He settled beside her, took the book and opened it, as if searching for something in particular. Finally, he pointed. “Read this. I didn’t understand it when Will read it.”
Lexa angled the book until enough light fell on the page he’d indicated to allow her to discern the words, frowning in concentration. “’In Congress, July 4th, 1776, a declar—declara—Declaration by the repre-re-pre-sentatives of the United States of America.” Her heart began to thud hard with excitement. “I was right! I think. U.S. Sir said it was for United States!”
Kyle shrugged. “What does it mean, though?”
Lexa thought about it. “Well we both know what declare means—so they were saying that they declared something. I don’t know what the rest of it means, but they wrote it down so it must have been really important.”
Kyle looked disappointed. After a moment, Lexa continued. “’When, in the course of human events ….”
“The part about truth,” Kyle prompted.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident …?”
“Yes. That part.”
Irritation flickered through Lexa since she was still trying to understand the section she’d started. It also occurred to her that Kyle was leading her—not that he had had trouble understanding but that he wanted her to ‘see’ something he had.
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 pa
rtly 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.
“I love you, Gabriel. Nothing would give me more joy than to be your woman and have your children, but … I love them, too.”
“I’m not asking you to choose. Just … let me take you to a place where you’ll be safe. There’s … The tension between your people and mine is dangerously high right now. I’m afraid that you’re in more danger from your own people than mine. You know where they are now. When things are … more peaceful, I’ll bring you back to visit them.”
It was an unfortunate choice of words because it immediately reminded Lexa that there was liable to be war before anyone saw peace. She chewed her lip indecisively. “When did you want to take me?” she asked finally.
“Tonight. Right now.”
She looked up at him in dismay. “Without even telling them bye?”
Before Gah-re-al could think of a response, they were both distracted by a faint rustling sound. Kyle stepped out of the darkness. “Go with him, Lexa.”
Anger flickered through Gah-re-al. “I might have known you’d stay close enough to eavesdrop!”
“Yes. You should’ve. I never said I trusted you,” Kyle said coolly, but then dismissed him and focused on Lexa. “Go with him. I want you to be safe. I’ll tell them.”
“But ….” Lexa stopped. “I wanted to talk to Will and Maura again. I need to, Kyle. I need to … make them understand.”
“You won’t change their minds. Let him take you someplace safe. He’s right. This is no place for you.”
“Then it isn’t a good place for you either!” Lexa snapped.
“It’s where I need to be right now,” Kyle countered. “Go with him, Lexy. Stay safe. I want that for you. I’ll be easier in my mind knowing you have a man to take care o
f you.”
Surprise flickered through Gah-re-al, but then he realized something that hadn’t occurred to him before. If there was a war—and he thought from some of the things Kyle had said that Raphael hadn’t been mistaken—he would find himself on one side and Lexa’s siblings on the other. How much was she going to love him if she thought he might have killed one of them? If she thought there was even a chance that he might have?
Briefly a sense of guilt smote him, the thought that he owed allegiance to his own people, but he dismissed it with the reflection that he wouldn’t be taking sides—either side—and one man wasn’t going to make a difference either way if there was conflict. And he didn’t know that there would be war even if he did suspect that it would come to that.
The Lawgivers: Gabriel Page 26