L POV

I woke to find myself strapped in an armchair. I felt groggy and struggled to remember what happened. Rose… She went into estrous. I started to panic, wracking my brain to recall what happened to her. Was she horribly violated? I remembered holding her and being surrounded by guys.

No, Dimitri took her to safety

I remembered the Alpha's arrival, exuding sheer strength and power. Then I was escorted to my dorm by Meredith and Chelsea, but I couldn't recall much after stepping into my room. I looked around, a log fire was burning and I appeared to be in some kind of cabin. My hands and feet were bound, I tried to loosen my restraints when a door opened.

I felt relieved when I saw Victor walk through the door, until I checked his aura. He usually looked so light, with bright colours of cheeriness surrounding him. But now he was dark greens and black surrounding him. The smile slid off my face as I realised the treachery in the eyes, the eyes that my family shared in common with him.

"Vasilisa, I am sorry for the inconvenience, but I needed your help." He slipped on a silver signet ring onto his pinky and the appearance of his previous aura was restored. Interesting!

Taking all the lessons that Abe had taught me, I kept my composure and looked him in the eye when I spoke. "All you had to do was ask Uncle Viktor, you didn't need to kidnap me."

His little slip with the ring had shattered my illusions of him ever being one of my trusted companions. I knew that Abe's tracker would kick in soon and I settled myself in to treat this as a negotiation whilst trying to buy myself time until help arrived.

"My Sandovsky syndrome has gotten worse over the past two years. I was once in line to take the throne once Queen Tatiana steps down, but with my condition that is no longer possible." He started, trying to look like the kind old uncle I used to know. Was he always this duplicitous? Had he smiled at my parents and then stabbed them in the back?

"I'm very sorry to hear that Viktor, that must be why Natalie has been so concerned…." I trailed off, wanting him to fill the gaps. I had to know how this all happened.

"She loves her father very much, she would do anything to help her father."

"That's what family does for each other, it's what I would have done for you…. Had you asked me." I said, staring straight at him. I wanted to project power and confidence, yet appear relaxed. I didn't want to show that I was anticipating a rescue. "But instead you kidnapped me, one of your goons knocked me out."

"Now, now child, You know that I would never hurt you." He tried to use his fatherly smile, the one that fooled me for so long into thinking that we were practically family.

"My restraints suggest otherwise." I drawled. "You look quite proud of yourself, it looks like your master plan came together."

"Whatever do you mean, dear?" He asked with fake surprise. How could I have ever believed that he was a decent man, how could my family be so naive. I was insulted that he thought he could manipulate me.

"I got kidnapped the night my best friend went into Estrous. That's not exactly a coincidence, nor were the rumours about me running away."

"I had Natalie lay the groundwork, which would explain your absence. Rose was the biggest liability, like an annoying shadow. We'd intended to…dispatch her, but when Natalie brought me her 'vitamins', I had them analysed and found out what she truly was."

That sneaky little cow.

"You weaponised her. You didn't care that you would ruin someone!"

"I didn't think that it would happen at the dance, but sometimes the stars just align." He looked crazed when he walked about the stars aligning. "Besides, her alpha would not let her get violated, not when he could have her for himself."

I was disgusted by his behaviour, his callous treatment of others made me sick. What could he possibly think would justify this action?

"Why Victor, what ends do you think justify your actions? What makes you think that you can put yourself above all others?" I challenge him with a cold tone.

"Because I would be king, I would unite our people and become our greatest ruler." He roared. "But there was one little thing holding me back. My health. I threw my money into research for a cure and when that yielded poor results, I looked towards healers. I watched you for years while I tried to determine what you are and waited until I was certain."

I pretended to be shocked. "What am I?"

"You are a spirit user, with very strong abilities in healing."

I shook my head. "I can't…no. I can't do anything like that."

He gave me a smirk. "I think the correct answer would have been… What is spirit?"

I pursed my lips, it was pointless to deny it now. "I think the worst part was having to put up with the incessant prattle from your daughter. She constantly gave me migraines just by talking."

"My Natalie was doing her job, helping me provoke you to heal and presenting the narrative that I wanted."

"The animals." I gasped. "It was you? How could you do that?"

"I needed to test your healing abilities, to see whether you could control it. When the animals didn't work, Rose was the best option." He answered why, but I asked how someone could kill animals, let alone my best friend to test someone's skills, he was a psychopath.

He continued, "I only have a few weeks left, I had to find out whether you had the skills to heal Sandovsky's syndrome.

"I have never tried to heal something like Sandovsky's, I wouldn't have thought it was possible. Spirit is only good on acute injuries."

"You have brought someone back from the dead, I am sure that you can heal a chronic condition. But it will take a bit of time."

This is what I was afraid of, I fixed him with a stare. "How much time?"

"I will need many healings, monthly for a few years. Hopefully that would be enough to put me in remission, then we could reduce it to 6 monthly sessions."

I gaped at him. High levels of healing each month is not something that Rose or I could disperse. The darkness would build to a dangerous level and one or both of us would snap. "And then what? Are you going to just make me a prisoner here? Your own private nurse?"

"You would be kept comfortable and looked after. I'm not a monster you know. I'm sorry, I have no choice."

I never thought of myself as an arrogant person, but as I was the only remaining member of my royal line, one could consider me somewhat important to Moroi society. Victor wanted to sacrifice my life for his, destroying the legacy of the entire Dragomir family. If he wanted to treat me in this manner, what would he do to the rest of our people? He broke Rose's ankle as a test. What levels of servitude would the dhampir have to endure under his rule… much more so than they already did now.

He was the worst of the royal moroi, the ones who felt justified to do whatever they wanted, damning others.

"You do have a choice and so do I. I am not going to help you." I gritted my teeth and growled out my words. I knew he would torture me, but I couldn't let this bastard

"It's a matter of which life means more. The Moroi are falling apart. Our numbers are dropping as we let the Strigoi prey upon us. We used to actively seek them out. Now Tatiana and the other leaders hide away. They keep you and your peers isolated. In the old days, you were trained to fight alongside your guardians! You were taught to use magic as a weapon. Not any longer. We wait. We are victims."

He stared off into space, eyes maniacal. "I would have changed that if I were king. I would have brought about a revolution the likes of which neither Moroi nor Strigoi have ever seen."

"Who's to say that I won't be able to usher in these changes?" I asked. My voice got louder. "You treat dhampir's like servants or employee's. I have never seen you break bread with them or treat them with compassion. You treat everyone as though they are here to service you. I don't see you standing side by side with your guardians in battle. You will not be a good King, as evidenced by your selfishness today. You have taken someone that you called niece, who is half your age, to sacrifice to pursue your ambitions. You would be the worst king that the moroi have ever seen."

I stared him down to see the cold look in his eyes. He turned his head and nodded to someone who had been sitting in the corner.

"This is Kenneth, He will help me persuade you. But please child, take my hands and heal me. I would rather we didn't have to go down this road."

My ears thought they could detect the faint closing of car doors. I closed my eyes to try to pick further noises that indicated my rescuers were close.

I opened my eyes and looked at Victor. "No."

Kenneth stepped forward towards me. I felt pressure pushing against my head and I started screaming. He pushed air out of my lungs, letting my lungs collapse completely. He then pushed air in, forcing them open again.

He stopped on Victor's command and I struggled to catch my breath. I knew that I wasn't going to last, but as Rose said to me constantly, a good defence is a strong offence. Darkness swirled around me and I pulled at it, I could feel more seeping into me from the bond.

I was strong in all elements, just not enough to specialise so I formed a small ball of fire, launching the fireball onto Kenneth. He was wearing some cheap polyester, so he lit up like a bonfire. I quickly turned to Victor, I projected compulsion into him. I was so angry, I pictured his body getting frailer and bombarded him with images of his body crumbling to dust.

I was falling deep into the darkness, watching Victor twitch helplessly on the floor while I ravaged his mind. All I could feel was hate surging through me. It felt slimy, and bile rose within me, but it was too strong.

Hands grabbed my face and I saw the kind eyes of Pavel looking at me. He was slipping something around my neck and I felt the darkness subside.

"Lissa? Can you hear me?" He said, his eyes filled with worry.

"Pavel?" I felt tears well in my eyes and I sagged in his arms. Tears started streaming down my face, I was relieved to see him. My restraints had been removed and I looked around to see five Abe's guardians had restrained Victor's two. Kenneth was a charred mess on the ground and victor was still on the floor.

Part of me ached when I saw what I did to Kenneth and bile rose to my throat when the scent of burnt flesh reaches my nostrils. I couldn't bring myself to heal him, despite the compassion I felt. If I healed him, he would go on to hurt others and he was too skilled for that to be the first time he hurt someone.

Pavel picked me up and helped me walk to the car while he ordered Tad to secure the scene. Pavel started the car and started driving fast.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"I am getting you to the airport, you will be reunited with Rose."

"Is she okay? I asked.

"I'm not sure, Abe went to get her from the alpha himself."

"Oh" I said. I knew that I had kept Dimitri secret from Abe and Pavel. But didn't Pavel have some kind of inkling as an Alpha? "Did you know?"

Pavel looked at me through the rear view mirror. "Alpha's have a code which even surpasses employer loyalty. I know that you can't help who you bond with, I met my mate Katia when she was thirteen. I know the alpha's family enough to know him to be honourable, so I didn't share my unfounded suspicions with Abe."

That was the most I had heard Pavel say all at once so I nodded in response.

We arrived at the airport in the middle of the moroi night, 1pm human time. The private jet was waiting for us. We parked the car and Pavel escorted me to the stairs. When I made it to the cabin of the plane, I saw Abe holding a tumbler full of alcohol. He looked exhausted.

"Vasilisa, how are you?" He asked quietly, he seemed broken.

"I'm okay." I said. "How is Rose?"

"She is sleeping in the bedroom compartment. We will be leaving for Turkey shortly." He said, not looking at me.

I felt guilty for holding information from a man I considered a father figure, but my concern for Rose took over and I moved towards the back of the plane. "I'm sorry Abe" I said as I walked past.

Rose was sleeping in the bed, she looked distressed so I sat down beside her and stroked her hair. She settled for a few minutes until I heard her cry out 'Alpha' and tears slid down her cheeks. Feeling exhausted and too tired to find blood, I settled down beside her and fell asleep.

R POV

I woke up feeling someone shaking my shoulders, I opened my eyes to find Pavel standing over me with a glass of water. "Rose, you need to take these tablets."

He handed me the pills and the glass of water and I took them. He grabbed a mug and moved to the other side of the bed.

I felt a body next to me and for a second I thought it was my alpha, but it was the thin frame of Lissa. She looked very pale, more so than usual. I recalled her looking like that when we went a long time between feeds.

"Where's Dimitri?" I croaked. I looked around at my surroundings and realised that we were on a plane.

Pavel woke Lissa up and handed her a mug of blood. Pavel smiled at me sadly. "He is back at the school, we had to get you out."

I felt my heart pang and I realised that I had this baseline heaviness in my chest. I felt like I could feel him getting further and further away from me. I touched his mark and I felt warmth run down my body. He had marked me and protected me.

Lissa had sat up and was quickly draining the mug, colour returning to her features. She was looking at me apprehensively, so I gave her a small smile. "Hi Liss."

"Hi" She said softly while she wiped the corners of her mouth. We stared at each other for a moment.

"I'm sorry" We both said at the same time. I looked at her and we both broke into nervous giggles. We moved closer to each other and she pulled me into a hug.

"I had no idea what you had done to protect me, I understand why you were so mad at me, and why you always kept yourself blocked off. It must have been exhausting." I said to Lissa.

"It was challenging, but it gave me a greater appreciation for the work guardians do. I had to be constantly on my guard and not let myself slip, I imagine that is what it is like working as a guardian. Your parents honestly thought that this was the safest course to keep your nature hidden, they wanted you to finish your schooling undetected but obviously it didn't work."

I pursed my lips, in theory it was a right idea, but we hadn't predicted that I would end up mated to an alpha. I had never heard of an alpha mated to an omega before. I tried not to fall into despair, I would have to go into hiding from the moroi government and my father was furious with my mate. "My omega physiology made that impossible."

"You were right too, I shouldn't have used my powers, I was being hunted for being a spirit user. I should have listened to you." Lissa said, breaking me from my thoughts of my bleak future."Victor kidnapped me so I could heal him."

"Are you okay? I wasn't able to be with you. Did he hurt you?" Lissa looked away from me and I already had my answer.

"He used an air user to torture me, that was when Pavel and his team arrived. You should have seen him, he was a total badass." Lissa proceeded to highlight the events at the dance and what happened to her afterwards.

My memories of the dance were very hazy, but I could recall every moment of my time in the cabin with Dimitri, but not what happened afterwards that led me to the plane.

"Pavel told me that Abe collected you from Dimitri, he looks really mad.. Mad at both of us." Lissa said. We weren't interrupted, so we laid in bed and I told her all about my relationship with Dimitri.

Tad knocked on the door and produced some food and more tablets.

"It's funny Rose, you smell gross now." He said as he walked out and threw a jumper at my face. Tad acted like a big brother to me over the last year, it was nice to see our banter returning now that I remembered the last 12 months. The jumper smelt like Dimitri and I held it close to my face and inhaled.

"Dimitri's mark must have changed my scent." I said to Lissa. She then proceeded to ask about my first time in excruciating detail. She was shocked when I told her about our time in the common room and the equipment room.

"I didn't know what I was, I had no idea why I was having these urges. I became so impulsive."

"Your estrous was over a week early, we hadn't expected it to happen so soon. Your father was going to be on campus to watch you closely."

"I guess we hadn't counted on me finding a mate and how that would affect me."

"Yeah, well I have never heard of an alpha mating with an omega before." She looked over at me with a sly look. "Was he big?"

I knew what she was asking but I decided to play dumb. "He's 6 foot 7."

She rolled her eyes at me. "Come on, just give me a hint."

I raised my eyebrows a few times at her and gave her a big smile.

"Did it hurt? My first time was painful."

"No, it was perfect." I sighed and felt depressed. My mate would be on the other side of the world from me and I didn't know whether I would see him again.

Pavel knocked on the door and told us that we were landing soon. We got up and found seats on the plane. Abe came over to us, he looked older than I had ever seen him before. He gently held my head in his hands and peered into my eyes.

"Baba, I'm okay," I said to him. "He kept me safe."

My fathers face scrunched up and his fists clenched, but he nodded and kissed me on the forehead. He squeezed Lissa on the shoulders. "We will talk about this later."

He sat in his seat and the plan started to make its descent. I clutched Dimitri's jumper as I walked off the plane and I was practically tackled by a small flash of red hair.

My mother, Janine Hathaway, was hugging me.

Merry Christmas everyone!

My progress has been slow and it will continue to be so as I have my exam in march. I am halfway through Chapter 19 with a more solid plan, but limited time to write.

On another note, my imagination has been running and other story ideas have popped into my head. At some point I plan to drop some samplers to see where each story will head. My progress might be slow, but I promise more is to come.

Please have a lovely holiday! i'm very happy not to be working on christmas for the first time in a while, it's nice to have a few days off!