Free Drake Sisters 07 - Hidden Currents by authors_sort

not taught you that?â€
    He bit the inside of her thigh, leaving behind teeth marks and adding bruises to her already striped flesh and El e arched away from him, screaming.
    â€œYour pain pleases me, Sheena. Now I have your ful attention, don’t I?â€
    Elle. Damn it. Where are you? Answer me. Jackson’s voice was pure command, al iron wil —a wil honed and shaped by violence—in the demand. Answer me now.
    El e couldn’t have stopped herself from answering him if she’d wanted to. Jackson was everything to her now. He was hope. She was weak and he was a great distance away and with the energy field, she wasn’t certain she could get through to him. She drew on every ounce of discipline and strength she’d learned over the years and opened her mind to the man who had let her walk away. Jackson.
    Instantly pain crashed through her head, her body convulsed and she screamed out loud. She tasted blood in her mouth. Her brain rejected the abuse, and her body squirmed away from the pain, so that consciousness receded and the world turned hazy.
    I’m here. I’m with you. Tell me where you are, Elle.
    She braced herself, al too aware of what would happen, but determined to reach him anyway. I don’t know. I can’t think straight. My head . . .
    She trailed off, and the connection between them wavered as pain crashed through both of them. She needed to tel him about the energy field, but her head felt as if a thousand needles pierced her skul .
    Don’t! Jackson’s voice was sharp. Stay with me, baby. I need you to look around you. What do you see? Who’s with you?
    Stavros jerked upright, for the first time his face darkened into a mask of fury. “Why are you so stubborn?†He slapped her breast hard and then the other one, rocking her body.
    El e sobbed brokenly, clutching at her head, unable to bear the pain crushing her skul . Stavros sighed, his fake smile ugly. “You have to learn, and I don’t mind these little lessons if you insist on needing them.â€
    She rol ed away from him, staring out the window at the gathering storm. Her heart jumped and, for a moment, the pain in her body receded and time slowed down. Storm clouds roiled above the house and darkened the skies. Thunder rol ed. Lightning flashed, turning the sky into a canvas of turbulence.
    Wind slashed and howled at the glass, spraying seawater over the windows.
    â€œJackson,†she said, not realizing she whispered his name out loud. He was gone again, the bridge between them gone, and being alone was worse than before. She’d never felt so naked and vulnerable, stripped of everything she was—stripped of her courage.
    The wind pul ed back. Silence fil ed the space left behind. El e became aware of a murderous rage pouring into the room. She held her breath as she turned her head slowly toward Stavros. His face had gone dark, brows together, his white teeth bared.
    â€œ Jackson? You dare to cal another man’s name in our bedroom? You filthy slut! After al the care I’ve given you, you dare to betray me like that?â€
    His hand blurred he moved so fast, his fist settling around her long hair. He yanked her off the bed backward and dragged her across the floor to the center of the room.
    â€œStavros, no,†El e pleaded. She couldn’t take another punishment. And he was truly angry, his face a mask of brutality. She knew something terrible was going to happen.
    He tied her hands with rope and jerked on the pul ey, dragging her body into an upright position, straining her arms, and stretching her already painful body horribly.

    â€œPlease,†she whispered.
    He caught her hair, jerking her head back to stare into her eyes. “You belong only to me. You serve only me. You pleasure only me. If you ever escaped me, I would hunt you down and bring you back and you would be punished beyond anything