DPOV
When I returned to my room Rose wasn't there. I could clearly see she'd been because her dress and heels were around. But she wasn't.

An hour later without a sign of her, I was too worried not to investigate. So, I called Alberta.
"Petrov here."
"Petrov, it's Belikov. Rose is missing."
"What do you mean, Rose is missing?"
"I mean I haven't seen her after she left the banquet."
"And it took you this long to notice, why? You share a room with her, Belikov, you should have noticed immediately!"
I mentally gulped. "I'm not about to look through her stuff," I defended evenly. "She's been by and changed, that much is evident, but I was assuming she was calming the Princess after a panic attack or something. But she didn't leave a note nor has she returned."
"Fine. Just let me come and see what I can gather from your room."
"Thanks, Petrov."

Once she'd deduced Rose had left impulsively, she called a lockdown and roll call. Much to the guardians' dismay and Moroi's fright, and Lissa's dismay, fright and annoyance, four others had also gone missing. Mia Rinaldi, Christian Ozera, Eddie Castile and Mason Ashford had all gone missing on top of Rose. The odd partners in crime were Christian and Mia.

Soon though, we discovered they'd left separately and both groups had failed at compulsion use. Christian hadn't begun to affect the guardian he'd tried to persuade, so Rose had rendered him unconscious with a Maglite. Maybe I shouldn't have given her a lesson in make-shift weapons. Now wasn't a time to worry about that though. All I wanted was Roza returned, safe and sound.

"I found her!" Adrian burst through the door 18 hours later. I wanted to scream 'what the f***?' at him, but I really didn't care how as long as he was right and actually provided us with useful information.
"What? How?" Alberta demanded.
Janine had remained as calm as ever, but an extra line on her forehead alerted me to the true extent of her worry.
"I'm a spirit user and can walk dreams. Rose finally slept enough to tell me she's been captured by Strigoi and monitored by humans."
"Spokane," I sighed. "It's the only place."
"Thanks Lord Ivashkov." Alberta's eyes landed on me. "I don't care how or why they chose Spokane, let's just get them back." I realised she was letting me off the hook. The less she appeared to know the more innocent she could plead. If I didn't say anything she technically didn't know.

"Mason, no!" Rose screamed from the living room where she was fighting off two Strigoi. I barged in and shoved him behind me. "Dimitri!" she screamed in warning as the fish tank exploded.
"Oh, ending the two of you will be fun," sneered the male I was approaching. He was an ancient and I was struggling big time to find my opening. Turns out I didn't have to. Rose had decapitated the second one and took this kill from my hands as she quite literally stabbed him in the back. Before I could plunge my stake, and before the Strigoi hit the floor, she was already hacking away.
"Dimitri!" Rose snapped at me. "Get back in the sun!"

I looked in her eyes. Frantic and unregistering. Wild. Traumatised. She wasn't my Roza and it was killing me. I didn't move as she fought to keep a hold on the sword. Other guardians were already flooding in and doing clean-up.

"Rose," I tried to catch her eyes and send her all my love and support in a way no one around us would grasp.
"Get. In. The. Sun!" she growled.
"Not without you."
The sword fell along with her face. Her body would have followed had I not caught her beforehand. "Are they safe?" she begged frantically. "Are Isaiah and Elena dead? Are the Moroi safe?"
"Christian and Mia are safe- and so many more Moroi because of this." I checked the bodies of the Strigoi over her shoulder. "The Strigoi are dead."
She nodded blankly before she started shaking.
"Get her out of here, Belikov," Alberta instructed.

Her friends swarmed us when we stepped outside. Except Rose would not speak to or embrace any of them. She was clinging to me and right now all I wanted was to get her cleaned up and behind wards. She was my top priority right now, even though she shouldn't be. I loved her and would be by her side as long as possible. Now and into the future.

"Are you still here?" Rose asked halfheartedly when she came by for practice the day she was medically cleared. Nearly a fortnight later.
I smiled up at her. "You can't get rid of me no matter how hard you try." I pat the chair next to me. "Sit, Rose. You're not ready to pick up all your combat hours."
She glared but sat. "I'm-"
"Don't bother, Roza," I chuckled and shifted in front of her. "I can see right through you." I sighed and took her hands in mine. "I meant it before you chased after Ashford and I still do. I still want to try, Roza. As long as you want to, so do I. More importantly, I want you to know I'm here for you. It's not easy recovering from a kill, or kills. I need you to know I'll be here to support you. Okay?"
A tear escaped her eye. I wiped it away gently, my hand lingering to cup her face. She leaned into the touch and nodded. "Okay. And you're a fool if you think I don't want to try."
"You're my everything, Roza." I pressed gentle kiss to her forehead as I stood to leave.
"We are starting up practices again, aren't we? You still have things to teach me?"
"Yes, we are. And I have lots of things to teach you." Half of which would get you expelled and me fired.