Dark Wolf by Christine Feehan

won’t last until we find him. He’s dying, Paul. I hate letting him suffer just so I can heal but I know you’re right. I can’t go to him like this and do any good at all. He’s hanging in there, and now he knows I can find him, that should give him hope. He knows I’ll come back.”
    “I’ll get you something to eat. There’s a restaurant across the street.”
    “Soup, maybe,” Skyler said reluctantly. She couldn’t imagine keeping food down, her stomach rebelled at the thought of it. “You know I’m a vegetarian.”
    She had been given two blood exchanges by her parents, just in case of an emergency. It took three to convert her completely and bring her fully into the Carpathian world. Since then, she hadn’t been able to look at meat. Sometimes it was difficult to force herself to eat fruit or vegetables.
    “Don’t worry.”
    “And knock, please, before you come in. I’m going to take a quick shower.” The bathroom looked a good distance away—at least ten whole steps. She was that shaky.
    Paul glanced from her to the bathroom door as if he might be reading her thoughts. He never talked about his psychic gifts, but he had jaguar blood in him and he had to have something. He couldn’t actually read thoughts—he would have said so. He just knew her really well.
    “I can carry you in. Maybe put a chair in the shower for you.”
    “I can make it,” she reassured him. “I’m not going to do anything stupid.” She was crawling into the freakin’ bathroom on her hands and knees if she had to. Paul was not carrying her. She was already feeling like a little bit of a burden to Paul and Josef. They both had to take care of her last night. Not only had she failed Dimitri, but she’d put both of them—especially Josef—in danger.
    Paul pushed off the bed. “I trust you, Sky. Josef will beat the crap out of me if anything happens to you.”
    That made her laugh, she couldn’t help it. Even her exploding head didn’t matter in that moment. There was something very beautiful about their friendship, Paul, Josef and her, which made her happy.
    “Boys are so violent,” she observed, blinking back a fresh flood of tears. She was lucky to have the two of them as friends.
    “Girls are so mushy,” Paul countered, leaning down to drop a kiss on top of her head. “Don’t go all sobby on me. Can you imagine what will happen if Josef comes in and finds you crying? Sheesh, I’ll be dead meat.”
    She made a face at him and gave him a little push, her stomach churning at the reference to meat. “Ugh. Go away before I throw up all over you.”
    “You already did that,” he pointed out.
    “I did not,” she denied, uncertain if it was true, but adamant all the same. “I carefully and politely turned my face away from you.” She gave him a little huff of disdain, just to emphasize that he must have remembered the sequence of events incorrectly.
    “Then why did I have to spend half the day in the laundry room?” he asked with a smirk.
    Now she knew he was teasing her. This little room was not in a hotel. She could tell it was a private residence renting out rooms. No hotel was this cozy or had the detailed quilts, obviously handmade, in them. There wouldn’t be a laundry room.
    “Go away, mean boy,” she said. “If I don’t take my shower soon, Josef will show up before I’m out.”
    “Lock him out,” Paul said as he crossed to the door.
    She laughed again. “You try locking him out.”
    “He can’t come in if the doors and windows are closed and locked, not without an invitation,” Paul said.
    “Really?” She arched an eyebrow. “This is Josef we’re talking about. He’s very adept at picking locks, as you well know. You both have studied enough to be criminals.”
    Paul put his hand over his heart. “Ouch. Such a hurtful woman.”
    He hurried out the door laughing, slamming it quickly so that the pillow she threw hit the door instead of him.
    Skyler sat for a long moment, the smile