The Hawk Lord by Amy Sumida
Chapter Five
“What is this thing?” I asked as the Hawk Lord handed me a mass of leather straps.
I wanted to ask him if it was something kinky, but we were in front of his personal guards, his generals, and a shitload of other people. Which meant that I was back to being nervous.
“That thing is a flight rig,” the Hawk Lord said. “Here.”
Dalsharan took the rig from me and undid the buckles, then brusquely helped me into the straps. I blinked in surprise as he casually set a hand on my waist and spun me so that my back faced him. I met Raeshal's stare and widened my eyes in a what-the-fuck way. Rae chuckled just as I was spun again so that the Hawk Lord could finish fastening me into his kinky flight rig. When he was done, I wore a series of leather straps that formed a sort of vest with solid loops curving up from my shoulders.
I eyed the thick, wire-wrapped loops and lifted a brow at Dalsharan. “Are those where your claws go?”
“Unless you'd prefer to go bareback,” he whispered and then stepped away from me, grinning at the flush that rose to my cheeks. “Now, that is called payback, Corporal.”
“I don't know what you're referring to, my lord, but I'm certain that whatever offense I gave, it was done unintentionally.”
“We'll discuss it later,” the Hawk Lord said sharply as he handed me a satchel to slip over my shoulder. Then he nodded to General Faron. “Look after my army while I'm gone, General.”
“Yes, Hawk Lord.” The General bowed.
Dalsharan nodded crisply, then his gaze went back to me as he untied his robe. He stared at me as if daring me to look, and he grinned when I didn't. I kept my chin lifted and my stare on his face... until he stepped back and started to shift, that is. In that brief moment between bird and man, I looked. And boy am I glad I did. When I said the Hawk Lord was everything, I didn't realize just how much of everything he was. Let's just say that I was the one impressed now.
I caught a glimpse of a pendant on his chest, its translucent jewel a honey-brown. But then a giant hawk stood before me, its tawny feathers shining in the sunlight and one golden eye focused on me, and the pendant was gone. Either it had disappeared or was hidden in all of those feathers. The Hawk Lord was magnificent in this form, and the power that had flared out with his shift had made goosebumps rise on my arms.
He lifted his deadly beak, shrieked once, and took to the sky. My head tilted to watch him circle me, then swoop, and I braced for his grip. Massive claws curled around the loops and lifted me. It wasn't as jolting as I'd expected and the rig made dangling from Dalsharan's talons comfortable, but as the ground dropped away and we headed for the coast, I had to push down a flare of panic.
I had dreamed of flying but having your own wings and having someone carry you while you prayed that they didn't drop you are two different things. I almost reached up to grab his bird ankles just in case.
“I will not drop you,” Dalsharan's voice sounded sharper and much louder coming from that beak. But the volume was helpful with the roar of the wind in my ears.
“Oh, I'm not worried about that,” I lied.
“Liar,” he called me on it.
“No, seriously,” I shouted. “I was just thinking that it's a long way to Alantri and hoping that I don't have to pee.”
The laugh that burst from that enormous beak was squawking, jubilant, and loud enough to make me cringe.
“If you must, go ahead. I won't look.”
“I don't trust you not to look,” I teased.
The huge hawk head angled down to eye me. “Are you questioning my honor?”
I barked out a laugh. “Not at all, only your willpower.”
“We're not in the sky five minutes and you're already flirting with me,” he noted. “You do realize that Raeshal is a friend of mine.”
I went still. We were seriously flirting? And what did Raeshal have to do with it?
“What does Raeshal have to do with it?” I went ahead and asked. Why not? What's the worst that could happen?
“You do know that he's in love with you?”
And that's the worst that could happen; he could answer.
“No, I didn't,” I said as my mind reeled. “I... I don't feel... I didn't expect...”
Dalsharan looked down and laughed. “Well, fuck me, a human has caught the Red Hawk, but he doesn't want him. Serves Rae right for all the men he's toyed with.”
“You're not mad?”
“That you're not serious about Raeshal?” He asked. “Why would that make me mad? You've just given me permission to proceed.”
“I don't think you need permission for anything,” I muttered.
“Hawks have excellent hearing,” he noted. “And you're right, I don't usually. But I do try to avoid stepping on the hearts of my friends.”
“Fuck, please tell me you're not going to back off because of Raeshal.”
“I believe I just said I was proceeding.” He chuckled again. “Humans are so... direct.”
“We're direct?” I scoffed. “Do you want to know how Rae got me in bed? He asked where my tent was and then asked why I wasn't naked in it beneath him.”
Dalsharan shrieked with laughter again. “Yes, that sounds like Raeshal. But that's only in camp. In Varalorre, he's a different man.”
“What does that mean?” I asked as I eyed the beach below; we were just leaving land and that anxious ball in my belly got larger.
The Hawk Lord peered at me again. “If you don't know what that means, I can say no more.”
“Rude. Just rude.” I crossed my arms.
He chuckled again.
“Does he really...?” I asked hesitantly.
“Love you? Yes. He wouldn't have fought so hard to keep you in camp if he didn't. I've seen Raeshal watch lovers die and not shed a tear, but you... he couldn't even stomach the possibility of you getting hurt.”
“Fuck,” I muttered. I liked Rae. I didn't love him, but I did like him. I didn't want to hurt his feelings.
“Don't worry about Rae; he'll recover. He'll have to head home soon anyway and then his days of freedom will be over.”
“Freedom?”
Dalsharan sighed and confessed, “Raeshal is engaged. To a woman.”
“Dear Gods, I'm so sorry for him.”
Dalsharan laughed uproariously. “He's not. He loves her too.”
“Greedy fuck,” I joked.
“Faeries have a broader view on love and sex than humans do,” Dalsharan mused. “We believe that a heart should not be limited by bodies or quantities.”
“Yeah, I know; you guys fuck whoever you want, whenever you want. I admire that.”
“Stop it,” he said with a laugh. “I'm trying to be serious.”
“So am I. I truly respect that you faeries take pleasure where you find it,” I kept teasing because, well, he was damn funny, and I think that shocked me and aroused me more than anything else—even more than his huge cock.
“Yes, that's a rather masculine human opinion,” he noted. “But it goes deeper than that for us.”
“Do tell,” I purred. “I love deeper.”
Another chuckle. “We believe that people can have many great loves.”
“That's because you fae live so damn long.”
“There is that,” he agreed.
I went quiet a while, watching the water go from turquoise to cerulean. Then I asked, “So, how long do you think it will take us to reach the first stronghold?”
“An hour perhaps.”
“Excellent.”
“I thought you were worried about having to pee?”
“Well, sure. Despite what you said, I can't just whip it out while we're flying. The wind would blow piss all over me.”
Dalsharan laughed again, and I grinned up at him. I was beginning to like that loud bird laugh.
“But I'm glad we have an hour together,” I went on as I reached up and laid my hand on his claw. “I think I like you, Hawk Lord.”
“Careful now, Corporal. I'm not Raeshal, I don't fuck every pretty thing that bends over for me.”
I flushed. Talk about a build-up only to be smacked down. “No, my lord,” I said crisply and removed my hand. “Of course not. My apologies for being so forward.”
“Don't get prickly with me,” he snapped. “I'm telling you that I want some substance with my sex and warning you that if I decide to make you mine, you will not be flirting with other men as they carry you off to sneak into Farungal fortresses.”
My flush turned into one of pleasure and my dick twitched as his possessive words. I don't usually go for the whole possessive dom thing, but for the Hawk Lord, I'd bare my neck and beg for a collar. Of course, I wasn't about to tell him that.
“I think I can easily promise that I will never flirt with another man as he flies me to a Farungal fortress. So, we're all good, Hawk Lord. Go ahead and think it over.”
Dalsharan started laughing again.
