Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,77

his nose in a gesture of comfort and also impotent sadness for what they’d missed out on all this time.

It’s not too late, he thought desperately. It can’t be too late.

Lydia let him nuzzle her and they rubbed noses. That felt like more affection than they’d shared since she had arrived in Black Bear Lake. It was different than the sex. It was something more intimate, something quiet and important.

Eric shifted back almost before he knew he was doing it. It was freezing out, especially this high up the mountain, but his shifter nature kept him a bit warmer than most. He hugged himself and waited for Lydia to shift back as he stood there in the snow, his breath steaming in the chill. Lydia finally shifted and shivered before adjusting to the icy cold. Eric stepped up close and ran his hands up her arms. Lydia bowed her head and leaned against him.

“I was angry,” he said quietly. “I’ve been angry for a long time. But it was not all your fault. I didn’t see what I didn’t want to see. But I do now.”

“I’m sorry,” Lydia said. Her voice was soft, it didn’t quaver or crack. She sounded strong. “I’ve never said it. Not even once. Not to you. I am so sorry that I left the way I did. I’m sorry I broke your heart.”

Eric blinked at her and he rested his hands at her waist. He hadn’t even known those were the words he had been waiting for. “I’m sorry too,” he said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention. That I didn’t take things seriously. I’m sorry I’ve been angry and that I didn’t even try to call you after you came down here the first time. We should have fought for each other. For our friendship.”

“For our friendship and for everything else,” Lydia said. “For us.”

“Lydia…” He cradled her cheek and didn’t realize he was smiling until he saw her smiling too. “I love you. That’s why we have this connection, that’s why...everything, really. You’re my mate and you always have been and I love you.”

Lydia gasped and he saw a kind of smile he hadn’t seen since she had come back. He hadn’t seen it since they were young. It was brilliant and girlish and it made her eyes so bright the sun might have been shining through them.

“You’ve always been my mate,” she said. He swallowed and rested his forehead against hers again, revelling in the connection between them that had always been there since the day they’d met as kids; two little cubs in the forest fighting over the same fish until they’d decided to share. “And I’ve always been yours.”

“God,” he whispered. “Say that again.”

“I’m yours,” she said. “I love you, Eric Strauss.”

Eric kissed her. It was just one soft, almost chaste kiss but it was somehow packed with feeling. Her lips were soft on his and he tasted the strawberry of her lip gloss and also the cold, clear chill of the creek bed she had drunk from in her bear form.

To Eric she felt cozy, soft, and holding her like this made him feel like the strongest man in the world as he wrapped his arms around her and luxuriated in the simple sensation of her lips on his. He took his sweet time to taste her bottom lip and tease and nip at her precious mouth until he finally nudged it open and tasted her tongue.

Lydia hummed into his mouth, urging him on, and he reached up to rub the back of her neck and tangle his hands in that thick hair he loved so much. They licked into each other’s mouths as if they would swallow each other whole.

He had a hundred thoughts all running in different directions, his mind running amok as he imagined the future they could finally share together.

I’ll take her to the movies.

I’ll spoil her rotten.

I’ll give her the world.

I don’t need the world, I just need you.

That last thought had come from her and he pulled away with a little gasp, startled. She laughed and kissed the corner of his mouth. “I guess it happens randomly,” she said. She buried her nose in the crook of his neck, resting there for a moment, and he got his head around the idea of occasionally sharing a telepathic connection with his mate. It was a quirk that occasionally occurred between mates but it was fairly rare from what he’d heard.

I need you too, he