kiss, luxuriating in the feel of him, allowing myself to enjoy it since there was no fear of him demanding more. I could simply tangle my tongue with his and slide my hands over his broad back, imagining what could happen without the worry of it actually happening. I sighed, nibbling at his mouth, playing with him as I hadn't felt free enough to do before. He rumbled happily and nipped me back.
Kardri moved his kiss along my jaw and down my throat. I sighed and stroked his wet hair, my gaze wandering over the curve of his powerful back. Was there anything as sensual as wet skin? I lazily slid my hand over the broad expanse of wet, ebony muscles as he nuzzled my neck, his teeth nipping and tongue licking. Then Kar tucked his face into the curve of my neck and simply held me. I sighed deeply and held him back. When was the last time I had embraced someone like this? Just stood holding another person without wondering if I could get them in bed? Holding them for the comfort of it. I couldn't remember, and I realized that I had missed it. This connection without pressure to perform. Just touching. Being there, in a tender moment with someone.
“Look at that moon,” I whispered.
Kardri turned his head upward, laying his cheek on my chest, and stared at the moon with me. “Beautiful,” he murmured.
I glanced down and couldn't look away. “Yeah, really beautiful.”
Chapter Nine
As a captain, I knew a little about what went into running an army, but I wasn't prepared for the constant barrage of questions and information that came Kardri's way every day. It had started at breakfast.
After our swim and snuggle—let's call a spade a spade, I had snuggled with him—we had gone back to Kardri's tent and got a good night's rest. He had slept beside me without once trying to seduce me. Which I was grateful for. I think. I woke up that morning to find him gone, but his velvet voice crept to me from the main room. Sure enough, after I dressed and ventured out, I found the Leopard Lord eating breakfast at his meeting table, his general seated next to him.
Kardri waved me to a seat when he saw me, but continued his conversation about supplies. He had sent soldiers out to purchase the supplies we needed to rebuild, and they had returned, but now he had to figure out who would do the building. Most soldiers had jobs to do when they weren't fighting, but it was on a rotation. For example, as a captain, I had soldiers under my command whose training I had to monitor, but when they weren't training, I put them to work on camp repairs. Which made my team an excellent choice to help with the tent building.
“My unit does a lot of the structural repairs in camp, you should use them,” I offered as I snagged what I thought was a meat pie without a top crust. It was on a silver platter with fruit decorating it. No wooden plates and cold sausages for the Leopard Lord.
“That is no longer your unit,” Kardri reminded me. “It's been reassigned. But thank you for the recommendation.” He looked back at General Liese. “Have the Valorian's old unit added to the list.”
“Yes, my lord,” the General said. “And the night watch has returned from the beach. There were no incidents.”
“Good.”
The Leopard Army was a shore camp, which meant that we guarded the shoreline. Several army camps were at least somewhat close to shore but it was necessary to have the armies spread throughout Stalana just in case the Farungal made it past the coastal defenses. We were part of those defenses, which meant that we had a night watch posted on the beach. That being said, we were closer to the southern tip of the continent, further away from Alantri than most of the shore camps. It was odd that the Farungal had attacked us first.
“Why do you think the Farungal sailed all the way down here to attack us? Could there be something inland that they're after?” I asked absently as I grimaced at the food in my hand—it was not a meat pie, but I couldn't figure out what it was.
The table went silent. I looked up to find the men staring at me. Then they looked at each other.
“Neiharis perhaps?” Kardri asked General Liese. “More vengeance?”
“The Lynx Valorian did kill their