Her Alpha - Complete

Chapter 5

"I'm just glad he was in a better mood, today. And I'm glad Adrian Ivashkov wasn't watching us train this morning. He's creepy."

Rose nodded in agreement. Adrian was never awake in time to attend their morning training sessions, but he'd attended their afternoon sessions often enough. After the first few times, where Rose had called him out on it, now she ignored him. It still grossed her out, though. It's not like he was there to check out Eddie! In fact, Rose was grateful that with the colder weather she could cover up more when she trained.

"Hey, Liss!" Rose greeted fondly, flopping beside her bestie with an overloaded plate of food. "Sparky," she added nodding at her best friend's boyfriend.

"Oh – the dhampir garbage disposal units are here," Christian replied with his usual snark, gesturing to the enormous plates of food Rose, and then Eddie, placed on the table.

"Hey – at least I don't suck blood to survive," Rose replied good-naturedly, not letting Christian get to her. Cuddling and purring with Dimitri had put her in an excellent mood, as had knowing he'd slept beside her half the night.

A lot of Moroi didn't eat breakfast, choosing instead to just see a feeder. In a bid to spend time with both their friendship groups, Lissa and Christian would breakfast with Rose, Eddie, Mason and a few of the other dhampir, then eat lunch with their Royal Moroi friends.

"How was training this morning?" Lissa asked as Mason joined them. Not an early riser, he looked half asleep.

"Great," Rose chirped. "Belikov was in a good mood," she said leadingly, looking to Eddie for confirmation.

"True. It's like yesterday didn't happen. He's doing individual training with us each weekend. I got Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, Rose has Saturday night and Sunday morning," Eddie explained.

"That will fill up your whole weekend," Lissa wailed. "By the time you train, you'll be tired, and then you'll have to sleep to be up the next morning!"

"It's only for a few months," Rose consoled, not missing Christian's happy expression. She recognized he resented the time she spent with Lissa on the weekends, and that he'd relish the opportunity to hang out with his girlfriend without her around. "The more I train, the greater the chance I'll get to be on your guarding team!"

"But I'll miss you!" Lissa complained.

"You and fire crotch could make Saturdays your date night?" Rose suggested. "With me training in the afternoon, and again the next morning, I will be exhausted anyway... Liss - we can make Fridays our night? I'll train Friday afternoon then not again until Saturday afternoon, so I'll still have time to spend with you."

"But Saturday night is the only time anything exciting happens around here," Mason argued, alluding to the occasional dhampir and mixed Moroi/dhampir parties or movie nights. "You'll miss everything!"

"In a few months, it won't be about parties, Mase. I need to focus on what matters," Rose declared, feeling bad that she was partially lying to her best friends. Yes, her focus was on Lissa and training, but Dimitri's declaration had given her other things to consider. "I need to work on being the best Guardian I can be so I am ready to guard you, Lissa. Guardian Belikov will help me with that."

And with that, all arguments stopped.

"Thank you, Rose," Lissa said, using her more formal 'Royal' voice. "We all understand you're not doing this by choice. I appreciate the lengths you're willing to go to make sure you're on my guarding team." Looking at Lissa, Rose could see the sacrifice she believed Rose was making genuinely moved her.