The Love Of Ages
#2 of The Last Dragons, Revisited
Chapter 2 of the new version. I hope you enjoy it.
As always, comments are appreciated and requested.
Continued from 'Meeting Fate'....
"Long centuries ago, there were many of us all around the world." the scarlet and gold dragoness began. "We were here for thousands of years before humans evolved. Most of us looked on humans with a careful eye and with a fair amount of suspicion, for in them, we saw a potential for both great good and great evil." As she spoke, it suddenly occurred to me that this explained the phenomenon of so many cultures around the world all coming up with stories about the same creature, but the dragon wasn't finished. "Eventually, as humans grew, and began to band together into communities, a decision was made to make contact with them, to try and aid them, and even perhaps to guide them. In many places, we became friends with humanity, in some places more than others of course, but that is only to be expected. However, as time wore on, some began to distrust our intentions, becoming suspicious of our powers, and our knowledge. Strongest among those were the devout members of the first religions. As their numbers grew, they began to teach others that they were the ones who were chosen to rule the entire world, and everything in it, including us. It will come as no surprise what happened next, though the outcome was not what we expected. Eventually, the distrust grew so great that there was a war, a terrible, world spanning war, a war that we lost. You see, we had made the mistake of sharing our magic with humans and they easily turned it against us.
There were never many of us to begin with, and a great many perished in the fighting. Those that didn't took on the shape of our enemy in order to hide, waiting for better days to come. We began to meet in secret for thousands of years, while the once united humans turned on themselves, destroying the civilizations they had built, only to build them again and begin the circle once more. But, despite all our precautions, the wars and the death that filled the world were too terrible for our kind to watch, and still, despite the danger, we tried to help, to end the conflict, often in the guise of powerful human magic users. But eventually, those humans who had hated our kind above all else, those who had sworn to wipe us from existence, saw through the disguises and we fell one by one as we were discovered. So, at last, to keep us from interfering and revealing ourselves, we fled to where no humans lived, or where humans had killed each other off and we resolved to remain there until mankind had regained its sense. But in our absence, the wars only got worse, and the magic that had been given to humans began to die out, as magic users were slain before they could pass on their talent. And still, the hunters pursued us, their hatred driving them to seek us out, generations after we had gone from the sight of others. At last, we understood the horrible truth. If we were to survive at all, we had to find a way to preserve who we were, and hide the truth of our existence even from ourselves.
The few of us who still lived traveled to the far human lands, lands where dragons were still revered and before the hunters could divine where we had gone, we had worked a great spell, a spell that changed our very nature. We abandoned our dragon forms, becoming human permanently, and more, the enchantment removed the knowledge of what we were. When the hunters at last followed us to our new home, they could find no trace of us, for we were dragons no more. One by one, all the remaining dragons made the choice, until only four of us remained, the three remaining elders, and me, the youngest of the last clutch of trueborn dragons. To give our race the best chance of surviving, the elders altered the magic that hid us, compelling the hidden to spread out, to explore new lands. And to me was given an all-important task. I alone was to remain in this form, to hide here, in this mountain in the heart of a continent where the humans had forgotten us, to await a day when the spell could be undone.
For you see, if a human has but a single ancestor who was once a dragon, no matter how far back in their family tree, the spell could be reversed in them, allowing them to become a dragon once more. However, despite our efforts, a great many of the progeny of the hidden ones died out, ending their bloodlines forever." The dragoness paused for a moment, her gaze distant as she remembered the events that had happened so long ago. But then, the distance passed and she shook her beautiful scarlet scaled head, looking back at me once more before continuing with her story. "You may be wondering how, if the blood has been diluted by so many centuries, we could be sure that it would a descendant of dragon kind that would find this place, not a normal human."
I nodded, for the question had occurred to me, though my mind was reeling from all the implications of the tale. If I hadn't been sitting here, talking to a dragon face to face, I would have dismissed the story as truly impossible. But, since I was seeing convincing evidence of its veracity, it was impossible to doubt.
"Well, when the elders underwent the transformation, they retained enough of their dragon knowledge to establish a method of intensive physical and martial training, a type of training that would make even the toughest human falter, driven to their limits. Only one in whose veins the blood of a dragon flowed could face the final test and win through without breaking down, without faltering. What is more, all who are of the blood have a far more potent spirit than other humans, and the training was designed to focus that connection, to awaken the instincts of their long forgotten ancestors. As the years passed, those instincts guided the graduates of the school to make their way nearer and nearer to this place, until, at last, one who is of the blood made his way to my mountain, to awaken the race of dragons anew." When she said that last bit, she gave me a significant glance and understanding hit me like a bolt of lightning.
"You mean me?!" I asked incredulously, leaping to my feet. "I can't be a descendant of the dragons. I mean, there must be some mistake. I am not special. I don't stand out."
"Oh, so certain are you?" She asked, regarding me with what I took as an indulgent expression. "I can see the dragon's fire burning within you. Did you think it a coincidence that the masters of your school refer to someone with your talents as having the soul of a dragon?"
"I never thought about it like that..." I answered, and then, a thought occurred to me, something that gave her story credence. The very first time I had dreamed of dragons was during the black belt test, when I had been forced beyond what I thought I would be able to stand. Just before that brief rest when I had fallen asleep, I had been about to give in, about to give up and fail the test. But after I had awoken from that dream, after those few brief moments of rest, I had suddenly had strength to spare. The test had gotten even harder, the tasks demanding even more strength to complete, but there had no longer been a question in my mind that I could pass it. My mind suddenly filled with wild thoughts, and I started to pace, back and forth, ignoring the throbbing protest of my feet and legs. The dragoness allowed me my silence for a few minutes, then finally, when I stopped and stared down at my hands, she spoke again.
"So, young silvertongue, how about it?" She asked and I looked up at her, confused. "Are you willing to take on this responsibility, to revive the race of dragons? Are you ready to finally become what you were meant to be?" It took me all of ten seconds to come up with an answer. Letting out a long, slow breath of air in preparation, I nodded. Grinning broadly at me, she picked herself back up off of her belly and cracked her knuckles thunderously in the same way I often did when preparing myself for a challenge. "Splendid. Though, if you enjoy those clothes, you might want to undress first. The transformation will ruin them if you don't."
"Good idea." I said, but when she looked at me expectantly, I felt a blush start to warm my cheeks. "Ummm...would you mind turning around for a bit?"
"Why?" the dragon asked, rearing her head back in surprise, her eyes wide.
"Well, I'm kinda embarrassed undressing in front of a girl." I stated, feeling a blush start to burn on my cheeks before spreading quickly to my ears. When I said this, the dragon seemed to twitch, her mouth working soundlessly for a moment. Then, a snicker escaped from her throat, her jaws clamping shut while her eyes went wide, obviously trying to hold something back. She started to tremble, her eyes filling with mirth, then finally, titling her head back, she burst out in wild laughter, her voice shaking loose pine needles around the clearing. After a few moments, she leaned back so far that she toppled back against the boulders, one clawed hand to her brow, her laughter only getting louder. Being laughed at by a girl, a very beautiful one at that, didn't help my embarrassment at all, and I stared down at the ground, my face now bright red. The dragoness was in hysterics for several long minutes as my blush slowly faded; a few times she looked like she was about to recover her composure, but then she would peer at me from under her hand and it would inevitably set her off again. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she finally started to quiet down.
"Are you finished?" I asked when she gasped for breath, a little frustrated at her lack of tact.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha, whoo." she laughed in reply, a large reptilian tear falling from her eyes. "That's the funniest thing I have ever heard. Ha, ha, ha." Taking a deep breath, she finally managed to reduce her laughter to a few rogue chuckles that she was at last able to control. Seeing the serious look on my face, she rolled her eyes and continued, her voice still full of mirth. "Alright, alright, if it makes you feel better I will turn away." True to her word, the red and gold dragoness turned away from me, still chuckling and I unclipped the web belt from my waist, dropping it to the ground. It was soon joined by my shirt, boots, socks and pants. Last to join the pile were my boxers and I stood naked in the middle of the wilderness.
"Alright, you can turn around now." I said, bashfully covering up. The dragon turned around slowly and examined me with a look in her eyes that seemed like something more than casual interest.
"My, my, aren't we pleasing to the eye?" She said, a very odd glint suddenly twinkling in her gaze. At that moment, as she moved around so her head was closer to me, I noticed a funny smell start to permeate the air. It was a very strange aroma, not quite tangible, but pleasant enough in a strange and oddly familiar way. Whatever it was kick-started some sort of process in my body. My heart began to speed up its pace, a heat rising everywhere in me at once, the sort of warmth that had nothing to do with being embarrassed. After a few moments, the dragon settled in once more and rested her hands flat on the ground, bringing her great head closer to me. "You know, I am glad that I have finally met you."
"Why?" I asked, the odd aroma becoming stronger by the moment. It was as if it had awakened something long dormant inside me, and the whatever-it-was, was becoming more intense by the moment.
"You know, when I took on this assignment, I was only just reaching maturity." She continued, not seeming to have even heard my question, leaning her great head forward slowly, the odd glint intensifying as she drew in a long, slow breath. "I willingly accepted it of course, for it would mean the survival of all dragons everywhere. But I haven't met another of my kind for many centuries. Do you have any idea how lonely it can be waiting that long for company?"
"No, I can't imagine." I replied, the rapidly awakening something in my heart starting to overwhelm my self-control. My blood was now pounding so hard through my veins that I could hear my pulse in my ears, the warmth that accompanied it reaching levels that seemed more appropriate to the inside of a baker's oven.
"Dragons don't go mad as humans do when they are alone for so long," She commented, stretching a little and inadvertently bringing her head so close to my body that her scales almost touched the raised hairs on my flesh. "But we always feel a need for a companion, a need to be near another of our kind. To be without one is like losing a part of yourself. I can't even explain how much it means to have finally met another, after so long of waiting." As she said that last bit, her head finally settled so her eyes were all that I could see, and as I stared into their crystalline depths, I gasped, for I suddenly perceived an emotion in them that had been hidden while we had been talking. Her eyes were suddenly brimming with a deep, soul-biting sorrow, a loneliness that made my heart ache. It was like a physical pain to see something so beautiful, so near to tears. And then, she said something that almost made me lose what little control I had left. "Do you know, I have never known the pleasure of being courted, of being pursued to become a mate?"
"No I didn't." I replied, shivering as her hot breath caressed my chest. The feeling was luxurious and I took a deep breath, breathing in the inescapable scent of a female dragon. It was a warm smell, a bit like a mixture of ginger and clove, but so much sweeter. And that, coupled with the look in her eyes made a desire well up in me, but it was perhaps not the one that you are thinking of. It was the simple desire to hold her, to comfort her until the sadness and the sorrow turned into something else entirely. It was an urge that was perhaps a might absurd, her being so large that my arms probably couldn't even encircle her neck, but the desire didn't seem at all strange to my mind. For a few moments longer, we stared at each other, then she finally looked away, turning her gaze down towards the ground. She shook her head gently, and said a phrase that, although it wasn't directed at me, cut me so deeply I felt as though I had been run through by a sword.
"I guess it's just as well." She said, her voice filled with sorrow. "No dragon male would want a female who has been alone this long. It does strange things."
She started to lift her head away from me, but before she had gone far, she stopped, her eyes going wide. For a brief moment, I didn't realize what had happened, but then, it suddenly became perfectly clear. Wholly without the input or permission of my brain, my right hand had taken matters into its own hands, so to speak. It currently rested on the warm scarlet scales of the dragoness' cheek, caressing her with a gentle touch I didn't think I could have duplicated consciously, gently tugging her head around so her eyes looked into mine once more. The dragoness' eyes took on a questioning expression, and I found myself nodding in answer to an unspoken question that I understood only on an unconscious level. And then, all at once, the dragoness was glowing brightly, shimmering as her outline began to change. Soon, she was no longer a huge dragon, mighty and magnificent, instead, she was in a form to which I could easily put an obvious title, but even that would be only a pale imitation of the truth.
She was now more or less human shaped, standing at about my height, but she still had wings sprouting from her shoulders and a tail extending from her lower back. She was still covered in scales, both scarlet and golden, and she still retained the snout of a dragon, and her eyes were still reptilian. But there had been additions as well, additions that I hardly noticed in those moments. Instead of stepping back in surprise, as she half seemed to expect, I just smiled and brushed my hand along her cheek, the other taking her hand in mine, ignoring the sharp claws on her fingertips. And then, with a slow and gentle motion, I pulled her to me, sliding my arms around her, holding her warm body to mine. Before my arms were halfway through encircling her, she was reciprocating the embrace, pressing herself against me tightly, a shudder running down her body at the feeling of my arms about her.
For a few moments, I held her in silence, feeling the warm shapes of her strangely pliant scales beneath my fingers as I stroked her spine. Then, I felt the cool feeling of teardrops as they fell onto my neck, a feeling that ripped at my heart like a feral beast. We did not speak, not for a long time, and she clung to me needfully, trembling in my arms, silent tears falling from her beautiful eyes. In a strange way, I understood the deep need that filled her embrace, the endless years of solitude, of loneliness, the longing for the caring comfort of another soul. That strange, unspoken understanding bridged the last gap that stood between us and I held her, not caring anymore that she was a dragon and I only part; it no longer mattered.
"When we first spoke," I finally said, my voice a whisper meant for her alone, "I meant every word of what I said, that and much more." Another shiver seemed to pass through her at my words and she tightened her embrace around me slightly.
"Would you..." She began, trailing off before the question was finished, her own voice matching mine in volume, quavering with wild emotions. I nodded in reply, leaning my head against hers.
"If I were a dragon, I would pursue you to the ends of the earth." I replied and she chuckled slightly, pulling back a little from the hug, her eyes filled with a radiant joy that made my heart soar in my chest.
"But you are a dragon," She whispered, and it was my turn to feel a shiver run down my spine as she said it. After a moment, she put a warm hand on my human chest, right over my heart, a smile that was very different from the others she had worn on her lips, a smile that could have melted the polar ice caps. "Where it counts."
"Well then," I replied, mirroring her smile. "Consider yourself pursued."
Her smile widened at my words and I couldn't help myself. Before I could consider what I was doing, I did something that I would have said was eminently foolish, had I been thinking clearly. I kissed her, the motion awkward because of her muzzle, but when our lips met, I knew with utter certainty that it was right. Though she seemed surprised by my actions, the dragon woman I held returned the kiss eagerly, our eyes closing in passion. And, before I could consider what to do next, she took the next step on her own, her long tongue slipping slowly past my lips, exploring my jaws with gentle motions.
The feeling of her fleshy appendage slipping into my mouth was the very last signal to the wild something that was steadily seizing control of my body and I abandoned myself to instinct. I twined my own tongue with hers, delighting in the intimate turn our embrace had taken. The thing that struck me most in those first moments was her taste, so different from anything I had ever expected. It was all the things her scent was, and much more. It reminded me almost of autumn cider, though it was more spicy, the flavors somehow more present. Then, as the kiss deepened even further, she pressed her scaly body against me and I noticed that it suddenly seemed filled with fire, a fey warmth that kindled my own body into action.
After a few more moments, we broke the kiss and I slowly tilted her backward, supporting her weight as she allowed me to lay her on the ground. When she was on her back, her wings spread to either side of her torso, I gently kissed her once more, then moved slowly downward, planting more kisses on her neck, then along her collarbone, each kiss eliciting a shiver from her, my hands trailing across the warm scales of her ribs and belly. I took my time, exploring her chest with my lips, until I finally settled on her left breast, outlining the nipple with gentle kisses. But when my lips enclosed the soft nub of flesh, she let out a deep moan of desire that only made me want to speed up and get on with something even more intimate, a desire that I suppressed. Instead, I worked to gently tease her chest, first on one side, then the other, caressing her nipples with my lips, my fingertips swirling around her until she was panting, her clawed hands clutching at my shoulders. Finally, I moved on, playing my tongue over her abdomen, and then, at last, further down. When my tongue found her slit, the red dragon gasped deeply, her claws digging at my flesh only barely light enough not to draw blood, her back arching, pushing her hips up at my tongue.
A moment later, as her legs spread wide, her slit parted, revealing her bright red nethers to my attentions. She was already sopping wet and my tongue dove eagerly into the slick folds of flesh, making her gasp even louder as it explored her. The taste of her was incredible, indescribable. It was so good that it took me a few moments to notice how my treatment was affecting her. She was writhing beneath my ministrations, churning up the dirt with her scales, one hand pulling my head against her, the other squeezing a stone so hard it was starting to crumble. Then, my tongue found its way over one spot in particular and she shuddered, moaning loudly, her legs starting to clench up around me. Grinning, I licked the spot again, a long slow swipe with my tongue and her eyes squeezed shut with the pleasure, her body quivering. I knew I had found the dragon equivalent of her clit, and I began to tease it as gently as I could, using only my tongue tip. As I expected, my scaly lover seemed to love it, every touch making her shudder, sounds coming from her throat that, if they were a language, it was one older than anything on earth, a language only of desire. Soon, she was panting, trembling all over as she rode the ragged edge of her climax.
All of a sudden, she pressed her hips up hard against me, the increase of pressure driving her over the edge. Before I could react, her powerful legs seemed to clench shut like a vise on either side of my head, blocking out her roar of pleasure as she came. But nothing could block out the sudden blast of heat that accompanied it, along with the bright flash of light as a stream of fire flowed from her jaws into the sky above us. The roar continued for a long minute, the fire lighting the whole of the clearing as I tried my best to keep teasing her, but she was pressed so hard against my jaws that I could hardly breathe, much less move my tongue. Finally, after a long while, she seemed to relax, her whole body going limp and I pulled back, sucking in a greedy breath and massaging my neck where her scales had left imprints on my flesh. Looking at my lover once more, I had to grin at what she was doing. She was lying limply in the soft earth, staring unseeingly into the starlit sky, her muscles quivering now and then as her body calmed down. While she lay there, recovering from the orgasm, I took the opportunity to truly admire her anthro form for the first time and, if my own equipment hadn't been already standing at full mast, I had little doubt that her voluptuous body would have done it. But finally, as I rested on my haunches, the dragoness slowly sat up, her blue eyes gleaming with a mischievous light.
"Well..." She said, getting up so she was on all fours, facing me. "Your silver tongue is certainly talented, in more ways than one. I will just have to see if I can equal it."
With that pronouncement, she gently pushed me over until I was lying back on the soft earth. Without preamble, she smiled and slowly lowered her head towards my privates, which was something of a relief to me. I didn't think I could have stood much foreplay. But all the same, I started to rise back up a little to speak a warning, afraid of her sharp teeth on my vulnerable flesh, but she placed a hand on my chest and pushed me back down with ease, gently, but forcefully, telling me to stay still. It seemed that her arms had lost none of their strength with her transformation into her anthro form. My heart began to thud wildly as I felt her hot breath on my flesh, her snout gently nuzzling my member, the unfamiliar sensation making me twitch. Then, all of a sudden, every warning thought, in fact all coherent thoughts in general, went right out the window as her warm tongue tip traced its way up my shaft from its base. When the soft warmth left my flesh, I shuddered, her breath on my moistened flesh causing goose bumps to rise all over my body. Then it was back again, but it didn't just slip along it in a lick as it had before. Instead, it slipped sideways, and then curled under my shaft before looping around it, slowly twining itself all the way along it. When it finally stopped its journey, I lifted my head a little, curious what it looked like, though it felt like nothing I had ever experienced before.
Her long, inch wide tongue was wrapped seven times around my cock, the tip just barely visible above the top most fold of flesh. With a mischievous glint in her eyes, my dragon lover began to pull her tongue back into her mouth slowly and the feeling put me right back on my back, making me gasp. This felt better than anything I had ever felt, better than any fantasy could have been, a wave of pleasure that seemed to have no end washing through me as she slowly untwined her tongue. After a few of the loops were back in her mouth, she reversed the motion, her slippery tongue rewrapping itself and I moaned, unable to do anything but lie there, twitching with every slight motion. She kept up that treatment for a long while, the slow motions keeping the pressure in my loins from building too fast. But there was no stopping them. All of a sudden, as she was rewrapping her tongue one more time, I felt my muscles tense up and she angled my shaft a little with her tongue. Finally, I squeezed my eyes shut in silent ecstasy, my member twitching as I came. My lover caught each spurt of white fluid as it shot from me in her maw, almost gathering it into a single mouthful. When the pressure suddenly faded and I could breathe properly again, she winked at me and swallowed, her tongue finally releasing me from its confines.
While I lay there, trying to get my breathing back under control, my lover crawled slowly up so she was basically lying on top of me, her nethers resting against my still rigid privates. Smiling warmly, she nuzzled my neck and my chin, planting a gentle kiss on my lips before settling her weight lightly onto my body. Returning her smile, I tucked my arms around her once more, holding her close. Above her, in the inky black of the night, the stars were shining out in their timeless splendor, a sight which before had never ceased to bring a sense of wonder to my heart. But this night, I barely perceived that it was night at all, my eyes only for the woman who lay in my arms. As we lay, snuggling in the cool night breezes, I suddenly felt different, different than I ever had. It was a subtle difference; perhaps it was simply a difference of perception, for it wasn't exactly like I had changed. More, it was as if the world had changed around me, while I remained the same. Everything looked clearer, as if a haze of mist had been withdrawn from my sight. The one thing that looked the same as ever, the one thing that had not changed, was her, the woman whose body was pressed against mine.
Then, as we lay, gazing into one another, something passed between us, an unspoken understanding, a question without words, and its unspoken answer. With one last, lingering kiss, the red dragon woman shifted over onto her side, pulling me with her until she was on her back. When she stopped her roll, she spread her legs a bit, guiding my tip into her slit with her hips. When I was in position, nestled into her outer folds, we paused for a moment, each drawing a deep breath of air. Then, with a slow, smooth motion, I began to push into her. I took my time, my concern for her holding my eager teenage urges at bay. I probably could have forgone the slow entry, our earlier foreplay having made her more than a bit slick, but there was more to this than simple lust. I could never explain afterword how I knew, but I knew that it was somehow important to do it this way, this time. Finally, after what seemed a long time, my hips were flush against hers, my shaft buried to the hilt in her slit and there I paused, my eyes seeking out my lover's gaze.
For a moment, as I paused there, I felt as though something was missing from the experience, but it took me a while to understand what it was. Female dragons, as it turned out, did not have a hymen even in anthro form, so, though neither of us had done this before, there would be no pain. Smiling, I leaned down and kissed her once more, a kiss she eagerly returned. As our kiss deepened, I withdrew from her just as slowly as I had entered. When only my head was inside her once more, I reversed the process, building a steady rhythm with my body. I didn't speed up much with my thrusting, didn't hurry the act. Instead, I kept up the slow and steady motions, gently kissing and nuzzling my lover as she reciprocated, gently thrusting up into me. For a while, we didn't make much noise, just gentle gasps, and soft moans as we loved, but gradually, something started to shift. At first, I was so wrapped up in the sensations coming from joining with my beautiful dragon lover that I didn't notice, but it was getting stronger by the moment. It began with a strange warmth that spread slowly through my body, a warmth that felt almost as if someone had left glowing coals in my chest, their heat spreading steadily until it filled every corner of my being. Then, a sort of tingling sensation came over me, a sensation that seemed to amplify everything I was feeling. All of a sudden, the pleasure coming from my loins was many times more intense than it had been, so intense that my control started to slip and my rhythm sped up.
Soon, my lover began to writhe beneath me, the change in pace increasing her own pleasure. A low growl began to issue from her throat, her eyes half closing. We were both getting close, judging from how tightly her passage was squeezing me and then, through the haze of sex that clouded my thinking, a thought appeared in my brain, a very important thought. If she had breathed fire when she came from my teasing her, then the moment she climaxed doing this, I would be a dead man, immolated to a cinder. But, just as she tensed up, her body trembling as she came closer and closer to climax, something told me that it would be alright, that it would not hurt me. Then, with a final thrust, I felt a ripple wash through the walls of her vagina as she came, her roar suddenly echoing in the clearing. At the same time, I felt my own peak arrive and I came as well, gritting my teeth to hold the cry in. And then it happened. I saw her jaws opening wide, and the sudden, deadly flames coming up her throat. The roiling ball of incredible heat crashed into my chest a moment later and though I felt its impact, felt how unimaginably hot it was, that was it. I felt no pain, no searing sizzle as my flesh burned. Instead, the heat hit me and roiled on past, swirling around behind me as if I were made of solid stone. Strangely, as the flames died down, they seemed almost to tickle, becoming oddly pleasant.
Panting from exertion, and not a small amount of panic, I looked down at myself and everything suddenly became clear. My body was not that of a human anymore. White and silver scales covered my entire body like a suit of mail, scales that glimmered brightly in the starlight. Up until that moment, when I looked down to find I was a scaly, there had been a part of myself that had doubted my lover's story, doubted that I was a descendant of the dragons. But that was long gone now. Smiling a draconian grin, I gently pulled my shaft from my lover's nethers and realized at once that it wasn't just the increase in pace that had made her growl. Sometime during our interlude, I had transformed, and part of that transformation had been an increase in the size of my equipment, my penis swelling inside her, stretching her while we loved. But then, all such thoughts were put out of my mind by my lover, no, my mate, opening her eyes, staring at me in amazement. Smiling broadly, I leaned down and kissed her, the motion no longer awkward, for I had a muzzle as well. She returned my loving kiss as we shifted position once more so that we were on our sides, pressing close together, our arms around one another.
As we lay there beneath the stars, I suddenly understood why it had been so important to be slow and gentle when loving her this night. By making our first time about love, not simple sex, we had bound ourselves to each other more tightly than any feeble vows could have. I was her mate, and she was mine. And as we nuzzled against each other, wordlessly delighting in our embrace, knowledge came into my mind, words that held deeper meaning than any words I had ever known. For example, I knew that my lover had two names, Scarlon, the name by which she would be known to every other dragon and Pyre, the name that only I would know. The second name seemed to echo in my mind, as if it had been shouted aloud, and I understood it at once. Because I knew it, her soul, everything that she was, was laid bare to me, and I knew her like I had never known anyone before. But even as I contemplated that, two more names appeared in my mind, words that brought an unconscious smile to my lips. They were Argil and Alabaster, words that belonged to the dragon in me; the being I had become, not what I had been born. What was more, I knew without being told that my mate knew them too, and that she knew me, wholly and completely, a realization both frightening and comforting. Finally, after long minutes of silent cuddling, I finally spoke, but I spoke not with my voice, knowing it would be better for the silence to be unbroken. Instead, I reached out with my mind, finding another awaiting its touch beside me.
'Scarlon, my love, what will we do now?' I questioned, and she replied in the same way, the language of pure thought bringing her answer to my mind.
'I don't really care,' She stated, her voice tired and contented. 'As long as you are with me, Alabaster.' This last word almost seemed hissed in a volume not louder than the barest breeze, but still it echoed like a shout in a silent room. When she spoke my name, that secret name, my soul gave a lurch and I knew she had invoked magic of the most ancient sort. I knew what she was doing, knew and rejoiced in the knowledge.
'Always, Pyre.' I stated and a feeling like a warm breeze washed through my mind, an ethereal feeling that made me feel incredibly, indescribably happy. By speaking the names of our souls to each other, even as a tendril of thought, we had forever and irrevocably claimed each other as a mate. With that final, comforting thought, we curled up tightly together beneath the light of the stars and with our souls intertwined as closely as our bodies, we finally drifted off...