Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents

around the room. Al eyes turned to Kate. Ilya leaned toward her in his chair and El e drew back, away from the others, nearly climbing into Jackson’s lap.
    â€œOnly that one time with you, Jackson,†Kate admitted. “It’s not like much of that goes around, you know?†She sent him a smal smile, faint color on her face. Kate had never liked much attention on her and she was definitely under scrutiny. “Libby heals il ness and has a lot of people to practice on. I just winged it that day.â€
    â€œYou helped me and you weren’t even trying,†Jackson pointed out.
    â€œNo,†El e said firmly. “I won’t even consider this.â€
    Jackson lifted her onto his lap and settled his arms around her, letting her curl into him. His chin nuzzled the top of her head, but he kept his gaze on Kate. “If Gratsos can use psychic energy to travel and he’s fishing right now, he’l find El e faster than we counted on. She’l need to be at ful strength to fight him. We al wil . He’s got a big sea here to use against us.â€
    â€œIt’s al speculation,†El e protested. “We don’t have a clue if this was anything but a natural phenomenon. They do occur al over the world. Right here on this coast, we have several places where rip currents occur.â€
    â€œBut not here,†Sarah said. “We’ve lived our entire lives here, El e, and never once has there been a hidden current off this particular part of the coast. The physical makeup is wrong.â€
    â€œWe don’t know that,†El e denied. “The ocean floor changes al the time.â€
    â€œYou’re grasping at straws,†Jackson said. “The point is, there is a possibility and even if it’s a low one, we need to consider that it was an attempt to find you.â€
    â€œHow would he know to come here?†Joley asked.
    â€œHe wouldn’t have known,†Sarah said. “He’d use the fog the way Hannah does. He’d send it out and when it tapped in to psychic energy, the fog would build into what you saw, seeking a user of that energy, and then the trap would be sprung. He wouldn’t even need the ocean, a lake or river could be just as treacherous.â€
    Joley frowned. “But he’s taking the chance of kil ing El e. What if El e had fal en by the water’s edge instead of Hannah?â€
    â€œI doubt the trap would have been sprung,†Ilya said. “He has to have El e’s psychic fingerprint. He’l know her energy when he feels it.â€
    Jackson frowned. He didn’t like Stavros having anything at al to do with El e, let alone having her psychic fingerprint. “Is it possible he’s choking her, Ilya?â€
    â€œYou tel me,†Ilya said. “What can you do?â€
    Al eyes turned to Jackson and there was another uncomfortable silence. He could stroke El e intimately in her mind, bring her to orgasm, share his entire being with her, every sensation, and the flip side of that, of course, was that he could cause her pain, and yes, choke her, hurt her, possibly even kil her.
    He didn’t want them to know. Not her sisters. Not Ilya. His gaze flicked to Kate. She looked down at her hands, the only one not looking at him. She knew, al those months ago, that he had tried to burn out his talent. When the devil rode him too hard, and he detested the world around him, he feared he might harm someone.
    I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t want you to be afraid of me.
    I will never be afraid of you.
    For the first time he didn’t reprimand her for using telepathy, even when a smal trickle of blood appeared at the corner of her mouth. He wiped it away with the pad of his thumb.
    El e’s fingers tangled with his. “We’re talking about Stavros and what he can do, not Jackson. If Stavros can choke me from a distance, but he doesn’t want to kil me, why would he keep doing it?â€
    â€œControl,†Jackson and Ilya said simultaneously.
    Ilya waved his hand toward the kitchen and the kettle floated to the sink to refil with water. “If he can frighten you enough, he’l keep you from your friends and family and especial y any men you might have in your life. From the beginning, Gratsos has wanted control of you. He must have sensed your psychic ability and planned to keep you for his own purposes. He had the island