Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

dangerous now, unfurling.
    â€œI tried, Jackson,†Ilya said, his voice utterly calm. “Whatever you two have together is a bridge that is solidly between only you. I couldn’t join you.â€
    â€œI couldn’t hold her to me,†Jackson said, frustrated. “If you can’t join me, what are we doing here? How is this going to work?â€
    Because it had to work. The pain had been her pain. She needed help. Wherever she was, she needed medical attention. “She was confused.â€
    Almost childlike, more fragile than he’d ever known El e to be. And that scared him almost as much as her being in the hands of madmen.
    â€œJackson.†Jonas put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “We’l find her.â€
    Ilya gestured toward the house. “The women want us in now.â€
    Jackson glanced up at the empty captain’s walk. Hannah would know the optimum time to try to send the wind to El e. If they were lucky, and al the elements fel into place, they would create a surge of energy capable of crossing great distances to El e.
    I’m coming, baby, he whispered to the night and fol owed the other two men up the winding path to the huge, sprawling house.
    Sarah Drake stood at the door, holding it open for them. Her pale face was stil , anxiety in her large blue eyes. The wind tugged at her dark hair, giving her an ethereal look, one Jackson often associated with the Drake women. Sarah was the oldest and engaged to Damon Wilder, a neighbor who owned the house just below the Drake family estate. His arm around Sarah’s waist, Damon greeted the other men with a slight nod and, leaning heavily on his cane, turned and limped back across the living room to stand against the wal .
    Jackson fol owed Jonas inside, Ilya trailing behind him. The atmosphere in the Drake home was usual y one of warmth and laughter. Tonight it was heavy with tension and sorrow.
    Joley, the sixth Drake sister, the musician of the family, ran to fling herself in Ilya’s arms. It always astounded Jackson that a man as remote and unemotional as Ilya, lit up when Joley was anywhere near him. The Russian brushed a kiss on top of her blond-streaked head, his arms tightening protectively around her.
    â€œDid you feel her?†Jackson asked Hannah. “I had a smal connection to her just now, but then I lost her.â€
    Hannah, tal and elegant with long platinum spiral curls and wide blue eyes, spun around to face him at his question. An ex-supermodel, married to Jonas and already pregnant with their first child, Hannah was particularly strong in her talents and would be one of their greatest assets in trying to find El e. Jackson saw the answer on her face, the complete blank look that told him she hadn’t caught even a smal ripple from El e.
    It should have made him happy that his connection with El e was so strong, so much so that he had found her and not her sisters, even for just a few moments, but what mattered most, was getting her home safe and unharmed.
    â€œYou spoke to her? Are you certain?†Hannah asked.
    The room went silent and al faces turned toward him. Kate the writer, serious and gentle, Abigail the marine biologist, Libby the doctor and healer, Sarah, Hannah and Joley, and the men who loved them, waiting, holding their col ective breath.
    â€œShe’s alive. Hurt.†Jackson frowned. “A head injury, I’d guess. She was confused and the pain was excruciating. Someone was questioning her and they used the name Sheena MacKenzie, so hopeful y her cover is stil intact, although they wanted to know who had sent her and asked what she was doing there. They spoke English with a heavy accent.â€
    â€œGreek?†Ilya asked.
    Jackson shrugged. “I couldn’t say one way or the other. I wasn’t there, just heard it through her and I got the feeling of a great distance.â€
    He rubbed his shadowed jaw, needing to find a way to stil his hands, to keep from betraying the terror building in his gut. El e. Damn him for not taking charge. For not keeping her safe. Baby, I’m coming for you. If you don’t believe anything else, believe I’ll come for you.
    He sent the message to her in the way he’d been whispering to her for the last couple of years. Soft. Intimate. Intense. He could tel her things across a distance he couldn’t seem to say to her face. He could feel the emotions, so deep they