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[center][b]Toothless Goes Courting[/b]

Chapter 4[/center]

Glimmer was teaching Fishbone how to fight.

Or at least, she was trying to.

It had been a long, slow, sleepy morning, leading into an unusually hot day. Most of the colony was sheltering from the heat, either by staying in their roosts or by flying out over the cooler water. Consequently, there wasn't really anything for Fishbone and me to be doing. I would have been fine with a nice lazy day, but Glimmer doesn't like to see us lying around, so she'd gathered up a bunch of man-things, thrown them at Fishbone, and had me fly all three of us to our cove, where the shadows of the trees and the steep rocky walls kept things cool and dark even on hot days. There, she'd cordoned off a circle of dirt and proceeded to start throwing our mate around. I had been alarmed, at first, but she let me see that she wasn't really trying to hurt him and I settled down to watch.

It quickly became clear that Fishbone was hopeless. He would yowl and charge, and Glimmer would deflect him with pitiful ease and send him tumbling. Or she would attack him, and he would cringe behind his man-scale and leave his legs exposed, easily tripped. He simply didn't have a fighter's instincts. Nor was he ruthless enough: once, by some miracle, he'd knocked Glimmer off balance and sent her sprawling. He'd immediately abandoned his fighting stance and gone to make sure she was all right, and she had thwacked him roundly with her stick, scolding him for failing to press his advantage.

Still, it's hard to stay angry at someone you love for caring too much. Glimmer made sure never to let Fishbone think she was really upset with him, always pausing to caress his head-fluff or give him a little hug, some bit of affection to salve the bruise. For his part, Fishbone kept at it with an air of weary resignation. He knew what Glimmer was doing was necessary, but that didn't mean he was enjoying himself.

Eventually, she took pity on him. She took the stick from his hands and set it aside along with her own, then made him stand still so she could check him for bumps and scrapes. If he had any complaints about her lifting his shirt to look at his chest, they were silenced when she snuck a kiss. And then another, and another, and before long they were so lost in each other, clinging so tightly and mewling with growing need, it seemed she was likely to cause him some bruises after all.

Lowering my head to my paws, I rolled my eyes. My humans, I had quickly learned, were insatiable. You never knew what would set them off: a friendly nuzzle, a playful lick, even a meeting of eyes from across the room. Then they would croon and caress and tease until you had no choice but to give in and let them lead you into pleasure. As I had suspected, they had no mating season. They were simply ready all the time, day and night, all year round. Learning to keep up with them had been a long, draining, extremely pleasant process.

I settled in, content to watch for the time being, as they began to tug each others' extra skins off. In the early days of our mating, it had seemed somehow wrong to mate without all three of us getting involved. It hadn't taken us long to get over it, though. Sometimes one of us couldn't be present, or was too tired to participate, and it wasn't fair to deny your lovers pleasure just because you couldn't join in. Besides, watching had an appeal all its own, I had discovered. Once or twice, I had pinned the two of them down and used my tongue to drive them both right to the edge of pleasure, then released them on each other and sat back to watch the chaos. And Glimmer made no secret of how much she liked to see me claim Fishbone, cooing gentle encouragement to us as she pleasured herself with her paw.

The thought lead easily into pleasant recollection of the fun we had had together. Adding Glimmer to our mating had only bolstered Fishbone's adventurous streak, and between the two of them they seemed determined to discover every combination of bodies we could have together. I felt my sheath tingle as I recalled cradling Fishbone in my paws, raising and lowering him on my length as Glimmer took him into her mouth. Or the time Glimmer had tied Fishbone to the bed and we had taken it in turns to drive him crazy.

By this point, my humans had mostly finished getting each other out of their fake skins, revealing pale, tender flesh to the open air. I watched Fishbone slip an arm around her waist and pull her into a hungry kiss, his erection pressed to her hip as his other paw trailed down her belly. He slipped a pair of digits inside her and she mewled in pleasure.

The sight of it made my mouth water and my nostrils flare. Watching them writhe together, I could practically feel the softness of their skin, taste the salt of their sweat. I could remember the precious little weight of Fishbone's cock on my tongue. I could remember Glimmer laid out beneath me, shuddering as I spread her…

...wait.

I furrowed my brow and searched my memories. I had made love to my humans in every combination imaginable. I knew what it felt to be touched by mouth and paw and to climax onto their tongues and against their soft, pale bellies. I knew the taste of every inch of both their bodies. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was a huge, fundamental gap in my experience.

I had never mated, truly mated, with Glimmer.

It was absurd! She was my mate. We had been mated for half a season, and the three of us had hardly been shy about our lusts. Impossible, then, that no matter how hard I wracked my brains, I couldn't think of a single time when she'd allowed me to take her as a mate ought to, the way she'd so often let Fishbone.

And it wasn't as though it had never occurred to me. I could plainly remember being in the midst of mating and moving to mount her, but then she would pull Fishbone to take her place, or turn to take me into her mouth, both of which had proved to be terrific distractions. So it wasn't a simple oversight. She had been deliberately avoiding it.

I rose to my feet, no longer content to watch. My lovers didn't react, too wrapped up in wriggling themselves against one another to notice my approach. The coverings on Fishbone's legs were the last bit of covering between them, and he gave a grunt of frustration as he tried to kick them off without taking his lips off Glimmer. He resorted to irritated flailing, and the covering went sailing off to plop into the edge of the pond. He didn't notice.

My eyes were on Glimmer as I slunk around to flank them, padding softly on the pebbly ground. There would be no weaselling out of it this time. If she was unwilling to mate with me, I could adjust, but the least she could do was say no properly. I wondered if maybe she was frightened, but that was silly. Glimmer wasn't afraid of anything. And besides, I had fit perfectly well inside Fishbone. Eventually.

I worked my snout between their bodies, ignoring their faint protests as I enjoyed the scent of burgeoning lust on both of them. Gently shouldering Fishbone to one side, I nuzzled into Glimmer's throat and dragged a paw along the soft skin at the back of her thigh. The contrast drew a surprised coo from her, and she wriggled closer to my lips and tongue as I began to taste my way down her torso. I still don't know what the mounds on her chest are for, but she never says no to having them played with. Their tips stiffened in appreciation as I traced the soft protrusions with my tongue and I curled my lips around them to suckle softly for a little bit, a trick that Fishbone had taught me.

Trailing my nose along the graceful curves of her body, I nuzzled her belly and hips, pushing her gently backwards towards a grassy embankment and licking my lips with a purr of pleasure and intent. She flushed and grinned, scuttling to obey. Glimmer loves my tongue.

Fishbone gave the base of my tail a swat as we moved without him, squawking his frustration at me for sweeping Glimmer away. He changed his tune when I turned my head lifted my tail for him, giving him a sultry smile and a playful waggle of my hips. He blinked stupidly at my under-tail for a moment before dashing off to where all their human junk was piled. When he returned he was carrying a little container that I recognized as the one from our night-nest with the slick stuff inside. I wondered if he had been hoping this would happen, or if he had started carrying the stuff around all the time just in case.

As his long, thin digits began caressing cool slickness around my entrance, I returned to my real quarry for the afternoon. I pressed my muzzle between Glimmer's thighs, letting her sweet scent draw a happy rumble from me. With gentle pressure, I nosed her backward until she let her weight rest on the edge of the embankment, and with gentle pressure I urged her to scoot up onto it, the female giggling as the soft grass tickled her. When I was sure she'd be in no danger if her legs gave out, I gave in to temptation and extended my tongue to brush along her slit. Her cry was sweet music, and when she laid back on the grass and spread her legs in invitation I was happy to accept. My tongue was too wide to fit properly inside her, but that was no reason not to try. If my licking was a little off-centre I could get one of the tines of my tongue a little ways into her, but not nearly far enough for my liking. I could roll my tongue and do a little better, deep enough to feel her passage rippling around me, but I couldn't really move it like that. So I contented myself with what had always worked: caressing her most intimate place with the flat of my tongue, alternating between long slow strokes and short little swipes, occasionally pausing to kiss and suckle at the firm little nub of flesh that Fishbone had once pointed out to me.

Fishbone himself was working eagerly, spreading that fragrant goo inside my tailvent with nimble little paws. Already I could feel his touch inside me stoking my fires, little pinpricks of pleasure that raced along my spine and made my tail curl around him in encouragement. He could easily have used my own slick —I was painfully hard already, dripping want and need onto the grass. Maybe he wanted to mark me, to leave me smelling a little like him. As I felt his digits withdraw and the blunt tip of his member press to my entrance, I decided I liked the idea too.

I grunted and shivered as Fishbone pressed into me, my claws digging into the soft earth at the intrusion, familiar by now and very welcome. Above me, Glimmer managed a breathless little giggle. For whatever reason, she always thinks it's funny when Fishbone mounts me. Eager to keep her on track, I pressed my tongue back to her sex and her giggling melted into a cry of pleasure.

My plan had been to tease her, to drive her wild with lust without allowing her to peak, to make her more ready to mate. But it was hard to keep that plan in mind with Glimmer's taste on my tongue, watching the female wriggle her hips against my nose and needing no translation to know she was begging for more. Fishbone was groaning, little arms wrapped around the base of my tail as he bucked into me with increasing desperation, sending little jolts of pleasure into the base of my shaft. It wouldn't be enough to make me climax all by itself, but it did an excellent job of eroding my self-control. Without really thinking about it, I curled my tongue against Glimmer's entrance in just the right way and she gasped and arched, folds fluttering delicate flavour across my taste buds.

It spurred me on, and I only pressed harder, not stopping once I'd lapped up her climax. She came down from her peak to find herself already on the slopes of another, her little paws fluttering between the grass and my face and her own quivering, glistening body. The view from between her legs was spectacular.

Fishbone groaned behind me, gripping my tail tight and slamming his hips flush to mine. I made sure to bear down hard on him, enjoying the sensation of his length bucking and twitching inside me. I only realized I'd stopped licking Glimmer when she caressed a bare foot along the side of my head, gently redirecting my attention to her flushed, eager slit.

With my own arousal becoming impossible to ignore, I decided to step up my efforts. Teeth retracted, I opened my jaws wide and scooped Glimmer's entire rump inside, leaving her long, powerful legs poking out the corners of my mouth. She yelped my name in surprise, but subsided into moaning as I closed my jaws around her pelvis and began caressing my tongue along her sex, her inner thighs, and the contours of her rump in rapid succession.

Fishbone slipped out of me and staggered up my body, crawling up onto the ledge to slip up alongside Glimmer, wriggling into the grass and reeking of satisfaction. He nestled up against her, reaching down to caress my head with soft encouragement as I did my level best to taste every inch of our mate at once.

This time, without the distraction of Fishbone under my tail, I was better able to follow through on my original plan. I kept Glimmer trapped in my mouth, letting her soft flavours fill my cheeks. I watched her closely, paid careful attention to the sound of her heartbeat and the quiver of her nether lips against my tongue. I even extended my teeth a little, letting them barely brush against Glimmer's softest skin, making the female jump in surprise and shiver as the contrasting sensation urged her toward climax. Fishbone almost ruined the whole thing when he nestled into her side and began caressing her, murmuring encouragement into her throat as his paws explored her chest, her belly, even slipping past my lips to press his digits between my tongue and her sex.

Still, I was able to see Glimmer's climax coming well before she reached it. No more shy as a lover than she was as a warrior, she began to arch and wriggle and moan, still short on breath from her first peak as she called my name to the sky. When her voice began to break, her thighs to try and clamp down on my head, I withdrew, ignoring her mewls of protest as her slick skin was exposed to the open air once more.

She went quiet again when I mounted the ridge, throwing both my lovers into shadow as I planted my forepaws on either side of them claws digging into the grassy earth. Glimmer started to squirm as I got into position, chittering something to Fishbone. When I had shimmied forward enough to lay my rigid member across her belly, she yelped and stared at it as though she'd never seen it before.

Fishbone seemed less surprised. He only cuddled closer to Glimmer with a grin, chuckling something into her shoulder that made her bat him in the arm, her eyes never leaving my pride. I rolled my hips against her, just a little, caressing the underside of my length against the slickness of her sex and the patch of tingling fluff that decorated it, pleasure and anticipation leaving trails of slick across her belly. I tilted and twisted my neck so I could look her in the eyes and rumbled a challenge as I ground against her.

The challenge, I think, is what finally did it. Glimmer might shy away from something that made her uncertain, but there was nothing that would stop her from asserting herself when directly provoked. She glared up at me, squared her shoulders, and after only the slightest hesitation reached down to grasp the tip of me in her little paw. I allowed her to guide me down, letting her set the pace and trying not to sound too smug as I rumbled my approval.

Here, Fishbone finally decided to make himself useful. Murmuring soft encouragement to our lover, he slipped a paw down her belly and sank a few digits into her sex, making her tremble with pleasure and her grip on my shaft tighten and quiver. Then he withdrew, spreading her wide for me, giving my length a channel to slip into as Glimmer guided me into position, until I felt unfamiliar heat around my tip and pressed forward with a grateful keen.

The feeling of her passage spreading around the tip of my shaft drew an appreciative moan from both of us. She was snug and slick, warm and welcoming, and I immediately had to clamp down on the urge to surge forward and feel more. Fishbone helped, his paw pressing gently at the base of my member, helping me gauge how fast I could move as he cooed playful encouragement. I inched forward, slowly sinking myself deeper into her embrace until she inhaled sharply and clutched at Fishbone. I held myself there for a moment, basking in her warmth, feeling her heartbeat in the tightness that thundered up and down my length. When her spine lost a bit of its arch and her breathing returned to something resembling normal, I began to move.

I went slowly, gently, which I think surprised her. I took her with long, slow, even strokes, rolling my hips and tail in languid arcs. I felt her clinging to me as I withdrew and shuddered, forcing myself to breathe normally as I pressed back inside her, just a little deeper each time. I bent nearly double to press my muzzle into her shoulder briefly, on the other side from Fishbone. I loved her, I crooned. Of course I would never hurt her. Of course I would never let her regret mating with me.

For his part, Fishbone watched us with rapt, naked lust. His paws roamed her body, teasing the points of her chest and caressing her belly and flanks. He watched with hunger as at last my length sank fully inside Glimmer, my hips brushing hers as my strokes got shorter and shorter. He slid his digits along the joining of our bodies, taut flesh within taut flesh, and I could feel in her reaction when he found that little nub of flesh and caressed it.

Her climax, sudden after such long anticipation, was like nothing I'd ever felt. Her entire passage rippled and wrung around me, waves of sensation sending my vision spotty. She clung to Fishbone and cried her pleasure into the scales of my belly, her little feet trying to find purchase on my hips to drag me deeper, my human name tumbling from her lips in a desperate torrent.

I teetered on the brink of my own completion, not daring to try and thrust while she was clenched so tightly around me. I held myself motionless above her, breathing hard and watching her through one slitted eye as Fishbone eased her through her pleasure. When she finally began to relax and I was able to move again, she bit her lip and winced, her grip on me fluttering as I moved within her. I remembered suddenly how small she was, and that even if she wasn't quite as snug as Fishbone I couldn't be too rough with her. But when she saw my concern she only smiled, leaning back and calling encouragement up to me.

I didn't last long. With her tightness still shuddering around my length, the lusty scents of both of them filling my nostrils, I only managed a few long, decadent strokes before I tumbled over the edge. Hilting inside her and staying there, grinding the broad base of myself against her entrance, I gulped in great lungfuls of warm summer air and let the tension within me come unravelled.

My pride pulsed inside her, jumping with each desperate beat of my heart as my seed filled her cloying tightness. Through pleasure-blurred vision I saw her cling harder to Fishbone, babbling incoherently as she was fully claimed at last. I groaned, hips pressed to hers to make sure she got every drop I could manage as my length bucked and quivered.

The pleasure swept over me and departed, leaving me able to breathe again as my head cleared. I stepped back on quivering legs, slipping myself out of my little lover, Glimmer's sex was flushed and open, my seed flowing from her like a sluggish river and leaving her backside glossy. I moved up her body and allowed myself a satisfied purr at the look of her, grinning red-faced and shining with sweat, breathing sleepy responses to Fishbone as he murmured softly into her head-fluff. He was fully hard again, his length straining against Glimmer's hip. I wondered if I had another round left in me, or if I was going to join Glimmer in what looked to be a rapidly-approaching nap.

I nuzzled up Glimmer's breastbone to her throat, crooning a question, just in case. She favoured me with a beatific smile, caressing one of her little paws along the curve of my jaw. She leaned up to give me a short kiss on the nose, then a longer one on the lips, lingering and sweet. I kissed her back, full of satisfaction.

Fishbone pulled away from her long enough to fetch a little scrap of fabric that he used to tenderly begin to clean our lover up. I was happy to help —humans prefer being clean, and my tongue can do a much better job than some silly cloth. Between the two of us, we got her presentable again in short order, and I was careful not to get too distracted by how good she tasted.

For my part, I turned and slipped into the pond, swimming a few lazy laps and trusting the cool water to clear the leftover stickiness from my scales. When I clambered back up onto the shore I was surprised to find Glimmer standing, extending her lovely body in a skyward stretch, her face still pink as she caught my eye. She smiled as she began to move about, even if she was a little stiff-legged.

Fishbone was still on the ground where he'd been lying and now sprawled fully, legs extended, arms behind his head. His member lay half-hard but he seemed content to ignore it, closing his eyes and snuggling into the soft grass as he murmured a sleepy something to Glimmer.

If his eyes had been open, he might have seen Glimmer retrieving his play-fighting stick and tossing it at him. She smirked at his outrage and incredulity, even as she went about retrieving her scattered skins and putting them back on. She retrieved her own stick and waggled it in Fishbone's direction, resuming her place in the practise circle with an expectant look.

Fishbone spread his arms in my direction in search of support, but I had already settled back in my position to watch. Glimmer was right, of course; unless he planned on being pitied by is enemies until they wanted to mate with him, an alpha still needed to know how to fight. I warbled at him and jerked my head toward our mate, finding a nice shady spot to resume my vigil.

Outnumbered, Fishbone heaved a dramatic sigh and began retrieving his own skins. Glimmer and I watched him with a shared smirk, and we all got back to work.

[center]~~~[/center]

There are days I would do anything, [i]anything[/i] to understand my humans when they talk.

Even though Glimmer had officially mated herself to Fishbone and I, for the first few moons she maintained some bizarre habits. She was skittish about showing affection during the day, especially if there were other humans around. And she insisted on keeping her old nest apart from us, with her sire and dam. Most nights she would slip in through the window to come to bed with us, but she would always sneak away to her own nest before dawn, no matter how Fishbone and I wheedled. I tried to come with her, once, thinking she might be lonely, only to get yelled at by Glimmer and her sire and dam when I tried to follow my mate in through the window. Even Quillflower gave me grief, scolding me for keeping her rider awake all night when she had important work to do.

I thought this was strange, of course, but no stranger than all the other things humans did. It was enough to know that Glimmer loved us, that she wanted to be with us, even if she thought she wasn't always allowed to be for some reason. Fishbone and I did what we could to make sure she got attention when she was around.

But then things changed.

It was late in the year, with true winter beginning to creep into the air, when Glimmer suddenly cut off all contact with us. She didn't come to our bed at night. She didn't find us in our free time to cuddle. She did her duties as Fishbone's beta, then went home and stayed there and refused to come out, no matter how much I jumped on the roof and called to her. Obviously Fishbone noticed, but he didn't seem to care. He just spent more and more time with his leaf scratchings, and talking with his dam and some of the other older humans. He started sending lots of little dragons toward nearby islands, where I knew other humans had their colonies, and stockpiling great reserves of fish and meat in a special nest that no one —not even me!— was allowed to touch.

It only got more confusing from there. Glimmer came to see us in our night-nest one day, accompanying her sire and dam. She gave me a friendly pat on the head when I went over to greet her, but mostly she was doing her best to mimic the odd, stiff posture of her parents as they spoke with Fishbone. They presented Fishbone with a wooden box, which Fishbone opened to reveal bundled furs and trinkets made of glimmering mountain-bone. Fishbone was amused by the whole production, but he did his best to hide it.

I looked from Glimmer to her parents and the box, baffled. These were courtship presents; I was certain of it. But Glimmer had no need of giving gifts, as though Fishbone or I would ever refuse her at this point. We had already been through all this!

This nonsense went on for days and days, as the nights grew slowly longer and colder and we began preparations to keep everyone fed through the leaner part of the year. Glimmer began coming around more often, but she was always accompanied by her sire and dam. They would eat our food, laugh and roughhouse with Fishbone —despite my protests— and then leave again. And all the while, my humans kept on pretending they weren't mates already, acting like friendly strangers despite the want radiating off both of them.

I could tell that Fishbone missed her as much as I did. He followed her with his eyes when he spotted her going about her business. When she spoke to him, I could smell the sharp spike of longing in their scents. I wracked my brain for an answer, but it didn't make any sense! Why wouldn't they talk, if they weren't angry with each other? Why was Glimmer staying away, when she clearly wanted to be close?

At night, Fishbone would stand by the window, staring out through the gloom toward the big cave, which the humans had slowly been transforming with hanging plants and bizarre structures of carved wood. He would crawl to bed, reeking of ever-increasing anxiety and frustrated mating urges. I would nuzzle him to ease his nerves, but I refused to let him coax me into bedding him, no matter how he begged and stroked me. I had worked hard to woo Glimmer, and whatever had driven her off had been his fault. He could mate with me when he'd fixed it.

One morning, I was startled out of sleep by someone squawking and pounding on the walls of our nest, warning us of strange humans approaching. I emerged blinking into the morning light to find the waters around our island filled with the hollow wooden things humans use to move over water when they can't fly, all painted in garish colours and loaded with hollering, hooting human strangers. Immediately I leaped into action, calling my flock to defend our home. My dragons swarmed down from the trees and the cliffs and the human nests, massing in a great flapping cloud above the water. They swooped low among the human vessels, warning them in loud, angry voices to stay away from our territory.

I kept watch from a cliff overlooking the bay, proud of my flock and eager to join them. But when Fishbone finally showed up, puffing for breath and still hauling his extra skins on, he seemed upset with [i]me![/i] He flapped his arms at the flock and the ships and the village, chattering like a squirrel and looking panicked. Obviously, he wanted the dragons to let the strange humans in, but I didn't listen because that was insane. This was clearly an invasion; why else would so many humans from so many different colonies have shown up all at once? I wasn't going to lower our defences and let our home be destroyed just because Fishbone couldn't recognize a threat when he saw one. He was supposed to know better.

He insisted, however, putting himself between the incoming humans and me and waving his arms like a lunatic as he slowly grew angrier. Eventually I had to relent, and call the dragons back to line the cliffs and keep watch. Fishbone practically collapsed with relief, as though by doing this we were coming out of danger and not diving deeper into it. He's lucky he's pretty.

Without the dragons to keep them at bay, the strange humans resumed their advance on our territory. Fishbone scrambled back to our nest and came out wearing a few pieces of armour and the big trailing piece of fur he uses to pretend he has wings in order to impress people. Calling for me to follow as he fastened his flaming tooth to his belt, he scampered down toward the shoreline.

The humans had made an extension of the land out of wood, jutting out over the water where their floating vessels could roost without scraping their bellies on the seabed. The invaders crowded the wooden landing now, too many to all fit at once. The humans started yelling at one another, puffing themselves up and waving their teeth as they bickered over who got to Fishbone and me first. Eventually the boldest decided to simply ignore the others and swoop into an empty perch when no one was looking, leaving the rest to call their dismay and wait their turn.

I bristled as the first batch of humans disembarked onto our island, which cued the other dragons watching to hiss their own warnings. Most of the strangers had the sense to shrink back from this display, but the leader, a particularly big and hairy human with his own impressive mantle of fur, made a show of pretending we didn't scare him. He thumped forward, bellowing a greeting as he thumped Fishbone on the shoulders hard enough to make my lover stagger. I wanted to snarl a warning, but stopped myself. With foreigners about, it was probably better to pretend Fishbone didn't need me to protect him. I could check for bruises later.

Fishbone made an attempt to return the punishment with a thump to the chest that the bigger human seemed to barely feel. Still, it got a laugh, and the stranger released him. They spoke for a moment, with the strange alpha —he was an alpha, now that I could get a scent of him— gesturing to Fishbone and the village and casting a wary eye at me and my dragons. Finally he called forward one of his underlings, who brought forward a package that nearly bowled Fishbone over when it was handed over to him. I sniffed at the parcel as Fishbone unwrapped it, revealing a long double-headed tooth like the one Glimmer preferred, decorated with intricate patterns and bits of especially shiny mountain-bone.

The sight of it seemed to please Fishbone, who hefted it awkwardly to admire it from all angles, running his little claws over the markings with an air of appreciation. With a bow and a final exchange of chattering, he stepped aside and waved the stranger up toward the colony.

I sniffed experimentally at them as they scurried past to make way for the next group, who had finally managed to come ashore. I snorted, finally understanding. These were [i]guests,[/i] and Fishbone was allowing them to stay in exchange for presents. Small wonder then that he hadn't wanted us to attack them; the lovely tooth wouldn't have done anyone any good at the bottom of the ocean.

Now that I understood what was happening a little better, I felt comfortable leaving Fishbone and climbing up the cliff a bit so I could better see what was going on. Looking out over the water, seeing how many still had to arrive, I hoped Fishbone would at least remember to make them promise to behave themselves. Still, even if I didn't know what they were doing here, if they were giving us nice things for passage I supposed they could stay. For a little while.

The remaining humans managed to get themselves to Fishbone and thence onto the island without too many problems, though most of them were rougher with Fishbone than I would have liked. That's the trouble with him; he's too kind to demand obeisance, which makes stupid people think they don't have to give it to him. Still, it was plain they meant well, overall. All the humans were in a really good mood about something.

There was only one real incident, involving a scraggly, sickly-smelling human who sauntered up near the back of the pack and deposited a lumpy bundle at Fishbone's feet. Fishbone rumbled a query as he bent to open it, only to recoil when it fell open to reveal a collection of entire jaws of wicked stone teeth, all covered in blades and barbed and vicious hooks. These were the sorts of things Fishbone's dam had spent her life destroying, things that would catch and hold and maim and kill any dragon who stumbled into them. Half the poor dragons she cared for had suffered in them. Even from my perch above, something stank of dried dragon blood and poison.

At Fishbone's incredulous, outraged question, the scruffy stranger merely shrugged and scratched his belly, eyes roaming over the watching dragons with obvious intent as he drawled something that made my mate even angrier. Fishbone stood and hauled on the package, showing more strength than his skinny body might imply as he heaved the evil things over the edge and into the sea. When the visiting human made to complain about it Fishbone shouted him down, his posture rigid with anger. I couldn't understand the words, of course, but the meaning was clear: the gift had been rejected, and these humans were to leave.

Evidently one does not reject a gift from a human alpha lightly, even if it's an evil gift clearly intended as an insult. The visiting alpha took a belligerent step forward and his entourage followed, even as the other humans waiting their turn backed away. It might have turned ugly, had I not decided to remind everyone that I was there by dropping down to Fishbone's side and showing them my teeth until they backed down. Throughout it all Fishbone hadn't moved, except to put a gentle restraining paw on my neck. He spoke to the other alpha, calm and cold, and gestured to the vessel they had arrived in. They grumbled and glowered, but they left, climbing back in and pushing away from the shore. They hollered a few nasty things once they were out of immediate danger, and then they were gone.

Everyone was a little more respectful after that.

Eventually the ocean was empty again, with all the visitor's vessels tied down so they wouldn't escape. Fishbone slumped against me with a sigh, rubbing at his face. I wondered if he was thinking of all the ways it could have gone wrong, now that it was over. It would have been typical of him. Rather than letting him brood, I bumped his rump with my nose and told him to go find Glimmer. I didn't know why he had invited so many strangers to our colony, but even I could see they were going to be a pain to manage. He would need Glimmer's help. She was a good beta, even if that was all she wanted to be right now for some reason.

I watched him thump his way up to the nests, frowning. In all the commotion, I had forgotten our mating troubles. It was going to be harder to figure out a solution while I was watching all these foreigners, trying to figure out what they wanted.

What they wanted, it turned out, was to eat us out of house and home. They must not have had anything to eat at all aboard their vessels, because the instant their feet hit the shore they began attacking the food that Fishbone and his humans had been so busy stockpiling.

A few more strangers trickled in over the next day or two. The morning after the last of the strange humans had arrived and bullied their way into the colony's nests and food supplies, I awoke to find Fishbone tense in my arms, staring at the ceiling and muttering to himself. He barely reacted to my worried prodding, only patting my muzzle and rolling out of bed. All but ignoring me, he hauled himself into his sturdiest, most colourful set of extra skins. He spend a long, long time preening, twisting himself this way and that to make sure everything was in place. I followed, uncertain, wishing I could ask him what was the matter.

Eventually he left our sleeping chamber, still mumbling, pacing along the lower level of our nest. He picked and prodded at the little things scattered about the place in what I recognized was a delaying tactic: he was avoiding dealing with something. When he saw me staring he heaved a sigh and tromped toward the entrance. He paused beside it to turn, babbling to me with a helpless little flail of his arms.

Just as I moved forward to offer comfort to my mate, there was a scurrying outside and the wooden flap burst open. Fishbone's fat flockmate blinked into the relative darkness, crying out as he laid eyes on Fishbone standing so close. He grabbed his alpha by the furs and hauled him off into the gentle snowfall, leaving me to struggle to catch up.

Their mad dash brought them skidding to the entrance of the Big Cave. The fatter human stood Fishbone up straight, dusting the snow off as best he could with a businesslike manner. Then he spun my mate toward the entrance, opened it, and shoved him inside to a thunderous cascade of noise. I wanted to rush in after Fishbone, but the fat human stopped me, holding me back until the noise had died some, Then he cracked the entrance wide enough that I was able to squeeze past him.

I had never seen the cave so full of people. They were packed in row after row, with more crammed in the doorways and standing in the back and sitting on the long flat things that are only supposed to hold food. The dragons weren't helping, either. Not wanting to be left outside when something interesting was happening, they had crammed themselves in and now had to step over the humans whenever they wanted to get everywhere, provided they weren't already being used as roosts for humans who had found no other seat. Several had fled to the rafters to perch and observe from a safe distance.

Exactly what they were observing became clear quickly. The males of Fishbone's troop had gathered around him and were hauling him into the centre of the massive crowd, hooting with laughter that was echoed by the other humans in the room. At one point they lifted him bodily, to the great amusement of all the watchers, leaving Fishbone to flail impotently in the arms of his stronger subordinates. So great was the ruckus they were making that I didn't realize Glimmer was in the room until they plunked him down next to her, right in the very centre of the cave. She was grinning at him, her face red. She was dressed bizarrely, her armour and tooth missing in favour of a long covering as flimsy as flower petals that obscured her legs and dragged on the ground a bit. Between them stood the old fat human who helps Fishbone make things in his day-nest, swinging his missing paw in the air and hollering for quiet.

Bemused, I stared at my mates, wondering what they were up to. Clearly, it was something important. Maybe this was even the reason all these strange humans had descended on our island. Whatever the cause, clearly my involvement was required. I slipped forward, shouldering my way through the crowd toward Fishbone and Glimmer. Any dragons who saw me were happy enough to get out of my way, but the humans were stubborn and contrary and often had to be nudged to the side so they'd stop getting in my way. The last human I had to nudge aside was the one-legged elder human himself, who cut off whatever he was going on about as I slipped up behind him on Fishbone's side. He muttered something that got a little laugh from the gathered crowd.

The elder began speaking again, and a reverent hush descended on the humans, so deep that the dragons couldn't help but mimic them. All eyes were on Fishbone and Glimmer, and as far as I could tell they only had eyes for each other. Their paws were clasped, little claws interlocked, and they were both beaming like fools. I don't think they even knew I was there.

Just when I thought I was going to get a cramp from sitting in one spot being confused for so long, the elder turned to Fishbone and asked him a long, rambling question. Fishbone went a little pale and swallowed, but bobbed his head up and down and gave a curt little answer. Then the elder turned to Glimmer and asked what I was pretty sure was the exact same question, and she gave the same answer Fishbone had, without any hesitation at all

The elder tried to start droning on again, but Fishbone and Glimmer interrupted him by hauling themselves together into a fierce kiss, arms encircling one another as the assembled humans suddenly went insane with cheering, thumping their hands together or against the wooden eating-slabs as they competed to approve the loudest.

I watched my little humans as they kissed, feeling my frills twitching as my mind raced, eyes flicking between them and the howling crowd. Fishbone had always been so worried about revealing the fact that we were mated. When Glimmer had joined us, he had been equally circumspect with her, only showing the barest hint of the love he felt when others were present. Now, though, they weren't just letting people know, they had deliberately arranged it so that everyone, even strangers from completely different colonies, could see the love between them.

Them. Fishbone and Glimmer.

Not me.

The bottom dropped out of my world as the two of them parted lips, love shining in their eyes. Whatever spell had been keeping all the humans in place broke and they surged forward to lift the happy couple up and sweep them away as the room reconfigured. Fishbone and Glimmer laughed, paws still joined even as they were carried off against their will. I didn't try to follow.

When the chaos had settled I was in the rafters, watching from across the cave as Fishbone and Glimmer were seated in the centre of the longest eating-slab. Food and drink appeared, a staggering array of half-burned meat and fruits and milk-lumps that got distributed among all the sitting humans. I watched as my mates —my former mates?— exchanged furtive nuzzles and caresses even as their subordinates showed fealty by providing them with something to eat.

My claws kneaded at the wooden beam, my insides twisting. Had I done something wrong? Had I driven Glimmer off by trying too hard to show affection for her? Had I failed so badly at comforting Fishbone that the two of them had decided I wasn't worth their trouble? There had been no warning at all.

There was a warble of concern and Broad-Horn climbed over to join me, bumping me in the side with a rumbled question. I didn't answer him. I suddenly had a terrible problem, and not even Broad-Horn, who knew everything, would be able to help. A dragon might be rejected by his mate, if he fouled things up badly enough. But what if he had two mates, and those mates were both human, and they both abandoned him at the same time for no reason? I had strayed too far from the way things were normally done; there was no one to help me now.

I would have welcomed Broad-Horn's advice if I thought he might have any to give. As it was, I was his alpha, and it was wrong to worry a member of my flock with my own problems, even one as wise as he. So I forced myself to stop sulking, squared my shoulders, and told him I was all right and to rejoin the happy humans below. I spent the rest of the evening prowling the high parts of the big cave, doing my best to make sure everyone knew I was strong and in control and not panicking even a little.

The nonsense persisted below me; the food came and went, the strangers brought out the strange contraptions humans use to sing for them, and everyone spent a lot of time cavorting around one another. Eventually, though, someone yelled something that got a roar of approval, and Fishbone and Glimmer were set upon by the crowd and borne away before I could do much more than yelp and gape before chasing after them.

The throng of humans half-carried Glimmer and Fishbone out of the cave and up the slope of the mountain, hooting and hollering all the while. Luckily, it wasn't too far to our night-nest. They plopped their alpha and his new mate down in front of the entrance and crowded around, packed so tightly together I was forced to circle around the crowd and hop up onto the roof to see what was going on. Fishbone and Glimmer stood with their backs to the door, dwarfed on all sides by burly, grinning warrior humans. Fishbone stepped forward said something that got a cheer, then an awkward silence descended. When he babbled a little more and made a tentative retreat toward the nest, the whole crowd surged forward with an air of anticipation, only to be driven back as Fishbone cried out a protest and began flailing at them with his arms and squawking in exasperation. Slowly, and with clear reluctance, our guests let themselves be shooed off toward the lingering smells and sounds of the big cave.

When the last of them was out of earshot, Fishbone gave an explosive sigh and leaned against the side of the nest, knocking his fake horns away so he could comb his claws through his head-fluff. Glimmer laughed at him, sidling up to embrace him and kiss him softly on the cheek. I watched from above, insides twisting. They didn't even notice me.

Fishbone led Glimmer to the entrance of the nest, and made an elaborate bow as he swung the flap open to let her in. She responded by tackling him into a kiss, pressing him against the side of the entryway as she kissed him with obvious need. He responded in kind, crushing his arms around her middle with a hungry growl, already clawing at the fasteners on her fake skins as they stumbled into the nest.

Feeling lost, I looked out over the colony, feeling the gentle snow pattering against my scales. Most of the humans and dragons were still in the Big Cave, but some were beginning to filter back to their homes, warm lights bobbing and flickering through the haze of falling snow. I surveyed our island without really seeing it, heartsick. How long had it taken us to build all this? How much struggle and sacrifice to create a better life with our one-time enemies? Was it all really so fragile?

I dropped to the ground with a heavy crunch of snow, following the achingly familiar sounds inside. I closed the flap behind me —they'd been too distracted to bother— and waited for my eyes to adjust. The humans were ridding themselves of their false skins with gusto, tugging at anything loose, mouths descending on newly-exposed skin to fill the air with sweet sounds of pleasure. I lifted a paw to approach them out of sheer habit but stopped myself, throat clenching. They made their way up toward the sleeping chamber, losing coverings all the while, and vanished into the glow of the little human fire waiting within it.

Once they were out of sight, I sat back and pondered the lower portion of the nest. It seemed too large, suddenly, cold and empty, but I could make do. I didn't much relish the thought of living below Fishbone and Glimmer but not being able to mate with them, but I was still Alpha and I would endure, for the sake of my flock. Without any distractions to occupy my mind, a series of unwelcome questions occurred to me. What if Fishbone didn't want me living in the nest any more? It had been his before we'd shared it. Would he still let me lead the flock with him? If we weren't mates anymore, was he still my friend? How would I fly without him?

The sounds of lovemaking had begun filtering down from the open entrance to the sleeping chamber, soft sucking noises and little moans of encouragement and glee. Suddenly, they stopped, and I could hear Glimmer asking a question. When Fishbone answered in the negative, she called my name and I heard the patter of human feet on the wooden floor above me.

Glimmer appeared in the doorway, gloriously naked and kissed by warm yellow firelight. She said my name again, and this time it was a question, her head tilted to the side. She turned her head and said something into the room, and Fishbone appeared beside her, ignoring his bobbing erection as he padded down toward me.

They stood on either side of me, petting my head and crooning concern, and it [i]hurt[/i]. It hurt to think I wasn't part of them anymore when they were so close, smelling eager and ready and looking beautiful with all their covering stripped away. I whined in confusion, trying to figure out why they were acting so concerned. Had they imagined I wouldn't be hurt when they left me behind?

Fishbone's little hand caressed my nose, and I opened my eyes to see him leaning in close, real worry creasing his brow. I nosed against his touch, brushing my nose against the new band of metal circling one of his little claws and giving him a pleading look. I didn't understand, I told him. I loved him, loved them both, but I didn't understand.

Leaning over her alpha's shoulder, Glimmer watched this exchange with a tilt of her head. Trailing one slender paw along his shoulder, she asked Fishbone a question. He gave a distracted answer, too busy checking my gums and behind my frills as though he thought I might be sick. She asked another question, gesturing toward the door and the colony beyond, and this time he only answered with a shrug and a mumble.

Then she hit him, hard, right in the shoulder.

With a startled yelp, the little male sprang to his full height, rubbing at the spot and barking at Glimmer. She silenced him with her reply, gesturing impatiently in my direction. I watched the exchange with bemusement as he listened to her, his irritation fading by degrees into… something else. Regret, maybe? He tried to say something but she cut him off by grabbing him by the shoulders and shoving him toward me. He shot her a glance, but turned his attention to me, cradling my cheek in one tiny paw and pressing his lips to mine.

I stiffened at the kiss, frills quivering, not daring to move, waiting for him to pull away and break me again. Hope filled my chest, emerging as a tiny mewling question, only for Glimmer to answer it by joining her mate, my muzzle more than wide enough to accommodate both their kisses at once. Then she pulled away again and it was just Fishbone and me. He alternated between the softest, sweetest kisses and pressing his brow to mine, murmuring what must have been soft apologies. I was too happy to care. I had been wrong. They still wanted me. My knees wobbled and I slumped in relief, wings drooping to the floor as I leaned into the kiss. I had been wrong.

Glimmer came up behind Fishbone, saying something in his ear that was almost a purr before turning to sway her way up the stairs. I watched her go with a pang of want, even as whatever she'd said made Fishbone cling tighter to me, his little digits pressing [i]just so[/i] behind my frills as his tongue probed at my lips. I growled into the kiss, happy to deepen it, my neglected libido roaring back to life as I wrapped a greedy foreleg around his waist.

Getting up the stairs took a long time, with Fishbone and I attached at the mouth and unwilling to separate. More than once he wound up sprawled on his back, trapped between my forelegs and mouth, his skinny limbs wrapped around the girth of my neck. When we finally reached the top he tumbled into the room and wound up on his rump, only to get pressed into the wooden floor by my lips. My body tingled, my skin itching as though it were too tight, my member out and hard for him, drizzling shamelessly. He was just as hard, and he gave the loveliest little mewl when I pressed my paw down on it, caressing it slowly up and down with the leathery pads. I didn't want to stop kissing Fishbone, not ever, and at the rate I was going it wouldn't be long until—

Glimmer interrupted us, bringing me out of my lusty spiral with a paw on my cheek that pulled with a gentle pressure that I obeyed instantly. She guided me off poor, winded Fishbone, digits under my chin drawing me into another, sweeter, more controlled kiss. But it was an act. I could smell her need, and the thought of it made me shudder.

They started taking it in turns to tease me onward, never letting my attention and lust focus on one of them long enough to act on it. A hot human mouth found the thin, sensitive hide of my throat and sucked, but before I could do more than moan someone was caressing between my frills, the touch trailing down my neck and chest, trailing maddening patterns along the contours of my scales. A gentle push against my breastbone bade me sit up and I did, rocking back to rest my weight on my rump and tail-base. From there, I was able to see them both clearly as they knelt before me, sides touching as they eyed my rigid member with obvious intent.

Glimmer took the lead then, scooting forward and caressing her paw along my length to take hold of the tip and kiss it as though she had missed it. Fishbone joined her quickly, their shoulders bumping as they shared me between their lips and paws.I began to pant gently as I watched them work, their pale, slender bodies jostling for position as they ran their lips over me and each other. My eyes traced the matching rows of silvery scars on their shoulders —Glimmer had insisted I give her a mating-bite to match Fishbone's, once we had begun making love properly. Fishbone glanced up and noticed the direction of my gaze, tilting his head to kiss at the marks on her shoulder. Then he murmured something that made her croon and waggle her hips, and he slipped away from me and up behind her, pumping his paw over his little shaft, getting it slick with my borrowed juices.

Fishbone sank himself into Glimmer, making her coo against my spire. He began to move, quick little thrusts that filled the room with sound, and my craw burned with a sudden desire, a need to taste them. Gently pulling away from a protesting Glimmer, I fell back to all fours and nuzzled between her arms, dragging my snout along her belly until my questing tongue found human flesh within human flesh and they both groaned for me.

We were required to do a bit of shuffling as my humans tried to go from four legs to two without coming unjoined. Eventually Glimmer lay sprawled across my head, her breath hot against the back of my neck as Fishbone took her from behind. My muzzle was wedged snug between her legs, my tongue within easy reach of their joining. I could flick out my tongue and catch Fishbone from his dangling parts to the root of his shaft where it vanished into Glimmer. He slipped out once, and when I tried to use my tongue to guide him back he just stood there and ground his length against it. I let him, for a moment, but then I gave his tip a quick lick and reminded him he was in the middle of something.

Glimmer arched her spine as he slipped back inside her, gripping hard at my neck as he resumed with gusto. Her voice was in my ear, reedy and breathless as she let our mate stoke her fires. I wished I could see her, but it was enough to hear and smell and feel her, to taste her as I lashed my tongue out. Nostrils flaring against her pelvis, I pressed her back against Fishbone in time with his thrusts, watching from the corner of my eye as his grip tightened on her waist.

It was hard to tell which one of them went over the edge first. Glimmer gasped, Fishbone gave a strangled cry, and they slammed themselves against one another as the base of Fishbone's member began to pulse against the tip of my tongue.

I gladly let them take their weight off their wobbling knees to rest on me, crooning my satisfaction as the taste of their shared climax began to seep onto my tongue. Any other day I might have stayed there, tried to see how much of them I could catch, maybe try to stoke them toward another session. But not today. I began to lower my head and Glimmer got the message, transferring her weight to her own paws and letting me slip out from underneath her. I let her touch guide me up her body, past her glistening belly and heaving breast to the softness of her lips.

I crooned as Glimmer kissed me, my need coming through in a plaintive whine, my neglected shaft so hard I bucked against the empty air. Glimmer took pity on me, paws gripping my frills and twisting my head with gentle insistence. I obeyed, twisting my neck until my shoulder dipped and I tucked my wings in to roll onto my back.

They were on me like hungry crows, flushed skin bright against my scales as they clambered over me, chattering [i]love-lust-relief[/i]. Glimmer straddled the base of my throat, caressing her paws over all the right spots along my jaw, her eyes soft and loving as she crooned to me. She kept my eyes on her as I felt Fishbone slip onto my belly, caressing the insides of my thighs, teasing the puffy skin around my vent without ever properly touching me the way I needed it. Then I felt the tips of his digits caress along the underside of my shaft, and Glimmer giggled at the strangled sound it drew from me.

They stoked my fires, then let me cool, only to do it all over again, and each time my pleasure spiked a little harder, my peak grew that much closer. One moment Glimmer was before me and I was licking the salt from the mounds on her chest. the next I was alone, writhing in helpless pleasure as all those nimble claws explored inside my tailvent and sheath. I twisted to look down at them and they were looking back at me, eyes lidded as they took turns tracing their lips across my tip.

Glimmer gave a hum of satisfaction at their work, slipping off me with a final caress along my knee. She crossed the room and called to Fishbone, who gave an excited yelp and abandoned me to help her fish something out of his piles of junk, leaving me abruptly abandoned just as I'd been about to taste sweet release.

I twisted to watch them, hind-legs paddling the air as my erection throbbed forlornly. Fishbone pried open one of his many storage craws and produced something with long floppy tails. These he secured around Glimmer's waist and thighs and she shivered visibly. She turned a little and I blinked. Fishbone had given her a false member, made from what looked like polished wood and secured to her with strips of hide. It was a lot larger than Fishbone's, just a little shorter than mine. It was shaped mostly like mine, too, with a gentle tapered curve and only the barest hint of a flared head like Fishbone's.

I suppressed a chuckle, seeing how silly she looked. Had she been jealous of Fishbone and I, so much so that she'd gotten him to make her a maleness of her own? I got her attention with a warble and told her she was being silly. Fishbone and I liked her just as she was. In fact, we both rather liked that she was female. There was no reason to pretend to be something else with us. Besides, she looked ridiculous with such an outsized shaft. What could she possibly be planning to do with it?

Then she gave me a sultry wink as she stroked the wooden surface. Oh. [i]Oh.[/i].

She laughed at the look at the look of slack realization on my face, crossing back over to me with a sway in her walk that set her new equipment bobbing. I wriggled my toes in the air, my eyes glued to the dark wooden surface of the thing. Lightning seemed to dance beneath my scales, welling up from the pit of my stomach to flood my limbs and shorten my breathing. My eyes flicked to Fishbone as he knelt by my shoulder, leaning over to kiss my nose and croon gentle reassurances. Then he slipped down my belly to curl his caws around the base of my flagging maleness, caressing it from root to tip and making it spring to hardness again despite my anxiety,

Glimmer straddled my tail, careful of my second wings as she got into position. I flinched at the touch of the cold wood against my entrance, and Fishbone admonished her, abandoning my aching erection to go to her, With a soft murmur he worked his newly slick hand along the surface of Glimmer's endowment, leaving it slick with my juices, Then he guided her back to my tailvent and breathed a blessing for her to continue.

She was [i]enormous[/i], spreading me open around the cool, unyielding wood of her maleness. In a heartbeat she was deeper inside me than Fishbone had ever been, and I couldn't help a whimper. Fishbone chided her gently, giving my pride an encouraging stroke. She switched up her pace a bit, working herself deeper with lots of little strokes instead of one long one.

Eventually I began to relax. The girth of Glimmer's false member became familiar, then welcome as it took on the warmth of my body. She found the place inside me that Fishbone always aims for, and seeing my reaction she pounced on it, caressing her length across it as she slid herself in and out.

She braced herself against my spread thighs as she took me, falling into a rhythm quickly despite the unfamiliar motion. She ground mercilessly at that sweet spot within me, slapping her hips harder against mine than Fishbone —always more gentle a lover than he strictly needed to be— ever had. It all proved too much. The unfamiliar sensations, the closeness of the two of them, the teasing I had already endured, all conspired to overwhelm me and I arched my hips against Glimmer's thrusting, my shaft straining, unleashing my long-overdue pleasure!

I could barely hear Fishbone chuckling through the rush of blood in my ears, could scarcely believe I could feel more pleasure until I felt his fist around me, urging on my climax as I soaked his belly and my own with seed. Wriggling against the wooden floor of the nest, I whined through my lust. Even in the midst of the rush I could tell it wouldn't be enough. It had been too long, they both smelled too good, I had missed this too much. I had to find a way to tell them I needed more.

They knew. My wonderful little mates, they knew what I needed. Fishbone crooned soft reassurance, curling his claws behind my frills to tease at my secret spots as he murmured against my lips. Then Glimmer's paw took hold of my flagging length, pumping rapidly along the slick flesh as she slid her new toy out of me, and the last thing I properly remembered was my tail slamming into the floor as the world fell away.

Between the two of them, they were more or less able to keep up with me. Whenever one began to flag I would let them rest and pounce on the other, and more often than not the sight of our coupling would inspire them to rejoin us. Now, a hot human mouth was following a hidden trail along the arch of my throat. Now, my member was trapped between soft, slick flesh, pressed against their bellies as they divided their attentions between me and each other. Then someone was kissing me, so saturated in the smell of sex that I couldn't tell who it was until I felt Fishbone's member pressing against my throat and his fingers slipping past my lips to smear my own seed across my tongue. I lost track of how many times I climaxed against them, inside them. I lost track of how many times I felt them climax against my tongue or around my shaft.

At last I lay sprawled across the bed, sheltering my mates beneath wings that hung limp with exhaustion, the tips nearly touching the walls of our cave. Fishbone squirmed feebly beneath me, arching against the slow rolling of my shaft against his own. I had meant to mount him, I think. His legs were still spread wide, as though he'd been anticipating it. But I had missed and slid against his belly instead, and it had felt so lovely on its own that I had simply kept doing it. Fishbone was helping, his paw wrapped around me, keeping our prides pressed together as I moved.

Even with the undeniable pleasure, Glimmer was probably the only reason I hadn't already collapsed on top of him. She knelt beside us, paws exploring my head and neck as she crooned encouragement. When my strength began to flag she kissed my cheek, my throat, and then the sensation of her hot little mouth suckling the secret places among my frills made me shudder and buck against Fishbone with renewed vigour. I thanked her with a caress of my nose against her belly, drinking in the scent of her, layered over with my and Fishbone's love and filled with [i]want[/i] and [i]love[/i] and [i]satisfaction.[/i] My own scent must have been much the same; everything in the roost seemed saturated with the scent of happy sex.

Having made sure I was awake enough not to squish our mate with my lovemaking, Glimmer leaned down to give Fishbone an affectionate caress across the brow, moving his sopping head-fluff out of his eyes. She settled in beside him, letting one long leg caress the base of my member as she worked herself into our embrace. Before she lay down completely, though, she caught my eyes and cradled my chin in one paw. I paused my thrusting in curiosity as she tilted my head and kissed along my jawline, only to stiffen in surprise as I felt the pinch of tiny human teeth against the thin scales of my throat!

I flicked my attention down to Fishbone as he gave an amused bark, making Glimmer giggle and bite a little harder. It didn't hurt, of course. Human teeth are basically useless, and there was no chance of her denting even my thinnest scales, much less piercing them. But Fishbone seemed to think it was a grand idea, and he levered himself up on trembling arms to plant his own bite at the base of my neck, right on the quivering cluster of muscles that power my wings.

He looked ridiculous, worrying his head back and forth with a hatchling's growl as he tried in vain to leave a mark, and yet my heart swelled. They were trying to mark me, as I had marked them. They had claimed each other, and now they wanted to claim me and close the circle. They wanted me to know beyond all doubt that I was theirs, and even if no one else could see them, I would know.

Glimmer released my throat with a final lick for good measure, settling back on the bed looking as smug as she was sleepy. Fishbone joined her quickly, snuggling in against her as he renewed his stroking, calling encouragement in a voice gone hoarse with pleasure.

I obliged him, but I didn't last long. The fire in my loins and the joy in my heart were the only things keeping me awake, my world darkening until all that remained was the scent of my lovers, two sets of slender human paws on my member, and then I was groaning, spilling my seed one last time against their bellies, my hips bucking hard against his as he claimed his prize from me.

The climax sapped the last of my strength. I hastily adjusted myself so I could collapse beside them and not on top of them, curling around them and drawing them close, heedless of my member still leaking against their pale skin. I kissed them each in turn, smiling against Fishbone's lips as Glimmer brought him to his own shuddering climax. I likewise ignored his mess; it wasn't like any of us could worry about keeping clean at this point. With a happy rumble I pulled them close, folding my wings around them as I finally surrendered to sleep.

The cold woke me, some hazy eternity later. I was alone on the bed, but I could hear my mates nearby, padding around, trying to make sense of the chaos we'd made of all Fishbone's things. It wasn't until Fishbone uncovered one of the openings to let in blinding golden sunlight that I realised we'd slept away most of the day.

Everything hurt when I tried to move. My legs were stiff from exertion, and everything between my belly and the base of my tail ached with the pleasant burn of overuse. Even my wings were cramped, from spending so long wrapped tight around my humans. Fishbone and Glimmer didn't seem to be doing much better, staggering about half-asleep and rubbing their eyes, but Fishbone brought me a little craw filled with water and I gulped it down gratefully. They cleaned each other and then me, using warm, bubbly human water to be particularly thorough. I was far too spent to respond to any of their caresses, but the intimacy of the bathing still warmed me, and I nuzzled them both and told them I loved them.

They took forever to get ready after that, trying to track down all their coverings and get them on with limbs that must have been as stiff as mine, so I got Fishbone to put my tail on and open the flap so I could get outside. The cold was bracing, sending a shiver through me as I scrambled up to my perch at the peak of the nest. The thin layer of snow crunched under my paws as I craned to look around.

The colony shone golden in the afternoon light, the sounds of bustling dragons and their human friends filtering up to me. It was calm, soothing, the best life an alpha could ask for. Quillflower spotted me and swooped around the nest, playfully chiding me for being lazy and leaving her to do all the work. She drew my attention to the water, where the foreign humans were crowding around their hollow vessels. Counting them, I saw that many were gone; with the celebration over, it seemed the strangers were anxious to get home. That was fine by me; having guests was well and good, but a bit of normalcy would be nice for a change.

The flap of the nest opened below me and Quillflower swooped down to nuzzle Glimmer as she emerged, clasping paws with Fishbone. A passing human called to them as she passed with a load of wood, and whatever she said made Fishbone flush. Still, he waved his paw at her, and leaned in as Glimmer turned her attention from Quillflower to kiss his cheek. The dragon gave her rider a final nuzzle and an affectionate chirp before taking to the air, flying over the colony on whatever errand she'd been on before she'd spotted me.

Glimmer and Fishbone stood together for a while, talking softly as they looked out over our island. I knew they saw the same thing I did: peace and home and years of work come to fruition. I saw dragons snacking from the pile of fish the humans made for us. I saw others walking alongside their human partners, helping to carry the loads they needed to work their wonders. Fishbone's fat subordinate and his dragon were lifting a chunk of wood into place to replace part of a nest that had fallen off. Everywhere dragons and humans worked together, two flocks made one.

Even half-dead from exhaustion, Fishbone hates to be idle. He took a few moments to absorb the sight, then made an exaggerated stretch and started down the slope to the rest of the colony. He still held Glimmer's paw in his, and she followed with a laugh.

They only made it a few steps before they stopped and turned back to look up at me, eyes expectant. Glimmer put her paws on her hips and tapped her foot, and Fishbone spread his arms wide, calling my human name with playful impatience.

I grinned, gave quick, happy roar, and leapt down to join them.

[center]Fin[/center]

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Ideas for this final chapter have been kicking around in my head basically since I finished the other parts, and with the new movie right around the corner I figured this was the time to get them organized! I hope you all enjoy!

Many thanks to editors Tempe O'Kun, CarlMinez and Mandarax!

If you enjoyed, please leave a comment and consider supporting me at https://www.patreon.com/SlateDragon