I woke early, careful not to wake Lissa and headed to morning practice. As usual, Dimitri started with me running laps. I returned to the gym and Dimitri stood there in the middle of the gym. He produced a silver stake from behind his back. My eyes grew large and I started bouncing on my toes. I ran forward to grab it from his hand, he quickly moved it out of reach.

"First we are going to talk about safety and then I will walk you through the mechanism so we can work on your muscle memory."

"Because a stake is a powerful object" I gave him a sultry look. "Especially when wielded by a strong alpha."

He arches an eyebrow at me and proceeds to walk me through how a stake is prepared. I answered his questions and explained where the heart is and how to reach it. He gives me a few demonstrations, first in slow speed, half speed and then full speed.

He handed me the stake and I ran my hands all over it. This was the first time that I held a stake in my hand, it was tightly controlled until junior novice year, which I had missed.

I tried to get a feel of the weight and balance, very different to the wooden practice stakes. Dimitri stands behind me, helping move my body correctly. I mould my body against him, pushing my back into his firm chest and he growls in response.

"Are there different sized stakes?" I looked up at Dimitri with my face the picture of innocence.

Dimitri looked at me, his senses were on guard. "Why do you ask?"

My hands "You have big hands, I mean, you must need a really big stake to fit in those hands." I gave him a sultry wink while he shook his head at me.

He wrapped his arms around me and together we struck the dummy, first at slow speed. He made sure that I was perfect with my technique before we sped it up. Pressing our bodies tightly together we moved as one and I felt my desire grow with each successive thrust.

He turned me around and pressed himself into me, this was not like the first gentle kiss we shared, it was like a raging inferno. His touch set my skin on fire and I wanted it everywhere.

I turned around and stepped away from my mate, thrusting the stake into the dummy just like he showed me. He was busy getting his breath, lips red from our heated exchange and his eyes blazing.

Noting the time, I grabbed my things and headed for the shower to be on time to meet Lissa. "I was right, you do have a big stake and I think I'm going to be pretty good at handling it." I winked at him and walked off. Leaving a shocked Dimitri staring back at me.

When I left the showers, I headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. I noticed a few people staring at me and the room became quiet. I made my selections in the line while I had the feeling that I was being watched. Turning with my tray, I noticed more people watching me. Lissa came to sit down with me, Pavel had been following her and settled on the wall closest to us.

The room was quiet… too quiet…

I looked around the room slowly, taking in the looks that I was receiving from people. I could see Mia with a big shit eating grin on her face, staring at me from across the cafeteria. Clearly she had made her next move.

"What's wrong?" Lissa asked me.

"I'm not sure, but I suspect Mia has something to do with this. She looks like the cat that ate the canary."

Lissa looked around the room, noting the staring faces. "Are you sure it's not me, after the queen or the rabbit?"

"Everyone seems fixed on me, not you." I replied. I pushed my tray away, quickly having lost my appetite for my food.

"I'll find out in class." Lissa said.

The hickey mark had faded, which was fortunate as I was in the presence of Pavel. He would notice my change on scent and I didn't want my father to find out about Dimitri being my mate until I turned 18. I had not spoken further to Lissa about Dimitri, primarily because I hadn't had the privacy to do so. Natalie followed wherever Lissa went. Which meant that if I wanted to tell them anything, I might as well tell the whole school my business.

Things finally came to a head in Slavic Arts. One of the moroi royal came up to me, sniffed my neck and made inappropriate comments. "How much for a bite and a fuck? I hear you are charging."

I shoved him into a nearby desk. "Excuse me!"

"What is he talking about?" Lissa asks me.

"I don't know, there must be something that people are saying about me."

I look around the room to see everyone looking at me and whispering to their friend. I see Christian Ozera sitting alone in the corner, he is pretending that he isn't looking at Lissa. I skim the surface of Lissa's mind, she is thinking about a conversation she had with christian regarding feeding while we were away. She admitted to him that I had fed her early on, before Abe helped us.

I walk up to him and slam my hands on his desk.

"What did you say?" I assumed that he had gotten retribution for my words last night.

"Christian wouldn't do that!" Lissa had come up alongside me, gently trying to get me to calm down. She looked pleadingly at Christian, "Tell her you wouldn't tell anyone."

"No-one talks to a freak like me, maybe you should ask your study buddy." He replied snarkily and then turned to Lissa. "You don't have to pretend anymore."

Lissa's giddy attraction vanished, replaced by hurt and shock over his tone."I…what? Pretend what?…"

"You know what. Just stop. Stop with the act. I know you don't want to keep being nice to a psycho stalker like me."

Lissa looked shocked and puzzled, but I pushed on. "What are they saying about me?"

"Jesse knows you have been bitten before, or at least he has made up a story on how you funded your time away."

"He wouldn't.. I thought he would be too afraid of Dimitri. I'm going to murder him." Christian looked nervous, like he was holding something back.

"What else? Spit it out!" I demanded.

"He said that you guys had sex and you charged him for it, he implied that was how you funded your trip, by being a blood whore." My face went slack, but I could tell he wasn't done. "And you slept with Ralph and let both of them bite you."

My gaze turned sharply to Ralph as Lissa walked me back to our table. I could hear him talking to a group of moroi. "Her rates are quite reasonable if you don't mind it rough."

"I wouldn't touch you, you tubby bastard." I yelled.

"Yeah, she charges extra for it." He cackled.

Lissa steps in front of me and gets in Ralph's face. "How dare you!"

Her voice gets a sultry, dreamy quality as she stares intently in his eyes. "What did Rose supposedly do?"

Ralph looks enthralled at Lissa. "She let Jesse and I feed off her during sex."

Lissa pushes in, I can feel the darkness growing inside her. "Did that actually happen?"

"No, it didn't."

She slaps Ralph Sarcozy in the face and stares at him harder, "How dare you."

She shakes with rage as I try to pull her away. Christian springs up, grabbing her face to look at him. "Lissa, calm down."

I draw some of the darkness into me, letting her get control of herself. She stares into Christian's eyes while she collects herself. Ralph looked half smug and half nervous as I waggled my finger at him, he was going to live to regret it.

Things got worse at lunch when news had made it to the whole school, despite Lissa getting him to admit that it didn't happen. Despite the story being a complete fabrication, people kept making snide comments as I walked past. Unfortunately, my alibi when this event supposedly took place involved elicit acts with my mentor.

"Come with me to the feeders?" Lissa asked me.

I nodded and we got up, walking to the feeders with Pavel following silently behind us. I hear giggles as I walk past, I throw glares in a few directions. Instead of the usual cowering response, they seemed unaffected and mocking.

Lissa checked in to the feeders and I stood in line with her. It had been a year since I was last fed on, but every time I saw someone feed, it gave me a flashback. I wondered whether Dimitri's mark would feel like that, I shuddered in pleasure.

I heard a giggle and I noticed Mia standing behind us. "What?" I snapped.

She sniffed, "You seem to be very interested in the feeders, I wonder why."

"I know you spread that bullshit about me." I stepped closer to Mia. Pavel stepped closer to me and Mia finally noticed him, putting a sweet smile on her face.

She got called over to a cubicle while Pavel rested a hand on my shoulder. He was a scary alpha to most and it was rare for an alpha not to be assigned to a royal moroi. To Lissa and I, he was like an uncle. I felt like I was being watched and I turned to see an intense stare from Dimitri, watching Pavel's hand on my shoulder.

"Rose, that boy earlier was he Mr Ralph Sarkozy?" Pavel maintained his guardian mask, but had a glint in his eye, reminiscent of Abe. For a brief second, I felt sorry for Ralph, but then the darkness started swirling and I no longer cared what he and my father had in store for them.

"Yes, He and his friend Jesse Zeklos are spreading rumours about me." Pavel looked like he meant business and pulled out his phone, quickly sending a text.

Lissa returned from the feeder, wiping her mouth on the towels provided. She looked pink faced, brimming with energy. She grabbed my hand and we took off for class with Pavel trailing.

By Dinner, things seemed to get worse. By not beating up Ralph earlier today, my classmates seemed to think that was a confirmation of his story. The laughing and whispers got louder and people were openly staring at me.

Lissa kept trying to talk to me, but I didn't want to talk to her about it. Dimitri hadn't commented my silence at training, but he had looked puzzled. Clearly he had missed the school gossip mill.

I wore Dimitri's training shirt and wrapped his towel around my shoulders as I lay in bed. I usually didn't let things get to me, but I worried what my alpha would think of me. Maybe he would reject me once he heard about these rumours.

After crying my eyes out for a few hours I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to find Dimitri looking at me with pity in his eyes. He wiped the tears from my cheek and pulled me into a hug. I could feel myself melt in his arms. He felt so warm, he was simultaneously hard and soft at the same time. He lifted me up so that my face could nestle in his scent glands. I inhaled his scent, feeling my body relax and mould into the body of my mate. We stayed like that for a few minutes while he rubbed circles on my back.

He gently lowered me down to the ground and kissed me on my forehead. "Come with me."

He took my hand and walked me to the side exit, avoiding the dorm matron. He used his key to enter the emergency exit of the moroi dorms and we ascended the stairs to the roof. Lissa was waiting for me, wearing a coat and scarf. She launched herself at me and wrapped her arms around me.

"Five minutes." I looked over to Dimitri who had turned to leave the roof to give us privacy.

"Are you ok?" She said as she hugged me tightly.

"I'm fine," I replied as I pulled back from the hug.

"I told you not to inflame her, but you didn't listen."

"I don't know what you mean Liss." She gave me a hard stare as I avoided looking directly in her eyes. She had a point, my counter strike had resulted in a more pissed off Mia Rinaldi.

"We both know that you spread rumours about her parents. She is a little too much like you, you raise the stakes and she will just go higher. We have to be pragmatic and if we want to get her off our backs we either need to hold something over her or understand the root of her problem with us." The first part sounded like Abe, the second part sounded like the old Lissa.

"My old man has had too much of an impact on you, I'm not sure if I like it."

"He is helping me navigate moroi politics despite not being a royal moroi, why wouldn't I listen to him."

"Before you know it, you will be sitting on top of your own shady empire." Lissa smacked me playfully in response.

"I'm just saying that maybe we should look into why she hates us so much. I don't even remember her from before we left, I don't think we did anything to her."

Nor could I.

"It's not like Aaron is a grand prize, certainly not enough to create the vendetta she seems to have against us."

I made a plan to break into her rooms, perhaps we could find a greater understanding of her hatred. Or, maybe I could find evidence of her killing animals and leaving them for Lissa.

"Don't worry Rose, I'll fix this." Lissa said, she looked resolute.

"How? What are you going to do?" I asked her, suspicious that I wasn't going to like this.

"Diplomacy" She answered.

I didn't believe that, but then Dimitri opened the door and popped his head out. "Time is up."

Lissa looked at me and sent me a message. I will get the truth from you about your Alpha! I know much more has happened than you have told me.

"We will talk about this tomorrow, Lissa." I said as I walked off, avoiding direct eye contact.

AN: Yes I know that there is a long time between updates and I wish I was able to upload faster. I don't want to compromise on quality and I really love this story. I have a short chapter with Abe coming up an dI'm halfway through chapter 10. I have writen a later chapter during this time, so I haven't done nothing but I am mid inter-state move.