Free The Lawgivers: Gabriel by Kaitlyn O'Connor Page B

more than roll to her back
to face the threat she expected, a dark shadow fell over
her.
    Gabriel caught the man by the front of
his shirt, snatching him clean off the ground and shaking him. His
expression was frightening as he pushed his face close to the man’s
and snarled. “Savage!”
    Resisting the urge to plant his fist in
the middle of the man’s face, Gah-re-al shook the man again and
then tossed him toward the ground. Turning, he saw he had the full
attention of the entire group. “You may consider that a warning.
The strong will not be allowed to prey upon the weak. They will not
be allowed to take what they want from those weaker than they are.
This is not civilized behavior and it is against the laws of the
udai. The punishment for such unacceptable behavior will be swift.
Is that clear?”
    Lexa didn’t know about the others, but
she was so stunned it was many moments before that sank in—and it
wasn’t terribly clear when it did. She felt a mixture of emotions
as she struggled with what had happened and what he’d said.
Resentment, embarrassment, and shame that Gabriel saw her as weak
were the dominant emotions, making it difficult to assess the
others. She also found that she was distinctly uneasy about someone
else fighting her battles for her, though, since she didn’t
understand his motive for doing it.
    She had more to worry about, she
discovered, when she saw the reactions on the faces of the
villagers. There was accusation in the expressions of every man,
woman, and child as they stared at her. She was an outsider and,
because of her, one of their group had been attacked and
humiliated.
    Gabriel compounded their resentment by
gesturing for her to take the place she’d tried to claim and then
sitting down near enough to make it appear that he was guarding
her.
    To their minds, she knew, he’d just
claimed her as his woman. She was fairly certain that he didn’t
realize that. She didn’t believe that that was why he’d done it
because he’d had plenty of time since he’d caught her the night
before to rut her if that was what he had in mind, but she knew
that was what the others were thinking and she didn’t think that
would be a good thing for her.
    * * * *
    Gah-re-al thought, at first, that the
hostility he saw in the faces of the humans bold enough to show it
and sensed even in those too timid to display it, was merely fear
and hatred of the udai in general and him in particular since he
was the only representative close enough to focus on. There had
certainly been no show of appreciation for the fact that he’d
eliminated the gang that had been terrorizing them, he thought
wryly—not that he’d expected it—far from it.
    Gratitude should have been a given
under the circumstances—with any species of intelligence. He’d been
around humans enough, however, to see that they weren’t inclined to
look upon anything the udai did for them with even a modicum of
appreciation—which was the main reason he was inclined to discount
the possibility of a higher understanding among them. They were not
only not cowed or inspired to feel awe for the beings who walked
among them, displaying superior abilities and weaponry, such
displays of power only seemed to increase their
hostility.
    It wasn’t reasonable. It made no sense
to him, at any rate.
    Logically, they should have been joyous
and relieved at the very least to have the monsters that had been
preying upon them removed. Even if they were fearful of the beings
who removed them and/or the way it was done, it seemed unreasonable
to look upon their saviors with hate and distrust.
    He supposed, knowing that, he shouldn’t
have been surprised at their reaction to his punitive action
against the male that had assaulted Lexa, but he was. He thought he
understood why the males had been resentful. They were accustomed
to doing as they pleased when it came to anyone weaker than they
were—the women and children and any male they were able