“Yes, Hawk Lord,” I panted.
“Not for one fucking second.” He bit my neck and sucked hard. My skin stung when he released it. “You will not fly off without me. You will watch my back; that is your job. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Hawk Lord.”
“You remember the calls?” he softened his tone and kissed my throat, right over his bite.
“Yeah, babe.” I turned my head to kiss him. “I know the calls. Don't worry about me.”
Dal growled and tossed me back on the bed. “Suck your lord's cock, Consort.”
I crawled back to him and took his cock in my mouth with a moan. My lips stretched around his girth, and I tightened them as much as I could. The Hawk Lord's hands went to my head and squeezed. I grabbed the mattress; I knew what was coming next, and it made me flush with excitement. Sure enough, Dal started thrusting over my tongue, pumping deep enough to choke me as his hands held me still. I sucked even as I relaxed my throat, taking as much of him as I could.
“That's it, naughty bird, choke on that dick,” he growled. “Gag for me.”
My lips began to ache deliciously and spit dripped over my chin. Dal's fingers went to my nose and pinched it closed. I widened my eyes up at him as he continued to pump into me. The wet slaps echoing in my ears. I whimpered. I couldn't breathe. I tried to pull away. He held me there and then, at last, let go. I gasped for breath even as I went back to sucking him, my tongue twirling around that plump head.
“Your life is mine, Ravyn,” Dalsharan declared. “Mine. Don't ever forget that. I will protect you this time. You will not be saving me.”
Oh, so that's what this was about. I had saved him and it was bothering him. The shit always comes out when they get drunk.
I jerked back, off his cock, and sat up. “So, I can't save you, huh? You're the big, strong Hawk Lord who does the saving and I'm you're little fuck boy? I'm the one who should need to be saved?”
“No,” he growled. “That's not it and you know it.”
“Then what?” I licked my swollen lips. “You wanna hold my life in your hands? You wanna choke me with your thick cock and then give me back my breath when you feel like it? Why else do that unless you're pissed about me saving you?”
“Because it's fucking sexy,” Dal drawled as he grabbed my head and pulled me into a searing kiss. He leaned away to lick my lips and say, “Because I love the way your eyes roll up and fill with panic, then with faith. You know that I won't hurt you. That trust makes me ache. It makes me want to thrust deep down your throat and shove more of myself into you. It makes me want to hold you down and bite your throat as I fuck your tight ass, knowing that it's mine. That your lips and cock and sacs are mine. That your soul-stealing stare is mine and your greedy hands and your eager tongue. They're all mine. Now, get your ass in the air so I can shove my huge cock in it!”
“Yes, Hawk Lord!” I was grinning ear-to-ear when I laid my face against the mattress and presented my ass. And as he slammed that beautiful cock into me and laid a hand on the back of my head to shove my face down harder, I kept smiling. I kept smiling until I was shouting his name.
Chapter Forty-Four
I was standing on the prow of a ship, staring at the distant shores of Alantri, dressed in nothing but my new war robe. Morning mist shrouded the beach. We had decided to sail around the tip of the continent to bring us closer to Gremara's fortress. There was a risk that we'd be spotted this way, but the fortress would be less than an hour's march from that shore so the risk was deemed worth it. Beside me stood the Hawk Lord and beside him stood the Lynx Lord—a breathtakingly beautiful man with hair as dark as mine and eyes that shifted from blue to green. I might have been attracted to him if the hawk inside me hadn't been so damn nervous around his beast. Cats and birds don't mix; it was even worse than cats and dogs. But we were also fae, and we Hawks would control our beasts long enough to ferry the Lynx Sidhe to shore.
The plan was for the Avians to fly the Canines, Felines, and grounded Unsidhe to the beach before the ships got close enough to be spotted. The first line would clear the coast and scout beyond while we continued to ferry the others to shore, and then the humans would row to land. I glanced at the woman I'd be transporting first. She was the Lynx Lord's General and his lover. General Neela, a redhead with a cool demeanor and a reputation as one of the finest fighters in the Lynx Army—second only to the Lynx Lord himself. She wore a war robe with a flight rig strapped over it and stared at the shore eagerly.
Dalsharan held up a hand and the Lynx Sidhe stepped back, giving all of us Hawks room. War robes dropped and magic swept the deck of our ship. To either side of us, something similar happened on the other ships in our armada with the rest of our Hawks as well as the Owls, Eagles, and Falcons shifting. Normally, this many birds would mean a terrible cacophony, but the Avians were eerily silent as we took to the air, hovering above the deck as we latched onto our passengers' rigs before heading toward land.
I flew beside Dalsharan as ordered, Neela hanging from my claws, stretching her hands as if itching to sprout some claws of her own. Her robe flapped in the cold air, flashing a length of strong, tan leg, but the General couldn't care less about the amount of skin she was showing. Her lips were pulled back in a snarl as her eyes scanned the beach. Dal shrieked once—a short, clipped sound. The signal to drop our passengers.
That's right, we weren't taking the time to set them down carefully. We dropped them, though it was only about four feet and onto sand, no less. I watched Neela slip out of her harness and robe all in one motion and sprint across the beach as she shifted into a giant Lynx. Her warlord ran beside her, his sleekly muscled body moving from man to cat in three steps. Their ears laid back, the tufts of black at their tips blending into their spotted hides. I turned back to the ship to fetch my next passenger.
Part of me itched to be the one scouting the shore, but a soldier follows orders. I'd even had a say in deciding what those orders would be, so I couldn't bitch about it now. I swept down to snatch up the next Lynx and swung around to head back to shore, all while the ships continued to make for land. Back and forth we went, over and over, never landing.
We still had a few Unsidhe passengers left when the ships anchored, but we kept flying them in, getting them there faster than the rowboats that transported the humans. All but the Red Caps and Trolls, that is. Even the strongest Avian couldn't carry one of those enormous Unsidhe. They couldn't use the rowboats either but instead jumped overboard and trudged through deep water with their heads popping up just above the waves.
Finally, we were all on Alantri and the path ahead was clear, scouted by Felines. The Unsidhe swept into the lead, Sylphs gliding through the air while the hooves of Glastigs pounded the earth. Goblins boiled forward around the legs of Trolls and Red Caps, their taller cousins, all of them grinning eagerly. Leanan-Sidhe—beautiful but deadly blood-drinkers—cast their glowing eyes at the horizon and licked their lips in anticipation. In contrast, the Dwarves marched grimly, battle axes slung over their thick shoulders. There were also Imps, shorter even than Dwarves, and Spriggans who were normally small but had inflated their bodies to sizes that rivaled even the Trolls. The only Unsidhe who weren't allowed to join the Unsidhe Armies were the Brownies and Pixies, both races too delicate to fight. But the rest of the fae races of Varalorre had come to Alantri to face the Farungal together.