The Hawk Lord by Amy Sumida

Chapter Sixteen

“Dalsharan, I just wanted to say...” the Coyote Lord trailed off and stopped halfway into the tent.

I was following Dalsharan to the bedroom—him in his robe and me naked and twitching with need. I froze at the sound of Brendallen's voice and looked over my shoulder to find his stare on my bare ass.

“Ah, I'm interrupting. Please, forgive the intrusion,” he murmured in a tone that said he was more than pleased to intrude.

“I won't be joining you, Coyote Lord,” I said without turning around. It was bad enough that he got to see my ass. “Just so you know. I belong to the Hawk Lord.”

“Oh, my!” the Coyote Lord exclaimed. “You've got him trained already, Dal? How efficient.”

“Get into the bedroom now.” Dal pointed past the partition.

I went.

“What do you want, Brendallen?” Dal growled.

“Just to say thank you again and give you this.”

I heard Dal move, then grunt grudgingly. “Thank you.”

“Just a small token of my esteem.” A pause then, “Your consort is lovely. It's been a long time since I've seen an ass that fine.”

“Stay the fuck away from him or I will shred you.”

“Oh, come on. You're not still pissed about that little eagle in Reshabar?”

“Get out.”

“I did you a favor then, as I did tonight. I tested your Ravyn and look at that, he's worthy. You should thank me.”

“Get the fuck out!”

“You're welcome—for the gift and the test of truth.”

Dal came storming into the sleeping area and tossed a box on the dressing table.

“Are you okay?” I asked—no tone to it, just a straight question.

“Of course.” He shrugged out of his robe and cast it over the chair.

I looked at that beautiful body and groaned because what I was about to say might delay my touching it. “We can... talk about it. You know, if you want to.”

“What I want is for you to kneel on that trunk, bend over the bed, stretch your arms out straight, and stay that way until I tell you to move,” he snapped.

My eye twitched. I didn't offer heart-to-hearts to just anyone, but he'd tossed my offer in my face. “Fine,” I growled and knelt on the trunk. I bent over, lying on the mattress to stretch my arms out straight. The position made my ass angle up.

Dalsharan made a pleased sound deep in his throat and stepped up behind me. His hand slid over my ass, gently stroking it. “You have the most plump, perfect ass I've ever seen.”

“Thank you.”

He smacked me suddenly. “Thank you, what?”

“Thank you, Hawk Lord,” I amended.

“Better.” He went to his clothes rack and pulled a belt off a hook, then folded it in two, holding it at the buckle end.

I watched him walk back behind me as a spark of wariness shot through me. A spanking was one thing but a belt?

“Are you..” I looked over my shoulder at him. “You're not going to hit me with a belt, are you?”

“Did you think a warlord spanks men with his hand?” Dalsharan growled. “I said that I'd make your white ass red. Now, shut the fuck up.”

“But I told him.” I twisted to look at him. “I said I was yours.”

“Only after he got a good look at your ass,” he snarled.

“Dal, come on. This is taking it too far.” I rolled onto my butt and pulled up my leg. “Just talk to me. Tell me why you hate that guy.”

“Are you disobeying me?” He looked as if he was torn between shock and fury.

Fear spiked through me. “No,” I whispered. “I said I wouldn't, and I won't.”

I turned around and laid back down, then clenched my teeth. He was obviously working through some shit and my ass was gonna pay the price. So be it. He'd given me a piece of his soul, I could take a few smacks with a belt for him.

The belt came down on my ass hard. I grunted. Again. Again. Much harder than I'd expected. A whimper slipped past my lips as I clenched my hands into fists.

“Lay those hands out straight!” Dal ordered.

I did as he said. He brought the belt down again. I cried out. My cock was dead. My ass on fire. This wasn't sexy, it was torture. I pressed my face into the blankets and wondered what the fuck I'd gotten myself into. Crack! It came down again. My body started to twitch uncontrollably. Crack! A sob shot past my clenched teeth. Crack! I bit my lip to stop myself from begging him. He'd stop soon. He'd have to stop soon. Right? Crack! I was crying. Fucking crying. I think my ass was bleeding. I could feel something dripping down my thighs. My skin felt like it had been shredded with knives. I twitched with every hit and kept twitching between them.

“Please, stop!” I finally cried out.

The next blow didn't come. Instead, a cool hand touched me. I flinched away from it and wept. Then a tingling heat swept over me and the pain faded. His hand smoothed over my skin again, swiping a cloth over me. Probably wiping up the blood. My body didn't seem to understand that it was over; it kept twitching and I continued to cry. I wept like a child with my face buried in the blankets.

“Ravyn,” Dalsharan's voice was gentle and so was his touch. “Turn over, Ravyn.”

“Fuck you,” I sobbed and crawled away from him. “Fuck you!” I rolled out of bed and immediately crumpled to my knees.

My body had been so strained by the tension—exhausted from the emotional ups and downs, and then pushed past its pain threshold—that I could barely get to my feet. I kept wobbling. But I stood up at last. I snatched a pair of pants off the floor and shouldered past him.

“Ravyn!” He grabbed my arm.

I shook him off and when that didn't work, I pushed. A flat palm to his chest sent the Hawk Lord flying. He bashed into the partition that separated the sleeping area from the bathing. The whole tent shook but it held. He slid down the wall, then laid there staring at me in shock. I gaped back at him. Then I shoved my legs into my pants and walked out.

“Ravyn!” Dalsharan shouted.

I kept going, so fucking mad at him and myself. He had told me to think about what I was agreeing to, but come on. How could I have known that he was going to really whale on me? I thought he might be a little kinky, a little possessive, but that shit back there was fucked up. He never said he wanted to beat me till I bled. And as grateful as I was for the immortality, I couldn't submit to that again. Fuck no. I wasn't a scared little boy anymore, crouching in an alley as the bigger boys beat on me. I was a soldier, and I knew how to fight back now. No one gets to do that to me anymore, not even the fucking Hawk Lord.

I burst into the night bare-chested, my breath puffing in the cold air, but so hot from shame and fury that I didn't feel the chill. I stormed off into the mud, then realized that I'd forgotten my boots too.

Fuck it. Fuck him. He could find another bad bird to beat on.

“Ravyn!” the Hawk Lord's shout echoed behind me.

But I'm good at hiding. Good at blending into the night. I slipped between a couple of tents just before the Hawk Lord went storming by, dressed only in his war robe. I watched the bright banner of his hair until he turned a corner. Soldiers jumped out of his way, staring after him in shock, then muttering to each other. I slumped in relief, then headed into the forest.