Skyler took a deep breath and let it out. She might be afraid to walk out in the forest, seeking a Lycan, but still, she looked forward to it. That would bring her one step closer to freeing Dimitri. She sat up gingerly, feeling faint and dizzy.

Josef looked up immediately from his conversation with Paul. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head. “I’ll need your help again.”

“You’re going to have more Carpathian blood in you than Josef does,” Paul said with a little grin. “You should see the weapons Josef managed to get for me.”

Skyler rolled her eyes. “Men. You just couldn’t wait for me to know all about your cool weapons, could you?”

“I almost came over to your hammock and dumped you out,” he teased.

She closed her eyes and let Josef give her blood, grateful he was adept enough to keep her unaware when she consented to his aid. She took the water bottle Paul offered and drank, more to make certain there was no aftertaste in her mouth than because she was thirsty.

“You don’t think the Lycans will sense the Carpathian blood in her do you, Josef?” Paul asked, suddenly anxious.

“They can’t tell we’re Carpathian until we use our energy to manipulate the elements,” Josef said. “I read the emails between Gregori and Gabriel.”

Skyler scowled at him. “You hacked my father’s email?”

Josef shrugged, completely unrepentant. “He made it easy. I told him his password needed to be a lot better, but he didn’t listen. They never do. I hacked the prince as well.” He held up his hand to stop her when she opened her mouth to give him a lecture on privacy. “Better yet, I managed to find and hack two of the Lycan council members.”

Skyler closed her mouth. Somehow hacking the Lycans’ email didn’t seem nearly as bad as hacking her father’s email or the prince’s.

“Did you find anything out about what’s going on?” Paul asked.

“Only that they seemed to want to work things out with the Carpathians. They want them as allies. They obviously are terrified of the ones they call the Sange rau, but they’re certain they can convince Mikhail of the danger.”

Skyler frowned, shaking her head again. “Josef, Dimitri says he’s being held in a war camp. The Lycans are preparing for a battle. It has to be with Mikhail. Did any of the emails mention Dimitri?”

“No, which I thought was a little odd.”

A small fox trotted into their camp, and then came to an abrupt halt as if confused by the presence of the three of them. He was beautiful, his fur coat thick and bright. He shook his tail, gave an indignant bark and retraced his footsteps back into the brush.

Skyler laughed softly. “Life just goes on no matter what’s happening, doesn’t it?”

“That fox was a little annoyed with us,” Paul said.

“For a moment I thought it was Gabriel and my heart nearly stopped,” Josef said. “I’ve thought a lot about where I want you to scatter my ashes after he kills me,” he added.

Paul and Skyler looked at Josef’s sorrowful expression, the dramatic hand over his heart, and both burst out laughing simultaneously.

“He’s not going to kill you, Josef,” Skyler soothed. “He’ll just . . . you know . . . do his Gabriel thing.”

“He’s going to kill you,” Paul assured. “Dead. For certain. But he’ll make you suffer first.”

“Don’t look so happy about it, bro,” Josef said. “He’s going to kill you, too.”

Paul shrugged. “Better him than Zacarias. I’ve got like five of the craziest Carpathians known that are going to be eager to strangle me; you’ve only got a couple.”

“We’ll get in and get out with no one the wiser,” Skyler said. “That way no one will get killed.”

“Sky, I’m going to be in the ground when you go wandering in the woods,” Josef said, worry taking the laughter from his voice. “You’ll be very vulnerable. Paul won’t be able to be too close to you, so you have to make certain that there is as clear a line of sight as possible from Paul to you at all times. He’s your only protection until sunset.”

“I honestly don’t think the Lycans are going to worry about me rescuing Dimitri. Our papers are in order. We’ve set the camp up perfectly to be a working environment, and they must know of Dimitri’s organization to save the wolves. He’s set up preserves all over the world. Of course they have no idea it’s that Dimitri they’ve wrapped in silver.”

“There are other things in this forest to worry about than just the Lycans,” Josef pointed out. “Wild predators live here.”

“I know, but most of them come out at night. Really, I feel like between you and Dimitri, I could use a little encouragement.”

“I think the plan is solid,” Josef said. “I think your presence will draw a Lycan to you. Just make noise. I want you aware, that’s all.”

She heard the reluctance, the concern in his voice. He would be in the ground, unable to aid her if she got into trouble. She knew, like Dimitri, being helpless would be the most difficult thing of all. “I’ll be hypervigilant,” she promised.

“Were you able to remove the silver from his body?” Paul asked. “All of it?”

Skyler nodded, relief sweeping through her. She hadn’t realized how tense she was until that moment. “Yes. And one of the Lycans gave him blood. He’s been starving for over two weeks, so it wasn’t nearly enough to bring him to full strength, but it should be enough that he can get out on his own after I remove the hooks and chains.”

“There is no way you, or either of us, could ever carry Dimitri. He’s too big of a man,” Paul said.

“Excuse me.” Josef blew air on his fingernails and polished them on his shirt. “You’re forgetting my mad skills. I could float him out of there.”

Skyler rolled her eyes at his blatant bragging. “And every Lycan in the forest will feel that rift in the energy field and come running.”

“I just wanted you to be very aware of my talents,” Josef said. “I could do it if it was necessary, that’s all.”

“Could you carry him out of the forest on your dragon’s back?” Skyler asked, suddenly very serious.

The smirk disappeared from Josef’s face. “If it was just him, sure, but not with the both of you as well.”