Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

help her. Give me a couple of minutes with her, Sergei. If her agent shows up, distract him while I see what I can do."
    "Her sister must know we helped her," Nikitin reminded him.
    Ilya didn't answer, simply wrapped his arm around Hannah's waist and half carried her to the far side of the balcony away from his boss. "That man is no friend of yours, Hannah. He drugged you. I'm going to rid your body of it, but it's going to burn like hell. Do you understand?"
    She didn't understand any of it, but she knew Ilya Prakenskii had the same gifts the Drake sisters did. She knew how they worked and that he was capable of removing a drug from her body. She also knew he was a very dangerous man, and anytime one worked with psychic abilities, or magic, whatever term one used, there was vulnerability on both sides. The Drake family were already in debt to Ilya and he had a path straight back to Joley. She was one of the most powerful of the Drakes. She didn't want him knowing anything about her just in case she had to protect her sister.
    Hannah shook her head. "No." It was very firm. She'd deal with the drug. She could push it out of her own system now that she knew what she was dealing with.
    "Yes," he countered. "You're in no condition to try it yourself. You know these things can be tricky. Hold still. And the next time you accept a drink from a man, friend or not, use your gift to make certain there's nothing wrong with it."
    No wonder the man set Joley's teeth on edge. Hannah was no amateur—and neither was Joley. Ilya might think he was more powerful, but the Drakes could take him if they had to—as long as they didn't open themselves up to his magic. She tried to pull away, to stand on her own so that she could reverse whatever was wrong with her, but she was too dizzy.
    Ilya's hand settled on her stomach, his arm around her, clamping her in place. He was enormously strong and having him take her over with so many people within screaming distance kept her silent. She felt warmth flow from his palm, through her skin, and into her churning stomach. She didn't want this, but there was no way to stop the flow of power from him to her. She felt their spirits connect. She flinched away from him, catching glimpses of things she didn't want to ever see or know about—dark, ugly things that belonged buried.
    She felt heat, her temperature rising. Worse, she felt him in her head. Instinctively she knew what he was after. Even while he was healing her body, he was searching for memories of Joley—of her power—her abilities. He wanted to know the precise strength. Frantic, Hannah shoved at him, raising her arms toward the wind.
    Ilya caught her wrists and yanked her hands to her sides. "There is a price for everything. This is my price."
    Hannah shook her head, furious. "You betray everything you're given and you don't deserve your gifts. Stay out of my head. I wouldn't trade my sister for my own life, my dignity or my virtue."
    His hand slipped around her throat. "You know nothing about me."
    Hannah stared at him, refusing to look away or be intimidated. If he wanted to throw her off the balcony for telling the truth, let him do it. She wasn't giving up Joley, not for anything. "I know I don't want you near my sister. Whatever game you're playing, know we will defend Joley with our lives—not just me, but every single Drake, man or woman, child or adult, alive today." It was the absolute truth and she let him see the reality in her eyes.
    "I am familiar with danger, Miss Drake."
    There was no doubt he was. She felt it in him, read it in his memories—terrible things—things she couldn't comprehend in her world. She'd grown up with loving parents, her family close, the village where she lived close-knit and protective. His life, from childhood, had been one of violence.
    He frightened her. Not her normal panic over nothing, but truly, deep down to the bone frightened. She knew her sister drew men like a magnet. She was elusive and wild and screamed sex on stage. Hannah glanced at his boss. Sergei Nikitin had been pursuing Joley across three continents. Was that what Ilya was up to? Was he going to use his psychic talents to put Joley in Nikitin's very dirty hands?
    "Let go of me," she demanded. The heat from his palm had turned scorching, searing through blood and bone and invading every tissue of her body, but she felt better, her head clear. There was no doubt she'd ingested a drug. After all the security lectures by