The Lawgivers: Gabriel Part 9

aUh a.a She broke off, frowning as it occurred to her that she hadnat actually figured out how to broach the subject. aDo you remember that night you caught me you said a.a aYes.a Lexa frowned when he cut her off before she could finish her thought. She cleared her throat. aI mean the part a.a aI remember.a Anger surged through her and then disappointment when it occurred to her that he might have cut her off because he did remember and he didnat want to talk about it. aI was just thinking a.a aDonat.a Lexa suddenly felt like crying. She swallowed convulsively a couple of times. aOk.a Head pretty effectively trampled all over her pride and she wanted to leap to her feet and tell him to go to h.e.l.l. She didnat quite dare. Head never actually offered to hurt her, but shead never actually seen him lose his temper either and she was pretty sure she didnat want to.

On the other hand, he had trampled her pride and she didnat want him to know. aI guess youall be heading out again as soon as we get to where ever weare going, huh?a she said after a moment.

aYes.a She nodded. aGood.a She didnat know if that shaft had stabbed home or not, but she was just sorry she couldnat think of anything more hateful to fling at him. She wasnat happy when she finally nerved herself to steal a peek at him and saw that he looked almost as amused as irritated.

She didnat know what he thought was so d.a.m.ned funny, but she felt like punching him. Surging to her feet, Lexa turned to stalk off.

He caught her wrist as she whirled away from him angrily. The amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes had vanished when she turned to glare at him. aI canat take you as my woman, Lexa.a

Chapter Eleven.

Lexa felt like her cheeks had caught fire. It distressed her all the more because it was d.a.m.ned hard to salvage her pride and act like she didnat care when her face lit up like that! aI donat want to be your woman,a she lied, not realizing until shead said it that that was what shead really hoped for.

She was curious about it. She was hopeful that it at least wouldnat be h.e.l.lish so that she could bear belonging to him, but more than anything she was desperate to find a place for herself. She hadnat realized just how h.e.l.lish her life was always being afraid and hungry, not having a place where she could relax and let down her guard. She was tired of being alone, of having no one to talk to, ever, but herself. She was tired of carrying the entire burden of her survival, always having to do everything herself without any help from anyone, always having to fight or escape to survive because any man that had no woman was liable to decide to take the one thing she could hardly bear to givea"herself.

Shead hoped that he would decide to keep her if she let him f.u.c.k her because, as scary as he was in many ways, especially when he was angry, he hadnat tried to force her and he hadnat even looked like he wanted to knock her down and beat her senseless when she made him angry let alone done it. Except for Sir, he was the only man shead met that was like that.

She finally understood why her mother had stayed with Sir instead of trying to run away. Sir had often bellowed when he was angry. Head even thrown things around at times when he was really, really angry, but he hadnat thrown things at her mother and he hadnat slapped her and knocked her around. Head made her feel safe from harm, even from himself.

Gabriel made her feel like that and shead hoped, without ever consciously acknowledging it, that he would think she was worth keeping and she would finally have a place of her own where she could feel safe.

aItas a very bad idea, Lexa,a Gah-re-al murmured after a moment.

Right up until the moment shead come to him and offered the one thing he hadnat been able to get his mind off of, head believed that he could do it with impunitya"as long as he was discreet and his superiors didnat find out that head been fraternizing with the natives. Head been thinking about f.u.c.king her entirely from his point of view as if it would mean no more to her than it did to hima"a few moments of pleasure and relief.

He knew as soon as he looked into her eyes, though, that that wouldnat be the way of it. She would expect more than he was willing or able to give.

He still wanted to take her up on the offer, desperately, but he didnat believe her claim that she didnat expect to be his woman and he couldnat take her up on her offer on those terms.

Anger flickered through him. As far as head ever been able to see, before, they f.u.c.ked like animalsa"without attachment, commitment, or emotion of any kind. It was as natural to them as breathing and meant no more. Women were no more to the human male than a possession, something they used when they felt like it and discarded when it suited them and it didnat seem to him that the women expected any more from them. They expected that the first time a stronger male came along that wanted them they would be pa.s.sed on.

So either head completely misunderstood their customs regarding s.e.x, or he wanted the one woman among them who didnat see it the same way as everyone else.

Lexa wrestled with her discomfort, but discovered she couldnat give up the hope that he would change his mind. aWhat is?a aIf even half what youave told me is true, it wouldnat be what youare expecting it to be,a Gah-re-al responded with brutal honesty.

Lexa sent him a sharp look. aBut you said a.a aI was talking about women of my own kinda"women whoave never been mistreated let alone raped. From what I understand, it isnat something that anyone ever really recovers from. Thatas why the penalty for rape is so harsha"and also because rapists canat be reformed.a Doubt began to gain the upper hand. Lexa realized that she hadnat really believed that coupling with him would be some miraculous experience that would change the way she felt about it, but shead hoped. She needed it to be true. She wanted to belong to someone.

But then he didnat seem to believe that he could make it not horrible for her and he didnat want her to belong to him. The disappointment she felt was horrendous and it made her angry. aYou donat want me because you think Iam a savage, right?a Guilt and discomfort wafted through Gah-re-al. Head never really tried to hide his contempt of the humans, but head thought they were too stupid, or savage, to know or care. How much good would it do, at this point, to try to convince Lexa that head never looked at her as he had the others, he wondered uncomfortably?

Well, not since head captured her. He supposed he hadnat really seen her as different from the others to start with or he wouldnat have been so convinced that shead committed some punishable crime. aBelieve me when I say it isnat a matter of want,a he finally said irritably. aWe arenat the same speciesa"that, more than anything, is the problem with what you were suggesting.a She wasnat entirely certain of what he meant by species, but she got the general idea. He was agreeing that they werenat the same and he didnat want her.

Well! That was that. She was disappointed, vastly. She was hurt, too. As much as she wouldave liked to deny it, the lump in her throat was hard to ignore. She nodded. aI know. Iam not blind. Thatas why a never mind.a She waited a few minutes, just to salvage what she could of her pride and make a show, at least, of not being particularly concerned about it, then nodded and turned to leave again.

Gah-re-al knew he shouldave simply left it at that. He hadnat considered before head said it himself that shead been so brutalized her entire life that she wasnat likely to enjoy it no matter what he did or how careful he tried to bea"which meant there was nothing at all in it for her in even a single coupling. And he still wasnat convinced that that was all shead been angling for. She seemed to accept that he wouldnat make any commitment beyond a one-time-only coupling or want more, but he had a bad feeling that agreeing to it was going to create all sorts of headaches he didnat want or need.

And he still couldnat quite bring himself to let her walk away. aIf you want to bathe, I could take you to a place.a Lexa sent him a quick look, wondering if the comment was a not-so-subtle suggestion that she stank. Well, she knew she didnat smell particularly appealing when she hadnat had the chance to bathe in a couple of days! And, despite the sense that shead been insulted, she did want a bath. She nodded. aThanks.a He hesitated. aIf youare still of the same mind tonight after youave given yourself time to think it over, come to me after everyone has settled for the night.a Lexa searched his face, wondering if he was suggesting what it sounded like he was suggesting or if he was still just talking about taking her to a watering hole where she could bathe. She decided not to test it, though, and merely nodded.

aI have a bad feeling Iam going to regret this,a Gah-re-al muttered as she left.

Lexa was as terrified as she was excited. It was all she could do to wait until everyone had settled on their pallets and had time to drop to sleep. She waited, though, because head warned her not to let the others know what he planned to do, trying to regulate her breathing and racing heart.

Shead spent the remainder of the day after their conversation trying to convince herself that he hadnat meant anything at all except that head offered to take her to bathe.

She wasnat entirely certain of why head made the offer, but that was all head meant.

There was at least a small chance, though, that head meant the othera"that head meant he intended to show her why women wanted him to f.u.c.k them.

And even if he hadnat meant that, she thought there was still a chance that he might change his mind once they were alone.

The thought of being alone with him was almost as frightening as it was exciting, too. She didnat know if she wouldave felt the same way if she didnat think anything would happen or not, but she was so torn by conflicting dread and want that shead wavered from minute to minute all day long as to whether to take him up on the offer or not.

She wasnat truly afraid that head hurt her, though, she reminded herself, and therefore there was no sane reason to be afraid of going off alone with him. Particularly since she was also almost completely certain that the likelihood was far greater that she wouldnat be able to convince him to couple than it was that she would.

When shead managed to convince herself that she neednat worry on account of him hurting her, she focused on trying to decide whether to try again to convince him to ashowa her what he meant or not. She was still wavering on that when she rose from her pallet and tried to creep stealthily through the camp to where shead seen Gabriel settle his own pallet.

Ordinarily, that part wouldnat have been a problem. Moving stealthily was a trick shead pretty much mastered over the years since it was a matter of survival to be able to slip quietly and un.o.btrusively in and out of some places. She was downright lightheaded, though, because she couldnat tame her runaway heart and the galloping organ made it impossible to regulate her breathing as well.

Her knees felt weak, too, and her boots far more awkward and heavy than they ever had before.

She was tempted to simply take them off and leave them, but she didnat want to risk the chance that someone might steal them. They hadnat been easy to get. She hadnat lied when shead told Gabriel that shead taken them off a dead person, but it had been almost more than she could stomach to do so. Beyond that, shead had to do without anything on her bare feet for a very long time before shead chanced upon the body and she hadnat forgotten how miserable it was to go barefoot when it was so cold the ground numbed her feet or it was so hot she could almost smell the soles of her feet scorching with every step she took.

Shead more than half suspected that she would have to waken Gabriel. She discovered she neednat have worried. Either he hadnat fallen asleep or she woke him with her approach.

aUnless they sleep like the dead,a he muttered dryly, aI think weave lost the opportunity of slipping away without announcing it.a Lexa felt her face heat. aSorry. I tripped over that guyas hand.a Gabriel snorted. aStepped on it.a Splitting hairs! Did the little details actually matter? Shead still tripped and she certainly hadnat meant to wake half the camp!

He sighed. aI suppose we might as well go. Either way, it will certainly be no secret that we met after everyone bedded down.a aMaybe we should just forget about it,a Lexa muttered unhappily. It wasnat as if shead expected him to greet her with delight, but his sarcasm coupled with the fact that he was right and she had given the whole thing away, had severely dampened her enthusiasm.

He shook his head. Rising, he pulled her against his length. aHold on.a It wasnat much of a warning. Lexa didnat know why, but it hadnat occurred to her, once, that he was talking about flying with her dangling from his arms! She sucked in a sharp breath as he spread his wings, flapped them a couple of times, and then launched the two of them skyward. It wasnat an actual scream but that was only because she didnat have time to catch her breath. Her belly dropped as they rose.

She wouldave liked to focus on the fact that Gabriel had embraced her except that wasnat exactly what it was and she was too frightened and uncomfortable to enjoy any part of it. She didnat know if it was better or worse that it was dark and she couldnat see that well even if her position had allowed for it. She could still feel being in the air and the movement. The rush of air past them was almost as scary as the feeling that she was going to fall any minute and probably still wouldnat catch up with her stomach. Within a matter of moments, she was s.h.i.+vering so violently that her teeth were clacking together.

Gabrielas arms tightened around her. aCold?a She wasnat certain, but she nodded anyway, too scared to actually talk.

aIall take you to a warm spring.a Yes, well that might help warm her upa"nowa"but what about the return trip?

At any rate, she thought she was cold because she was scared to death, not necessarily because of the wind or the night air and she didnat think she wanted to make a return trip.

If shead known what he had in mind she didnat think anything wouldave convinced her to go with him.

Shead thought when Gabriel said he would take her to a warm spring that head been talking about the one where theyad stopped before. As soon as they landed, however, she saw that wasnat the case. The pool was about twice the size of the other one and there was no waterfall. Beyond that, it was far more aexposeda. Theread been nothing but a few stunted bushes near the other pool, but theread been a number of sizeable boulders. This plateau looked like a tablea"flat and featureless.

aThe temperature of the water is more comfortable,a Gabriel said when head finally managed to pry her loose.

Lexa nodded jerkily, but she had lost all enthusiasm for a bath or f.u.c.king. All she really wanted was to return immediately and crawl under her blanket and stay there.

aYouare afraid?a he said, a statement rather than a question, his tone grim.

Lexa nodded jerkily again, too distressed to ponder the tone of his voice.

aBathe. You should at least enjoy the pool.a aI suppose itas too far to walk back? aCause I really didnat like that.a Gah-re-al sent her a quick look and relaxed fractionally. Not unnaturally, he had had nothing on his mind since theyad agreed to meet tonight except how many ways and times he meant to have her. Head thought she was so petrified now that the moment of truth was upon her that shead found she couldnat overcome her aversion.

It was a relief to know the fear was from the flighta"not the prospect of f.u.c.king hima"but at the same time guilt flashed through him that he hadnat considered how she, a flightless being, might feel about flying. aWalking isnat an option, Iam afraid. The cliff asidea"which I doubt either of us could scalea"it would take at least a full day, maybe two, to get back on foot.a As dismayed as she was by the information, Lexa wasnat particularly surprised. She was tempted to insist they return immediately, but shead had just enough time to begin to settle from her fright to want to put off experiencing it again as long as she could.

Beyond that, it occurred to her forcefully that this entire thing was her idea. Shead approached Gabriel about it not the other way around and he might not take it at all well if she backed out now when shead not only gone with him willingly, but had all but begged him to take her.

She thought she might have been more self-conscious if she hadnat been so shaken from the flight to the pool. As it was, it flickered through her mind that shead committed herself to something she was no longer at all certain she wanted to experience. She was alone with a man that wasnat her kind, far from anyone who even might help, and trapped on a plateau she had no way to escape from.

She decided to simply not think about it.

That generally worked for her when faced with a situation she couldnat escape and couldnat really deal with. She closed her mind and did what she had to.

She wanted to close her eyes, too, but then he would know that she was closing herself off and he might take exception to it.

If he didnat know then he couldnat force her to face something shead decided she didnat want to face.

Moving away from Gabriel, Lexa very slowly and carefully removed her clothing and then crouched beside the pool to test the temperature of the water. aIs it very deep?a she asked without turning around.

aYou canat swim.a There was disapproval in his voice. Peripherally, Lexa noticed it and it increased the hysteria trying to claw its way from her belly to her throat. There was nothing about her that he approved of or liked, she thought unhappily. aNo.a aStay close to the edge. It drops off toward the center.a Dropped off how far, she wondered, feeling a s.h.i.+ver skate down her spine?

Shaking her uneasiness, no longer able to think beyond getting through what shead taken upon herself, she stepped into the water and moved carefully away from the edge until the water was lapping at her thighs. She settled then, focusing on the feel of the water and her enjoyment of the wateras warm, silky caress.

She could do this! All she had to do was focus on the pleasure of the feel of the water and block the insane urge to run screaming to the edge of the cliff and throw herself off.

Shead just decided to settle lower in the water when Gabriel arched over her head and cleaved the water near the poolas center, sending a shockwave rolling outward in every direction. The wave crested in her face since shead just crouched.

Coughing and blinking to get the water out of her eyes, she sloughed the dampness from her face with one hand. When she finally managed to see again, she discovered that Gabriel had moved closer. She stiffened when he reached for her and then forced herself to relax as his hands closed around her waist.

He drew her toward him until their bodies were lightly brus.h.i.+ng with the movement of the water around them, staring at her for long, long moments before his face drifted closer to hers. She turned her face slightly away, but she didnat make any other attempt to evade his touch.

The feel of his lips along her cheek stirred warm currents inside of her, made her breathless and dizzy. She closed her eyes, savoring the strange warmth invading her, focusing on the feel of his lips as he explored her face with them. When he reached her mouth, instead of trying to evade him again, she turned toward him. He released a pent up breath, matching his lips to hers, nibbling at them with his own.

The warmth increased and an odd sort of jitteriness seized her, fluttering in her belly, making her heart and breath quicken even more until she began to wonder if she would pa.s.s out.

He broke contact after a moment, pulling away just enough to meet her gaze when she slowly opened her eyes to see what he was doing. aMore?a Lexa felt perfectly blank for a handful of moments. Finally comprehension dawned and she swallowed a little convulsively, struggling with opposing urges to flee before something frightening and possibly hurtful happened and the urge to discover more. aYes,a she finally managed to say.

He covered her mouth with his almost before she managed to get the word out, pressing his lips against hers until she answered his unspoken command by allowing them to part. His breath and taste invaded her as he stroked his tongue along hers almost experimentally. It sent a harder jolt of warmth and the odd jittery sensation through her, making it impossible to ignore the fact that it was excitement at his touch, not fear, that was making her heart race a little faster and then a little faster.

Even so, she jerked a little in reaction, tensing all over when she felt his hands coast upward from her waist to cup her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He merely cupped them for a few moments and then began to gently kneed the flesh, kissing her for a moment more before he broke from her lips to explore her face again, and then her ears, and finally her throat.

She knew his goal and yet she found herself waiting in breathless antic.i.p.ation for his touch there.

It was like nothing shead ever felt before when he lifted her up and covered one peak with his mouth, sucking on her nipple as he ma.s.saged her breast. It made her feel strange all over and for a few moments she couldnat decide whether it was a good sort of strange or a bad one. The heat spearing through her settled the matter. She felt her belly quake in response and the muscles lower clench reflexively.

Without ever having felt it before, she knew immediately that the ache that began inside of her was a desire to feel him there.

Surprise and wonder filled her. He hadnat lied to her. He knew how to make her want him to do that to her.

aGabriel,a she gasped, beginning to feel distressed when he moved to her other breast to suckle it instead of filling the emptiness inside her that had become a restless ache.

He moved with her to the edge of the pool, lifting her from the water and laying her back against the ground. A s.h.i.+ver skated through her as the cool night air kissed her skin, and then she felt the warmth of his body pressing against her.

aDo you want me inside you, Lexa?a he asked in a husky growl as he explored her face once more with his lips and her body with his hands.

Lexa swallowed with an effort, felt her mouth and throat go as dry as a desert. For a moment, fear warred again with pleasure, but she knew she did want it. aYes, Gabriel,a she gasped.

Gah-re-al s.h.i.+fted to his side alongside her, caressing her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and then her belly and finally settling one hand between her thighs. It was at that point, as he explored her cleft with his fingers to test his welcome, that he made a stunning and not particularly welcome discovery.

They werenat anatomically compatiblea"at least not completely.

He checked again, just to be certain he hadnat missed the second opening he was searching for and then pressed one long digit inside the opening he did find. She was wet enough to make him dizzy and he was already mindless enough he was having difficulty deciding exactly what the h.e.l.l he was going to do with two p.e.n.i.ses and only one orificea"and room for no more than one in the opening he did find.

Shelving his dismay and his sudden certainty that he would be lucky if he came at all, he s.h.i.+fted over her, aligned the lower of the two appendages with her opening, settled the upper along her cleft, and began an uphill battle to claim possession of her channel. He felt her tense as he tried to enter her and met resistance, but he was too far gone to stop and try to work on a better, or at least moister, reception.

He broke deadlock with a little jolt that squeezed the head of his d.i.c.k so hard he thought for a few moments that he might pa.s.s out. A gush of moisture met him, soothing the painfula"for both of them he didnat doubta"entry. Unfortunately, it sent such a rush through him as he sank deeply inside of her that he felt his c.o.c.k buck, threatening to immediately unload.

He paused to catch his breatha"and hold it, trying to focus his mind elsewhere to keep from c.u.ming when head thought only moments before that he might well not c.u.m at all when he couldnat fully enter her. The member sandwiched between the lips of her s.e.x was stimulated enough by that circ.u.mstance, however, that c.u.ming had ceased to be an anxiety and holding back long enough to manage a handful of strokes, at least, had taken priority.

When she lifted her legs and curled them around his waist it was almost his undoing, but it helped him recall that he had a partner to please, not just himself.

He was tempted to tell her to put her legs down again before she made both of them unhappy, but it felt too d.a.m.ned good when the movement helped him sink so deeply inside of her that he could feel her flesh squeezing him from tip almost to the root. Only a little more and he could have it all!

He hit bottom before he managed it. He wasnat certain he wouldave realized he was as deep as he could go except she let out a yelp that didnat sound like pleasure. Gasping for breath as if head flown ten miles, he levered himself up far enough to examine her face for anger, terror, or tears.

She had her eyes squeezed tightly closed and he couldnat tell if the expression denoted pain or antic.i.p.ation.

aDid I hurt you?a he gasped breathlessly.

She shook her head. aNot much.a That wasnat exactly what head hoped to hear.

He lowered himself until his chest was pressed against hers and kissed her apologetically, thinking head be cooled enough by the time head apologized he could control himself a little better. As soon as he began kissing her, however, the muscles along her channel began to clench and relax around his c.o.c.k and Lexa began to move restlessly against him. The currents of pleasure her movements generated shot through his brain and short-circuited higher thought functions. His hips jerked reflexively, sending a harder wave of bliss through to his brain and he instantly forgot everything but the pursuit of his ultimate goal.

Breaking the kiss to suck in enough air to keep from pa.s.sing out, he began driving in and out of her with single-minded desperation, dimly aware that she was bucking and thras.h.i.+ng against him, but primarily as an impetus in attaining his own goal. It wasnat until he felt his body clench in preparation of ejecting his seed and the thought crossed his mind that he hadnat enjoyed nearly enough to c.u.m yet that he recalled that his goal, before he started, was to bring her to climax if he could before he allowed himself to c.u.m.

He stopped abruptly, gasping for air and trying to stem the imminent eruption.

Lexa gasped shakily, pumping against him frantically when he suddenly stopped, leaving her teetering on the verge of something tremendous. aDonat stop!a He growled a warning, aIam going to c.u.m!a Gooseb.u.mps erupted all over her as if the words had summoned them. The something atremendousa caught her. Lexa let out a long, low groan as a rapturous spasm seized her, shaking her to her core. Gabriel uttered a sound that touched off another wave of heated ecstasy and made her skin pebble all over. The wave crested as he shuddered and then began thrusting into her frantically. She was near mindless already, but when she felt him begin to shudder with release, felt the heat of his seed as it bathed her womb, a different sort of pleasure crested over her.

The darkness in her mind created by the spasms of pleasure parted slowly. Awareness of her surroundings gradually flowed back. She became aware of his heat, his weight on her, and his ragged breath first. It was oddly pleasing to her despite the discomfort, but then her awareness expanded further and she began to notice less pleasant thingsa"the hardness of the ground beneath her back and the grit grinding against her skin, the stickiness between her thighs, various pressure points where their bodies met that began to feel bruised.