She smacked him over the head with her papers. "The customs official didn't believe I was twenty-five."
Josef flashed a cocky grin. "You're not. You're barely nineteen, and when Gabriel and Lucian find out what we've done, we're both going to be in more trouble than either of us has ever known." He paused, the smile fading from his mouth. "And I've been in a lot of trouble."
"We have no choice," Skyler said.
"Don't kid yourself, Sky, there's always a choice. And you aren't the one they're going to kill. I'm going to be their prime target. When Gabriel and Lucian come looking for you—and they will," Josef said, "they'll find you. They have a reputation for a reason. If we really do this, every Carpathian hunter will be out looking."
Her father, Gabriel, was extremely powerful, a legendary Carpathian hunter. Her uncle Lucian, Gabriel's twin, had helped to create that legend among the Carpathian people, and when they discovered her gone, of course they would come after her.
"Isn't that the point?" Skyler replied with a small shrug. "By the time they wake and realize we're gone, we'll have a good head start. We should be able to find Dimitri."
"You do realize," Josef said, floating out of the coffin, "this could very well cause an international incident. Or worse, war. All-out war."
"You agreed to help me," Skyler said. "Have you changed your mind?"
"No. You're my best friend, Sky. Dimitri probably despises me and wishes I was dead, but he's your lifemate and he's been literally thrown to the wolves." Josef sent her a little grin, pleased with his pun. "Of course I'm going to help you. I helped you come up with this plan, didn't I? And it will work."
"Dimitri doesn't despise you; in fact, he's glad you're my friend. We've talked about it. He isn't like that." Skyler made a face at him. "You know very well he knows I think of you like a brother. He'd defend you with his life."
Josef grinned at her. "Forgive me for despising him just a little bit. He's good-looking, intelligent, an ancient hunter, and your lifemate. He destroyed all my dreams and fantasies about you. I don't dare even think along those lines or he'd know."
Skyler rolled her eyes. "As if. Even I know you don't think of me that way, Josef. You can hide a lot of things, but not that. There's no fantasy and no destroyed dreams. Your lifemate is either not born or"—she smirked at him mischievously—"she's probably one of Gregori's daughters."
He groaned and slapped his forehead with his palm. "A curse on you forever for uttering those words, for putting that thought out into the universe. Don't even think that, let alone say it aloud. Can you imagine Gregori Daratrazanoff as a father-in-law? Sheesh, Skyler, you really do want me dead."
She laughed. "It would serve you right, Josef. Especially after putting you died of a broken heart on those papers!"
"It could happen. I'm a romantic, you know. Dimitri thinks I'm a little kid, just like they all do, which is probably just as well, because otherwise he'd see me as a rival."