Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

loved the way you look, but…" He bit off a curse. "Anyone looking at the picture would know I'm in love with you."
    Hannah tried not to fixate on the blood dripping steadily from his knuckles but the sight of his mashed and bleeding flesh made her slightly queasy. She wanted to put her arms around him and comfort him, but he was ramrod stiff. She let the silence stretch out, forcing herself to allow him to tell her at his own pace.

    "You're a supermodel, Hannah. No one knows who the hell I am, but your face is everywhere. They took one look at that picture and they knew just how to get to me.
    The fucking bastard is going to die for this."
    She was beginning to comprehend. Maybe she'd known from the moment he'd gotten that look on his face, the dawning horror. She twisted her fingers together to keep from touching her face. In a way, it was a relief to know. She could never imagine why someone would hate her so much, but it wasn't about her. It had never been about her.
    "Boris Tarasov did this to me because he was trying to get to you?"
    "I should have known when there was no magic involved. It was too brutal. The killers were amateurs and both were reluctant. He must have threatened their child.
    And he would have done it quite brutally. Tarasov has a certain reputation for bloody vengeance. He probably made them believe that if they didn't carry out the attack exactly as he instructed, he would chop their little girl into pieces and send her back to them one piece at a time. That's the kind of thing he's famous for."
    Jonas looked at her then—at the scars on her face and throat. "I spent my life trying to take care of my mother and then all of you. I wanted you more than anything, Hannah, but my old job was so dangerous, and I was afraid I'd bring that danger on you and your sisters. So I stayed away. When I took the job with the sheriff's department, I thought we might have a chance. It was so much safer than what I had been doing."
    He dropped his face in his hands. "All those years of being careful, and in the end, I still brought the violence straight to you."
    Hannah' looked into his eyes—his gorgeous, dangerous eyes—and saw such misery, such rage and hopelessness. She forced her brain to slow down, not react, but to think.
    Jonas spent his life trying to save people. He put himself in harm's way every single day in order to help others and it had cost him far more than he realized. He hadn't done this. He could never be responsible for what another human being chose to do and somehow she had to find a way to make him understand that.
    "No, Jonas. You didn't put that knife in my attacker's hands. You didn't force him to use it. Boris Tarasov did. He's the one responsible, not you." She put her hand over his knuckles, pushing healing energy to take the sting away.
    "Don't!" he said sharply. "This is… unacceptable , Hannah. You're my damn world and to have someone try to destroy you over something I did…"
    " You don't," she answered with equal sharpness. "Don't you dare! I mean it, Jonas.
    This isn't about you and don't try to make it that way. Your mother's illness wasn't about you either. You take on too much, you always have."
    "She was over forty when she had me. She was too frail to have a child and she never recovered." He shoved both hands several times through his hair, needing to hit something again. "Her immune system shut down after I was born."

    "She wanted you more than anything else in the world. Both your mother and father did. You have no right to take that away from them. It was their choice and one they never regretted."
    "She suffered, Hannah. Every damn day. She suffered."
    "She was very strong, not frail, and she fought it long and hard because it was her decision to stay with you. I'm an empath. I went with my family to see your mother. I knew what she wanted, and it wasn't death. Not even to escape the pain. She wanted every single minute she could have with you." She took his hand again, linked their fingers together. "And that's what I want, Jonas. Every single minute I can have with you."
    "Look what happened to you, Hannah."
    "It happened. It was frightening and horrible and we both wish it hadn't happened, but it did. And something good came of it. In a way, Jonas, I found my strength. I know who I am and what I want. I gained my freedom."
    "Damned hard way to get your freedom, baby. And you're going to have nightmares for the rest of your life."
    "So I'll have