Annihilation Road (20 page)

She must have said it aloud.

“I heard you,” Savage said.

Tears blurred her vision. “Please don’t come back.”

He brushed the tears from her face. “You remember what I said. Every word I said, Seychelle. If you come to me, there’s no taking that back.” Savage didn’t leave immediately. He stood there a long time and then framed her face with both hands. “I swear to you, I gave you the best of me.” He brushed a kiss across her lips, and then he was gone, taking her heart and soul with him. Taking everything and leaving her with nothing.

Savage didn’t like one single thing Steele had to say to him about what he found when he examined Seychelle. Steele had psychic talents. He had the ability to heal and the capability to do surgery psychically. He’d saved Player, one of the Torpedo Ink brothers, when no brain surgeon could have done so. He was a powerful doctor, a surgeon, healing both physically or psychically, and yet he didn’t hold out much hope for Seychelle.

“She’s a psychic healer, Savage,” Steele told him with a sigh, pushing a hand through his hair as they walked out the door of the cottage together. “I’m sorry, brother. I wish I had something good to tell you, but I don’t. She doesn’t heal others in the same way I do. She takes on the actual illness or injury, and I don’t do that. It could kill her. It is killing her. Her body is wearing out. She can’t keep it up, not at the rate she’s going.”

Savage’s breath caught in his lungs. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Her heart is damaged. She doesn’t have heart disease, but she must have tried to heal someone with heart disease, or she took it on. There are signs of all kinds of other illnesses.
She has to stop and let her body rest, Savage. Seriously. That girl is worn out.”

Savage hung his head. He should have seen it. All along the signs were there. Seychelle did need him. Physical pain wasn’t the same as taking on disease. He’d been so worried about what he might do to her, what she might think of him, and all along she was killing herself slowly, allowing those around her to kill her because she couldn’t stop herself. That was what she meant by her lack of control. Now it was too late. Torpedo Ink had a code. He couldn’t go back to her until she invited him back. Unless she came to him. In the meantime, he had to find ways to keep her safe.

He had the brothers watch over her the next few days while he thought about the best way to find out about her gift and how to help her. He had heard rumors that Blythe’s cousin Libby Drake was a healer. She was a doctor as well, but she was reputed to have the psychic gift of healing. Libby Drake came from the infamous Drake family, a notorious family in Sea Haven many locals thought of as royalty.

A few years earlier there had been a write-up in a magazine about Libby. Whether it was true or not, only Blythe could tell him. He didn’t ask favors of others, but only Seychelle mattered to him, not his ego. He needed this for his woman. Even if she never let him back into her life, he had to find out how to help. He texted Blythe.

Need you to get in touch with your cousin Libby Drake. Need a sit-down with her.

It took a long time before she answered him. As a rule, Blythe got back to any member of Torpedo Ink immediately. The fact that it was Savage, who never texted her, would make her want to answer even faster.

I don’t like letting you down, but the Drakes are secretive and I’m protective of them just as I’m protective of you. Why do you need Libby?

Blythe was straight-up asking. Either he had to tell her, or she wasn’t going to take any chances with her cousin. He
didn’t blame her. In fact, he respected her all the more. It meant she would be equally as fierce protecting Seychelle.

Suspect Seychelle has the same gift. Need to know how it works. Steele examined her, Czar can confirm if need be. Worried. Have to know how to take care of her. I don’t need Libby to heal her. Just need advice. Give favor in return if needed. Word of honor whatever is said between us stays that way. Need way to help Seychelle.

Libby is shy speaking to outsiders about her gift. It isn’t done. Don’t get your hopes up and don’t take it personally if she refuses. Will ask.

Savage paced up and down all night waiting for Blythe’s answer to his request. His brothers Storm and Keys, the two watching over Seychelle, said she hadn’t moved from her bed, other than to use the bathroom. She wasn’t even taking her normal walks on the headlands. He detested that he wasn’t there to take care of her. It took three days before the answer came. Three long days and nights. Savage was afraid he might lose his fucking mind.

It turned out Libby was pulling her shift at the hospital and doing volunteer work as well. She also had to think his request over very carefully, and Tyson Derrick, her husband, wanted to investigate him—meaning talk to Jonas Harrington and Jackson Deveau. Both men were her brothers-in-law. Savage couldn’t blame Tyson. He would have done the same thing to protect his woman. But that was three more nights without much in the way of sleep.

He’d taken the ride to Sea Haven all three nights and sat outside Seychelle’s bedroom window, his ass on the ground, back to the wall, eyes closed, hoping she knew he was close. Two of those nights the fog rolled in, turning the world into a deep gray mist, and he turned his face up like a sacrifice. The fourth day he got a text that Libby would meet him at Czar’s residence while the kids were away at Maxim and Airiana’s home. Maxim was one of Czar’s birth brothers, who owned the large farm with him.

Savage wasn’t happy that they were meeting at Czar’s home, but he’d take the meet anywhere. He was just grateful he’d get one. The Drake family consisted of seven sisters, all with tremendous psychic talents. The small village of Sea Haven tended to attract those with gifts, or hidden talents. The Drake sisters were considered to be the most powerful of all those living in the area, but who really knew?

Jonas Harrington, the local sheriff, was married to Hannah Drake. She owned a tea and bath and body shop in town. Jackson Deveau, a deputy sheriff, was married to the youngest Drake sister, Elle. Savage knew very little about her, other than that she was considered to be the most powerful of all the Drake sisters. He hoped so. He hoped she gave Jackson hell as often as possible.

Libby Drake Derrick had the body of a ballet dancer. She wore her thick, jet-black hair short, curving around the chin of her delicate face. The color of her hair really showed off the intensity of her vivid green eyes. Tyson Derrick, her husband, a brilliant biochemist, was an unexpectedly muscular man with wavy black hair and piercing blue eyes. He gave off a protective vibe as he sat beside his wife, although his handshake was direct and without any stupid manly games.

Savage could feel the subtle power coming off of Libby Drake the moment she walked into the room. He had grown up with psychic talent, and there was no mistaking the energy. With Libby, that energy was so strong it could barely be contained. She was a woman it would be impossible to withhold secrets from. She would be stripping him raw in seconds, seeing inside him, straight to the monster, if he sat in the same room with her for very long.

He didn’t hesitate. This wasn’t about him. This was about Seychelle and finding a way to save her life. If Libby Drake saw that he needed to wield a whip to be aroused and she was disgusted by him, he would take that. The information she had was too important for him to be worried about what anyone thought of him. They stared at each other,
each sizing the other up. She was very aware he knew she could see inside of him and didn’t care.

“Thank you for seeing me, Mrs. Derrick.” He was formal. Polite. He didn’t know how to be with her. He wasn’t a man used to moving in her circles. He stayed in the shadows and came out when someone needed to disappear.

“Please call me Libby. I much prefer that we’re not formal.” She flashed him a gentle but very real smile. “Blythe is my cousin, and it’s been very nice getting to know Czar and her family. I’m happy that I can finally start to meet some of Czar’s family.”

Savage wasn’t certain he was the best one of the Torpedo Ink members for her to start with, but he forced himself to meet her eyes and nod. “Czar’s got a lot of family members, but I’ve heard you do as well.”

Libby acknowledged the truth of his statement with a small smile. “Blythe told me your friend has a talent similar to mine and you’re looking for information on how best to help her.”

Savage nodded. “Seychelle is extraordinary. She isn’t a doctor, and she hasn’t had any medical training. Both of her parents had long-term illnesses: her mother, a form of blood cancer, and her father, heart disease. She didn’t even realize she was taking that on herself to prolong their lives. She doesn’t seem to be able to stop herself from doing it, and she’s wearing herself out. I don’t understand how it works, and I don’t know how to help her. I’m afraid I’m going to lose her.”

Tyson threaded his fingers through his wife’s, and she smiled up at him before once more turning her attention to Savage.

“My talent works much the same as yours. It’s a compulsion I can’t stop. If Seychelle is like I am, she can’t stop any more than I am able to or you can. I imagine yours started at a very young age. You’ve been shouldering the anger and rage for the others, as much as you could manage, for years, right? You can’t stop yourself now, even if you wanted to. It’s too ingrained in you. Whenever the people you love
most are too close to their limit of pain with anger at betrayal or whatever, and you’re with them, you just take it on. That’s what happens with a healer’s gift. At least our kind of gift. Tyson has to keep me in check. My sisters did before him.”

“Wait.” Czar surged to his feet. “What the hell did you just say, Libby? Does she mean us? Torpedo Ink? What do you mean, Savage takes on our pain? What does she mean by that, Savage?” There was pure shock in his voice. On his face.

Blythe put a restraining hand on Czar’s wrist, but there was nothing that was going to stop him as he paced across the room, every step portraying hurt, guilt and bewilderment. “I need someone to tell me right now what that means.” He swung around to face Savage. “You’ve been shouldering that for me all this time and I didn’t know?”

Libby looked confused. Her eyes met Savage’s. “I’m so sorry. I thought everyone knew about your ability.”

“What ability? Apparently, the president of your club, your brother, doesn’t know about your ability, Savage,” Czar bit out. His incomprehension began to give way to temper, the one thing that allowed him to cover up his real feelings. “Maybe you want to enlighten me.”

“Not at this time,” Savage said calmly. “Right now, Libby is going to tell me what I can do to help Seychelle. After that, Czar, I’ll be happy to fill you in, if you really think it’s necessary.”

“Yeah, Savage. I really think it’s necessary.” Czar stood for a few moments staring out the window, and then he sank into the chair beside Blythe. She took his hand, her fingers sliding over his soothingly.

Once Czar was seated, Savage continued, “If you explain how it actually works, Libby, and I understand it, then maybe Tyson can explain how he stops you.”

“That’s easy enough.” Tyson grinned at him, kissed Libby’s hand and brought it to his chest. “Caveman style is sometimes the only way. Other times I just say her name and
she knows that’s the only warning she’s going to get before the caveman appears. We try to have code words. Signals.”

Libby nodded. “I take on the actual illness. If your Seychelle is attempting to help someone with a heart condition, she’s actually taking on that heart condition. Potentially, that can kill her. I’m a doctor. I’ve learned that I can’t do certain things. I know going into things I have to say no, and if the compulsion is overwhelming, I can’t even enter the room unless I have backup with me to stop me from doing it. Seychelle is going in blind. She has no training. She may not know what she’s taking on. From what you just told me, she had very sick parents, and she must have prolonged their lives by exchanging her own health without even knowing it.”

Libby leaned toward Savage. “She is very lucky to be alive. More than once, even with my sisters aiding me—and they are extremely powerful—I nearly died. This type of exchange can be deadly. What you do is violent and deadly. Any gift of this magnitude has consequences. We pay a price, all of us. It’s an exchange, Savage. When we use our gifts, we’re agreeing to pay that price. She is probably becoming aware now that she’s trading her life for those she’s helping, but she can’t stop what she’s doing because it’s too late. She doesn’t know how any more than you do, or I do.”

Savage scrubbed his hands over his face. Seychelle was in her house right now, wide open, unprotected, because he’d fucked up. He should have laid it all out. Still, he’d been at the end of a cycle. He wouldn’t have had time to prepare her for what she would have to go through with him, even if she agreed to belong to him. He’d been at his worst. No matter what, it would have been too dangerous to be with him. In that moment he despised what and who he was more than he ever had. He thought he’d come to terms with it long ago, but now, all over again, he loathed himself.

“Can she recover? Is there a way I can keep her safe?”

Libby glanced at the others in the room. “I would like to speak with Savage alone.”

Tyson frowned at her, clearly wanting to protest. Czar did the same. Blythe stood up immediately, prompting the two men to do so as well. Reluctantly, they followed Blythe out. She was the one to close the door.

There was silence as the two of them looked at each other. Savage didn’t flinch under her steady gaze.