Read Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents for Free Online Page B

been the one to provide for his mother. When she’d gotten cancer, his father had disappeared once again, unable to face the prolonged il ness. Jackson had been fifteen when his mother died, leaving him to run wild in the bayou. He’d fended for himself until his father returned and Jackson was forced to accompany him to live in the biker camps, traveling with them as they moved. His father had died in a knife fight, taking four rival gang members with him just before Jackson’s nineteenth birthday, and Jackson had joined the army. Jonas knew Jackson had a brush with that same biker club during his time with the DEA, but he never talked about it.
    â€œWe’l find her this time,†Jonas said.
    The black eyes flicked to him. “Yes, we wil . I’m bringing her home. And she’s done, Jonas. Be prepared for that. I know how you are about the girls, but El e’s mine. And she’s done.â€
    â€œJackson . . .†For the first time that he could remember in their long friendship, Jonas felt a stab of unease. Jackson could be quite ruthless and once he made up his mind, there was no turning him from his objective.
    Jackson shook his head. “Let’s just get a starting point. The storm’s coming in fast. Are the girls gathered?â€
    That was like Jackson. He was done talking. Jonas sighed as they wound their way through the back garden. He’d never understood Jackson and El e’s relationship—or lack of one. El e kept to herself, in the same way Jackson did. They were both strong-wil ed individuals and aside from El e’s bad temper, and Jackson’s lack of one, they were very much alike—stubborn.
    â€œIlya’s here. He has some information for us,†Jonas said. “He prefers to tel us before we go inside.â€
    Jackson glanced at him, his gaze sharp. Whatever Ilya Prakenskii had to say, he didn’t want his fiancée, Joley Drake, or any of her sisters to know. And that meant it couldn’t be good.
    Jackson let out his breath, refusing to give in to the secret part of him that was fil ed with terror. He’d been a prisoner of war to one of the worst sadists in the business and he hadn’t felt fear like this.
    Elle. Baby. Stay alive for me. Any way you have to, stay alive for me. I’m coming for you.
    The storm was the perfect conduit they needed to boost their energy. Wherever El e was, she would be waiting, knowing they would never stop looking for her.
    He walked around to the side of the Drake house where Ilya waited in the shadows for them. Ilya nodded to Jackson and glanced toward the towering house. “Let’s walk.â€
    â€œThey’l know,†Jonas cautioned.
    The Drakes always knew. They’d been trying for a month to find El e, uniting over and over to find their lost sister, and because they couldn’t, they knew she was a great distance away and under extreme duress. El e was powerful, probably more so than any of them. Jackson had seen her nearly bring a building down with the explosive energy of her temper. She was always careful y control ed, but if she couldn’t get herself out of whatever situation she was in . . . Jackson closed his eyes again, his stomach turning over. She had to be injured. If she couldn’t reach them, she had to be injured, there was no other explanation.
    El e hurt. The thought was terrifying. El e in the hands of a man capable of human trafficking was even worse.
    You know I’ll never stop until I find you. Stay strong, baby. For me. For your sisters. For Jonas and Ilya and the entire damn village. Stay alive, Elle.
    He wanted her to love him enough to live for him. He wanted to be her reason. She was his. She’d been his ever since he first heard her voice, soft and silky and so damned sexy. Something inside of him had come awake—had come to life.
    He didn’t have emotions the