The Hawk Lord's jewel eyes had gone molten as they roamed my body. Moving over my shoulders and down my biceps, taking in every hardened curve that I'd built over years of battle. They slid across my chest, pausing at my nipples, then down the ridges of my belly. His jaw clenched and he swallowed visibly, his gaze snared on the bulge in my shorts. My cock had decided to salute its warlord.
Under the Hawk Lord's hot stare, I felt no shame for my body's reaction to him. Instead, I stretched my shoulders and stared back, all of my nervousness gone now that it was just him and me. I ran a hand through my hair, smoothing back the cropped locks, and gave him a lopsided grin.
“Is there something I can do for you, Hawk Lord?” I drawled in my I-want-to-suck-and-fuck-you voice.
The Hawk Lord's stare snapped up to mine and a flush suffused his cheeks. He cleared his throat. “I'm sorry. I didn't expect to find you... I thought you'd be dressed by now.” He made to turn away. “I'll be outside.”
“Don't go,” I said softly.
He lifted a brow as he turned back toward me.
“I could use your advice,” I said smoothly.
Sweet Gods, had I worried about being nervous around him? It suddenly felt as if I'd known him for years. Known and lusted after him.
“Oh?” The Hawk Lord grinned, his flush replaced by an intrigued look.
“I was going to wear my armor, but I'm having second thoughts.” I waved at the leather, totally disregarding the fact that I had a serious erection tenting my shorts—a hard-on that seemed impossible for the Hawk Lord to ignore. His gaze kept straying to it.
“Why is that?” Dalsharan edged closer under the guise of inspecting my armor, and his chest brushed against my arm.
I felt his nipple harden into a pebble through the fabric of his robe. I twitched my hand, “accidentally” sliding it against his thigh, and he inhaled sharply.
“I think I should go with something lighter.” I looked up at him. His face was inches away from mine. His fucking gorgeous face. “Dress for speed instead of protection. After all, you're my protection, right?”
Dalsharan made a low, pensive sound in his throat as he looked from me to my cot. I got the feeling that he wasn't contemplating armor anymore.
“That's right,” he murmured and shifted further into the tent, sliding around me to gracefully sit on my bed. He picked up my bracer and stroked a hand over the leather, then looked up at me. “Wear something dark... like your hair. And lightweight. Don't bother with weapons.” His gaze didn't have far to go to find my cock again, but he took his time lowering it so that it was clear what he was looking at. Then he stood, and as he passed behind me, he brushed his chest along my back. Just before he moved beyond my reach, he leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Very impressive, Corporal.”
Then he was gone.
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.”