Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,93

of falling under her thrall.

They had to either kill Michelle while she was knocked out or get away and decide how to somehow convince her to break the curse.

Lydia was in favor of killing her.

She trembled in the chair, still gagged, as Eric worked at her binding. As a bear, it was not much different than if he were trying to thread a delicate needle with his big paws. But eventually her hands were free and she sighed in relief around her gag. Her fingers were bloodied from repeatedly straining against her bindings and her hands ached. She shook them and reached up to take out her gag.

That was when Michelle woke up.

Lydia heard her before she saw her. The soft growl sounded from the corner where Michelle was slumped against the wall and Lydia tensed up, her breath catching as Eric worked away at the ropes around her feet.

Lydia did not have time to so much as warn Eric. Her throat was still scratchy and dry from being gagged and when she opened her mouth, no sound immediately came out before Michelle was in human form and on her feet.

But, Michelle wasn’t standing so much as hovering in the air. Lydia could feel the magic energy surrounding her. Michelle threw her arms out, spreading her fingers, and it was like feeling all the air getting sucked out of the room. She was drawing on every bit of magic she could grab onto around her and that included Lydia. All shifters possessed some amount of magic potential even if most never learned to utilize it.

Some dimly sardonic part of Lydia watching the whole thing as if looking down from outside her body thought, I have to hand it to her. She’s pretty damn powerful.

Michelle was regaining control of Eric, who suddenly shifted back into human form seemingly against his will. He dropped to his knees, his eyes wide and confused. He gripped his head and cried out in a tormented wail that made Lydia’s heart clench in her chest. She whimpered, scrambling to untie the binds on her ankles. But she felt her strength leaving her bit by bit as Michelle drew her magic from her.

“Kill her,” Michelle hissed. Her eyes were black again as they stared down at Eric, and Lydia saw them spark and flash. Tears of blood oozed down her poreless cheeks. She was pushing herself beyond her own limits.

But if she managed to kill them all, it hardly mattered what she ended up doing to herself.

“Don’t!” Lydia was breathless and her hands shook as she hurried to untie her feet. She was going to pass out, she thought. Eric wouldn’t even need to kill her if Michelle stole much more of her strength. “Eric…”

Eric was on his knees and slumped over on all fours, his mouth wide open in a silent scream as he struggled with the warring forces in his mind. Lydia’s voice in his head seemed to have helped him fight Michelle off before, but now Michelle was too powerful and Lydia was too weak. She couldn’t concentrate enough to so much as try it again. Tears poured down her cheeks as she tore at the tight knots of the ropes until they eventually came undone.

“Eric, fight it,” Lydia said shakily. “Eric, please!”

“Eric, kill her!” Michelle said. She was levitating higher off the floor, her head nearly hitting the ceiling of the spacious suite. A deep red halo of light engulfed her and the power she gathered made the walls shake, the furniture quivering.

Lydia stumbled out of her chair, but she was so weakened that she fell to her knees, facing Eric. She clutched his shoulder, trying to look him in the eye. He was pale and gaunt, his eyes wide, his pupils turning unnaturally pale.

“Eric,” Lydia whispered. She had to lean on him or she’d fall down to the floor. Her eyelids were heavy. Going to sleep felt like a fantastic idea. “Eric, stay with me! Stay with me and remember us. Remember when you had to go to the cotillion but you came and found me afterwards and I wore-”

“Blue…” Eric shook his head as if trying to ward off flies. “Blue dress….”

“Yes!” Lydia cried. “I wore a blue dress and you told me I looked pretty! You even gave me a corsage you stole from the cotillion! That was us, you and me. You’re my mate!”

“Michelle,” Eric mumbled. “Says… In..my head she’s...my mate…”

“Eric…” Michelle’s voice sounded as if there were two