Her Alpha - Complete

Chapter 7

"What time is your aunt arriving?" Rose asked, stretching as she followed Christian and Lissa from the room where they'd endured their Moroi Culture exam. Confident she'd done well, Rose wanted to thank Dimitri for his help, but surprisingly he wasn't around.

"Any minute now," Christian replied, appearing happier than Rose had ever seen him.

"Guardian Belikov went to collect Tasha from the airport at Billings. She was coming in on the red-eye," Lissa explained, all smiles now the last exam of the year was done. Classes finished this afternoon, Friday the twentieth of December, and would not restart until Monday the thirteenth of January. A long gap, the Academy always ceased classes the Friday before the twenty-fifth of December, restarting them the Monday after the Russian Orthodox Christmas in January.

"Where will she stay?" Rose pressed curiously. Christian had been pretty clear that his aunt was unconventional. With many Royal Moroi visiting over Christmas to see their kids, Tasha Ozera in Guest Accommodations seemed unlikely given Christian's descriptions.

"I offered that she could stay with me since I don't have a roommate," Christian said, "but she said she'd prefer a room of her own. Besides, she wants to be as far away from other Moroi as possible. Last I heard, Guardian Petrov was going to sort something out."

They hung out for an hour and a half in the smaller Moroi common room they'd recently commandeered as their own. No one else used it, so no one objected to Rose, Mason, Eddie, and Meredith being there with Lissa and Christian occasionally. Tonight, Lissa, Christian, and Rose watched a movie, headed to dinner, and were walking back across the commons toward the Moroi dorm block trailed by Guardian Chaung when a black SUV pulled up on the driveway almost in front of them. Dimitri stepped out of the driver's seat, going around to open the tailgate then the side door. A tall, slim Moroi stepped out—immediately identifiable in the early morning sun by her black hair and bright blue eyes. Other than the ragged scar running down one side of her face, she was honestly an older female clone of Christian.

"Tasha!" Christian exclaimed, walking over and wrapping her in a tight hug while Lissa and Rose hung back. Dimitri pulled a canvas duffel bag out of the rear of the SUV. Rose was surprised. Tasha traveled light; more like a dhampir than a Moroi! Beckoning his girlfriend and her friend over, Christian made the introductions. Rose could tell Lissa was nervous—this was, after all, the first time she'd met any of Christian's family—but Tasha soon put her at ease.

"Did they work out where you're staying?" Christian asked, spotting Belikov standing to one side with Tasha's bag.

"Yes. Guardian Petrov rang on the way here. She suggested I stay in the senior dhampir dorm wing. Apparently, it is all but deserted, and she promised to have the boiler fixed so it would be warm!"

"You didn't tell me the boiler was broken again! You could have stayed with me," Lissa chastised Rose, upset at the thought of her best friend shivering in a chilly dorm room. "I wish you'd tell me when it happens!"

"Honestly, Liss—it would be more noteworthy if I'd told you it was working," Rose replied sarcastically. "You know it's always on the blink."

The boiler had been out of service for a few weeks, as it was wont to do every winter. Rose knew Alberta knew about it—she and the other Novices had mentioned it more than once—but fixing anything in the dhampir dorms was low on the Academy's maintenance schedule. While Rose was thankful Alberta had manipulated the situation to get the boiler repaired—no Royal Moroi being expected to endure a Montana winter without heating—it sucked that the comfort of an entire building of Novices rated less than one visiting Moroi, and one with a reputation at that.

"You'll be near me, then," Rose addressed Tasha pleasantly, determined not to get Christian's aunt offside. "Did Alberta give you a room number?"

"Three-twelve? She said I'd share a bathroom with just one other."