Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

couldn't talk out loud. Did she even know? "Do you remember what happened? You're in the hospital. You need to rest and just hang on until your family gets here."
    Are you all right?
    His heart turned over. That was just like Hannah, asking if he was all right when she was fighting for her life. "Scared. I'm scared, Hannah. You've got to hold on until your family comes. Libby is on her way and so are the rest of them. Everyone's coming, Hannah, because you're important to us and we can't lose you. I can't lose you."
    I needed to tell you I'm sorry.
    His heart nearly stopped. "Sorry? You have nothing to be sorry about." He kissed her fingers again, pressed them to his mouth. "I'm the one who should have been here with you. Do you remember what happened?"
    I remember being afraid and then there was pain, so much pain.
    Her voice cracked and he felt the pain sweeping inside him as if there was so much she couldn't contain it in her fragile body.
    "Rest, Hannah, go to sleep and let Prakenskii and Sarah hold you until your mother and sisters come. Just go to sleep. I'll be right here." He didn't want her to sleep, he wanted her to keep talking. It was terrifying that she hadn't opened her eyes and that he might be imagining the conversation because he needed to hear her voice.
    Jonas nibbled at her fingertips. "I love you, Hannah. You hang on."
    The sound of the machines answered him. If she'd been there, close enough to the surface of consciousness to talk to him, to be aware of his presence, she no longer was.
    He glanced anxiously toward the monitors. Her heart was still beating. They didn't expect her to live. The doctor had told him, his face sober, his eyes meeting, then sliding away from Jonas, as he had given the news. Jonas shook away the memory and the feeling of utter despair. The doctor didn't know the Drakes. He didn't know about magic and wonder and family unity. Hannah was a part of something extraordinary, and through her, so was he. She would live because the Drakes would save her.
    He glanced out the glass partition to the room where Sarah and Damon waited with Prakenskii and Jackson. His gaze was caught on Sarah. The eldest of the Drake sisters, she was the one who ultimately had the last word. She was very athletic—he'd always admired her in school. Fast and sleek, she could run faster than most of the boys, and she had an uncanny knack for disappearing in plain sight. She was beautiful, with the Drake skin and huge eyes and a glossy mane of hair, yet she could just fade into the background when she wanted. She had worked security for a big company, breaking into buildings for clients and showing them all their weaknesses and then finding ways to improve the security. At times she acted as a bodyguard, and with her special talents, she was a darn good one.
    Jonas both admired and loved her, and often sought her counsel when it came to cases of burglary. She had a good eye and a quick mind. She was engaged to Damon Wilder, a brilliant man whom Jonas respected. Right now, Sarah looked tired and drained with sorrow weighing her down. It seemed shocking, when she was such a strong, optimistic person, and it made him even more afraid for Hannah.

    Throughout the long morning the older Drakes kept arriving, one by one, women crowding into the waiting room, murmuring softly, their faces stained with tears, hugging one another as they tried to give each other courage. Hannah's aunts and her mother, sitting, facing one another with Prakenskii and Sarah.
    Hannah's parents came in to touch their daughter, shaking their heads when Jonas would have risen and reluctantly relinquished his place by her side. They hugged him, but neither spoke, and that left an empty, hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had always counted on the Drakes' strength of family, their ability to pull anyone through. He'd been wounded, yet he'd survived. Surely they could bring Hannah back from wherever she was.
    Elle was the next of Hannah's sisters to arrive. The youngest of the Drake siblings.
    Her long bright red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Her face was devoid of makeup and ravaged by tears. She looked so young, a woman with as much or more power than all of her sisters combined, as she was the one destined to pass on the gifts to her daughters. Jonas had always loved her as a baby sister. She was beautiful with her flashing green eyes, and her so-quick temper. She was quiet and kept to herself for the most part,