"Excuse me." Josef blew air on his fingernails and polished them on his shirt. "You're forgetting my mad skills. I could float him out of there."
Skyler rolled her eyes at his blatant bragging. "And every Lycan in the forest will feel that rift in the energy field and come running."
"I just wanted you to be very aware of my talents," Josef said. "I could do it if it was necessary, that's all."
"Could you carry him out of the forest on your dragon's back?" Skyler asked, suddenly very serious.
The smirk disappeared from Josef's face. "If it was just him, sure, but not with the both of you as well."
Skyler reached out her hand to him. "It won't be necessary. You can give him blood. Paul and I will as well. He'll be fine. Even if he has to go to ground for a night or two, we can hide. And if we can't do that, we'll have our fall back plan." She spoke with far more confidence than she felt.
"So the silver is out of his body and a Lycan gave him blood," Paul said, his tone speculative. "Maybe all of them aren't bad."
"Dimitri knows I'll be coming for him tonight and he'll be ready. I just have to figure out how to get the hooks from his body and the chain from around him. It's burned into his flesh. Literally burned into it. His arms, his chest, all down his legs. They wrapped him up like a mummy in silver." There was disgust and anguish mixed together in her voice.
Paul slung his arm around her shoulders. "He's alive and he's waiting for you. We're getting him out."
"So we laid a trail for you," Josef said. "I'll take the two of you deeper into the woods. There's no sign of Paul anywhere, leading in that direction. Our tracks will go in two opposite directions, clearly searching for you. If a Lycan stumbles across, or goes looking for tracks, we've done a good job of making it look as if you've been gone several hours."
"I'll need a sprained ankle," Skyler pointed out.
Josef frowned. "That's the one part of the plan I'm not wild about. You can't run with a sprained ankle."
Paul burst out laughing. "Hello, you idiot. Have you forgotten who she is? She can heal anything, including a sprained ankle."
"I just am squeamish about giving myself any injury," Skyler admitted.
"Cause she's such a girlie girl," Paul teased.