"Or both," Paul said. "As a nonconformist, you could be the first Carpathian to have two lifemates. Twins. Not bad, Josef."
"Ha. Ha. Ha. You two really do want me dead, don't you? Gregori would cut off my head and other very precious parts of my anatomy and feed them to the wolves."
"Slowly. He'd slowly feed them to the wolves while your head sat next to him watching," Paul informed him.
"Eww. That's just gross." Skyler made a face at them. Already the fur coat helped to control the continual shivering. Even the pain in her head seemed to lessen.
"That's why you love us so much," Paul pointed out.
"How long do you think it will take us to get there?" Skyler asked.
"I can't fly as fast as an airplane, but I think I can make it to the outskirts of the Russian forest by dawn," Josef said.
Skyler was surprised. "I thought it could take us a couple of nights."
"So did I," Paul said.
"I felt Dimitri's pain through you, Sky," Josef replied. "I feel a sense of urgency, and that means we need to get there as fast as possible. I'm going to try it. I honestly don't know if I'm that strong. All we can do is try. You'll have to rest as much as possible, Skyler. Sleep if you can. Paul won't let you go flying off, but we need you in shape as soon as possible."
Skyler nodded. "Thanks, Josef. I know tonight isn't going to be easy on you."
"We're in this together," Paul said. "Dimitri is our friend, too, Sky. We want to do this. We're not just going after him for you. Now, more than ever, we have to get to him. If he's suffering the way the two of you say, we might be his only chance."
The thought of that poisonous silver inching its way slowly, torturously, through Dimitri's body sickened her.
"Hang on, my love," she whispered to the night. "I'm coming to you as fast as I can."
Josef moved a distance away, scanning quickly to ensure they were alone. Paul had found the perfect place to spend the night. The little house was tucked back into the woods, a distance from the road. A widowed woman rented out a room for extra money to those traveling. There were no close neighbors and that allowed for Josef to have the privacy needed to shift into the form of a dragon.