The Lawgivers: Gabriel (22 page)

That thought brought her interest to
his genitals naturally enough. She thought the double appendages
sprouting from the nest of hair at his groin would have unnerved
her if she’d seen how he was made before he’d given her so much
please. Now it was a source of interest and curiosity rather than
fear and she reached lower to examine him. They jutted toward her
as if eager for her touch and she stroked first one and then the
other.

“I’m made like your women,” she said,
trying to keep the dismay from her voice.

His fingers tightened on her hip and he
drew her close enough to nestle his genitalia against her belly,
bumping her slightly. “I’ve no complaint,” he murmured, dipping his
head lower and nibbling at her shoulder and the side of her neck.
“Does it bother you?”

It did, but not in the sense he meant.
She’d expected him to be different from any other man she’d known
and that was a good thing.

It did bother her, a lot, to think he
might not find it especially pleasurable to be with her.

“You could … I’d be ok with it if you
want to put the other in the … uh … the other place,” she said
tentatively.

He lifted his head to study her face.
She could see he was torn at the invitation, but she didn’t know if
that was because he found the idea intriguing or repellent. “The
idea is to pleasure one another,” he said finally. “You weren’t
made for that and I’d think it would be painful for
you.”

It had been—very. But somehow she
didn’t think it would be with him and, in any case, she desperately
wanted to please him. “It’s ok,” she said, unable to bring herself
to assure him he wouldn’t hurt her.

He shifted downward to nuzzle his face
against hers. “It isn’t ok to hurt you and it wouldn’t be ok with
me to give you pain instead of pleasure.”

He wanted to, she decided. He just
didn’t want to hurt her and that realization helped allay her
lingering doubts. She titled her head to meet his lips. “You could
try it.”

Instead of responding, he kissed her
lingeringly on the lips and then redirected his kisses to her
breasts, moving from one to the other until she felt the building
desperation to have him enter her and began to move against him. He
slid between her thighs at her urging, but, as if he sensed the
sudden tension that seized her when he did, he merely moved against
her for a time, kissing her on the lips, throat and neck until she
began to bump her mound against his belly in demand. That time when
she felt the probe near her rectum, she closed her mind to it and
focused on the feel of his cock against the mouth of her
sex.

He penetrated both slowly, merely
pumping against her for a few moments until the twin heads
penetrated both openings. He paused, giving her a moment to adjust
and then pushing inside a little more and withdrawing until her
natural lubrication eased the tension of skin stretched
uncomfortably tight. She struggled to make herself relax, to focus
on the pleasurable feel of being filled and his next thrust took
him deeper with little discomfort.

Surprise flickered through her and then
pleasure stirred to life and the sense of being filled by him. He
paused again and pushed himself up on his arms to study her face.
Apparently satisfied, he lowered himself again and, slowly but
surely, increased his pace until he set a rhythm that diverted Lexa
from any thought of pain. She felt the pleasurable tension building
and focused on it, concentrated on attaining the gift he’d given
her before, hopeful, doubtful, but determined to reach it if she
could.

She discovered it wasn’t the battle
she’d expected. Almost as soon as the discomfort gave way to
ripples of pleasure those waves became harder and came faster,
rushing her upwards toward the peak she was straining to reach.
This time when the tension broke and her pleasure crested it almost
seemed to shatter her mind into a million, brilliant fragments of
light, as if the pleasure was so intense it couldn’t be contained.
The low, pleasurable groan escalated to sharp, ecstatic cries,
blinding her to the world beyond the explosion inside of
her.

She had no awareness of when Gabriel
found his own release. She was still coming down from her own
experience when he ceased to move and settled heavily against her.
His deep, satisfied chuckle was the first thing that actually
penetrated her cocoon of bliss.

“Better?”

“Oh my god,” Lexa gasped.

* * * *

Lexa had never gotten into the habit of
saying no. She’d wanted to, many times, but she knew that Ralph was
liable to knock her senseless if she even looked like she wanted to
object. It wasn’t fear that made her hold her peace, though, when
Gabriel coaxed her into a second coupling and then a third. It was
gratitude for the pleasure he’d given her, the hope of receiving
more of the same, and pleasure that he wanted her that
way.

She’d gotten far more than she’d
expected. She would never have dreamed any man could make her feel
as Gabriel had.

Of course she knew better than to think
it made her special to him in any way even though it had been a
life altering experience for her. Men just liked to fuck and they
would at any opportunity—if they could get their hands on a woman,
willing or not. She supposed a willing woman had a certain appeal
since they didn’t have to work nearly as hard to get their
pleasure, but then Gabriel had indicated that that was what he was
accustomed to—women that wanted him to fuck them.

She understood now—completely—at least
why women wanted Gabriel to fuck them. She wasn’t so sure that she
believed it was the common way of things among the angel-demons,
whatever Gabriel had suggested, but she supposed it was possible if
they were all as handsome and exciting as Gabriel was—if they could
make their women feel the way Gabriel had made her feel.

He was handsome. It was a pure pleasure
just to look at him. To touch him and be touched by him was beyond
the most wonderful thing she’d ever experienced before. She hadn’t
expect to cum, as he referred to it, after that first time, but she
had, which was a very welcome surprise for her when she’d only
agreed for his sake. Mostly.

Her sex was sore by the time they’d
coupled the third time and she was so drained from her experience
that the flight back to the campsite wasn’t nearly as terrifying as
the first time had been. It was still scary. She just couldn’t
arouse enough energy to reach the peak of terror she had
before.

Contrary to her hope that the entire
episode would remain their secret—and she thought Gabriel had been
hopeful of the same thing or he wouldn’t have suggested that she
wait until everyone was asleep—their return didn’t escape notice.
Gabriel had seemed reluctant to release her immediately once they’d
settled on the ground and she’d enjoyed the embrace that had
changed from security to keep her from falling to one that seemed
purely for pleasure. He’d stiffened after a moment, however,
releasing her slowly and when she’d pulled away she’d discovered he
was looking at something over her head.

She started when she discovered the
shadowy figure behind them and then felt a moment of panic when she
recognized the figure as the woman who’d come with the
supplies—walking beside the scary thing that had strange, metal
legs and a flattened body but no head. The woman’s eyes narrowed
when Lexa met her gaze and she felt a wave of anger that almost
seemed physical. Glancing from the woman to Gabriel, she saw that
Gabriel was focused completely on the angel woman and dismay filled
her.

She wasn’t certain what it was that
passed between them, but she suddenly felt like the outsider she
knew herself to be rather than the appreciated lover. Without a
word, feeling as if she’d vanished completely from notice, she
headed back to her pallet and settled there, listening for angry
voices she never heard.

She was still straining to hear the
argument she expected when she fell asleep.

* * * *

Gah-re-al knew that the idea he’d
hatched had far more to do with a desire to be alone with Lexa
again than the search for answers to some of the questions the udai
had about the world they’d colonized. He’d managed to convince
himself that it would serve his purpose to claim that was his
motive, however, when he was questioned by his superiors—and he
would be—and he discovered that that was all he cared about at the
moment. It was reasonable even though his actual motive
wasn’t.

And he might just get away with it
without the risk of flushing his career down the toilet.

“There’s something I want to show
you.”

Lexa looked at Gabriel in surprise when
he spoke. She’d been so focused on her thoughts she hadn’t noticed
that it was him that had moved up to walk beside her.

Well … and her misery. As much as she’d
enjoyed the night they spent together, she was paying for it in
pain now, aching almost as much as if she’d been in fight rather
than spent half the night rutting … and enjoyed every minute of it.
She thought it might not be so bad if she’d had more sleep before
she’d been rousted from her pallet to march again, but she’d had
just enough time for unused muscles to get stiff and
sore.

A surge of pleasure instantly rose
inside of her. “What?” she asked hopefully.

He looked amused, as if he knew she’d
immediately jumped to the conclusion that he wanted her in that way
again. She felt her face heating with discomfort.

“I’d have to carry you. It would take
much too long to reach the place on foot,” Gah-re-al said, deciding
to ignore the look that told him she was thinking about the trip
they’d taken the night before. The trip might even take longer than
he thought it would, he added mentally, since he’d be carrying her
and he was already sore from carrying her the night before. She was
a tiny thing—which was why he hadn’t considered it would be any
great feat before—and far too thin even for her small frame, but
they were still a good distance from his goal and the trip the
night before had taken more out of him than he’d
expected.

Well, he’d had fucking on his mind, he
reminded himself wryly. He hadn’t actually spent a lot of time
thinking about the logistics of getting her there and back when
she’d have to depend on him to carry her.

Fear flickered in her eyes. “Oh.” She
swallowed convulsively several times.

He shook his head at her. “On my honor,
I would not allow anything to happen to you. I know it scares you,
but I think you’ll think this is worth seeing.”

Lexa nodded jerkily instead of flatly
refusing. It warmed her that he had promised to protect her, but it
didn’t make her any less afraid. “When?”

“Right now.”

“Oh. Well … uh … what is
it?”

He chuckled, drawing the notice of the
people closest to them—or their gazes. Lexa was pretty sure they’d
already been straining to hear the conversation without being too
obvious. “It’ll be better if I just show you.”

Dismay flickered through Lexa. Her
stomach was already knotting and churning at the prospect of going
high into the sky again, but she wanted the opportunity to go with
him again, even if it had nothing to do with coupling, and she just
couldn’t bring herself to refuse him.

“Ok,” she replied finally.

He moved closer. Taking her arms, he
lifted them to his shoulders and told her to lace her fingers
together behind his head for a better hold as she had the night
before. He wrapped one arm around her upper back then and reached
down to cup her buttocks with the other, lifting her off the
ground. She tightened her arms when she heard the swooshing sound
of his wings as they stirred the air around them, squeezing her
eyes tightly closed.

She would never have thought she was
capable of maintaining fear for such a long time. Whatever it was
that Gabriel was determined to show her was clearly a very long way
away, though. They stopped repeatedly so that he could rest and
stretch. She didn’t object. She was just glad to have her feet
firmly on the ground for short periods of time, but it scared the
hell out of her every time they went airborne again.

* * * *

Lexa shivered as she stared at the
sight before her, feeling her flesh creep and her belly float
upwards with the sensation of falling. “What is it?” she
whispered.

Gah-re-al had been studying her rather
than the excavation, trying to gauge her reaction, but at that he
turned to stare at the remains of the city below them. “It was a
city once.”

Lexa whipped a sharp look at him. “The
city?” she whispered in a strange voice.

Her tone instantly caught Gah-re-al’s
attention. “You know about this?”

She shook her head slightly without
dragging her gaze from the panorama that stretched out below. “Sir
saw the city one time. He said he went there with his parents. He
described it but ….”

“A city like this?”

Lexa gaped at him. “There was more than
one?”

“I’m guessing quite a few more,”
Gah-re-al responded quietly. “My people have found the remains of
several.”

Lexa frowned. “Who lived
here?”