Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,48

after Alanna had just shut the entire lodge down for a few weeks following a brawl that had demolished the dining hall. They had only just gotten it up and running again and business was finally clicking along like usual.

“Hey, is your friend showing up today?” Eric’s older brother, Connor, the alpha of their sleuth, asked as he walked up and leaned on the front desk, casually taking a peppermint from the bowl that Eric kept there. “Lydia, right?”

Eric raised an eyebrow at his brother. Connor knew exactly who Lydia was. It would have been strange if he hadn’t. She had been Eric’s best friend as a kid and right up through his adolescence until she abruptly ran away. He had been closer to her than to his own brothers as a teenager, if he was honest with himself. There was no way Connor wouldn’t know her name.

“Yeah,” Eric said, tapping his pen on the calendar. “Lydia. Haven’t seen her in… I don’t know. Five years? She stopped through when we were just opening up the lodge, but we didn’t really talk then. She seemed kind of weird when she texted me though. Hope she’s alright.”

“I was always kinda surprised you guys never ended up together.” Connor sucked on his peppermint and looked down on his younger brother. Connor had a couple inches on Eric and though Eric worked out regularly and was no slouch in the muscle department, his brother was the biggest and broadest of the four Strauss boys. Yet Eric wasn’t even a little bit intimidated by the alpha (or, that’s what he told himself) and he only narrowed his eyes as Connor tried to goad him.

“So was I,” Eric said, casually shrugging. “But you remember how Mom and Dad were about it. They didn’t like her sleuth, they thought she was trouble, and bla bla bla. She took that personally. It was hard enough just to be friends. On that note…” He checked his watch and grimaced. It was time for lunch and he had not been looking forward to it. “I have to go break up with a girl.”

“Ah,” Connor nodded, leaning against the desk. Erik was surprised as Connor was usually bustling about the lodge. He always seemed endlessly busy as the administrator in charge of everything down to the snow boot rentals and the ticket taking at the gondola, especially lately as he’d had to work doubly hard to get the lodge back on track with all the renovations.

Perhaps that was why Connor seemed a little more relaxed, Eric thought. Things were finally back to normal.

“Are you breaking up with her because Lydia’s coming-” Connor started.

“No,” Eric snapped, cutting Connor off. He heaved a sigh and resisted the urge to punch his brother in the arm since his brother would only punch back harder. “It’s just not right. Doesn’t feel right.” He shrugged. “She’s not the one and I don’t want to waste her time.”

“That’s very smart of you,” Connor said, grabbing another peppermint. “How many times did you guys bang before you decided that?”

“Ugh, shut up.” Eric couldn’t help himself and punched Connor in the shoulder, refusing to so much as wince when Connor punched him back twice as hard. “I’m going to lunch.” He motioned for Lee Ann, one of the associates who worked the front desk to take over for him and made his way to one of the private dining rooms off the dining hall where Michelle had agreed to eat with him.

Eric had been dating Michelle for only three weeks. But in that time they’d gone on several dates and spent a good deal of time together. Which was how Eric knew that it was never going to work. Michelle was wildly attractive with her glossy blonde hair and high cheekbones and pouty mouth. She was both a bear shifter and a witch, which had impressed Eric upon meeting her one night in the lodge’s lounge. But there was no spark for him. Things didn’t feel right and as much as Eric felt too soft to admit it, he wanted a mate. He wanted that true love feeling and Michelle wasn’t it. At worst, Michelle gave him an unsettled feeling he couldn’t explain. But it didn’t seem fair to use that as a reason to break up with a girl.

He jogged his leg under the table and ordered himself a good bourbon neat instead of lunch. He hated the idea of breaking things off with anyone. He’d done