Dark Wolf(14)

Dimitri closed his eyes. It sounded so simple. Sometimes the best plans  were the simplest, but Skyler would be in the deep forest, far from  civilization, where real wolves and Lycans both inhabited the woods. Not  all men were good-Lycan or human. Of all people, Skyler should know  that.

He kept silent, knowing she did know. She had nightmares often. She was  risking her life, along with her hard-won peace of mind and she had to  be terrified, but she was doing it for him. The thought made him feel  humble.

You would do the same for me.

He was an ancient warrior, she was so young and vulnerable. He could  feel how exhausted she was. Under any circumstances, healing was  difficult. Given the distance and the fact that she'd been drained of  all energy the preceding night, he was surprised she could function at  all. There was no use in arguing with her.

If anything goes wrong and you get in trouble, swear to me you will call  for Gabriel. He capitulated, but his heart pounded and the silver  twisted through his body that much faster. He could feel the burn  worming its way through his rib cage.

Have no worries, my love, I will be shouting at the top of my lungs.

Skyler reassured her lifemate, honesty ringing in her voice.

I love you and that doesn't begin to describe what I feel for you. There  were no words, Dimitri decided, that had ever been invented that could  ever express the all-consuming love he felt for Skyler.

Please be safe, Dimitri. Stay very still. I'm with you, she whispered,  tears burning in her eyes as the connection between them abruptly ended.

Skyler hated letting that thread between them go. He was so alone, in  such bad shape, far worse than she could have ever imagined. Her Dimitri  was so strong, so very powerful, it didn't seem possible that he could  be a prisoner, tortured and near his life's end.

She felt tears on her face. She couldn't move, she was just too  exhausted, but staring up at the canopy overhead as the branches swayed  and danced to the music of the wind, she realized how lucky she was.  Dimitri was alive. He was close enough that she could reach him and he  could connect to her. They would find a way together.

"Sky, I'm going to give you a few minutes," Josef said, "and then you're  going to have to try to eat something. We've got a lot of work ahead of  us and you have to be in shape."

She nodded, content to lie in her hammock and listen to the sounds of  the forest. The continual drone of the insects seemed familiar to her  and yet not at all. Wings fluttered overhead as birds flitted from one  tree to the next. Marmots scampered and mice infiltrated the vegetation  on the forest floor. The forest was alive with life.

She turned her head to watch as Paul set up a safety zone. There were  predators in the forest and, although they had Josef with them, they  needed to prepare just in case. She lay in her hammock, thinking about  their last line of defense, should everything go wrong. If they were  discovered and the Lycans attacked them, it was up to her to provide a  safe shelter for them all. Dimitri would be weak. If there was no time  to give him blood and heal him, they would be tasked with finding a safe  place they could defend while he went to ground to recover.

Paul strode over to her, holding a water bottle. "Here. Can you sit up?"  He already had his arm around her back, helping her. "Drink this. We're  nearly set up here. Josef has everything in order. Even our findings  will stand up under scrutiny. I can't imagine that the Lycans won't buy  our cover."

"Josef said the simplest plan was the best, and I think he's right,"  Skyler admitted. She had to lean against Paul to sit up enough to drink  the water. "I'm so tired, all I want to do is sleep." She looked up at  him, frowning. "He can't go to ground or get out of the sun. The last  time, the distance was so great I couldn't see anything around him or  even get a sense of what was happening to him. The pain was so awful,  but this time . . ." She trailed off.                       
       
           



       

"He's strong," Paul assured her. "He'll survive."

"I know how very fortunate I am that he loves me. Knowing he didn't  deliberately move and squirm to allow the silver to pierce his heart  when he's been tortured all this time just to stay alive for me, is an  amazing feeling. I don't know that I could have withstood that kind of  agony as long as he has."

Skyler took another long, slow drink. The water felt good on her parched  throat. Dimitri hadn't fed for over two weeks. What would that do to  him? She looked around for Josef. He was busy with the fire pit. He'd  always had a thing about fire.

"If Dimitri hasn't fed in a long while, Josef, what does that do?"

Josef turned slowly, the flames from the fire pit casting eerie shadows.  "That's not good, Sky. He'll be starved. It's best that, when we rescue  him, I give him my blood first, not you."

She didn't like the sound of that. Josef could be quite adult at times, and he sounded very serious-and concerned.

"Can you get up, Skyler?" Paul asked. "We've got a chair for you and the fire is warm."

"I don't know." That was dishonest. If she tried to stand, she'd fall on her face.

Paul scooped her up without asking, carrying her straight over to the  fire and placing her in a chair facing it. "Josef remembered the  marshmallows and chocolate," he added.

"Sounds fun," she replied.

Josef came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders,  putting his chin on the top of her head. "Do you think you're up for  this tomorrow? Should we give it another day so that you can recoup?"

He was reluctant to wait, she heard it in his voice. She knew the  chances of their plan succeeding went down the longer they waited. If a  Lycan discovered their camp before she was "lost" their ploy wouldn't  work. She doubted she could get close enough to plant a tracking device  without their knowledge if she wasn't injured and needing help. They  would have to find another way to track Dimitri back to his prison. She  knew she could find him now, with the psychic trail becoming stronger,  but it would take time and energy they clearly didn't have. And then  there was Dimitri. Anything could happen on his end-and none of it was  good.

"I'll be ready," she said. She took the mug of hot chocolate more to  appease both of her friends than because she thought she'd drink it.  "What I need is to let Mother Earth help heal me. Can you open the soil  here for me to stretch out in?"

"Baby, you can't sleep in the ground," Josef said. "I can't cover you  and you'd be vulnerable to any attack. Crazy woman, you aren't  Carpathian yet."

She found herself laughing. "Crazy man, I meant just a few layers. I  didn't plan to sleep there. The insect population alone would stop me."

"Worms," Paul added. "They crawl in and out of bodies . . ."

"The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out . . ." Josef quoted an old song  children had sung to one another in play yards the world over.

"Stop," Skyler commanded. Just being in the company of her two best  friends made her feel lighter. Safer. More grounded. "Eventually I'll be  sleeping in the dirt, and I don't want to think about worms or any  other bugs crawling over me."

She needed to feel her connection with Mother Earth if her fail-safe  plan had any chance of success at all. She didn't want to talk about it  yet, not until she was certain she could do it. Everything depended on  what she learned there in that ancient forest soil.

Josef kissed the top of her head. "You really are a squeamish little  baby sometimes, Sky. Dirt is not a dirty word. You said it with such  distaste. Like a girl."

"I am a girl, you goof," Skyler pointed out. She looked down at the  chocolate in the mug. Her stomach rebelled again. She was going to need  Josef's aid again. "And no girl likes the idea of sleeping in the ground  with insects. I am human, after all."

"You aren't exactly human," Josef said, letting go of her. "More like a  trippy little alien. By the way, I forgot to tell you, I've really  gotten far in that database of human psychics Dominic found in South  America. I've gotten past the encryptions and I've figured out the code  they were using for each person entered. I'm close to cracking the  entire thing. If I do, I can give the names to Mikhail and those women  can be protected from the human society trying to kill us, vampires, and  anyone else hunting them."

Skyler's stomach lurched. An ugly knot had formed. She looked down and the mug was empty. "Thanks, Josef."

"For the chocolate or the ‘trippy little alien' compliment?"

Paul snorted. "Is that what that was? A compliment? You're never going  to make it with the ladies, Josef, if you don't get better at talking to  them."