The Lawgivers: Gabriel (34 page)

Since it was clear Kyle not only had
heard it before, but many times, Lexa read the section in her head
instead of out loud. She had to read it several times before the
true meaning became clear because when she read the part about ‘all
men are created equal’ she was immediately thrown since it was
patently obvious all men weren’t—and she was resentful that they’d
considered only men equals. Why not women, too?

After she’d read it again, though, and
skimmed through some of the body of the document, she realized
she’d misunderstood—just as Kyle, she supposed, had. “It means
people. All people are equal—not that some people aren’t stronger
than others or smarter. It says they’re all entitled to the pursuit
of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

She frowned. “That’s what Gabriel has
been trying to say,” she said slowly.

“Yes, the udai think they should have
all that and we shouldn’t,” Kyle said tightly. “And that says
they’re no better than us!”

Dismay flickered through Lexa. She’d
suspected Kyle had something else in mind and obviously she was
right. He thought this book would make her see that humans were
better than the udai.

“Or worse,” Lexa pointed out. “They’re
people. But Gabriel was sent to make sure everybody had the same
rights—not just the biggest and meanest. They aren’t keeping us
from being equal! It’s bastards like King Ralph that have done
that!”

Before they could get any deeper into a
debate, a hard thud nearby and then the telltale rustle of great
wings made her heart perform a similar great thud in her chest and
Lexa pulled away from Kyle to look around. At least she tried to.
Kyle was on his feet in a matter of seconds and had pulled her up
with him. She pushed against him to free herself, but he held her
tightly, protectively. Before she could decide whether she needed
to be protected or not, the intruder spoke.

“Let her go.”

The voice was a low growl, but Lexa
recognized it immediately and strained against Kyle again,
struggling to turn her head enough to verify that it really was
Gabriel. “It’s ok, Kyley. It’s Gabriel.”

“What is he doing here?” Kyle demanded
in a cold voice that sounded like nothing she’d heard from him
before—sounded as dangerous and deadly as Will.

Confusion penetrated the dark rage that
had engulfed Gah-re-al. “Who is he?”

It sank in that there was more going on
than Lexa had thought. “It’s my little brother, Kyle,” she answered
Gabriel. She looked up at Kyle worriedly. “It’s Gabriel. It’s
ok.”

With notable reluctance, Kyle loosened
his grip on Lexa. When he did, she pulled away from him and faced
Gabriel, having recalled in the midst of her confusion that she and
Gabriel hadn’t parted on friendly terms when they’d last met at
this very place. It almost felt like a replay of that awful scene
and the fear struck her that it well could be—or worse. “Kyley
brought me a gift.”

Gah-re-al glanced from Lexa to the man
standing just behind her, one hand still resting possessively on
her shoulder. “If this is nothing more than a visit between brother
and sister, why slip away in the dead of night?”

Anger over the unspoken accusation,
indeed the possessiveness in the question and his attitude, swept
away Lexa’s urge to try to placate. “Because we aren’t allowed to
visit any other time!” she said angrily.

It took Gah-re-al aback, both her anger
and the comment, but he couldn’t argue that that wasn’t true. He’d
seen the heavy hand the social workers used in running the camp.
Some of his anger dissipated. He struggled with the sick feeling of
jealousy in his gut and the twin urges to either flatten the man
with his fist or leave. “Oh,” he said a little lamely, knowing he
should apologize for his assumption but still too suspicious to
unbend that far.

He studied the man she’d called Kyle
for a long moment and finally extended his hand as the humans did.
“I’m Lexa’s man, Gah-re-al.”

Chapter Eighteen

It would’ve been hard to say who was
jolted more by that announcement.

Gah-re-al hadn’t known until it fell
from his lips that he meant to say it, but as soon as he did he
knew it was the sense of possessiveness he’d felt the moment he saw
her with Kyle that had prompted it. He wouldn’t have felt the
jealousy or the possessiveness if he hadn’t already considered that
Lexa was his. His subconscious mind had already accepted. It was
his conscious mind that needed the push of the threat of loss to
verbalize what he’d already been thinking.

Lexa was so stunned that she couldn’t
think at all for many moments and when the flood gates did open she
was so pelted with emotions and questions, doubt and hope, that she
couldn’t think of a response at all.

Kyle was possibly the most stunned of
all. He’d lured Lexa out to try to convince her that the lawgiver
was merely using her, that she meant nothing to him and he would
never acknowledge her. Even if he did enjoy fucking her, she would
always be his dirty secret. If he cared for her, at all, as she
believed, he would publicly acknowledge her as his woman—not join
her only when they were away from prying eyes.

He hesitated for many moments, still
mightily suspicious, and finally extended his own hand and grasped
Gabriel’s in a firm handshake. “She didn’t tell me that,” he said
stiffly. “She said you were a friend.”

Gah-re-al looked at Lexa, trying to
decide whether it was a good thing that she apparently considered
him a friend or not—or had at least claimed to—definitely not if
that was all she thought they were. And certainly not if she’d
claimed he was a friend because she hadn’t wanted her family to
think he was anything else. Happily unaware that she was too
stunned to react at all, however, he was heartened by the fact that
she hadn’t flatly refuted his claim. If Kyle truly was her brother
as she claimed, surely she would have rushed to deny it? Well if
Kyle was anything else to her—friend or lover—he thought she would
very quickly and emphatically have denied any such thing. “We need
to talk.”

Lexa gaped at him. “About
what?”

That wasn’t very promising! Gah-re-al’s
lips tightened. Discomfort wafted through him as he glanced at
Kyle. He didn’t want an audience, damn it! She was usually so quick
to grasp things he was abruptly suspicious that she didn’t want to
be alone with him. “Things,” he finally said a little lamely, a
broad hint to send Kyle away that she either still didn’t get or
was unwilling to comply with. But then he was unwilling to
elaborate when he suspected she was going to balk the minute she
heard what he’d come to say, and he thought she might be harder to
convince with her brother looking on.

Lexa glanced at Kyle when Gabriel did.
She realized then that he wanted her to send Kyle away so that they
had privacy and it instantly leapt to mind that he wanted to
fuck—maybe partly because she knew that was why he’d sought her out
before and they’d been interrupted by the awful scene with Maura.
She was instantly torn. She’d missed their intimacy, too. On the
other hand she didn’t want to risk driving a wedge between herself
and Kyle as she had with Maura. “He’s my brother, Gabriel. I
haven’t seen him in so long and I’ve hardly had the chance to talk
to him since I found him.”

She didn’t want to talk to him. That
was as plain as the nose on his face. Anguish suffused Gah-re-al
that was so blinding he couldn’t think of anything for several
moments beyond the urge to disappear. It was only the recollection
that his main objective in seeking her out that kept him firmly
rooted to the spot, at least the only one he’d consciously
acknowledged before he’d caught her with another man, was to remove
her from the possibility of harm. Reluctance warred with the sense
of insult and injury. He wrestled with himself for a few moments
more and finally decided the most important thing was to see to
Lexa’s safety. They could sort the rest out later.

When they had some fucking
privacy!

“You aren’t safe here,” he said bluntly
and in a tone that dared her to argue with him. “I’m going ….” He
stopped. “I want to take you to a place where you will be safe
until … well, until we can figure something else out.”

Lexa felt her heart skip several beats.
It instantly leapt to her mind that he knew about Will and she
flicked a quick, guilty look at Kyle to see if he thought she’d
told Gabriel about what Will had said.

“Why do you say that?” Kyle
demanded.

Gah-re-al met Kyle’s gaze steadily.
“You know damned well why she isn’t. Our liaison is no secret. She
was attacked before by village men. I can’t be here to protect
her.”

Kyle flushed. “Her family is here.
We’ll protect her.”

He was losing the war for possession,
Gah-re-al realized abruptly. The anger that thought produced was
enough to banish his doubts and conflicting emotions. “I am her
family! I’m her man and she could be carrying my child! I have the
right to protect her and my child the way I see fit! And I think
she’ll be safer somewhere else!”

Lexa settled a hand on Gabriel’s chest
and one on Kyle’s when it looked like they would come to blows. “I
think you should go, Kyle. Don’t be mad at me. I’ll talk to you
later.”

“You aren’t going anywhere with him!”
Kyle objected.

“That’s my decision.”

Kyle stared at her for a long moment.
“You’d choose him over your own family?” he growled
angrily.

That hurt and made her afraid, but it
also made her angry. “If you love me, you won’t make me choose! No
more than I would make you choose between me and your
woman!”

“I don’t have a woman!” Kyle
snapped.

Lexa rolled her eyes. “If you had
one—when you do choose one!”

Kyle was still angry, but less so. “I
don’t trust him. He’s a demon.”

“I trust him.”

“I hope you won’t regret it,” Kyle said
angrily. Turning, he stalked off, disappearing into the shadows of
the forest in a few moments.

Lexa’s shoulders slumped. Gabriel was
studying her somewhat warily when she finally turned to look at him
again. Abruptly she felt both uncomfortable and shy. “Was that
really why you came looking for me?”

Gah-re-al looked at her
blankly.

“Because you thought I might be
carrying your baby?” Lexa prompted.

“Are you?” Gah-re-al asked
carefully.

Lexa wrestled with the urge to lie
since it seemed to her that that was the most important issue to
him. “No, I’m not,” she said finally.

He frowned. “You aren’t just saying
that because you don’t want to go with me?” he finally asked
suspiciously.

Lexa was mildly irritated but still
hopeful. “No. I said it because I’m not.”

Gah-re-al felt abruptly deflated and
lost, uncertain of how to make his argument when everything had
hinged on her being pregnant. “Want to make one?” he asked a little
lamely.

Lexa couldn’t decide whether to be
amused or punch him. “You came to fuck,” she said
bluntly.

Gah-re-al ground his teeth and sought
patience. He moved closer, pulling her against his length. “I could
be persuaded.”

She did punch him that time, lightly on
the chest because he had her arms pinned. “That’s what I get for
thinking you were worried about me because you cared!”

“I am worried and I do care. I just
thought if that would convince you ….”

“You told me you couldn’t take me as
your woman.”

“I wasn’t thinking straight at the
time.”

“Sooo … you’re saying, now, that you do
want me to be your woman?”

“You are my woman,” Gah-re-al
countered.

She felt like punching him again.
Instead, she merely released a long suffering sigh. “Ok,
Gabriel.”

His arms tightened and then he pulled
away to study her face. “I know you don’t want to leave your
siblings when you’ve just found them again, but ….” Gah-re-al
stopped, wrestling with himself, wondering just how much he could
trust Lexa. He thought he could trust her completely, but he
couldn’t share what might be vital military information, he
realized, even so. It was against protocol to share that kind of
information with any civilian. It could be construed as treachery
against his government when that woman might well be on the
enemies’ side. She would certainly be considered that if there was
a war—whether she actually was on her people’s side or
not.

He lifted a hand to caress her cheek.
“I spoke with a friend. He has a homestead. He said I could take
you there and you could keep his woman company. You’d be safer
there than here until … Well, I guess until you decide if you want
to be my woman.”

Surprise flickered through Lexa. She
smiled faintly. “I thought you’d already decided.”

He looked uncomfortable. “I have, but
you have to decide, too. Otherwise I’ll spend all my time trying to
track you down,” he added with wry amusement.

Lexa was torn. She wanted to leap at
his offer. She’d wanted to be his woman almost from the very first.
It was a bitter pill to realize that she was going to have to
choose between him and the little sister and brothers that had
almost been more like her children than siblings.