Chapter 400 You call that lashing out?
“I didn’t touch it,” Laila said quickly before he could accuse her of being the reason the sample was smoking, but Gilbert surprised her by letting out an excited laugh.
“It’s working!”
He watched in astonishment as the Luna’s blood, mixed with the Alpha’s blood and a few other ingredients, began breaking down the suppressant after a single drop of water had fallen onto the sample.
He hadn’t thought to add water, and it had never occurred to him that it was the last ingredient he needed for the antidote. Gilbert’s arctic-blue eyes shimmered with happiness, and when he turned to find Laila studying him, he belatedly realized he wouldn’t have gotten there without her mistake. He hugged her out of pure excitement and gratitude.
“Thank you, you completed the final test for me!” He laughed again, and Laila stood frozen in his embrace, completely unaware of what had made him so happy. Still, she found herself sharing in his happiness through their bond, and she hugged him back hesitantly.
The hug, born of excitement, turned intimate the moment the bond sparked between them at the contact of their bodies. Laila, who had felt hurt since returning from the Grim Pack and had been eating in a depressed daze ever since, suddenly found peace in his arms and tightened her hold around him.
Gilbert, who had worked tirelessly since morning without a moment’s rest or food, inhaled her scent and felt like he was in heaven, exactly where he was meant to be. His body relaxed, all the tension melting away as he buried his nose in her warm neck, and felt his body stir to life in places he had long trained himself to ignore by burying himself in work.
The mate bond sparked through his veins like live wires, humming through his blood and settling low in his abdomen. He felt Laila rub her face against his chest as she whispered,
“I’m sorry for ruining your work. That wasn’t my intention, I just wanted to make sure you’d rest and stop being so distressed.” She said in a small voice.
“You didn’t ruin my work, and I’m sorry for lashing out at you.” Gilbert apologized without letting go, wanting to enjoy this for a while longer before he would inevitably send her out of his life again.
Laila chuckled softly against his chest, burying herself deeper into him.
“You call that lashing out?” she asked. “I’ve experienced far worse than that, Mr. Rodrigo. I’ve been shoved around and hit in the name of ’lashing out.’”
“You have?” he asked, surprise evident in his voice.
Laila nodded.
Growing up, she had been bullied by girls her age for being meek in the past. Living under her tyrannical uncle, she had endured real lashing out and knew exactly what it felt like. She had been beaten countless times and dragged around by her hair. She eventually learned to fight back the hard way, after a group of girls nearly drowned her by forcing her head underwater simply because, on her first day of school, she had asked if she could join their group of friends.
At fifteen, Laila made the hardest decision of her life as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. She vowed that she would never again allow anyone to beat her or try to drown her, not even her uncle. That was when she decided to leave her family behind and live anywhere but Silver.
She reinvented herself, shedding the timid girl everyone had once preyed on. She became everything every man and woman wanted but could never have unless she chose them on her own terms. Yet she had never imagined that when her own mate finally came into her life, he wouldn’t want her for any of the qualities she believed made her irresistible.
Her arms tightened around him even more, and Gilbert pulled back from the hug with some difficulty to look at her face, where her emerald eyes gazed at him with a longing that mirrored exactly what he felt inside.
“I never would have thought Miss Serrano would end up on the receiving end of someone else’s lashing out.” Gilbert remarked, his hand moving before he could stop it, brushing her hair behind her ear and tucking it carefully into place.
Laila smiled faintly. “You’d be surprised.” She looked up at him, noticing as his eyes dropped to her lips, then back to her eyes.
“I should leave, I think.” Laila said, but made no move to step back, their gazes locked together, emerald and aquamarine blue, both heavy with exhaustion, and longing.
This man was supposed to be her mate for life, someone the Moon Goddess had given to her, but she couldn’t have him, and yet she couldn’t resist him either.
He looked so stressed that she wanted to take some of that burden from him and carry it herself. Maybe it was the mate bond making her feel this way, because it was so unlike her.
The thought had barely crossed her mind before she realized she was leaning toward him. When he made no move to pull away, she gently pressed her lips to his. Softly, she drew his lower lip between hers before her lips glided to his upper one in an equally tender kiss.
He didn’t return the kiss.
“We shouldn’t, Laila…” He whispered, but she kissed him again, murmuring against his lips, “You don’t want me because of your family, don’t hurt Zoe just to try to forget me. I want you, and you want me. We belong together, Gilbert.” Saying that, her kiss grew bolder as she grabbed his collar.
Laila’s fingers tightened on his collar, pulling him closer as her lips met his again. This time, the kiss was deeper and more eager, yet still slow and unhurried, as she moved from one of his lips to the other with gentle care.
She kissed him as though trying to pour every unsaid thing into it, the hurt, the want, the stupid hope that refused to die. She tilted her head, deepening the kiss as her tongue traced the seam of his lips, coaxing them apart with teasing little licks. When he finally parted them on a shaky exhale, she slipped inside.
The soft, wet sound their mouths made sent heat rushing through her. She tasted the exhaustion on him, the faint bitterness of too much coffee, and beneath it all, the pull of the mate bond that made her chest ache.
Her free hand slid down his chest, feeling the rapid thud of his heart, then over his abdomen through his shirt, before dipping lower, brushing boldly over the growing bulge straining against his pants. She caressed him there, feeling him twitch under her touch.
Gilbert stiffened, a shaky breath escaping him. He had no idea what to do with his hands at first, they hovered uncertainly before finally settling on her waist.
That small surrender was all she needed.
She pressed her body flush against his, and Gilbert’s resistance, which he’d had no power to fight against with the bond pulling at him, snapped. He kissed her back.
Gilbert had more than once questioned his own sexuality, since no woman had ever made him lose himself enough to want to have sex, and he had believed that maybe all the teasing back in school had killed his interest in women entirely. But since meeting Laila, it was a different story altogether.
He suddenly lifted her, surprising them both with his strength. Laila wrapped her legs around him instantly, her nightdress bunching up as she clung to him.
He carried her to one of the tables in his lab and set her on the edge, knocking things aside without caring. His fingers fumbled with the front of her nightdress for half a second before something snapped in him, his wolf pushing forward hard. The fabric tore under his hands with a sharp rip, exposing her breasts to the cool air of the lab.
Laila gasped, but she didn’t pull away. Gilbert stared for a moment, breathing hard, his face flushed with a mix of hunger and nerves. Then he leaned in and pressed his mouth to her neck, sucking on the sensitive skin there.
His tongue moved in slow, needy circles, and Laila tilted her head to give him more, a soft moan slipping out. She could feel how hard he was against her, the heat of him pressing between her legs, and it made her dizzy with want.
The bond flared brighter, flooding her with his emotions, raw want, fear, guilt, and a deep, aching loneliness that mirrored her own. Gilbert’s hand cupped her breast almost reverently, his thumb brushing over her nipple, and she arched into him, whispering his name.
But then his teeth grazed her neck again, harder this time, the urge to mark her rising sharp and dangerous in his chest. His wolf howled for it, to claim her right here, to make her his so no one else could ever touch her, so he wouldn’t have to keep fighting the bond.
Gilbert jerked back as though he’d been burned, his eyes wide. He was harder than he’d ever been in his life, his body trembling with need, every inch of him screaming at him to keep going.
Her bare breasts, flushed and heaving, the way her lips were swollen from his kisses, it was almost too much. He wanted to bury himself inside her so badly it hurt to stop himself.
Instead, he yanked his lab coat off in one rough motion and draped it over her shoulders, pulling it closed to cover her as he buttoned it up at the front. His hands were shaking as he helped her down from the table. He took her hand without a word, holding it tighter than he meant to, and walked her to the door.
“Thank you for the noodles. Good night, Miss Serrano…” he said quietly, his chest constricting at the thought of sending her away.
But Gilbert had already dug his own grave by committing to another woman, accepting Laila was no longer an option, not unless he was ready to hand his head to the Alpha and the Beta on a platter. He was caught in the middle of his own mess.
He gently pushed her out and looked at her confused face one last time before closing the door behind her.
The second it clicked shut, Gilbert leaned his forehead against the wood, his eyes squeezed closed. His heart was still racing, his body on fire, the taste of her skin still on his tongue. He hated himself for letting it go that far. Hated how much he still wanted her. Hated that even now, part of him wished he’d just given in.
But he couldn’t, because he had already made his mess.
He stayed there, breathing hard against the door, alone with feelings he didn’t know how to fix, before finally going back to his worktable and contacting the Beta to let him know the antidote was done, all that remained was for the Luna to come by tomorrow for it.