Love Bites:Guide to Dating a vampire and werewolf

Beneath The Surface

Chapter 10

Beneath the Surface

The phone in her hand felt impossibly heavy. Lila stared at the screen, her thumb hovering over Mia's name as the weight in her chest grew heavier. Her stomach churned. She had to tell someone. If she didn't, the guilt would consume her whole.

The phone rang twice before Mia picked up.

"Lila? Hey, everything okay?" Mia's familiar voice was warm, but the sound of it was enough to crack Lila wide open. A sob escaped her lips before she could stop it.

"Lila?" Mia's tone immediately shifted to concern. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Where are you?"

"I'm fine," Lila choked out, though her voice betrayed the truth. "Not hurt. Just… I did something, Mia. Something bad."

The silence that followed was unbearable. Lila could almost hear the gears turning in Mia's head.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

The words poured out of her then, tumbling over each other in a frantic, jumbled mess. She told Mia about the stranger at the bar, the fear, Adrian showing up, and waking in the hotel room. She tried to explain the shame, the confusion, the way she had frozen when she realized where she was and who she was with.

By the time she finished, her throat felt raw, her heart hollowed out.

Mia was quiet for a moment. "Lila," she said finally, her voice slow and deliberate. "You need to calm down.i have to admit I wasn't expecting this but what's done is done and crying and killing yourself wont change anything.You need to just clear your head and ensure you actually steer clear of Adrian Ravencroft this time.You don't want to betray Caleb.Once might be called a mistake but then if it happens again,I don't know"

"Adrian was a mistake and it wasn't like I wasn't avoiding him but he just seems to be everywhere I go," Lila whispered, her voice barely audible. "I let him see me like that,I let him touch me like that,Caleb would—" She cut herself off, unable to finish the thought.

"Lila, stop," Mia said firmly, cutting through her spiral. "You were scared, and Adrian was there. He probably saved you. You can't blame yourself for that.He should have known you were drugged and she should not have taken advantage of you.He should have known you initiating it was because you were not in your right mind."

"But Caleb will—"

"Don't tell him," Mia interrupted, her voice suddenly sharp.

Lila froze. "What?"

"Don't tell him," Mia repeated. "He won't understand. Not the way I do, anyway. You'll just hurt him, and how are you sure he isn't doing worse ? Act like Nothing happened."

"But it feels like I betrayed him," Lila said, her voice cracking. "It feels wrong to keep this from him."

"Lila," Mia said softly, her tone gentle but firm. "You've been through enough. Don't make it worse by punishing yourself for something that wasn't your fault. Caleb loves you. Focus on that, on fixing things with him. This doesn't have to change anything."

The words lingered in the air long after the call ended. Lila lay back against the pillows, her mind still spinning. Mia's advice made sense—logical, even—but her heart wasn't ready to let the guilt go.

Eventually, exhaustion won out. Her body gave in to the pull of sleep, though her dreams were restless, filled with shadows she couldn't outrun.

The knock at the door jolted her awake.

Lila sat up, disoriented. The room was bathed in the dim light of early evening, and her bedside clock read 8:23 PM. She rubbed her eyes, trying to shake off the haze of sleep as the knocking came again, more insistent this time.

Her pulse quickened. She wasn't expecting anyone.

Wrapping her robe tighter around herself, she made her way to the door, her bare feet silent against the hardwood floor. She hesitated for a moment, her hand hovering over the knob, before finally pulling it open.

Caleb stood on the other side.

Her breath caught in her throat. He was the last person she had expected to see, and for a moment, she just stared at him, unable to speak.Did he know?was he here to break up with her?

"Hey," he said softly, his lips curling into a tentative smile. "Surprise."

He didn't look angry or was he pretending?

"Caleb," she whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Can I come in?" he asked, his eyes searching hers.

Wordlessly, she stepped aside, letting him into the apartment. He moved past her, his presence filling the small space in a way that made it hard to breathe.

"I couldn't stay away from you any longer," he admitted, turning to face her. "I know you're upset with me, and I get it. I messed up. But I couldn't stand the thought of us being like this."

Lila's stomach twisted. She avoided his gaze, busying herself with the edge of the throw blanket draped over the couch.

"Lila," he said again, his voice soft but insistent. "I need you to know how sorry I am. For keeping things from you. For everything. I never wanted to hurt you."

Her throat felt tight. She wanted to believe him, wanted to lose herself in the warmth of his presence and let everything else melt away. But the guilt was a living thing inside her, clawing at her insides.

"Please, say something," he said, stepping closer.

"I just… I don't know," she stammered, her voice trembling. She couldn't look at him. If she did, he'd see it all—the guilt, the shame, the secret she was desperately trying to bury.

Caleb sighed, running a hand through his hair. "You're still mad at me. I get it. I deserve that. But I'm here now, and I want to fix this. I want to fix us."

Before she could respond, a sharp, searing pain shot through her abdomen, cutting off her words. She gasped, doubling over as the sensation spread through her body like wildfire.what was that pain?

"Lila?" Caleb was at her side in an instant, his hands on her shoulders. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I don't know," she gasped, her voice high and strained. The pain was unbearable, a pulsing ache that radiated from deep within her. And yet, beneath it, there was something else—an overwhelming, undeniable pull toward Caleb.

Her body burned with need, raw and desperate in a way that made her skin crawl and her thoughts blur. She clutched at him, her fingers digging into his arms as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

Caleb's expression shifted, his eyes widening as realization dawned on him. "Lila," he said, his voice low and urgent. "It's the mating bond. It's starting."

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, her voice breaking as another wave of pain tore through her.

"There's no time to explain," he said, his tone strained. "Your body is reacting to the bond. I should have told you sooner. I—" He cut himself off, his jaw tightening.

"You should have told me what?" she ground out, her nails biting into his skin as another pulse of agony wracked her body.What was Caleb going on and on about?That sounded like something she had seen in a vampire movie.Or was it werewolves?

Caleb hesitated, guilt flashing across his face. "I didn't want you to find out like this," he said finally, his voice barely above a whisper.

Her mind was too fogged with pain to process his words. All she knew was the ache in her chest, the fire in her veins, and the way her body seemed to scream for his touch. "Caleb, please," she begged, her voice breaking.

He hesitated for a split second longer before pulling her into his arms. His hands cradled her face as he kissed her, the act more an answer to a primal call than a tender gesture.

It wasn't what either of them had planned. It wasn't how their story was supposed to unfold. But in that moment, it was the only way forward.She was in so much pain he had to release her immediately because he was the only one that could help her and seeing her this way had also activated his primal Desire.

She put her hands on his Crotch and that was his undoing?He struggled to take off his pants all the while holding onto her and then he loosened the knot on her robe.Her body was on heat,her nipples hard like pebbles against his chest and she was grinding her pelvic area against his crotch like she couldn't control herself.

Caleb was worried that their first time wasn't how he had imagined it to be,he would often daydream on how to make it special but because of this bond and Lila being the on heat,he slowly entered her and he heard her moan out load.

And as they gave in to the bond, the pain began to fade, replaced by something deeper, something neither of them fully understood.