Her Alpha - Complete

Chapter 40

It had been a month, but the end was now so near Abe could all but taste it! Postal votes were already flowing in, and Court voting was due to occur the day after tomorrow. To avoid any contention about the validity of the election, they had appointed four independent scrutineers; a prominent Drozdov lawyer, a successful Moroi restaurateur, Gary Erskine—current head of the Guardian Council—and a Dhampir Madam who ran numerous high-class brothels in Court and several other popular Moroi locations. All known for being straight shooters, and each professional enough to work alongside one another harmoniously despite their ideological differences, the diversity of those overseeing the process gave almost everyone comfort that the election would be conducted impartially.

While everything had been running smoothly, Abe couldn't shake the feeling that something was about to go spectacularly awry. There was nothing to suggest that the election and installation of the Representative Council would be anything but a success, yet Abe was edgy.

"I feel it, too," Dimitri noted, watching Abe. In their few years working together, the two men in Rose's life had come to know each other well. While not yet equal to the bond of twenty years Abe shared with Pavel, Belikov was nonetheless skilled at reading his 'boss' and sensing when something was concerning him. "Pavel is feeling it, too—but part of that is probably being away from his mate." Four weeks in and Pavel was like a cat on a hot tin roof being away from Karolina.

Abe grinned. Seeing Pavel in his new role as partner and father was gratifying to witness. In fact, it was what had made him decide to go all out with Janine. Pavel's change of circumstances showed you could teach an old dog new tricks—and Abe was up for the challenge.

"What's on today?" Dimitri asked, dragging his thoughts away from his own mate. Rose had been particularly needy over the last couple of days. A reaction to the long hours she'd been spending ironing out the last of the election details, he was barely through the door each night before she dragged him to their room, demanding intimate satisfaction. Not that he was complaining. But it hadn't escaped Dimitri's attention Rose was spending more and more time in her nest—a move that told him his wife was worried about something. He'd left her asleep there half an hour ago while he met with Abe over breakfast, as they did every day. Rose usually joined them, but after their busy night, Dimitri hadn't had the heart to wake her.

"10:00pm meeting with Croft at Guardian Headquarters. Then at midnight, we're meeting with the scrutineers to go through the procedures for ballot counting. What's Rose doing?"

"She's having brunch then going shopping with Lissa and Janine," Dimitri replied. As part of her political campaign, Lissa had been seen 'out and about' with Rose and other Dhampir socially every second day or so. The idea was that Dhampir would see her as a friend and ally—someone who cared about their issues - and so far, it appeared to be working.

Initially unhappy about his wife being used in this way, seeing Rose so pleased to hang out with her bestie had helped assuage his concerns. There was a lot about their friendship he didn't understand, he was coming to appreciate. He'd only seen a few weeks of interactions between them when he'd first come to St. Vladimir's. Soon after he and Rose married, then were all but banished from the Moroi world. Since then, his only opportunity to see Lissa with his mate was when they'd visit the Royal couple at Lehigh. For the first time in years, Rose had ready access to her best friend, and she loved it.

"Ahh yes. Jeanie said something about shopping," Abe commented with a grin. Twenty years in Guardian uniform meant Janine had precious little in the way of casual wear, and when she visited him in Turkey, they stayed at home, so jeans and shirts had sufficed. Now she'd decided to retire and move in with Abe, she needed a whole new wardrobe but no idea of where to start. Determined to help her mom look her best, Rose suggested a day shopping, roping Lissa in to help out. "I'll message Rose later and tell her to use her corporate credit card."