She was barely aware of the truck stopping, of Josef lifting her out of the backseat to lay her in the grass. Paul held her hands down to prevent her from tearing her skin open.
"Breathe," Paul demanded. "Right now, Skyler. Take a breath."
She had asked for this, and if it was this bad for her, so far from him, what must it be like for Dimitri? She forced air into her lungs. There was no way to push away the pain. Her connection to Dimitri ran too deep.
She looked to Josef. He was Carpathian and he was strong when he wanted to be. She knew what she was asking, pleading with her eyes for aid.
"Paul," Josef said softly, "she's found Dimitri and it's bad. I have to help her. That leaves you to guard us, get us back in the truck when it's over and give me blood."
Paul nodded. "I've got this, just help her."
Josef didn't waste time. "I'm all yours, Skyler, take my strength and energy freely. Wherever he is, help him."
Skyler didn't dare take a break and then try to overcome that mind-numbing pain again. It took nearly everything she had to stay conscious while she followed the thread back to Dimitri. If Josef hadn't been with her, it would have been impossible. He was a great distance away. The Lycans who had taken Dimitri had managed to move him very quickly out of the country. They left no trail behind; Josef had managed to get that information for her.
She knew that the agony she was feeling was nothing in comparison to what Dimitri was going through. He would shield her, trying to block as much pain as he could when he reached for her to let her know he was alive. She felt him retreating from her, breaking the merge to stop her from feeling pain.
Skyler used every ounce of strength and discipline she possessed. She had been forged in the fires of hell as an infant. Honed in those same fires as a young girl. She was Dragonseeker. A daughter of Mother Earth. In her own right she was a powerful psychic. She refused to lose the thread leading to her lifemate. He wasn't going to last long, not with that kind of torture—and they were torturing him. Skyler set her mind on one thing only—staying with Dimitri, following that faint trail back to him.
The path was broken, fading away, very faint, but she could follow it, those psychic footprints she was so familiar with. Pain ripped through her until every nerve ending was inflamed and burning. She had to turn her head to vomit, the pain excruciating.
She tugged at her hands, silently telling Josef she was under control and to let go. The moment he did, she pushed her fingers into the soil. That act alone gave her more strength. More determined than ever, Skyler reached again for the fading trail leading back to Dimitri.
She saw the way in colors as she always did, long silver streaks like a comet, only this time those streaks were edged bloodred. Dimitri had once told her he knew of no one else who could see a psychic trail in the same way she did. Bitter cold slipped into her mind. Her body continually shook. She drew on Josef, all that wonderful strong psychic energy he possessed and so freely and generously gave to her.
Csitri. Little one. You cannot be here.
She nearly sobbed. Tears collected in her throat until the lump threatened to choke her. His beloved voice was ravaged and raw.
There is no other place for me. There is only you. Be still and let me examine you. She found it more of an effort to speak to him; the pain, so close to him, was overwhelming.