Her Alpha - Complete

Chapter 17

"So, little dhampir, did you miss me?" Adrian asked sliding onto the seat beside Rose in the cafeteria at breakfast. Suppressing a groan by shoving a donut into her mouth, Lissa responded on Rose's behalf.

"Adrian! Welcome back. I didn't think you'd be back until tomorrow?"

"There's such a thing as too much of a good thing," Adrian said, thinking about Court and the never-ending line of eligible Royal Moroi young ladies his mother and aunt had set him up with over the holidays. While normally he wouldn't object to meeting pretty young women, these were all strictly off-limits—the only way he'd get one of them into bed was to marry her first. Since that wasn't on his agenda, Christmas and New Year had been a bust as far as Adrian was concerned.

Sure, he'd reconnected with a few 'old friends' of the female variety, paid and otherwise, but it hadn't been enough to take his mind off Rose Hathaway. In fact, the whole break he'd been coming up with ways to interest Rose in him and his bed.

"What did you get up to over Christmas?" Adrian asked Lissa, disappointed that Rose was more engaged with her food than with him.

"Not a lot. Christian's aunt came to stay until New Year. Most of the time we've been ice-skating, playing pool or hanging out. Natalie got back the day before yesterday, and she's bought heaps of new clothes, so yesterday we cleaned out our closets," Lissa continued. Rose watched Adrian's eyes glaze over in boredom as her best friend recounted sorting clothing into throw, donate, swap or store.

Dimitri was seated at a table on the other side of the room with Matthews and Chaung. Rose felt a surge of his anger through their bond when Ivashkov sat down beside her. Trying for the first time to send a feeling through the bond, Rose projected loving, happy thoughts to her mate. The anger dissipated almost immediately, and Rose made a note to ask Dimitri later whether she'd been successful.

Adrian continued trying to draw Rose into conversation, with limited success. Her one-word response, "Training," was his only reward when he asked about what she got up to over the Christmas break.

Lord Ivashkov's attentions toward Rose weren't irritating just Dimitri. From his seat beside Eddie further along the table, Mason was shooting the Royal Moroi Lord daggers. Knowing his best friend didn't stand a chance with Rose, Eddie did his best to distract Mason from his visual evisceration of Ivashkov. There was no point Mason offending Adrian when it would not help his non-existent cause with Rose.

Everyone seemed relieved when Lissa stood and suggested a trip to the feeders. Across the room Celeste stood, ready to accompany the Royal trio. Now classes were back in session, Dimitri would be back to taking part in morning Novice combat training, then guarding mixed Moroi/dhampir theory classes in the afternoon. Combined with training, it meant he and Rose got to see one another for most of the day, albeit with no privacy or opportunity to interact meaningfully. Still, Dimitri considered it a far better prospect than sitting watching Adrian and the Princess experiment with their Spirit magic, so he'd count his blessings where he found them!

"Doesn't Ivashkov drooling over you get old?" Mason asked Rose indignantly as the group walked to their first class Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques. "I swear he was trying to undress you with his eyes. Seriously, some guys just don't take a hint!"

Following behind them and overhearing his remark, Dimitri's lips twitched, while Eddie outright laughed. Rose, likewise, could see the funny side of Mason's statement. Being an old friend, though, she wouldn't hurt him by pointing out the irony of his words.

"It is annoying," she admitted. "Since I'm not interested, I just ignore him."

"Still someone needs to set him straight..." Mason argued, sounding as though he was prepared to volunteer to be the one to do the job.