Gilbert Read Online Free PDF Page B

almost screeched, startled as he was. What kind of intruder knocked on the fucking door? That Jihu himself was an intruder, kind of, was beside the point. Ye-sun had given him keys and—
    “Hello? Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you or the kid, even after you tried to kill me with toxic fumes.”
    The good humour in that deep, rough voice was more surprising than the knock on the door had been. Jihu frowned and glared at the door. His body was doing that crazy cold-hot head-spinny thing again, and if his heart beat any faster it might just blow up.
    “I mean it. I’m sorry I scared you, but you gotta know—well, can you open the door? I can pick the lock but I somehow doubt you’d be happy about that. Hey, my name is Gilbert, by the way, Gilbert Trujillo.”
    Jihu shook his head, trying to clear out some of the lightheadedness he was feeling. Gilbert Trujillo…why does that name seem familiar?
    “Is the baby…” The man on the other side of the door shuffled his feet, and it sounded like his knee whacked into the hard wood. “Uh. It’s your brother, right? I mean, you didn’t kidnap a baby, I hope.”
    Jihu gaped in the direction Gilbert’s voice was coming from. What the hell was he supposed to say? He had actually kidnapped a baby, but it sure wasn’t his brother.
    “You’re a shifter, aren’t you? You smell like one, kind of remind me of Bae, you know? Will you open the door?”
    “You know Bae?” Jihu asked, unaccountably jealous that this stranger knew a brother Jihu had never met. Was Gilbert Bae’s mate? Jihu’s body felt flushed with arousal. He didn’t think Gilbert was Bae’s mate.
    “Yeah, of course. He’s my brother’s mate. I’m assuming you know Bae since you’re here and all. With a baby. That you still haven’t explained the presence of, or however I’m supposed to say that tactfully. Will you open the door now?”
    That deep, sensual voice was doing all sorts of things to Jihu. He was sporting a hard-on for the first time in ages, since he’d been forced—Jihu gave himself a mental shake. He couldn’t go there. Jihu was ready to freak out, except he couldn’t because he had a baby to take care of.
    A wailing, upset baby. “Shh, shhh, it’ll be okay, little one.” He cuddled the infant close and kept an eye on the door.
    “The more tense you are, the more the baby’ll cry,” Gilbert called out, raising his voice. “Why don’t you open the door and let me help?”
    Jihu felt like crying himself. He was terrified on so many levels. If his shifter senses weren’t fucked up, he could get a better feeling for whether he could trust Gilbert Trujillo. As it was, his body was acting the traitor, and his mind was a mess. And he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to calm down the child in his arms or—
    “Please. I—” It sounded like Gilbert dragged his hand down the door, rattling it slightly and scraping along part of its length. “I think you’re my mate.”
    Jihu couldn’t breathe. His chest felt tight and his pulse raced. Sweat suddenly coated his skin and he began to shake. He put the baby down in the centre of the bed and stared sightlessly at the door. His dick was still hard as stone despite the building panic. How could he have a mate? Who would want him when he was such a mess? And it wasn’t just him. Jihu wouldn’t give his son up, ever.
    Mates are drawn intrinsically to one another. I just didn’t think…it’d ever happen to me. Jihu knew of very few people who’d found their mate. In his lepe there was only the leader, Shin-Il, and his mate Hika They were also one of the many childless couples in the lepe, but mated pairs weren’t required to breed with anyone else. They couldn’t. Neither they nor their leopard would tolerate it.
    “Please, open the door for me.” Gilbert’s soft plea made Jihu’s eyes burn and tears spill in a rapid waterfall. He was so, so tired and scared, and he didn’t know what to do about this new curve ball thrown at him.