. I think his foster sister emails him every few weeks. But it was hard to hide the whole wolf thing," she explained tiredly, "He deserved better than that."

I nodded. Nobody deserved that.

RPOV

Without the other Guardians here, Dimitri fit in perfectly. It was almost as if he was meant to be a part of our hodge-podge family. I think that Martin was secretly thrilled that there was someone else who enjoyed cooking as much as he did.

It seemed that there was a lot about Dimitri that I didn't know. I only got to see pieces of him at the Academy, and at Court, but this was a completely different person. And I loved seeing how free he was. There was a level of coolness he had to himself now. Not in the sense that he was cold, but that nothing truly phased him. He was relaxed and smiled most of the day. He wasn't subjected to wearing a Guardians uniform here, and so it meant that he needed to buy more casual clothes.

I wasn't sure who was more excited to subject him to an afternoon of shopping, him or Emily.

She was chomping at the bit, stating that his causals were too much like his uniform and that he needed to 'liven up' his style. He still kept his style neutral darks, but it was more him. And I wasn't too proud to admit that I loved the colour of dark green on him, almost as much as I looked the maroon.

We had all gotten into a comfortable rhythm. After everyone left, the house sat down and went over what information we had. What the Moroi were looking for, what they thought they could weaponize. Tilda thought that it would be a good idea for Emily to try and get tabs on Jordan, simply so we knew where he was. Or at least that he was still off the grid.

I leaned against the railing on the deck and watched the two figures on the beach. Gabriel and Dimitri had clicked so easily, and it was relieving to know that their relationship wasn't something I needed to stress about.

I came down the stairs and crossed my arms, smirking to myself as I watched the two.

"I feel like the third wheel to this bromance!" I called out with a laugh. Dimitri caught the football and grinned at us while Gabriel approached him, wrapping his arms around him with a large grin.

"It's okay, Rose. When this goes south, you still get custody of me in the end!" he exclaimed while hugging Dimitri enough to lift him off his feet. It was comical to see someone lift Dimitri off his feet, and Dimitri looked mildly uncomfortable but laughed either way.

I shook my head but smiled at the light-heartedness.

"Have you ever thrown a football?" I asked Dimitri. He rolled his eyes at me but didn't deny it. I raised my brows at him and walked closer, the sand kicking up with my flip-flops.

"Have you?"

Dimitri threw the ball back, purposefully not dignifying me with an answer. I looked at Gabriel and jutted my chin at him. Gabriel smirked at me and threw the ball to Dimitri.

"No, Roza. I've never thrown a football before today," he said dryly and my jaw dropped.

"Are you screwing with me?"

"He's not," Gabriel interjected and I squealed a laugh before joining them, the three of us spread out on the beach. It wasn't long until Emily, Bryce and Michael joined us, and we all spit into teams.

"That's not fair! Rose and Gabriel on the same team is bullshit!" Bryce whined.

"We have Michael," I pointed out, but I knew that the kid could run. He was on the track team last year. Only me and Gabriel knew that. the air was still cool for May, but after an hour or two of running around on the beach, I had worked up a sweat.

I gestured to Michael to throw me the ball as I ran up the beach. He threw an almost perfect pitch throw and I jumped to catch it. I started running towards the fake goal post when something caught my eye, Victor.

I stopped dead in my tracks and barely noticed when another body collided with me. We rolled through the sand, and when we came to a stop, my eyes were still trained on where I saw him.

"Rose? What's wrong?"

"Victor?" I whispered and then looked up into familiar brown eyes.

"Victor?"

"When did Victor Dashkov die?" I asked as I sat up, Dimitri sitting me up as he crouched in front of me. I heard footsteps behind me and a hand rested on my shoulder. I didn't need to look behind me to know. I could feel who it was. It was uncanny how similar the bond between me and Gabriel was compared to the one with Lissa. Except, it wasn't one-sided and I didn't get sucked into Gabriel's head.

"I…I don't know. I could check with Croft when we get back to the house. I didn't hear anything when I checked in," Dimitri said softly, "Did you see him?"

I nodded and pointed towards the rock formation off the side of the house.

"He was standing right there," I whispered as I stood up, dusting the sand off my butt. Dimitri and Gabriel shared a look but I shook it off, brushing off my worry and faking my interest in getting back to the game.

I tapped my finger against my knee as I watched the water roll against the shore. I took my meds this morning but the ghosts still seemed too strong today.

Maybe just this one in particular. At least with the meds, I could mute them better. I could control the voices, but the images were harder to ignore. I knew that they would never go away, but I envied Jerry's ability to make them in the background of my focus. They were always there.

I looked up when Gabriel sat down, smiling at him and bumping his shoulder with mine.

"Hi," I whispered.

"Hey. You okay?"

I shrugged. "Are any of us okay?" I asked sarcastically.

Gabriel's lips quirked up and cocked his head from side to side.

"Is Victor the one that tortured you through Lissa?"

I bit my lip and nodded.

"Yeah. And now the crazy bastard is dead and knows that I can see him. Yay me," I said sarcastically with a fist pump.

Gabriel frowned and rested his elbows on his knees. I sighed and looked at him, my brows furrowing as I watched the muscles in his bicep spasm. I rested my hand on the muscle and could feel it ripple under my hand, and watched the muscles in his neck twitch too. I also realized just how hot his skin was compared to this morning.

"How long have you been feeling?"

Gabriel gave me a tight smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. I knew what it meant, and with how aggressively the muscles were spasming, I knew that it was coming within the next few hours.

"Do you want to go for a swim? See if you can help bring the fever down?"

He shook his head and swallowed thickly.

"No. I think it's too close. I don't want to risk being in the water," he said as he scratched his neck, but I stopped his when he left angry, red lines on his skin. His eyes met mine and nodded, wincing as he flexed his hand.

Gabriel was far too good at putting up a front for everyone. But I knew that it wasn't the inconsistency of the phase that worried him. It was the pain. It was excruciating to phase, and sometimes it would take up to an hour to phase instead of the normal thirty seconds. I kept track of how long it took each time, but I knew that the pain terrified him.

Pain was more of the few things that could truly break anyone. And there was nothing anyone could do to take his pain away or make him feel better. So even though the sounds of his bones breaking and joints dislocating to accommodate his wolf form made me queasy, I always stayed. I had to. I had to let him know that there was someone there, something else to focus on besides the pain.

I stood up and told him I was popping inside for a minute, but really, I was getting a couple of bottles of water and my bag.

When I walked back through the kitchen I spotted Dimitri and Michael. Dimitri was helping him with his world history homework. He looked up and saw the bag and frowned.

"I'll have my phone," I said quietly as I walked out the back door. Gabriel stood up and I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Woods?"

Gabriel nodded and jerkily started walking towards the woods. The property was secluded, and the brush of trees was thick enough that nobody would see us unless they came looking for us. We got to the clearing by the small drift leading to the beach before Gabriel grunted, falling to his knees.

He started pulling his t-shirt off, but his arms wouldn't bend properly, so I carefully helped him out of the shirt. by the time I got it over his head, he could barely hold himself up as his bones started to pop and shift. He fell to his side and I started pulling his jeans down so that he didn't destroy them. He lost a few pairs when his phases started coming normally.

It was awkward to get them off, but I got them off and his shoes before his skin started to spout fur. I folded his clothes and put them aside, resting my hand on his back as his body trembled and shifted. The first time I heard the phase happen, I could barely stomach it. It sounded like pure agony, but tonight, it seemed like it was moving faster and smoother. Gabriel let out a few groans, but as his nose and mouth elongated and his head dropped, the groans cut off.

When the phase was completed, Gabriel let out a whine and lay on his side, his legs sticking out as he panted. I ran my hand through his fur. His skin was hot under the fur, but I knew that my hands would feel like ice.

"That took all of five minutes. That's the quickest yet," I said encouragingly, smiling as I moved my face so that his eyes could see me.

I didn't want to open my eyes. Every hair on my body stood up on end. I couldn't explain the feeling other than complete and unparalleled fear. I slowly opened my eyes and let out a slow breath, my eyes scanning the brush around me. My eyes moved before they flicked back, almost missing the figure entirely. But as I looked at the figure and my eyes adjusted, the more the fear intensified inside of me. It felt like a cold ball of lead in the pit of my stomach.

At first, I thought it was a person, but the longer I looked at it, the more I realized that it wasn't a person. They were crouched down, but even crouched down they were too tall. Even by Moroi standards. It lifted its head and I was met with piercing red eyes. Not red like a Strigoi, but just red eyes that gleamed back at me, like the reflectors on a bike in the night.

I tried to keep my breathing level, but I knew the moment it noticed me noticing it. I felt frozen in place, knowing that whatever I was looking at was something I had never encountered before, and I wasn't sure what to do.

Gabriel lifted his head and snarled. I wasn't sure if he could see what I was seeing, or if he sensed my unease. I looked down at him, seeing his fur standing on end and his mussel raised. When I looked back to where the figure was, it was gone. I let out a breath and leaned back against the stone again, letting Gabriel rub his head against mine, a whine filling the quiet air. I swallowed and tried to calm my racing heart as I patted Gabriel's head.

That wasn't something I was ready to see again.