Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

can’t feel anything but what he did to me, what he took from me.â€
    â€œYou’re not al owing yourself to feel.†He pul ed down the driveway slowly, giving her time to change her mind, but when she said nothing, he turned onto the narrow highway overlooking the ocean and picked up speed.
    El e didn’t answer, burrowing deeper into the blanket instead, closing her eyes, al owing herself to drift away. Her head ached, and she could barely draw breath with every movement of the truck. She wanted to crawl into a hole like a wounded animal and hide from reality. The world seemed too big, too open, as if she didn’t know how to move in it. She could feel the house pul ing at her, wanting her to come back. The wind touched her face through the open window, beckoning to her, cal ing with faint feminine voices, and she hated herself for causing her sisters to cry.
    She could feel Stavros, hear his voice. He was inside her mind, her body, maybe even her soul and she would never be able to get him out. Al the times he’d touched her—hurt her—forced her to do things . . .
    â€œStop it, baby,†Jackson said gently. “That doesn’t help.â€
    â€œHe’s al over me. In me. How am I ever going to get away from him?†There was despair in her voice. Without being aware of it, her fingernails tore at her skin as if trying to rip Stavros off her.
    Jackson reached over and laid his palm gently over her hand, stil ing her. At once her mind was flooded with him. His scent. His strength. He poured into her mind in much the same way she’d poured into his so many years earlier when he’d been a prisoner of war. A victim of brutal torture, of unspeakable things, and his mind had been close to shattering. She had come to him and when there was nothing left of him, she had fil ed his mind with al of her, with her strength, her unique scent. Her wil to survive. She had given him everything she was.
    Now he gave himself to her just as completely, fil ing every corner of her mind, saturating every cel with his masculine presence, with every emotion, holding nothing back. Not keeping back the details of his capture and torture, not even the worst of the depraved acts committed against him. He opened himself to her, al owing even his rough, raw sensuality and his fears that even after al her experiences, he would be too much for her to handle inside her mind. He shared his life, his thoughts, letting her see the stark, painful childhood and the wild running through the bayou, as wel as the violence of the biker camps his father raised him in. He hid nothing from her and El e soaked in his strength, in his honesty with her.
    He knew he had nothing else to give her but who he was. He’d shared those moments of depraved brutality when Stavros had kil ed a man he’d forced her to touch. He knew she was terrified Stavros would find her and drag her back—no—kil everyone she loved. And she was risking his life by being with him, trading his life for that of her sisters.
    â€œI’m sorry, Jackson. I am. I’m not strong enough to be alone and you’re the only one I have that might be able to stand up to him. Jonas could lose Hannah or I’d go to him . . .â€
    â€œDon’t, baby,†he soothed. “We’re in this together, we always have been whether we wanted to admit it or not.â€
    â€œHe’l kil you. You know that, don’t you?†Her voice shook just thinking about Stavros and her mind felt shredded. She clung to Jackson’s strength, to the darkness in him. He was brutal and raw, with a violence that more than matched Stavros’s. Unlike the Greek, he didn’t bother to hide it—certainly not from her. It wasn’t the truth that she would have risked Jonas, and she couldn’t bear the lie between them. “I shouldn’t have implied that Jonas . . .â€
    â€œDon’t explain, El e. I’m in your head. You’re in mine. We share the same skin right now, and your risk, being with me, is just as great. I have a threat hanging over my head as wel ,†he reminded her quietly. “My father crossed another gang and they kil ed him for it. I took several of them out before they got me. I didn’t die and they know it. They’ve been looking for me and anyone with me is in danger.â€
    El e’s gaze