Chapter Six

RPOV

After Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques with Guardian Erikson, I had Weight Training and Conditioning with Guardian Pavlov.

Since I had just finished combat class right before this, I was still in my gym clothes, ready to go. I had about ten minutes before the class would start, giving those who had just arrived time to change. Guardian Pavlov was already here, stretching before he began class.

"Good morning, Guardian Pavlov." I said cheerily. He was one of my favorite Guardians on campus. He had dark brown hair with golden hues and light green eyes that peered out under thick eyebrows. His jaw was strong, but not offending, and his eyes were surrounded by laugh lines. He was a great guy and one hell of a Guardian.

He usually let me do all of my conditioning on my own. If I asked nicely, he'd even let me condition in wolf form, which is what I wanted to do today.

"Good morning, Novice Hathaway." He responded with equal vigor, the corners of his mouth twitched, but he quickly smoothed his face. His voice the only indication of emotion.

"I was wondering if I could do my conditioning in wolf form today?" I asked kindly. "I know it's the first day and all, but I haven't had a chance to wolf-out as much this summer. You know how Alberta thinks it might be too dangerous if there aren't enough Guardians around. But now you're here, and in case you didn't notice, I have my own personal shadow Guardian today."

"I didn't notice that. Where is this alleged shadow Guardian?" He asked in amusement.

"Guardian Belikov is leaning against the back wall, hiding in the shadows. He was in my first class this morning and in combat training just now. He's just observing from what I can tell, probably gathering information on how to better train me. He's mentoring me to be a better Guardian for the Princess."

"I've no doubt that you're going to be the best Guardian for the Princess, but if he thinks he can teach you something new, he's more than welcome to try." Pavlov laughed. "You can do your own conditioning today. In fact, how about you do your own conditioning Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and I can assess and make suggestions on Tuesdays and Thursdays? I would like you to work both in wolf and human form. I know it's uncomfortable changing back and forth between the two because of the clothing issue, but I would like you to try transforming in the middle of a fight, just to see if you can and how long it would take."

"That sounds wonderful! I'll see if I can do that early in the morning when no one else is here." I smiled widely. "Thank you, Guardian Pavlov."

"Between us, Rose, just call me Ivan." He winked at me and shooed me away with his hand. I smiled and headed to the locker room so I could change and transform. There were a few girls in the locker room changing into their gym clothes. The entire upper-level female Novices were in this class, which amounted to seven.

"I'm going to be Transforming, guys, so if you don't want to hear it or see it, I'd change quick." All but Meredith quickly changed and ran out of the room.

"I don't have a problem with it. I hate that you're the only senior Lycanthrope." She stated, taking her time getting ready. "It must suck not having anyone to train with and we Dhampir can't really keep up with you most of the time, even in your human form."

"It's okay. My new mentor is a Lycanthrope so maybe he'll have us train in wolf form." She nodded silently as I stripped. I let out my inner wolf. My body came alive as she sprung out of her cage. I started to feel more normal. Being in my wolf form didn't allow me to interact easily with many people, considering I was seven feet tall at the shoulder, so maintaining human form constantly was a necessity as a form of communication. If I had it my way, I'd stay in wolf form all the time.

My body craved its wolf form and the power it held. I still had power as a human but as a wolf, I radiated it. As a wolf, I could sense Dimitri tense and release a low growl as he felt the power shift. He'd been emitting Alpha waves all day, but it usually got stronger when I was getting attention from other males. I know he was an Alpha, and me being a female Lycanthrope, he had to prove that he had the final say, but not only was the Alpha wave distracting, it was also arousing.

I was another Alpha, and two Alphas being in the same room would be dangerous, but I wasn't a mature Alpha just yet, so I posed no immediate threat to him. However, in the way of Lycanthrope, he could have claim to me if I so chose to submit to him as my Alpha.

"I don't understand how your hair can be dark brown as a human and snow white as a wolf." Meredith commented. "It just doesn't make sense to me. And don't get me started about your eyes."

I shrugged as best I could in wolf form and nodded toward the door.

"Do you think you could open that for me?" I sent out to her.

"Of course." She answered, putting her things back in her locker and moving toward the door, she held it open as I stepped through the narrow opening. I had to lean my head down to fit under the lintel. "And I'm assuming that you won't be going with the rest of us for Dhampir conditioning."

"You'd be right. Just be sure to hit Mason extra hard." Meredith laughed and agreed. I passed Guardian Pavlov on my way out and gave him a nod.

"I'm going to be outside, Ivan. When class is over just get someone to whistle really loud." He nodded in my direction before turning back to the rest of his class.

Ryan Aylesworth started walking toward me with a smirk on his face. I stopped and looked at him expectantly.

"You look better like this, Hathaway. But the least you could've done was show us all the Transformation process. Maybe you wouldn't mind changing back into a human right now? Just so we can see how it works." He asked with a smirk. I growled at him, my ears pinned against my head, crouching lower to the ground. My head was in line with his but I was five times the size of him. Yet, he didn't back down. "Down, girl. No need to get feisty."

I felt Dimitri tense even more behind me, Alpha waves pulsing pulling me toward him, as Ryan lifted his hand toward my head, as if to pet me. I snapped at the offending hand and growled louder.

"Novice Aylesworth!" Guardian Pavlov yelled. "Don't you know not to antagonize Hathaway, no matter what form she takes? Get over here before you end up dead." I gave one last growl as he turned away to join the rest of the class.

I stalked my way over to the doors that led outside. In order to get to said doors, though, I had to pass by Dimitri. Ever since I stepped out of the locker room I could feel his eyes glued on me. The Alpha in me told me to challenge him, but I had nothing to prove and I wasn't mature yet. Technically, I was still a pup.

I wondered how large his wolf form was? I turned my head to see him clearly. He was no longer slouching against the wall. His form was rigid, but his eyes were widened in shock. He stared at me in disbelief, his mouth hung open. I understand that it wasn't every day that you saw a white wolf, but I wasn't that impressive. My wolf form was a lot smaller than the other Lycanthropes I've met, and I'm pretty sure I've stopped growing.

I tilted my head toward the door, beckoning for him to follow. He moved forward in a trance, his eyes never once leaving mine. I pushed open the door with my head and made my way slowly toward the woods. In human form, Guardian Belikov had to walk briskly to keep up with my stride.

"Is there a reason why your mouth is still hanging open, Guardian Belikov?" I asked without looking at him. I heard the audible snap as his jaw closed.

"Ty krasivyy Belyy Volk." He whispered. My head turned to him. I've only taken enough Russian to understand half the sentence, but I pieced together the rest of it.

"Da. I am a White Wolf. We're rare, but we're out there."

"Usually White Wolves have a special purpose in life, at least, that's what my Babushka tells me." He stated rushing to move closer to my head. When he got close enough he only studied my eyes.

"Are you staring because you wish to figure out my purpose in life, then?" I ask sarcastically. "I doubt you'll find it in my eyes."

"No, I stare because I'm intrigued by you." He stated plainly. I didn't respond, his confession left me confused.

We reached the clearing in the woods where I did my wolf conditioning.

"Would you care to join me, Guardian Belikov?" I asked.

"I couldn't possibly fight you as a wolf, I'd be crushed by your paw."

"I did not mean as a human. You are a Lycanthrope, are you not?"

"I am, but I've not Changed." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Then Change. I'm not stopping you. I promise I won't peek, either." I turned around and plopped down, covering my head and eyes with my massive paws. I felt him smile behind me and proceed with getting undressed.

My sight was actually better with my eyes closed, which I demonstrated this morning in Stan's class, but I'm not sure that he remembered. I "watched" as he slipped his duster from his shoulders and hung it up on a nearby branch. Next came his shirt, and if I thought he was hot with a shirt on, he was drop-dead gorgeous with it off. Even in wolf form my body reacted to his, I heard him give a low growl which made my lower belly clench.

I answered his growl with one of my own, but I stayed put. The desire to rush this man was overwhelming, but I needed to stay in control of my body. He continued undressing, his shoes and socks coming off next. He hesitated as he reached for his belt. I was very much looking forward to his pants coming off.

He, ever so slowly, slid the tail of his belt through the loop and buckle. Tugging the entire strap through each loop of his pants was pretty much torture. When his belt was fully off, his pants hung lower on his hips and the clearly defined V ached for me to touch it. I let loose another growl, but instead of growling in return, Belikov smirked, which made me growl again.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" He asked, his smirk still in place and his fingers lingering over the button on his pants.

"Only if you want to." I answered, even though the only thing I wanted was for him to take off his damn pants. His smirk got wider at my response and I pinned my ears against my head and growled again.

"Down, girl. No need to get feisty." He mimicked Ryan, but hearing Dimitri say it was a turn on rather than being antagonistic.

His fingers pushed the button on his pants through the hole and eased his zipper down. I could see his boxers were a black and white checkered pattern as they peeped through. His thumbs hooked around the band of both his boxers and his pants and began to slide them off his hips. I could feel the saliva pooling in my mouth as I tried to refrain from drooling.

I knew he was teasing me by now, no one undresses this slowly, even if they were hesitant. Without warning, he ripped his pants and boxers from his legs. I didn't have much time to admire the marvelous specimen that stood behind me before he started to shift. I gulped as I took all of him in.

I found my real Alpha, and, man, what an Alpha! Mating season must have been such a pain for him. I couldn't smell a mate on him, so he must have turned away many.

His slowly shifted from human to wolf. Most of the time, the transformation takes a minute at the most, but he seemed to be dragging his out. Not that I minded, it gave me a chance to study him more thoroughly. To both my surprise and horror, the hair that started to protrude from his form was brown.

I didn't want to believe that Dimitri could be the wolf from my dreams, but I couldn't tell for sure until the process was complete. I waited until his Transformation was complete before standing to face him.

Like in the dream, Dimitri's wolf form was larger than mine, except now that he was standing, he towered over me. His brown eyes held amusement, but no exuberance was found there. Unlike in the dream, his snout was clean and his posture strong. He didn't need my strength here, he had his own.

His head was cocked to the side as he studied me, studying him.

When he spoke, the voice that floated through my mind was like honey: rich, sweet, and smooth. The Russian accent he held when in human form was nothing compared to the thick accent that accompanied his wolf's voice.

"So, we meet again."