Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,91

what’s the plan?” The dark-haired man looked worried as Eric dutifully took his seat. “You can’t just keep him here. What about-”

“That will be his final test,” Michelle said, looking at the man sharply. Eric was trying to follow what they were saying, but it was difficult. “I have to make absolutely sure I’ve won him over. He still looks uncertain. When I’ve got him, then I’ll, you know.”

The man drew a line across his throat and nodded in the direction of the coat closet.

What did that mean?

I can smell her…

But who?

“I’m confused,” Eric said. His words sounded slow, even to him.

“You’re losing your grip on him,” the man said. “Um, no offense.”

The man sounded frightened of Michelle.

“Shut up,” Michelle snapped. Eric blinked and in a second Michelle was in his lap, cooing in his ear. She felt good in his arms and it calmed him. “Everything’s fine,” she whispered. “Just do as I say.”

“Yeah,” he said, sighing. “I’m sorry, Lydia.”

Michelle reared back and stared at him. “Don’t ever say that name to me.”

“Lydia,” Eric murmured. It felt right when he said it. It felt like something important falling into place.

“Maybe you were right,” the dark-haired man said. “Mind control is just too hard.”

“I can do it!” Michelle screamed, leaping to her feet. Her eyes turned black and she stretched out a hand toward her partner, a red light springing from her fingers that blasted him back and made the veins of his neck bulge under the skin. He threw his head back and screamed, convulsing as he slumped to the floor. “Don’t you ever doubt me again, James. And you…” She glared down at Eric with wild eyes. “I’ll have to condition you to obey. This is what happens when you so much as utter that name in front of me.”

Eric didn’t know exactly what she did next. Because from that moment on, all he knew was pain. It overtook him from head to toe and it felt like being on fire. He lay back on the couch, his mouth wide open in a silent scream as he shook, white hot agony pulsing through his body.

Michelle and James were talking. He could hear them distantly, beyond the torment. She was telling James to go keep an eye on the other Strauss brothers and make sure they weren’t looking for their brother and to throw them off the scent if they were. James left and Eric was alone with Michelle.

Then she was cuddling up to him again, her icy cold hands cradling his cheeks as her rage-filled eyes stared into his soul. “You’ll learn,” she said calmly. “I can tell. You’ll be so good for me, won’t you?”

Eric nodded dumbly just as the pain began to subside. But he felt like a bared nerve-ending, as if any move in any direction might bring that horror back. “Yes,” he whispered.

Eric!

Lydia’s voice screamed in his head so distinctly he gasped.

“What?” Michelle demanded. “What is it?”

She doesn’t know about this. We can use this. You can use this to break through.

“Uh...I…” Eric shook his head. “I can’t, I…”

“You’re going to marry me,” Michelle hissed. “Say it. Say it now.”

“I’ll...I’ll marry you,” Eric said dully. It was so much easier to just go along with what she said. It made him feel better.

Eric, my love, please fight it…

“But Ly… Um…” He shook his head. He wouldn’t say the name. But he could say something else. “My mate. My mate needs me.”

“She’s hurting you, darling,” Michelle said, suddenly as calm as he’d ever seen her. Her eyes cleared and looked at him kindly. Even her hands were warmer. He relaxed somewhat, wondering what he had been afraid of. It seemed like his mind kept jerking him one way and then another. It made him so tired… “That’s why I need you to kill her. You will, won’t you? For me, my love. I need you to listen to me. Lydia has been trying to seduce you away from me. Then she was going to kill you. But we won’t let her. Will we?”

Eric… Lydia was there in his mind again. He tried to push her away. She was poison, just like Michelle said.

“No,” he said, not intending to say it aloud. “I can’t listen to you, I can’t do what you say…”

Michelle was staring at him and she had been nice and calm, but now her eyes flashed. “You will listen to me!”

He was about to say he wasn’t talking to her, he was talking