Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,54

and left her to her upset, eventually returning in a pair of skinny jeans and an overpriced v-neck t-shirt. His long black hair was still wet and he’d twisted it up into the towel. He crossed his arms and frowned at Michelle as she paced.

“C’mon, baby,” James said. “Talk to me?”

Michelle finally shifted back into her human form and glared at James. “He said he doesn’t feel whatever you’re supposed to feel! I was so close! Gah!” She clenched her fists, using every bit of her will power to contain herself.

It wasn’t easy.

She wanted to kill Eric Strauss so badly she could spit, which was entirely the point, except that she should really be married to him first in order to lock down his fortune. Otherwise it would only be fun, but there would be no real profit in it.

“Did you uh...get upset?” James reared back a little, hesitant.

James looked downright afraid of her. Michelle preferred it that way. James should be afraid of her.

“No.” Michelle took a deep breath. She needed to go on a hunt, she thought. That would make her feel better. If she couldn’t rip Eric Strauss’s throat open, she could at least rip open the throat of a deer or two, maybe some lone stranger who wouldn’t be missed… Humans were so much more fun to kill. Just the thought alone was making her mouth water. “I was very calm and collected. I told him we just needed to take some time. Shoot...I should have said space. That’s what people say. People are always talking about space.”

“That’s good,” James said hopefully. He looked at himself in a mirror on the wall and dried his hair with his towel. “I believe in you, baby. You’ll catch this fish, no problem. Then you can get married and then bam.”

“Bam.” Michelle took a deep breath. “I’ll have his stake in the lodge. Then once he’s dead, I’ll take over. Get rid of the others. And Black Bear Lake will be mine. This place is a gold mine.”

“Don’t you mean…” James spun around and winced, looking sheepish. “Don’t you mean it will be ours?”

“Dream on,” Michelle mumbled.

James cleared his throat and said, “Uh, sorry.”

She rolled her eyes. Sometimes James could really be pathetic. But she had sought out a weak man deliberately. It just made things easier. He did what he was told and he was also good in the sack, which helped.

She had promised him he would be the one man she wouldn’t scam and murder. That would remain true...for as long as she meant it.

“Hey, baby?” James said. “You want to look at your vision board?”

“Yes,” Michelle said. “Bring up my Pinterest page. I need the visual motivation.”

“Have a seat,” James said knowingly. He found her laptop in her suitcase and set it on the dining table. “I’ll pour you a drink. Don’t worry, baby. It’s not over. If anybody can pull this off, you can. I believe in you. Before you know it, you’ll be covered in Eric Strauss’s blood.”

“Oh, James.” Michelle couldn’t help but smile and her heart softened just a fraction. “You always know what to say.”

“Good,” James said, but his voice was just a little shaky. He was chastened. Hell, he even sounded scared when she told him he was doing a good job. He was really a perfect toady. “That’s good. I want to please you.”

They had been through a lot together. He’d helped her hide more than one body. Some of those killings had been premeditated and some of them had been more...spur of the moment.

“You should want to please me,” Michelle said, as he handed her a drink. She took a sip of the bourbon and it burned pleasantly on the way down. “Everyone should.”

She felt a shiver of a familiar dark feeling run through her. It was a feeling she’d possessed since she was a child. It was the urge to conquer and make the world hers, one weakling at a time. She deserved the best and she would have it at any cost. It was the magic itself too that hummed in her blood. It was dark magic. She had always had the potential for great power. But she had also deliberately called on the forces of evil to assist her. She had given a lot of her own blood as well as that of innocents to get this far and she had the diamonds and designer wardrobe and life of luxury that went with that kind of