Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,84

she liked to think, if she had only been fighting the woman. But two against one was asking a lot.

Why can’t I open my eyes?

She had a terrible pain in her shoulder and she felt the aches and pains of having been in a bad fight. She was pretty sure she wasn’t terribly wounded anywhere, unless she was in shock and not feeling it. But her shoulder hurt and her head…

Why can’t I open my eyes?

But she was opening her eyes, she realized. She just couldn’t see anything.

Blindfold, you dummy.

There was also the minor detail that she couldn’t move. It was taking a couple of minutes to sort these things out. She was muddled and in pain and where was Eric? Those people were going to hurt Eric! And here she was apparently tied to a chair, she thought. She was sitting up but she couldn’t move. The duo had stashed her somewhere and tied her up. There was also a cloth in her mouth, gagging her. She tried not to move her tongue or shift the cloth around too much. It threatened to go too far into her throat and make her choke.

Shift!

Lydia fought to calm herself down and think rationally. No, she shouldn’t shift, she thought. She had no idea where she was or if those two were anywhere nearby. They had taken her down so easily to begin with. There was no point in getting smacked down again and risk getting hurt much worse. That wouldn’t help Eric.

Even now she could hear muffled thumps and the sounds of doors opening and closing somewhere. Everything was a little muted. She wondered if she was locked in a closet.

Eric…

Lydia concentrated on relaxing all her muscles, regulating her breathing. She listened to her own beating heart that sounded too fast and forced herself to sit calmly and as still as possible until it slowed again. She had been stupid to attack them, but it had been a bit like an out of body experience. There had been no thought behind it at all.

Now she had to try to be smart to help Eric.

It took her a couple minutes to remember the conversation with Eric about his ex-girlfriend. It was all coming together now. The ex-girlfriend hadn’t just been a fling or an attempted relationship, it was obvious to Lydia that the whole thing had been a scheme. Obviously, they were trying to seduce Eric and swindle him somehow. As one of the richest and most eligible bear shifters in the country, it wasn’t so surprising that he would be a target of such a plot.

How am I going to get out of this?

More importantly, how on earth was she going to save Eric who was in terrible danger?

She didn’t cry. She had cried so much over the past few days - out of either sadness or frustration or happiness. But somehow, in the thick of danger, she found herself able to compose herself. She felt no hot tears behind her eyes. She had been stupid already and now she had to buckle down and be cool and rational and smart.

She did have a secret weapon, she realized. She had that mysterious connection to her mate with its rare but powerful trait. She smiled to herself around her gag when she thought of it.

Of course.

Fine, she thought. I’ll just talk to him in his head.

29

Eric

Eric’s brothers noticed something was up immediately because he simply could not contain himself.

He was practically skipping when he showed up at the front desk that morning. He was also ten minutes late, which was out of character for him. There were precious few excuses for being late when you lived on the other side of the building. But Eric had been loathe to leave Lydia’s side or stop kissing her.

He showed up to work grinning, having missed his semi-usual breakfast in the kitchen.

“Hmm.” Connor stroked his chin when he saw Eric at his station. He had a donut and coffee and he handed them over to Eric’s delight. “Something happened. You talk to Lydia?”

Eric took a sip of coffee and shrugged, attempting to be mysterious. “Maybe.”

“Well, you didn’t just get some,” Connor said thoughtfully. “I can always tell. This is something else. You guys work your shit out?”

Eric smiled to himself and leaned on the front desk. He took a big bite of the powdered jelly donut Connor had given him. Connor rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and waiting patiently as Eric ate his entire