Hidden Currents by Christine Feehan Read Free Book Online Page B

trailed off, and the connection between them wavered.
    Don’t! His voice was sharp. Stay with me, baby. I need you to look around you. What do you see? Who’s with you?
    There was a moment of hesitation. Lightning lit up the sky and thunder crashed close, the sound louder than the booming of the sea. White light burned behind his eyes and he had to close his lids tightly against the shattering pain.
    A hand fell on his shoulder. “Jackson?”
    Jackson shrugged off the distraction. “I’ve got her. I’ve got her,” he snapped. It was difficult being in two places and he needed to be with her. She was slipping away, even as he reached for her. Elle, no!
    She was gone, out of his reach and he stayed on his knees, breathing deeply, dropping his forehead to the ground and staying still until he got himself under control.
    “She’s alive,” Ilya said. “We’ll find her.”
    Jonas held out his hand and Jackson took it, allowing his friend to pull him to his feet. “Why didn’t you connect with us and strengthen the bond?” he demanded of Ilya without looking at him, that cold coil inside of him that was dark and dangerous now, unfurling.
    “I 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.”
    “I 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?” Because it had to work. The pain had been her pain. She needed help. Wherever she was, she needed medical attention. “She was confused.” Almost childlike, more fragile than he’d ever known Elle to be. And that scared him almost as much as her being in the hands of madmen.
    “Jackson.” Jonas put a steadying hand on his shoulder. “We’ll find her.”
    Ilya gestured toward the house. “The women want us in now.”
    Jackson glanced up at the empty captain’s walk. Hannah would know the optimum time to try to send the wind to Elle. If they were lucky, and all the elements fell into place, they would create a surge of energy capable of crossing great distances to Elle.
    I’m coming, baby, he whispered to the night and followed 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 still, 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 wall.
    Jackson followed Jonas inside, Ilya trailing behind him. The atmosphere in the Drake home was usually 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.
    “Did you feel her?” Jackson asked Hannah. “I had a small connection to her just now, but then I lost her.”
    Hannah, tall 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 Elle. Jackson saw the answer on her face, the complete blank look that told him she hadn’t caught even a small ripple from Elle.
    It should have made him happy that his connection with Elle was so strong, so much so that he had found her and not her sisters,