Gilbert by Bailey Bradford Page B

Maybe we won’t.”
    “Josiah was talking about wolves, though,” Bae pointed out. “So that might not be the case with other shifters. I think you and Jihu will have an intense bond like Isaiah and I have.”
    “I hope so,” Gilbert admitted, turning his gaze to Daniel as the baby slurped down the last of his formula. Gilbert shifted him onto his chest and began to pat his back. “Burp for me, baby boy.”
    Bae coughed and gave him a crooked grin. “Well, it doesn’t have to be a burp, just as long as he passes the gas in some manner.”
    Gilbert narrowed his eyes at Bae. “Burp, Daniel, be a good boy and save the other ways for getting rid of the gas bubbles for your Uncle Bae.”
    “You’re mean.” Bae sniffed. “I want to go look for my father and the rest of my family from the lepe. And find the other children my father produced.”
    Gilbert blinked and pulled back a little. How the hell had Bae gone from baby gas to that?
    “I can’t sit here and do nothing, and if Chung-Hee killed my father or anyone else in my family, I’ll…” Bae hissed and glared at Isaiah. “Yes, I can and I will. I don’t want to be some wicked avenger, but I will take my family’s loss out of Chung-Hee’s hide. I will kill him, Isaiah, if that is what I have to do. You will not do it for me.”
    “But you’re a doctor, you heal, not harm,” Isaiah argued, leaning close to get in Bae’s face. “You can’t take a life like that, Bae. It’ll tear you up.”
    “It won’t. I’m not all goodness and light and all that shit.” Bae’s voice had taken on a cold tone that made Gilbert’s blood run cold. “I can and will put an end to Chung-Hee’s madness, and if that means taking his life, then so be it. If that means leading the lepe, God help me, I will hate it but I will take it over. Maybe I can help them, teach the shifters how to live without having to be controlled.”
    “No,” Isaiah snapped. “You won’t. I know you, Bae. Right now you’re hurting, you’re angry and scared, and you aren’t thinking clearly.”
    Bae stood up so quickly his chair fell over. He stepped back and wore a fierce expression as he snarled at Isaiah, “Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do, what I am or am not feeling. I can let my leopard have its way just as any other shifter can do. I don’t have to be civilised all the time.” He turned and stormed off, heels pounding the floor so that the wood vibrated with the force of his anger.
    Gilbert looked at Isaiah. “He’s…really pissed off, Iz. I don’t know if you should keep arguing with him.”
    Isaiah stood up and stretched, then rolled his neck, popping it in a cringe-inducing way. “I won’t let him do something he’ll be haunted by, Gil. You know Bae. He’s hurting, and he is going to be upset about snapping at me, but I wanted him to. I want him to get some of that poison out of himself before he does something he can’t undo. Now, do me a favour and call Grandma Marybeth.”
    “Aw, Iz,” Gilbert whined, just as Daniel belched loudly. Gilbert pulled him back and goggled at him. “Geez, little dude, that had to feel awesome.”
    “Gil, focus,” Isaiah said. “I know Grandma can be chatty sometimes, but she’ll round up some of our cousins and send them to help. Plus, if you don’t call her and Mom and Dad soon to tell them about Jihu, your ass is grass, man. Dead, brown, crunchy grass.”
    “You make no sense at all,” Gilbert muttered. “Dead, brown, crunchy grass. Whatever.” But Iz had a point. Gilbert would never hear the end of it for having waited this long to tell his family about his mate. He would be on everyone’s shit list for a year if he didn’t get it together. “Fine, but I’m calling Mom first. She gave birth to me so she gets priority calls.”
    “She’s in Mongolia, her and Dad both, visiting Tim and Otto, remember?” Isaiah pointed out.
    Gilbert sighed and tried to calculate the time difference. It was around nine or ten