"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.