Drake Sisters 05 - Safe Harbor

safety.
    She felt him gathering himself for one last huge effort and she sent one last blast of wind to coil around him and take him across one rooftop to the other. She felt the burst of tearing pain, an agony knocking her to her knees. She gasped, tears blurring her vision, running freely down her face. Come home to me. Come home to me . The plea was edged in reds and golds, blazing with light and need.
    She felt his reaction, the struggle to his feet, the fight to keep dizziness from taking over—the determination that he would make it back in one piece. There was another burst of pain and he slipped even more, darkness edging her vision. Desperate, she sent the wind, a rush of air to wrap around him, and then the darkness took her, too.

Chapter Two
    JONAS blinked as he came up out of a sea of pain. "Son of a bitch, you're scary," he informed Jackson. "Where the hell did you get that look? Practicing in the mirror every day?"
    Jackson grinned at him, but his eyes held worry. "Following you to hell and back.
    You're such a pansy, Harrington. Fainting like a girl. I had to carry your sorry ass all the way to the car."
    "I knew you'd complain." Jonas inhaled and instantly frowned. "Not another hospital.
    You really must be pissed at me."
    "You needed a few pints of blood."
    Jonas refrained from replying when the doctor stepped into view, shoving a tray closer. This wasn't going to be fun.
    Jackson ignored the doctor. "You have to figure out what the hell you're doing soon, Jonas, or you're going to get us both killed."
    "No one asked you to come along," Jonas snapped, knowing he was being completely thankless. He hated the truth when he heard it, especially when he knew exactly what Jackson was talking about. Not what— whom .
    Jackson shook his head, eyes steady. "You can't save the world and you're going to have to come to terms with it. And you damn well need to fix things with Hannah."
    "Mind your own damn business," Jonas snapped, knowing he didn't have the right, but unable to stop himself. He detested hospitals. He'd had his fill already and the wound wasn't that bad. He'd just bled like a pig and gotten a little low. He wanted to yank the needle out of his arm and go.
    Jackson stared at him, his black eyes glittering with a coming storm. No one else was stupid enough to call down hell on themselves, no one but Jonas. When had he lost his mind? Jackson didn't deserve his crap.
    "You made this my business, and don't try to pretend Hannah isn't the reason we're in this mess. If you'd deal with the woman, no one could talk you into anything like this crap mission. You'd stay in the safe zone, Jonas, and we both know it."
    Jonas opened his mouth to deny the charge, but snapped it closed when Jackson looked at him steadily. The doctor doused his wound with some kind of fire-starting liquid that robbed him of thought and made him break out into a sweat all over again.
    He clenched his teeth and tried not to pass out.

    "It's complicated," he said, when he could breathe again. The doctor gave him several shots and Jonas slipped a little farther back from reality. The edges around him blurred and darkened. "Hannah Drake is not like other women. She's different…
    special."
    She was— everything . Magical. She was his—or she should be his. Why the hell wasn't she his?
    "You're looking a little green," Jackson said. "Don't pass out on me again."
    Jackson didn't miss much. He noticed every movement, every sound, watching the windows and doors and traffic on the street, and still saw that Jonas was swaying as the doctor began to suture the wounds closed.
    "Hey! My side isn't numb," Jonas snapped, clenching his teeth and fists. If the doctor shoved the suture needle into his skin one more time, he was liable to pull out a gun and shoot the man.
    "Hurry up, Doc, it doesn't have to be pretty," Jackson said, moving to the doorway and peering out.
    Jonas noticed his hand was inside his jacket, where his gun was ready. The doctor gave Jonas another shot of anesthetic and Jonas pressed his lips together hard to keep from swearing. Jackson glanced back at him, looking less than sympathetic.
    Jonas closed his eyes and thought about Hannah. Why hadn't he taken control of the situation before it ever got this far? He loved her. He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't loved her. It had just happened. He loved the way she smiled, the turn of her head, the flash of fire in her eyes, the little pout to her lower lip. It sucked