Eric (Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers 0f Colorado Book 2) Read online

  Eric

  Strauss Bear Shifter Brothers of Colorado (Book 2)

  Brittany White

  © Copyright 2020 - All rights reserved.

  It is not legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental.

  Contents

  1. Eric

  2. Lydia

  3. Michelle

  4. Eric

  5. Lydia

  6. Eric

  7. Michelle

  8. Lydia

  9. Eric

  10. Eric

  11. James

  12. Lydia

  13. Eric

  14. Lydia

  15. Lydia

  16. Lydia

  17. Eric

  18. Lydia

  19. Eric

  20. Lydia

  21. Eric

  22. Eric

  Epilogue

  NATHAN (EXCERPT)

  About the Author

  Blurb

  Lydia is the only bear shifter I’ve ever loved. She’s the only woman I’ve ever wanted, and her betrayal still stings.

  * * *

  She left me without as much as a goodbye. I didn’t think I could forgive her for crushing my heart, for not saying anything before she left. And I definitely didn’t think I’d see her again, much less at the Black Bear Lake Lodge.

  * * *

  Lydia isn’t innocent. Those gorgeous eyes are hiding a secret. She has an agenda, or else she wouldn’t be back. I need to find out what it is, and if it has anything to do with my past. The part of my past that I’d rather forget. Lydia might be here on a mission, but I know her heart is pure.

  * * *

  What we had… was real. What I see in her eyes… is real. Her return will either heal my heart or lead to my ultimate destruction. Well, what’s it going to be?

  * * *

  ***

  1

  Eric

  “It’s cold out there!” The guest, still shivering and laughing as he stood in front of Eric and dusted snow off his parka, was not a bear shifter. That was fine, but it was something Eric always inwardly noted with guests. The Black Bear Lake Lodge was so popular with bear shifters who came traveling from all over the world to ski and snowboard or just sip hot toddies before going on runs in the thick woods up the mountain, that human guests were just this side of unusual. As the lodge’s concierge, Eric had a slightly different way of interacting with them. There was an understanding with other bear shifters and a shorthand. Human guests were just a little pickier and harder to please.

  In Eric’s experience, they were also giant dorks.

  Eric smiled widely at the guest and said, “It sure is. I hope the powder was good?”

  “Oh yeah! Great snowboarding! Ha ha!” The human’s family appeared - three daughters and a harried looking wife, and they whirled away from the front desk and into the newly renovated dining hall as it filled up for lunch. Lunch was Cody’s job.

  There were four Strauss brothers and they all ran the Black Bear Lake Lodge together, having bought it out in equal shares after finding themselves to be young and energetic bear shifters with too much money on their hands. Connor was the oldest and the alpha of their little sleuth. He ran the place as administrator. Eric was the youngest and served as concierge, handling all the guests’ requests and demands, even some that seemed ridiculous. Cody was the chef and ran the kitchen with an iron fist, and Nathan was the handyman (though he usually ended up filling more roles than that).

  Nathan had lately been a hard bear shifter to find around the lodge, having met his mate, Alanna, who was pregnant with his cub now. They were still in their honeymoon period and their happiness made everything around the lodge seem brighter.

  The thick of winter was hitting the ski lodge and with it, the busiest season. Families were making their ski trips just before Christmas and the snow was hitting the mountain hard. The lodge was solidly booked and that was good news, considering that some recent shenanigans with a troublesome shifter named Rawley who had gone after Alanna had just shut the entire lodge down for a few weeks following a brawl that had demolished the dining hall. They had only just gotten it up and running again and business was finally clicking along like usual.

  “Hey, is your friend showing up today?” Eric’s older brother, Connor, the alpha of their sleuth, asked as he walked up and leaned on the front desk, casually taking a peppermint from the bowl that Eric kept there. “Lydia, right?”

  Eric raised an eyebrow at his brother. Connor knew exactly who Lydia was. It would have been strange if he hadn’t. She had been Eric’s best friend as a kid and right up through his adolescence until she abruptly ran away. He had been closer to her than to his own brothers as a teenager, if he was honest with himself. There was no way Connor wouldn’t know her name.

  “Yeah,” Eric said, tapping his pen on the calendar. “Lydia. Haven’t seen her in… I don’t know. Five years? She stopped through when we were just opening up the lodge, but we didn’t really talk then. She seemed kind of weird when she texted me though. Hope she’s alright.”

  “I was always kinda surprised you guys never ended up together.” Connor sucked on his peppermint and looked down on his younger brother. Connor had a couple inches on Eric and though Eric worked out regularly and was no slouch in the muscle department, his brother was the biggest and broadest of the four Strauss boys. Yet Eric wasn’t even a little bit intimidated by the alpha (or, that’s what he told himself) and he only narrowed his eyes as Connor tried to goad him.

  “So was I,” Eric said, casually shrugging. “But you remember how Mom and Dad were about it. They didn’t like her sleuth, they thought she was trouble, and bla bla bla. She took that personally. It was hard enough just to be friends. On that note…” He checked his watch and grimaced. It was time for lunch and he had not been looking forward to it. “I have to go break up with a girl.”

  “Ah,” Connor nodded, leaning against the desk. Erik was surprised as Connor was usually bustling about the lodge. He always seemed endlessly busy as the administrator in charge of everything down to the snow boot rentals and the ticket taking at the gondola, especially lately as he’d had to work doubly hard to get the lodge back on track with all the renovations.

  Perhaps that was why Connor seemed a little more relaxed, Eric thought. Things were finally back to normal.

  “Are you breaking up with her because Lydia’s coming-” Connor started.

  “No,” Eric snapped, cutting Connor off. He heaved a sigh and resisted the urge to punch his brother in the arm since his brother would only punch back harder. “It’s just not right. Doesn’t feel right.” He shrugged. “She’s not the one and I don’t want to waste her time.”

  “That’s very smart of you,” Connor said, grabbing another peppermint. “How many times did you guys bang before you decided that?”

  “Ugh, shut up.” Eric couldn’t help himself and punched Connor in the shoulder, refusing to so much as wince when Connor punched him back twice as hard. “I’m going to lunch.” He motioned for Lee Ann, one of the associates who worked the front desk to take over for him and made his way to one of the private dining rooms off the dining hall where Michelle had agreed to eat with him.

  Eric had been dating Michell
e for only three weeks. But in that time they’d gone on several dates and spent a good deal of time together. Which was how Eric knew that it was never going to work. Michelle was wildly attractive with her glossy blonde hair and high cheekbones and pouty mouth. She was both a bear shifter and a witch, which had impressed Eric upon meeting her one night in the lodge’s lounge. But there was no spark for him. Things didn’t feel right and as much as Eric felt too soft to admit it, he wanted a mate. He wanted that true love feeling and Michelle wasn’t it. At worst, Michelle gave him an unsettled feeling he couldn’t explain. But it didn’t seem fair to use that as a reason to break up with a girl.

  He jogged his leg under the table and ordered himself a good bourbon neat instead of lunch. He hated the idea of breaking things off with anyone. He’d done it a few times and he always felt like a huge asshole afterwards.

  I wonder if Lydia will get here soon…

  He felt even more like an asshole, already thinking about another girl while he waited to break up with Michelle. Yet he couldn’t think of the last time he’d been more excited to see anyone as he was to see Lydia. Besides which, it wasn’t as if he was breaking up with Michelle because of Lyda. Nothing romantic was ever going to happen with Lydia, that much had been made clear a long time ago. But she was his oldest friend.

  “Eric?” Michelle’s voice rang like a bell. Eric looked up and sighed wistfully. If anyone looked like the perfect woman, it was her. She was wearing a faux fur snow hat that softened her pale skin and rosy cheeks and a cashmere sweater set that hugged her curves. She looked like any man’s fantasy of a sexy snow bunny and Eric cleared his throat.

  “Hey, Michelle,” Eric said, standing for a moment. He unbuttoned his jacket and buttoned it right up again, not sure what to do with his hands. Michelle frowned, questioning, and leaned over to peck him on the lips.

  It helped that the kiss made him feel nothing. There was nothing real here to salvage.

  “You drinking your lunch?” Michelle said, nodding at his bourbon as she took a seat and removed her fur hat.

  “I just needed something to take the edge off,” Eric said. He loosened his tie and saw that Michelle’s gaze followed his every movement. She squinted. She always seemed especially observant. He’d like that about her. But his stomach twisted. He had to get this over with before she figured it out first and got upset. “There’s something I need to talk to you about,” he said slowly.

  Michelle’s eyes narrowed. There was a hard look to them. Sometimes he thought it was a little cold. Her light blue eyes seemed icy and flat. But he figured he’d only thought that because he’d decided he wasn’t in love with her.

  “I hate this shit,” he muttered. “It’s awful. So I want to get it over with. I don’t think this is working out. I’m really sorry about it. I just don’t… I don’t feel…”

  “You’re breaking up with me?” Michelle didn’t sound upset. In fact, her voice was oddly monotone as she narrowed her eyes. “Eric. That’s...disappointing.”

  A shiver ran up Eric’s spine. There was something about the way she said it. It was just off somehow.

  “I really thought we had something special here,” Michelle said. “Haven’t we had fun-”

  “Yeah!” Eric nodded. “Definitely. I wanted to give it some time, you know? And we did have fun but I just don’t think we… I don’t feel that thing.”

  “What thing?” Michelle said sharply.

  “Whatever it is you’re supposed to feel,” Eric said simply.

  “I think you’re making a mistake,” Michelle said. She smiled at him and Eric cringed. That was probably a bad response to a smile. But it made him feel better about the break-up. “I think we should give this a little more time-”

  “I’m really sorry if it’s upsetting,” Eric said slowly. She didn’t seem upset per se. Or if she was, he couldn’t see it. It felt more like a business transaction and that was somehow even creepier. “But I know it’s the right thing to do. I know how I feel. Or rather, how I don’t feel. I wouldn’t want to lead you on when I’m already sure.”

  “I see,” Michelle said. She blinked at him and pursed her lips, regarding him coolly. “It’s alright. I’ll make you see reason. I can be very persuasive.” She tossed him a playful wink, but it only made his stomach twist. “You’ll thank me when I’m done.”

  That didn’t sound good. Eric winced and scratched his head. “Michelle… Don’t try to salvage this. It’s really-”

  “Don’t worry.” She stood up from her chair. There was not one hair out of place. She hadn’t even had a chance to eat lunch. He felt a little guilty about that. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m just going to give you some time to think and we’ll talk again.”

  Damnit.

  “Michelle…”

  “Goodbye, Eric. For now.”

  I am in such deep shit, Eric thought.

  2

  Lydia

  When Lydia closed her eyes, she saw Eric.

  Except she hadn’t truly seen Eric in about five years. In her mind, he was still a teenager. Her first love and her best friend. Usually when she pictured him, he was always in his bear form, running through the woods in spring, his eyes wild as he looked at her over his shoulder.

  But that wasn’t what she pictured now when she closed her eyes.

  Now she saw Eric in his bear form, but he wasn’t looking happy as he scampered through the forest. Instead, he was being violently torn apart. The woods were dark. Lydia could hear him howl. It felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest…

  “Stop,” she murmured. Lydia sat up straight in her seat on the bus as it barreled down the highway toward Black Bear Lake.

  She’d dreamed of Eric being murdered before her eyes seven times now. After the third time, she’d started to worry. After the fourth time, she’d decided it meant something. She’d heard about repetitive dreams before. Most humans just took them to mean that a person’s mind was caught up in something and their subconscious was trying to sort through it. But magical folk knew better. When a dream repeated so many times, that meant the fates were trying to speak to you.

  “Oh wow…” The mountains of Black Bear Lake came into view and Lydia smiled to herself. She’d forgotten how beautiful it was up here. She sat back in her seat and tapped the window with her blunt nails, impatient to get to the lodge. She hadn’t really spoken to Eric about her visit, much less her motivation for it. She had only texted and asked if it was a good time to come down and catch up.

  Waiting for Eric’s response had been agony. A lot could happen in five years. Back then, she was surprised he hadn’t found a mate yet. But now… She had to think he was married, probably with a kid. He was too good of a catch, just like his brothers. The fates wouldn’t leave them single.

  “Black Bear Lake stop!” The bus slowly pulled up to the station and Lydia took a deep breath, anxiety bubbling up inside her.

  Eric had offered her a suite on the house. She hadn’t expected anything like that and it was sweet, especially given their rather unresolved history together. To say it was also more luxurious than she was used to was a gross understatement.

  Lydia zipped up her worn out jacket. The trip down from Washington had seemed endless. She’d used up a chunk of her savings for it and that wasn’t counting that she had to quit her job. The scammy telemarketing company where she worked wasn’t the type to shell out for unexpected paid time off. C’est la vie, Lydia thought. If she needed to, she’d go back to the woods. She missed hunting anyway.

  In another life, Lydia thought, she would be going back to school. It was something she often thought about and had never had the money for. What she would major in? She had no idea. Other people who had money could afford to go to school without knowing what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. Lydia had always envied them that luxury.

  Lydia filed off the bus with the rest of the passengers and gasped at the wall of bracing cold outside. She was not equipped for th
is kind of weather. The Pacific Northwest could be plenty cold too but this felt sharper and she didn’t have the coat for it. She wrapped her scarf around her neck a second time and rubbed her bare hands together, blowing on them, and wishing she could shift as she waited to grab her luggage.

  Even the bus station at Black Bear Lake seemed fancy compared to anything she was used to. The southwestern design of the station with its dark wood benches and statues of historical figures seemed more like a museum than a bus station.

  Lydia was more than happy to huddle inside the station with a hot cup of complimentary cocoa while she waited for the shuttle to the lodge carrying a dozen other fresh guests. She tried not to think about her anxiety over seeing Eric for the first time in so long or to wonder if he had that mate and cub she suspected he had. All the while, she stared down at her cup and pretended she didn’t feel like a pariah in her dowdy threadbare clothes while sitting next to a shifter wearing a parka that probably cost as much as her rent.

  Welcome to the other side, she thought wryly.

  The shuttle was just pulling up to the lodge when Lydia’s heart started racing. She caught her own reflection in the window as she grabbed her backpack and heaved a sigh. Her thick black hair could fall in shiny, glossy waves with the right care, but just now it seemed lank and sad. Her skin felt greasy after her long trip. She looked completely out of place among these other women and though she was only twenty-six, she suspected she had a couple more stress wrinkles than the rich forty-year-olds just now disembarking from the bus with their kids.