Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

fine. I didn’t feel anything of what you went through. The barricade you and Jackson have together is astonishing.†She dropped her head between her knees, drawing in great breaths to keep from fainting.
    â€œKate?†Sarah asked.
    Hannah floated a plate of sugar cookies into the room, caught the plate and stood by anxiously as Joley maneuvered a teacup.
    Kate looked up, her face very white. “I heard him.â€
    â€œJackson?†Sarah asked.
    Kate shook her head. “ Him. Gratsos. He was reaching for her, but he can’t get past Jackson’s barrier. He was so angry. Enraged. And he battered at it. I felt him.†She paused. “And then he felt me.â€
    El e gasped. “Is he in your head? Tel the truth, Kate. Abbey. Make her tel the truth.†She was total y panic stricken. Her heart beat so hard she actual y pressed her hand against her chest.
    â€œI pul ed out the moment he felt me. I don’t think he can find me again, but he has to know we’re related. If he doesn’t have your real name and address, he has another clue. I wasn’t trying to hide or protect myself because it didn’t occur to me that he might ‘see’ me or feel me as I worked at healing you.†She took a sugar cookie and bit down into it. Joley thrust the teacup into her hands as she shivered. “He’s a scary man.â€
    El e sank down onto the floor. First Hannah. Then Abigail. And now Stavros had frightened Kate. Sweet, serene Kate. It seemed almost blasphemy.
    Was there no one safe from the man? And Dane. She didn’t even know if Dane’s family knew he was dead, or if he’d just disappeared as she had.
    She pressed her fingers to her eyes, fighting the burning tears. A part of her wanted to get on a plane and confront Stavros. Walk into a room and fight him—psychic power to psychic power—but she wasn’t nearly wel enough. He was going to find her—he had found her and he was systematical y attacking every one she loved. Who would be next? Whose death would she be responsible for next? Hannah could so easily have died, taking her unborn child with her, and Abigail stil had the bruises and stitches. Why? Because al of her sisters were conserving energy to heal her. They had nothing left for themselves.
    She was destroying her family by staying. She closed her eyes, wrapped her arms around herself and tried to face what it would be like to put herself in Stavros’s hands once again. A shudder went through her body. Every touch, every act he’d forced on her was so vile to her, such a violation of everything she was and what she stood for, and now, after being with Jackson and knowing love—the touch of love—she couldn’t face it. She’d never be able to go through with it. A single sound escaped, one of complete despair.
    â€œBaby, come here.†Jackson crouched down beside her, his movements slow and gentle.
    Almost immediately everyone went quiet and El e’s sisters moved back to give him room. It was evident in that moment that El e, their strong, fierce sister, the one they’d al come to know as a protector and fighter, was fragile and in need of someone to lean on.
    El e rocked back and forth, barely aware of the others in the room. Jackson didn’t touch her, simply stayed inches from her, his body heat warming her. Elle. Look at me. You’re retreating and wherever you go, you know I’m just going to be following you. Look at me, honey. We’re here, in our home, and you’re surrounded by everyone who loves you.
    Her eyes flickered. He could feel her, smal and light and rol ed into the fetal position, tucked into a corner of her mind.
    That’s it, baby. I’m right here. Right beside you. Look at me. See me.
    The sound of his voice—soft, compel ing, strong—penetrated the wal she’d erected to try to protect herself from a threat she couldn’t face.
    El e forced herself outside her mind and back into her body where she could open her eyes and look at his face. A strong face. Beloved in every way.
    Every line. Every scar. She knew his face as if it were her own. She could trace the bone structure, the firm jaw, his sensual lips and straight nose with the little crook in it.
    Jackson’s eyes were so dark, so compel ing, and once she looked into them she couldn’t look