Never Tear Us Apart - Complete

Chapter Five

Lying on my bed, I'd miraculously woken before my alarm. I suppose there had to be a first time for everything! It was 5:30 am, and we were leaving for our mission in an hour and a half. I couldn't believe the two things I'd waited so long for had finally happened; I was eighteen, and I was finally leaving St. Vladimir's. Yeah, I'd be back to pick up what was left of my stuff, but today was the last time I'd wake up at St. Vladimir's as my home.

I lay on my bed for a minute, giving the event the moment it deserved. For good or for bad, Rose Hathaway was a legal adult and was leaving home!

It seemed weird to be going somewhere without Liss. For as long as I could remember, where Lissa went, so did I. Still, I wouldn't have wanted to go to Court and see scar-face throw herself at Dimitri, so things had worked out for the best!

Thinking of Lissa, I was surprised I hadn't heard from her. Usually, she'd have been pounding on my door at midnight wishing me happy birthday. That obviously wasn't going to happen this year, but I'd kind of expected a 'happy birthday' through the bond, or maybe a text.

Checking my phone, though, the only message was an auto-send one from a coffee shop we used to go to in Portland, offering me a free cup of coffee in honor of the day. Nice to know someone cared, I thought with a wry smile.

Slipping into Lissa's head, I saw she was sitting at the counter in a large kitchen, watching Christian search through cupboards.

"Got it," he said, turning to her with a grin, holding a ribbed skillet. "Hopefully a good ole' fashioned barbecue will put Tasha in a better mood," he continued hopefully.

I watched through Lissa's eyes as Christian finished making coleslaw, potato salad, and seasoned some steaks. The mood coming through the bond was peaceful and happy. Lissa loved being at Court, but more than anything, she loved being with Christian.

Pulling out of her head, I was thankful that she was happy. She was more than my best friend—she was my sister, and I was hugely relieved she seemed to have taken the relocation to Court in her stride.

Climbing out of my bed, I packed up the pillow and quilt before walking across the hallway into the bathroom. Taking my time with my shower, I used the jasmine body wash Dimitri had once commented he liked the smell of. I was still disappointed about last night. Vlad knows what the accommodations would be like where we were going. Hopefully, we'd have our own rooms, but with so many people living together, the opportunity for alone time with Dimitri was bound to be limited. It's just I'd felt so in love and connected after the cabin, and I wanted to experience that with him again without enduring a Strigoi attack straight afterward.

Back in my room, I toweled off, dressing carefully. We'd be driving most of the day, so I'd ditched my sexy but slightly uncomfortable skinny jeans in favor of a fitted pair of cargo pants. Despite being March, the temps were topping at around 50 degrees during the day, so I put on a long-sleeved shirt and then topped it with a hoodie. I wore my hair out, applying some very subtle eyeliner, mascara, and then the lip gloss Dimitri gave me in the infirmary what seemed like a million years ago. Then, with a last look around my almost empty dorm room, I shouldered my bag, quilt, and pillow and made my way to the cafeteria.

Eddie was the only one from our group there when I arrived.

"Ready, Hathaway?"

"I was born ready," I joked, grabbing a plate of food and flopping onto the bench opposite him. "Do you reckon they'll give us stakes?" I asked between mouthfuls of bacon.

"I'm not sure they'd trust you with a real stake near Alto," Eddie said half-seriously.

"Ha!" I scoffed. "I could have staked Alto during the battle on campus if I'd wanted to. No one would have known!"