The Lawgivers: Gabriel (14 page)

Then again, maybe it was the fact that
she could actually see his face that made that landscape so
appealing? Maybe there were a lot of human men that were just as
handsome or maybe even more handsome and she just couldn’t tell
because they had so much hair on their faces? She didn’t know if
hair simply didn’t grow there as it did with human men or if he did
something to remove it, but there was no getting around the fact
that his face was the most beautiful male face she could recall
ever seeing.

She liked his face best when it
lightened and she could tell he was amused even though he never
quite smiled—at least not with his lips—but there’d been a few
times when he’d looked at her in a way that made her feel warm all
over, that made her belly clench low, that made her feel
breathless, and hopeful, and scared all at the same
time.

He was strong, so powerful that it was
almost as terrifying as it was fascinating. She’d guessed that he
was even before she saw just how strong he was, because his entire
body looked hard and muscular beneath the form fitting clothes he
wore. His long, lean arms and legs, broad chest—even his flat
belly—rippled with every movement in the way of something solid and
powerful rather than jiggling like soft fat and it certainly wasn’t
because he was stringy and bony. There was plenty of flesh on his
bones.

She hadn’t believed him that night he’d
captured her when he’d told her that he had no need to rape women
if he wanted to fuck, that there were plenty who were willing.
She’d thought it must be the same arrogance that Ralph had from the
moment she realized the futility of struggling and had stopped
screaming and fighting him. Somehow the arrogant bastard had
convinced himself that that meant she was enjoying it, that she
wanted him to fuck her.

Now she’d begun to believe it wasn’t
arrogance, wasn’t simply the truth as he saw it, but really was
true, and yet ….

How, she asked herself, could it be
different? What could he do that would make a woman like that? Or
were the angel women just different from human women?

Because she didn’t think she was alone
in the way she felt about it. She’d avoided other people as much as
possible since she’d escaped Ralph, but she’d seen plenty of
copulation regardless. Men didn’t seem to worry too much about
where they were when the mood struck.

Actually, she’d seen quite a few who,
like Ralph, seemed to get a special sort of thrill out of fucking
publicly—as if he wanted to make sure everyone knew he took what he
wanted when he wanted to.

Or maybe, since he was always demanding
that she tell him how good he was, he figured fucking in front of
other people gave them the chance to see just how good he
was?

She could almost believe that women
would want Gabriel to do that to them, though, because when she
thought about it she felt all funny inside in a way she never had
before and it definitely wasn’t because the idea made her sick to
her stomach with revulsion and fear.

She might never have gotten up the
nerve to try to assuage her curiosity except for that fact because
it occurred to her that just asking might result in her discovering
just what it was like. It could give him the idea that she wanted
him to show her.

And maybe she did?

But it still took an effort to get up
the nerve even to approach him.

They’d stopped to eat. Gabriel was
never far from her since the attack, but he still distanced
himself.

Getting up decisively, she wiped her
clammy hands on her pants and moved a little closer to where he sat
at a distance from the rest of the group.

Actually, she supposed to be more
accurate, everyone sat as far from him as they could, eyeing him
uneasily while they wolfed down the food they’d stopped to
eat.

He sent her a cold look when she
settled again little more than an arm’s length from him, but she
couldn’t decide if it just seemed that he was looking at her coldly
because of those creepy eyes of his or if he didn’t like her coming
closer.

Or maybe he was pissed off because he’d
figured out that she’d been trying to run away when she was
attacked?

He lifted his brows in that haughty way
he had about him—as if she was a nasty bug that had wandered too
close and he was thinking about squashing her—but it seemed a
questioning look so she decided to take the plunge.

“What did you mean that night when you
caught me? What you said about only fucking women that wanted you
to?”

His skin darkened, and he looked even
more cold and haughty if possible. “It isn’t rape when the woman is
willing,” he finally said coolly.

Lexa frowned. “Yeah. I got that. But
why would they be?”

His lips tightened.

“Willing to let you, I
mean?”

He gave her a look she found difficult
to interpret. “Maybe because they find me attractive?” he said
sardonically. “Maybe because they want something?”

Enlightenment! “Oh! Like they trade for
something, you mean?”

He rolled his eyes, but he merely
grunted.

Lexa thought it over, realizing she was
a little disappointed—not surprised. She’d thought about it a lot
and she hadn’t been able to think of anything he could do that
would make coupling different enough a woman would actually want
it.

And she’d still thought there must be
something he was doing that made a woman want him to, gotten the
impression that they enjoyed it like the men did. She supposed that
was different, though, fucking to get something you wanted. She
could see why that would make it acceptable. “So that’s all that’s
really different? They get the choice? And then they get something
they want for letting you fuck them?”

Gah-re-al stared at her coldly,
struggling with the outrage that conclusion provoked. He’d
certainly suspected that that might be the case with one or two of
the women he’d bedded, but it damned well wasn’t the rule! It was
the exception! Maya certainly had nothing to gain by taking him as
a lover—far from it! She could lose status if it became common
knowledge when he was from a lower class. “I don’t know how to put
this tactfully so I’ll dispense with subtlety. This is a subject
you need to save and discuss with the women at the rehab
facility.”

Lexa considered that. “But I don’t see
why …. Oh! You don’t know?”

Gah-re-al rolled his eyes skyward,
grinding his teeth. “Being a male—no.”

“Yes, but you talked like it was
different where you come from? Are they different … down there, I
mean?”

He looked at her strangely.

“The woman’s place?” she clarified,
although how he could be confused about what she’d meant she was
damned if she knew.

He rose abruptly to his feet and
stretched his wings, shaking them.

It always gave her the creeps when he
did that. There was something that just seemed … threatening about
it.

“You might want to step back,” he said
coolly.

Lexa shot to her feet but he stretched
his wings wide and flapped them several times before she could
actually retreat, filling her eyes, nose, and mouth with dirt. When
she managed to stop coughing and blinked the grit from her eyes,
she discovered he was already airborne. “Asshole,” she muttered,
stalking back to the rock she’d been sitting on before.

By the time her eyes stopped watering
and she could see well enough to search the sky for him, she saw
that he was dropping toward the ground far into the distance.
Despite the fact that he scared the hell out of her, she couldn’t
help but think it was just amazing to watch him soaring in the
sky.

Not that she would care to! High places
scared the hell out of her, mostly because she’d fallen a few times
and the abrupt stop when she got to the ground was always
painful.

Still, she liked the way he looked when
he did it. It made her chest feel all tight and her heart beat a
little faster.

Vaguely disappointed when he
disappeared from view, she sat watching and waiting for him to
reappear, wondering why he’d seemed … angry about her questions,
wondering if that was why he’d decided to fly off or if there was
another reason.

It was when she finally looked away
that she discovered there were a number of villagers staring at
her. It wasn’t hard to figure out from their expressions what was
going through their minds. It scared her, but it also roused a
healthy dose of anger.

She hadn’t done anything—not to any of
the bastards.

She met their gazes one by one and
glared back at them, daring them, and they finally looked
away.

She felt weak with relief when they
did, but she didn’t believe that she’d managed to do more than make
them back down for the moment and she couldn’t be sure it was even
the challenge in her gaze that had done it.

She doubted any of them were
particularly anxious to find out if Gabriel would retaliate as he
had before when the two men had jumped her.

She wasn’t so sure of that herself. In
any case, regardless of what they thought now, she wasn’t his woman
and she was sure he meant to leave them once they reached the place
he was taking them. He wasn’t going to be around much longer to
protect her if they decided to get even again.

That left her with only one option as
far as she could see. Either she convinced them in the meantime not
to fuck with her or she was going to be in deep shit when Gabriel
left.

She could always hope that they’d
forget about it before they reached their destination, but she
didn’t think the odds were good that that was going to happen, not
when Gabriel was going to be around to remind them. Regardless, she
was relieved when he returned shortly afterward.

“There is a waterhole about half a
days’ walk from here. We’ll camp there tonight.”

He’d made the announcement to the group
as a whole, not to her in particular and something about the way
he’d ignored her told her that he didn’t especially want to talk to
her at the moment but the announcement made her uneasy. She’d seen
some pretty big animal tracks near the last watering hole. “Not
right beside it, though, right? ‘Cause animals come to the
waterholes to drink at night and some of them eat people. Well,
try. Mostly they aren’t big enough and you can beat them off or
kill them, but I saw some really big tracks at the last water hole.
There’s something big around here.”

She was absolutely sure he was annoyed
that time.

“We will have fire. The animals won’t
approach the campfires.”

Lexa sucked in a breath to point out
that a really hungry animal wasn’t deterred by much, but he
forestalled her.

“And I have my weapons if any should
wander up.”

* * * *

Nobody was thrilled when they
discovered the fresh water supply Gabriel had found was a hot
spring. But then again good water wasn’t exactly easy to find and
there wasn’t too much the villagers liked about being the ‘chosen’
Gabriel was leading through the badlands to a destination none of
them were ecstatic about reaching. For a few moments tempers were
perilously close to boiling over.

The first to arrive and charge in got
the biggest shock—yelling, cursing, and leaping out again—but then
they’d shoved everybody else out of the way to be first and the
rest of the villagers were more than half inclined to find that
amusing until it dawned on them that, as hot, tired, and thirsty as
they were, they weren’t going to get cool water to assuage that
thirst either. They weren’t any happier when Gabriel pointed out
that all they had to do was to scoop up the water and give it a
little time to cool.

They were thirsty now! The ‘half day’
Gabriel had claimed had taken several hours more than that, moving
as quickly as they could with no rest period. They grumbled long
and loud that it would’ve been better to spend the night at the
watering hole where they’d stopped to eat at mid-day.

Except, Gabriel pointed out, that had
been no more than a trickle of water, not enough for such a large
group to satisfy their needs of the moment let alone to replenish
their supply.

That would’ve been inarguable if anyone
had felt reasonable. They didn’t. As afraid of the lawgiver as they
were, they’d moved well past reason.

They hadn’t wanted to come at all.
They’d just been too afraid of Gabriel to put up more than a token
objection, but the days on the trail had either made them less
fearful of Gabriel or just too miserable to be as
cautious.

The children among them had been far
more vocal about their unhappiness than anyone else and a good
third of the group was made up of children. At any given time one
half to one third of the children—who ranged in age from infant to
pubescent—were either whining and complaining or wailing loudly.
That was enough in and of itself to fray everyone’s nerves. Added
to that misery was the heat during the day and the bone chilling
cold of night, the endless trudging, the lack of sufficient water
and food—and their fear both of Gabriel and whatever it was that
awaited them at the end of the journey.