Tried for Love (TSATD)

Chapter 37

Gabriel

  Creeping through the dark shadows of the night had once been a pleasure.. A specialty, surprising my enemies when they least expected it. Times when I had lived for those moments of adrenaline being pumped through my veins, moving me, urging me. For action. For a fight. For a chase.

  Things had changed, however. Now, there was a different kind of adrenaline rushing through me. The kind that suggested an unsettling feeling of guilt in my gut.. Guilt that I had left Leah alone. Guarded by my trusty men, but without myself by her side.

  And then there was the fear. An emotion I hadn't felt since I had been a mere boy. Fear of losing something.. Something that had grown far too close to my heart to be denied now.

  It was affection towards the girl. The kind I had warned myself of, over and over again. Fondness for the woman I seemed to be ready to give my life for. And despite the fact that there had been many.. Many who I had taken under my protection.. This one was different.

  Leah was my wife. She was a part of us now. Part of me. This mission, this attack that was implemented upon us.. It was because of that exact sentiment I had towards her. 

  Fury built inside me with a similar intensity as that dread that was still determinedly clenching at my gut. That anger was directed at my enemies, partly. At what they had dared out of me.. At the same time, it was anger towards myself. As it was I that had allowed this.

  I that had allowed emotion over reason. Lust over rules. Affection over control.

  Which was the exact opposite of what I had sworn. Of what I had vowed to her. I won't touch her, claim her, care for her. My words. My promises. Still, I had broken them all, and now moved by that same string of need, I was ready to walk through fire to protect her.

  With a growl, I pressed at the button installed in my hand watch and spoke to my wrist. "Ethan, report."

  Even as I kept walking, summoning Victor and two more of my men with me, I could hear the focus in Ethan voice from the earpiece.

  "The front gates are clear." Good. But that wasn't from where we expected the attack anyway.

  "And Jenna? Is she safe?"

  "She's in the house, well guarded.."

  Light relief flooded me in an instant. It was far from over.. In fact, it was just the beginning, but our priority was protecting those who couldn't protect themselves.

  Jenna had been underneath Ethan's protection for nearly a year. Despite their relationship being intimate and still far from romantic, I knew he cared for the girl. 

  "Good. What about the roads?" My question was directed to Jack, who had a different task that night.

  While our plan included Ethan keeping the front gates guarded and directing his crew to do exactly that, Jack and I were to hold guard over the rear gates.. Where the roads passed by. Bran and Stephen were coming in action later that night.. When diversity was to be created.

  "No trucks in sight.. Yet."

  Jack reported and I ground my teeth at the thought of ambush that Ethan had mentioned before. It didn't matter. This was our territories. We knew them far better than them. Controlled them far better than them.

  Even if they had somehow attempted to sneak in the estate without us noticing and managed to create an ambush, we would discover it and cut it to the root. I was certain in my positioning of our men. It was what I was best at.