Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

frightened. Of course they took her in.'

    'I don't like the tone of your voice. This doesn't have a good ending, does it?' Joley asked. She pressed her hand tighter against her body, suddenly afraid. It was one thing to contemplate having an affair by her own choice, but it was something altogether different to think she didn't have free will in the matter.
    'Well, even their combined powers and skills couldn't break the bond between the man and the woman. No one knew what happened - just that she got up one night and left the house. He was waiting for her. She went off with him and they never heard of her again.'
    Joley took a deep breath. 'So there is some documentation about another family having similar powers to ours, only male.'
    'Yes, although I can't find anything in our time, or even Mom's. I can call Mom and ask her if she's read or heard anything more. She always studied the history of our family, and I don't have near the knowledge she has.'
    Joley swept her hand through her hair, twirled strands around her finger and bit down on her lip, trying to decide.
    'Ask her, Sarah, but…' She trailed off, not wanting to alarm her sister any more. Just the fact that she would consult her mother would elevate Sarah's warning radar.
    'You're in way over your head, aren't you, Joley?' Sarah asked.
    Joley rubbed her hand along her thigh again. 'I don't know. But whatever mark you read about is on my palm, and I'm fairly certain it has somehow, chemically or magically or both, tied me to Ilya Prakenskii.' On the paper in front of her, she drew a double circle on the pro side started to draw a line through it and then left it.
    'And you're contemplating a relationship with him?'
    Joley had known Sarah wouldn't let her off that easy. She sighed, knowing that if she wanted help she would have to confess, tell the absolute truth and hope her sisters would think of a way to save her.
    'I'd have to say it's too late for contemplation. I'm obsessed. I wouldn't admit that to anyone but one of my sisters, but he's all I think about day or night. It's more than obsession. I swear, Sarah, it's like he's become the blood in my veins.' She gave a small, derisive laugh and drew her fingertip over the circles on the paper. 'How cheesy is that? He's the air in my lungs. I breathe him in and out with every breath I take.' And she was cold and lonely without him, without the heat of his body, the heat of his gaze, his voice in her head driving her crazy. 'It's like we're merging together. You know me. I may have bad taste in men, but I've never been obsessive and I've never needed a man. Ever.
    But I need him.'
    'If Prakenskii is bothering you, Damon and I can fly out today if we have to and get you through the rest of the tour.'
    'No, it isn't like that. It's more me than him.'
    'I can't imagine that. You don't exactly chase men, Joley. They chase you.'
    'I threw myself at him the other night and he turned me down,' Joley confessed. 'And he spent last night with me and didn't do much but get me to sleep.'
    Again there was a small silence. Joley counted to ten while her words sank in. She imagined Sarah with a little frown on her face.
    'You don't sleep with anyone in the room. You never did even as a child.'
    'I know. But I did last night. He said he couldn't stand me not sleeping, and he was going to guard me so I could just relax and sleep all night - and I did.'
    'And he didn't touch you?'
    'He kissed me.'
    And?'
    'Rockets. Holy cow, Sarah, he's like the greatest kisser of all time.'
    'That's not good.'
    'Actually I told him I was putting that in the con section of my list, but he said I couldn't.' She couldn't help the bubble of laughter in her voice. She touched her lips, tingling at the memory.
    'I'm going to talk to Mom immediately.' Sarah sounded more than a little alarmed. 'Don't do anything stupid, Joley.
    If Prakenskii really comes from this other lineage, you could be in real trouble. In the diary, our ancestors wrote that the woman who came to them was terrified of the man who marked her. She was very religious and thought maybe he had made a pact with the devil. The house should have protected her along with all the protections the Drakes could muster for her, yet for some reason, she left the house in the middle of the night and went to him. That doesn't make sense when she was safe.'
    Joley could have told her why. If the man had been like Prakenskii, he had seduced her with his voice. He had pursued her day and