Billionaire Bear Shifters A Paranormal Romance Complete Series Boxset - Brittany White Page 0,95

links could enable other kinds of connections...like regeneration or the exchange of one’s life force. He couldn’t even remember where he’d heard it, but he liked to read up on shifter lore. He had studied it when he was younger.

“She’s still breathing,” Eric said softly as he rocked Lydia in his arms. He was crying and not quite aware of it. It was as if he were feeling every emotion that existed all at once.

Something crashed and Cody, in human form, collapsed next to him, having been struck down by Michelle. He was breathless and bleeding from the mouth and he stared up at Eric from where he lay askew on the floor.

“Cody,” Eric said. He reached out and took his brother’s hand.

He had assumed they were winning.

It started to occur to him, they might not be.

“She’s...she’s powerful,” Cody murmured, his throat gurgling as he spoke. “She’s… uh…”

He was barely holding on and Eric’s eyes went wide.

It had not occurred to him that he could possibly lose more than his mate and he suddenly realized just how much he had to lose in the world. And, all of it was right here in this room.

Eric turned around, unwilling to let go of Lydia and yet wanting to get a handle on the fight.

Michelle had her back turned to him. She was levitating off the floor again, her arms outstretched as magic poured through the tips of her fingers in a brilliant white light that had Eric’s brothers, Connor, and Nathan pinned against the wall. They had shifted back into human form again, although not, Eric suspected, according to their own wills.

Connor was putting up an admirable fight. Blood gushed from his nose as he fought to push himself off the wall, but the force keeping him there was strong. Nathan’s teeth were clenched, his eyes wide and blood shot. He seemed to be completely paralyzed.

Cody was barely breathing…

A vase had shattered at some point and its shards littered the carpet. Eric’s heart was pounding so hard, he could hardly breathe. His head pulsed, not so much with thoughts as with a fierce rage and sense of protectiveness. He grabbed one of the shards in his hand, hardly noticing as it sliced his palm. His hand shook as he held it, his other arm holding Lydia whose breath was thready and weak.

He couldn’t do both. He couldn’t sit here and keep his connection to Lydia and kill Michelle at the same time. He had to keep holding his mate. He was afraid, if he stopped holding on he would lose the thread between them allowing Lydia to hang onto life.

It was an impossible choice and he felt as if the entire world was ending around him. He shut his eyes, torn apart inside.

“I can’t,” he breathed.

Next to him, Cody stirred. His gaze slid over to Eric’s. He looked like he could barely keep his eyes open.

“I can’t move,” he whispered. “Cody, I can’t move or I’ll lose her. It’s Liddy, I can’t…”

“I got you,” Cody whispered back. “I’ll...bring her...to you…”

Eric didn’t know quite how his brother did it, but suddenly there was Cody, rolling over and getting up on his hands and knees. His arms quivered with effort and he kept stumbling, his arms nearly collapsing under his weight as he crawled forward in Michelle’s direction.

He’s going to die, Eric thought.

It didn’t seem like something that could ever really happen but Eric had seen bears in the woods, attempting to protect their young and strike down an enemy while on their last legs. This looked just like that.

Eric gripped Lydia’s hand and kissed her knuckles one by one. The light seemed to be going out of her eyes. Eric wondered just how many people he would lose today. Even one seemed impossible.

Cody lunged forward just behind Michelle and grabbed her ankle, just hard enough to bring her falling back and tumbling to the ground beside Eric. It was enough to break her spell on Connor and Nathan who slid down the wall, falling into a heap on the floor, looking dazed and weak themselves.

But all Cody could hear was the sound of his own breathing and the too slow thud of Lydia’s heartbeat next to him. All he could see was his own bloody hand that clutched the shard of porcelain as Michelle cursed under her breath. She was starting to get to her feet.

Eric had only seconds to act.

He could feel the connection between him and Lydia as strong as