The next chapter fills in the backstory and is the last chapter of part one
AN: Firstly, I don't own VA, Richelle Mead does.
I usually write notes at the bottom, but I wanted to issue a warning. This chapter may be triggering for people with sexual assault history.
Please drop a review, did you see this chapter going down like this?
Dimitri had been stepping up his wooing, delivering me bunches of flowers every couple of days. He even convinced the kitchens to make me a fresh batch of donuts one morning.
It was almost as though I could read his mind, he wanted me to have a proper courtship and to feel loved. But I thought he was trying to compensate for Lissa ignoring me and felt guilty about our relationship progressing too quickly. I assumed he had noticed the school treating me with indifference and he wanted to compensate for that.
Charlie Hunt seemed to think that this meant that he could start harassing me again. I had started fighting with him in class and I felt sick whenever he had his hands on me. Fortunately, I had experience with a bigger, better alpha and I was able to take him down. I would jump off from him as fast as I could, because one time he had tried to put his hands on my hips when I was restraining him.
Dimitri had stepped in to give me a hand up and I 'accidentally' kicked Charlie's in his nether region during our next fight. I didn't know how Lissa not speaking to me meant that the boys thought I was fair game to hit on, but Dimitri stayed close to deter them.
Lissa had stayed away from me, and she had started to get closer to christian, spending most of her afternoons making out with him in the church attic. He had mentioned Mia having reasons to hate Lissa, she didn't believe him that her brother would take advantage of a freshman. She got upset at Christian, and when she was sleeping I tried to pull as much of the darkness from her as I could handle.
The school dance was approaching and I didn't feel like going. I mostly wanted to spend my time in my study nook, lying in Dimitri's jumpers and towels.
Dimitri was wary of me after I had cornered him in the equipment room at the start of training yesterday. I could feel myself building with desire and I had to have his seed inside me. He refused to have intercourse with me until I was of age, but he couldn't say no when I had my hands or lips around his member.
He didn't visit me at night, knowing that he wouldn't be able to maintain his control, but he left me gifts to show his feelings. My dreams were getting heated and very graphic as I started to orgasm in my sleep. The most prominent dream was our mating and I had a lot of elaborate ideas on how and where that would take place.
The day of the dance had arrived and I was not in the mood to go. I had received special permission from Kirova to attend the event, but at this point I didn't care. Eddie and Mason cornered me in the cafeteria.
"Come on Rose, this is our last year of high school. You have to come, we won't get a lot of opportunities to party once we graduate." Eddie said.
"We will be with you the whole night, making sure others stay away from you." Mason added. He looked at me with pure adoration, I almost said no as I wanted to deter him.
Natalie walked up to us. "Come on Rose, this has to be the biggest night of the year, I can't imaging you not being there. It would feel so wrong to be without one of my closest friends."
I looked at the three sets of pleading eyes. "Uggh, fine, I will go. Happy now?"
They responded with an emphatic yes. Natalie started talking about how I should wear my hair and what I should do with my makeup. Lissa was sitting with Abby Badica and Camile Conta, I could see her pretending not to watch me from her peripheries.
My heart ached to be re-united with her. We had spent the last two years together, looking out for each other. It wasn't entirely true for me to say that I was the one protecting her, we looked after each other. I hoped that we could put our differences aside and patch things up.
Later that night, I put on the dress that Lissa had bought for me and it fit like a glove. I looked down and frowned, there were distinct lines of my underwear showing. Without a thought I threw them off, the fabric was irritating me anyway. Perfect.
I made sure to take my tablets and I stepped out of my room to find Mason coming up the stairs.
"Rose, my lady, I have come to escort you" He gives me a low bow and then wrapped his arms around my waist.
I stepped out of his arms. "I'm not your date Mason and watch your hands."
His face dropped momentarily, but he pressed on. "Come one, Eddie is hosting the all dhampir after party and he wants you there, lets go."
He tried to put his arm around me but I slipped out of it. He grabbed my hand to speed us up as we reached the commons, but we ran into Alberta and Dimitri. I quickly dropped Mason's hand, not wanting Dimitri to fly into a rage.
"Well don't you two look lovely" She said. Mason started talking to her but I was occupied. A low pitch growl came out of Dimitri as he raked his eyes all over my body. I wanted to launch myself at him, but I settled for giving him the biggest eye-fucking of his life. I felt like I was floating on a cloud and I didn't notice when Mason grabbed my hand and pulled me into the commons.
The dance was in full swing when we arrived. Mason was being extra flirty and keen, but I couldn't help but think about Dimitri and the look of fire that he gave me. I felt hot all over and aching in my centre, I felt viscous liquid sliding from between my thighs.
Jesse and Ralph approached me, followed by Shane and Blake. All of them wanted a dance, then they started to argue with each other. A few of them touched my arms, which set my body on fire, craving Dimitri further.
"Alpha" I called out, hoping Dimitri would come. Instead I found Charlie in front of me and soon he was pressing up against me on the dance floor, thrusting his hips into mine and his hand on my arse. My head swam, I felt dazed and frozen in place, I could see Eddie with a grim look on his face, making his way over to me and the crowd. Then things went black….
Lissa POV
I saw Rose enter the room with Mason, she looked pale and disoriented. She looked like…. the first time she presented… Oh Shit!
Something was wrong, a crowd of guys started making their way over to her, they started pushing each other to get to Rose. Charlie Hunt got a hold of her, growling at others and practically dragged her to the dance floor.
I made my way with Christian, thankfully he didn't look enthralled, if anything he was trying to shield me from the crowd around Rose. Eddie reached her at the same time I did, while Alberta was making her way over.
Eddie managed to pry Charlie off her and I pulled her into my arms and tried to get her to wake up. Christian stood behind me, asking what was wrong but also sniffing the air.
I gasped when I looked down to see her slick dripping down her legs as the crowd of males got closer and closer. "Oh my God, Rose!"
I slapped her face, trying to get her to wake up. "Pomnit.. Pomnit… POMNIT!".
Her eyes fluttered open, looking frightened. "What's happening Liss?"
"POMNIT" I screamed at her. Her eyes sharpened into focus from my words. "Rose, you are in full-on estrous and we have to get you out of a gym full of rabid guys."
"Arrgh." I turned behind me to see Christian cocoon his mouth and nose in fire. More guys kept coming over, I bit back bile as I saw them all looking at rose like she was the only source of water in a desert. Mason was fighting Charlie and Eddie was trying to maintain a defensive perimeter, but more kept coming towards us with hungry eyes and tented trousers.
I clutched Rose tighter to me, never being more scared in my life than this moment. We were surrounded by guys looking at Rose like she is a meal. I got out my phone and pressed a special duress button to call for help from Mr Mazur's team.
Alberta finally reached me and was on her radio. "We have an estrous situation at the gym."
She ordered the unmated, straight male guardians to lock themselves in their rooms and for the mated guardians, heterosexual female guardians and homosexual male guardians to come to the gym immediately.
"Call for Belikov," I told her.
"It's too dangerous, he will kill them."
"She is his mate, his priority will be keeping her safe above everything else."
The female moroi students stood dumbfounded and most girls backed away from the mass of bodies in the centre of the room. For the first time in her life, Rose looked petrified and clung to me, her body spasming from the excessive male pheromones in the room.
Pheromones made her estrous symptoms worse without release and I did not want Rose to get relief from multiple classmates at once.
Christian touched my shoulder and I saw a mask of fire around his mouth and nose, he was burning the pheromones before they reached his face. He looked like he was going to pass out as he struggled to breathe. He wrapped a barrier of flames around us and urged us to move forward towards the exit.
We got halfway there when the flames dissipated and I saw him collapse to the ground. I turned to see globs of punch hitting the most rabid aggressors in the face which appeared to be wielded by Mia Rinaldi. The group blocking our exit were pushed back by a group of female air wielders controlling an invisible column of air.
I pulled Rose to move with me, but she kept spasming and vibrating making our progress slow. Meredith grabbed Rose's other side and together we made it to the door. Alberta, Eddie and the female dhampir novices, including Chelsea who usually hated Rose, had formed a unit surrounding us.
When we made it outside, we found ten male guardians looking hungrily at Rose. I heard a growl behind us to see Charlie who was outside the gym, starting to surge forwards, as were the guardians, all headed straight for Rose. Chelsea and Angie tried to barricade the gym doors, to prevent more from exiting the gym.
Reinforcements arrived in the form of Guardian Mertens, Guardian Matthews and a few of the elementary guardians. They engaged the guardians, but the mob just kept getting bigger. We were surrounded by a pack of rabid males who wanted a piece of my best friend.
Then I heard the loudest growl and turned to see Guardian Belikov running across the quad. He looked like a one man army with a face of fury. "Get down ladies." He barked.
Eddie kept fighting Charlie and the dhampir ladies dropped and I pulled Rose down with me as he stepped in front of us. He growled and I felt a rush of power emanate from him. "GET BACK!" I felt sheer power wash over me and Rose wiggled to get out of my grip.
Charlie had dropped to his knees and Eddie stumbled a bit, but he was still relatively upright. Eddie moved to engage with Charlie and tackled him to the ground.. I had no idea why Eddie was unaffected by Rose, but he nodded to Dimitri who turned to Rose.
"What is happening?" He said as he pulled Rose into his arms. She started nipping at his neck and nuzzled his face and started purring.
"She is an omega in Estrous, you have to get her out of here." He looked shocked, but said nothing.
"Belikov, take her to the ward lines near the East pond, there are a few places to hide her." Alberta said as she helped the female novices up, they all had rips in their clothes and messed face and hair. Dimitri ran with Rose still tightly clutched to his chest.
Alberta started making requests on the radio, requesting guardians to stay in their positions and asking for the medical team to bring stretchers, triage packs and a lot of sedatives.
Eddie had restrained Charlie and sat on his back with Charlie's arms and legs locked. He looked quite pleased with himself.
Once Doctor Olendski arrived she quickly administered a sedative to Charlie and checked over the female Dhampirs. Meredith and Chelsea were cleared quickly and Alberta ordered them to escort me to my room.
"Once I have secured the campus I will come find you Princess." Alberta said to me. She gave me a look saying that she wanted me to stay silent while she did damage control.
I walked off with Meredith and Chelsea. I was impressed how the women united to protect Rose. "Thank you for helping us, that could have been so much worse than it was."
"There aren't many female novices, we have to look after each other and no-one should stand by when that is happening." Meredith replied, Rose had indicated that they were friendly, but I knew Chelsea wasn't.
"Sooooo, Rose is an omega?" Chelsea asked.
I knew Alberta wanted me to stay silent, but after what these girls had been through, they deserved the truth. I nodded in response.
"And she still kicks my butt… that's so annoying!" She huffed, then after a moment she continued. "Um, Vasilisa, should we be worried that Belikov took her?"
I looked at her, the cat was well and truly out of the bag, Rose's life was going to change from what she planned. Petrov seemed to know about them. "They are true mates."
Meredith didn't look surprised, but Chelsea had a mix of surprise and smirk on her face.
"Didn't you notice her scenting him at training?" Meredith asked Chelsea. "I even caught her purring at him."
Lissa laughed, I guess they weren't as subtle as they thought. They left me at my door, and I walked into a pitch black room. I flipped the lights and nothing. That's odd
Then I felt pain in the back of my head…
3rd POV
When Abe arrived at St Vladimir's he went directly to Kirova's office for a report. There he found a disheveled looking Alberta and a frantic looking Ellen Kirova.
"Tell me exactly what happened." He started.
"Rose arrived at the dance, she started getting a lot of attention. The boys started fist fighting over her and the young alpha, Charlie Hunt became inappropriate with Rose.—"
"It was a disgusting display by your daughter -" Kirova started.
Abe silenced her with a hard stare and a filthy look. "Not one word," and then turned to Alberta. "Continue."
"Lissa and Eddie got Hunt off of her, but she had gone into omega drop at that point. They were protected by Christian Ozera with a ring of fire until he passed out. By this time, I got the female dhampirs to help and some of the female moroi students stepped in to protect the girls while the male students started to converge.
Once we got outside, the female guardians arrived, but we started to get outnumbered until Belikov arrived."
"The alpha?" Abe asked
"Yes, he proclaimed her as his mate and took her away from everyone." Alberta finished.
"You let an alpha take my daughter while she is in ESTROUS!" Abe lost his control at this point. Kirova looked alarmed, but wisely kept her mouth shut.
"I have suspected that they had in an attachment for a while now. His first priority was getting her to safety and while she is in danger, she will be protected by him."
"An attachment that you never reported to me! She will be defiled by him."
Alberta lost her cool at this point. "Better than half the campus defiling her! I chose to leave her in the care of the strongest alpha I have ever seen. One that she has an attachment to, rather than let her get raped by half the school. You were the one who played with fire bringing her back. I did not have the resources to do anything else. She is in one of the outpost cabins at the Eastern ward lines. I will leave you to deal with your daughter how you see fit."
After a long pause, Kirova was itching to speak, Alberta had gotten her breathing under control and Mr Mazur had been staring out the window in thought.
"Where was the princess during all of this madness?"
"She was escorted to her room after the incident."
"Is she guarded?"
"We were stretched thin after the event, we needed to keep most of the males on campus contained."
Abe spun around, turning to Pavel. "Go check on the princess, NOW." Pavel ran out the door immediately.
"Mr Mazur, there is no need to disturb the princess." Kirova started, but Alberta's eyes grew large.
"You think this was a diversion?"
"I made sure that as long as my daughter took her medications, she would be protected and graduate undetected. Clearly someone figured out what she is and weaponised her. Someone has been after the princess for a long time, despite Ms Kirova's attempts to keep them separate, Rose was the greatest impediment to getting to Lissa. They went to great lengths to keep Rose occupied."
"Can someone please explain everything to me?!" Kirova snapped.
Abe Mazur spun around to look at her. "My daughter is omega, I tried to keep her hidden with suppression medication. We worked on this for a year, it was meant to allow her to finish her schooling-"
His phone rang, Abe answered and then his face proceeded to get darker and darker. "Active them… both of them. You take charge of the princess, I'll get my daughter."
"The princess has been taken. Some bastard tampered with my daughter to get to Lissa. Please show me to Rose's room first."
Abe entered Rose's room, two of his guardians standing outside. He had sent the rest to secure the perimeter around Rose, careful not to involve direct confrontation with the Alpha. It was a rare moment for Abe to be alone without his guardians, but he needed somewhere to process what happened.
He noted the uneven flowers in the room at various stages of decay. When he walked up to her study corner, he realised the treachery of teenage girls at work. Rose had a nest set up which contained a Russian patterned quilt and various articles of XL male clothing with Cyrillic writing. He organised for one of his guardians to pack up Rose's belongings, including her nesting items.
Lissa had concealed their mate status from Abe out of loyalty to her friend. Clearly the alpha hadn't mated with his daughter yet, but there were plans in the future as he was courting her. He remembered her new necklace, now a clear sign of a mate's declaration to court her and both girls kept it from me.
He slumped down to the floor, realising that he failed his daughter and failed Lissa. Rose would never be able to graduate and live a normal life, she would have to be kept hidden from the moroi world. All the work that he and Janine put in to keeping her safe, ruined because of an alpha. He didn't want to think of what that alpha was doing to her right now.
The only consolation he could think of was that they did seem to be following proper courtship practices. Abe grabbed his phone and pressed his top speed dial.
"Hello, Guardian Hathaway speaking."
"Janine, you are going to have to meet me in Turkey, I failed our little girl."
The next chapter fills in the backstory. Did I succeed in shocking you?