Her Alpha - Complete

Chapter 31

THREE YEARS LATER

"For Vlad's sake! Let's call it a day, and I'll see you two next week," Abe said, interrupting the eye-fucking going on between his daughter and her husband. Dimitri had been tetchy all week—snapping and in a foul mood to everyone bar Rose. He was like this every year during the week leading up to his rut. Someone clearly needed a release!

"Thanks, Baba," Rose said, saving the files on her computer and packing away the documents she'd been working on in the thirtieth-floor workspace she shared with her father and husband. From the moment they'd returned to Turkey after her eighteenth birthday, Abe had been teaching his daughter and Dimitri about his business interests. An adept learner, Rose quickly mastered the basics and within a year had become a genuine second-in-command and a force to be reckoned with at Mazur Industries. Now, just days before her twenty-first birthday, she ran the hotel, import-export, and property management sections of the business and under her care, they were more profitable than ever. "If you need me, I'll be just downstairs," she teased, referring to the Presidential Suite of the hotel she'd booked for the next work week and the weekends on either side of it.

Abe shook his head. He didn't want to be anywhere near his daughter and her mate when her estrous lined up with his rut, nor did he wish to dwell on exactly what they'd be doing during their time off together.

"I'm actually taking a few days off, myself," Abe announced. "Since she missed your wedding and your eighteenth, and we need to talk strategy anyway, your mother is coming to visit for a few weeks for your twenty-first. I thought I'd keep her company while you're otherwise occupied."

Rose grinned. Janine had visited them in Istanbul several times over the last few years, and they'd met up with her in New York and Chicago. Rose's relationship with her mother was definitely improving, but the relationship between Janine and Abe had evolved the most. From occasional lovers to co-parents, now it was fair to say they were in a committed albeit long-distance relationship. Every time Janine visited, Abe would attempt to convince her to give up guarding and stay with them in Istanbul, and each time Janine's refusal became less and less convincing. Maybe this would be the visit when she finally gave in? Abe's grin suggested he hoped that would be the case!

Her mother being with Abe during Dimitri's rut and Rose's estrous was a stroke of good fortune. Dimitri took his role as Abe's primary Guardian seriously, and while the other Guardians on staff were first-rate, none of them were at the same caliber as Dimitri or his diminutive mother-in-law. Dimitri felt much more assured of Abe's safety knowing the 'Scottish hell-cat' would stay with his charge during his absence—and that they probably would not leave their bedroom let alone the heavily guarded compound!

Dimitri called the secondary Guardians in, barking orders for while he was away. Usually a good-natured commander, today he was terse and straight to the point. Everyone would be relieved when his rut finished, and he returned to his usual equable self.

When they left Court, Her Majesty had refused Rose access to the estrous suppressing medication they allowed every other married Omega. However, Abe obtained a supply, had it analyzed then replicated, so now Rose chose to estrous once a year to line up with her husband's rut. Anything more was just too exhausting.

'What are you thinking about?' Dimitri asked Rose through their bond, noting the sexy pull at the edge of his wife's lips as she packed her briefcase.

'Our first rut/estrous together,' Rose replied, turning to face her man. Dressed in a well-cut suit, Dimitri looked more businessman than Guardian, although he was skilled and able in both roles. And he still carried stakes every day.