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.
“If I can see you, she can,” Libby said. Her voice was still that same soft, accepting tone. Clearly, she wasn’t probing too deep. “I doubt if she’s adept enough yet to see more than flashes, but it would be enough to see what you’ve done for the others. You shoulder their emotional pain, Savage, and it’s tremendous. Not just when you were children, but even now. There’s rage. Sheer rage. Hurt. Terror. So many emotions all blended together. You take those burdens on so they’re bearable for the others. She sees that in you, and that’s why she’s so drawn to you. Not just the healer in her—and she can’t take that on—but the woman in her.”
He was aware of what Libby was telling him on some level. The monster in him was counting on it.
“You’re worried about your lifestyle impacting her health,” Libby said, getting straight to the point. “She doesn’t have to heal you. Physical pain isn’t the same thing as sickness, Savage. What she chooses to suffer on your behalf, or if she chooses to find pleasure in the sexual practices with you, is up to her. Those things will not in any way affect her health.”
“You’re positive? My lifestyle can be . . . rough.”
“You know better than I do that what she will need is rest and care. Lots of it. You will have to see to those things, no matter what lifestyle you have with her.”
Savage knew that already. His intention was to give Seychelle more care than she’d ever had in her life. So much she’d probably feel smothered.
Libby leaned in close. “I can see that you love this woman and you intend to care for her. If that’s the case, you have to build such trust between you that she will accept your word instantly. I was lucky to have my sisters to guide me. If I screwed up, I knew I endangered them as well as myself. Your woman doesn’t have those guidelines. She’s doing all of this blind. She has instincts and a tremendous compulsion just like you have. Think about trying to stop what you do. You’re a force of nature. You don’t want her to think you’re a dictator. I can’t emphasize this to you enough. If you don’t get her to understand and willingly follow your guidance, she’s going to die. That’s the bottom line. If you can’t convince her that you have to step in to save her life, then you’ll lose her. I’m willing to speak to her if you need me to. I’ll give you my cell phone number.”