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kick, but even that didn’t deter his amusement over Josef’s antics.
    Yes, my little dove. I must. What’s the fun in being Carpathian if you can never actually scare the crap out of someone?
    Josef, you have a mean streak in you.
    Josef reached the drunk. He held out his hand for the gun. The drunk extended his arm and to his shock, the gun dropped into Josef’s palm.
    “Thank you,” Josef said with a little formal bow. He removed the bullets and then crushed the gun in his fist.
    Paul slipped into the driver’s seat. “Come on, Skyler, let’s get out of here.”
    She took the little jump seat in the back. Josef was tall and would need the legroom to stretch out. Paul started the truck and drove around the five men, leaned his head out the window, and called to Josef.
    “Come on, man, let’s go.”
    Josef waved him away and turned back to gather up the weapons. One by one he destroyed them. Next he waved his hands toward the men and their clothing disappeared, leaving them naked on the ground.
    “It’s a little hard to rob and kill when you’re bare-butt naked, now isn’t it? I’ll be watching you. You don’t want me coming back.” Laughing, he took to the air, streaking after the truck.
    He was still laughing when he materialized in the front passenger seat.
    Skyler smacked the back of his head. “You took their clothes, didn’t you?” she said for Paul’s benefit. Paul was becoming more adept at telepathic communication, but he couldn’t merge his mind and read thoughts as she could do with Josef, although he was learning very fast.
    Paul snickered and held up his hand to give Josef a high five. “Oh, yeah, I’d like to see them slinking home in their birthday suits.”
    Both men erupted into laughter.
    Skyler rolled her eyes, trying hard not to laugh with them. “You’re impossible, Josef. Those men are going to have to make it through their neighborhood without a stitch on.” She pressed her palm against her mouth, but laughter spilled out anyway.
    Paul’s eyes met hers in the rearview mirror and Josef turned in his seat, his eyes sparkling with amusement. All three of them burst out laughing.
    Skyler had forgotten what it was like being with them. At college, she’d made a few friends, but she was guarded with them at all times—she had to be. At home, Gabriel and Francesca were loving and wonderful parents. Her baby sister, Tamara, was the most adorable child in the world and she couldn’t imagine life without her, but she couldn’t be honest with them about her relationship with Dimitri.
    She wasn’t Carpathian and she couldn’t wait until she was fifty years of age to be with her lifemate. She was human. Without Dimitri, she might not have gotten through many of the long nights where she woke with sweat covering her body and the memories of men pawing at her, hurting her, beating and using her. She’d been a child, but that hadn’t mattered to them.
    She’d learned to keep her screams silent, internal, and when she had nightmares, she did the same thing. Dimitri always heard her. Always. He came to her in the dark of the night, at her worst moments, surrounding her with unconditional love. He never asked her for anything. He never demanded his rights or threw it in her face that he suffered because she wasn’t able to fully be his lifemate.
    And he did suffer. As the years had gone by, Skyler was more adept at accessing his mind and memories. She saw clearly the terrible darkness crouched like a monster, whispering in temptation, trying to destroy him.
    Dimitri. Beloved. I’m so afraid for you. I’m holding you close to me, pretending that I’m certain you’re alive, lying to my closest, dearest friends, but in reality I can barely breathe. The terror of being without you feels so close—so real.
    She waited there in the darkness, grateful for the backseat in the truck, grateful that Paul and Josef fought over the music and thought her asleep. She kept her eyes closed and