FSE

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I wrote this story alongside the amazing writer :iconMacabre-Dragon:

imgonnaloveyou (IGLY) drew a lovely picture for this story, and you'll be able to see this on his accounts on Furaffinity (https://www.furaffinity.net/user/imgonnaloveyou/) and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/imgonnaloveyou).

Thanks again to :iconMacabre-Dragon: for being an awesome friend and co-writer.

This story contains a dragoness having passionate sex with her rider and devouring some other, less fortunate ones, so if you're not into vore please be warned, she's a hungry girl~

***

The morning sun cascaded eagerly through the semi-drawn curtains, casting an illuminating ray of light across the glistening emerald scales of Aera's hide. A thick puff of smoke rolled from the dragoness' snout as she slowly returned from the realm of slumber, her jaw stretching open wide in a deep, luxurious morning yawn.

With the warmth of the sun seeping into her body, the dragon opened an eye to look over at the rather simple bed positioned near the wall, housing the still-snoozing form of her human rider. As always, he looked so peaceful just laying there, lightly snoring, not that any noise he could make while sleeping matched her own rumbling.

"Desmond," she whispered, though the sound was more akin to a deep growl through her powerful throat. It had the desired effect; the man slowly stirring, his fingers twitching before clenching slightly as he too joined his dragon in reality. She watched as he gave a groan, slowly pulling himself up until his back was resting against the headboard.

"Is it that time already?" he muttered, looking over at the green dragon splayed out nearby. The beam of light from the window was rather perfectly illuminating the length of her body, leaving the impressive beast every bit the statuesque picture of awe that he so often saw in her. She gave him a rather toothy grin, nodding her head.

"We have half an hour," Aera told him firmly, "the Captain will get upset if we don't show up for our assignment." Desmond nodded, leaning back on the headboard with a sigh. Life in the service of the Citadel was hard work, but he always had his dragoness by his side, ever since the day she'd hatched for him at the rider school.

Like all children, he'd been tested for compatibility with each of the new eggs. Aera had hatched for him the moment his palm pressed to her egg; whisked into dragon rider training at the age of twelve with little say on the part of his parents. Now eighteen, the little whelp that had hatched for him was an impressive example of her species, standing nearly twice his height and multiple times longer.

"I'll be ready," he told her, wiping the tiredness from his eyes, "how about you? This is the first time we've been specifically requested... I wonder what they want us to do. Guess they don't want us on the usual patrols." Aera shook her head, looking out the window with a small huff.

"I'm excited," she admitted, "as good as the Citadel treats us... I'm ready to see some action."

“That's what happens when you do your duty every day, and offer no complaints," Desmond mentioned, giving his dragoness a look as he sat up straight, positioning himself on the edge of the bed. “Good things come to those who wait."

Aera snorted at those words. “Are you poking fun at me, Desmond?"

“Whatever gave you that idea?" He answered with an amused yawn, before stretching and standing up to move across the room, stepping over her tail as he did. His bare feet pattered lightly on the cobblestone floor, treading across the stone and briefly touching the round, red carpet placed in the center. “I'm just saying that we did get rewarded for following orders and keeping in line. If we complained to the Captain, this wouldn't have happened."

Aera followed her rider with a pointed look. She was almost tempted to lift her tail to trip him… almost. “I remained patient for as long as we could, and I listened to you last week when you asked me to keep my complaints to myself," she said.

“Yes, yes, but we both know you were growing a little bored with the patrols," he continued. “How much longer do you think you would've lasted?"

The dragoness paused for a moment, tilting her head in thought. “Mm… three days, tops."

Desmond smiled at her, figuring she would say something of that nature. “Then it's a good thing we're being tasked with something important now," he admitted, opening some of his drawers to get some clothing on. “I share your excitement in something new. We shouldn't keep them waiting."

They spent the next few moments in silence as Desmond got dressed and ready for the day. They were placed in a top room at one of the smaller towers of the citadel. Similar accommodations for all dragon riders were placed in separate areas along the grounds. They offered easy access to both dragon and human alike.

Solid, stone walls encompassed their design, with a cavernous, pointed top, and an open entrance near the front, large enough to let them both in. They were comfortable and lavish, sparing no expense at ensuring a fully trained rider and his dragon were living in luxury. The carpet at the center was more than enough for most dragons to get on, with furniture, a bathroom, dressers, a pantry, and a desk for the rider to use at their leisure.

Aera watched her rider as he moved, finishing up his clothing and moving over to the dresser to make himself look presentable. She found her eyes wandering over his bare form whenever he moved; after all this time spent together, she found herself with a deeper interest in her rider than she likely should have. Yet it was there nonetheless, growing in her chest like a slowly inflating breath of fresh air. It would be silly to think he shared any similar feelings, however. He was always so proper, and followed every rule to the letter. It was part of the reason she liked him so much; his sensibilities were so easy to tease at times. When he finally turned around to face her, she quickly pretended to be regarding her claws.

“Are you ready yet?" She inquired with an amused rumble. He nodded in response and gestured to the door.

"Shall we then?" he offered, "ladies first." She took a step towards the door before pausing and looking down at her rider with a smirk tugging on her lips.

"Ride me," she instructed firmly, "if we're going to be going on a real mission, I want them to know we're... a united front, so to speak." Taking her up on the offer with a warm smile in return, he stepped up on her foreleg and hauled himself up onto the light leather saddle the dragoness wore atop her back. As he seated himself in the center, she thought back briefly to when she'd first worn a saddle for her rider, and how much she detested it. Now fully-grown, she barely even remembered it was there, most of the time.

Heading out of their private quarters, she stood atop the balcony and stretched out her wings. The drop to the courtyard below was not too far down, but her rider frequently protested at her stone-cracking landings. Angling the breeze carefully, she jumped forward and caught the wind, allowing her to glide gracefully to the cobblestone below and land with minimal impact.

Looking around, Desmond watched as other dragons, riders and staff went about their daily tasks. The Citadel was a busy place, especially in the vicinity of the dragon keep, where hundreds of dedicated humans worked in service of the incredible mounts that helped them police the wide and often dangerous lands of the broader Kingdom. With a reassuring hand on his sword to ensure he hadn't forgotten it, rider and dragon began to make their way over to the command hall, where Captain Reigis would no doubt be waiting for them.

"Any guesses on what the Captain's going to have us doing?" he asked Aera casually, watching as one of the younger male dragons bounded by in a hurry, "deal with a local squabble? Escort a noble? They always make it seem like a big deal at first, until you actually hear what you're doing."

“That's because they always want you there fast, and on time I suppose, even if it is just a local squabble," Desmond answered, keeping balance on her back with a natural ease. The years of training had done much to ensure he viewed her body movements as a simple extension of his own. “We should treat everything as a big deal, especially now."

“Oh I know," Aera quickly answered, casting her eye back at him. “But I can't help but be curious. I want our first assignment to be grand, something exciting." She was failing to hide the anticipation in her voice.

It was easy for Desmond to tell she was excited. Her pace was getting faster, and there was a bounce in her step. “I wouldn't mind something ordinary, just for our first," he quickly answered, casting his gaze around to observe their surroundings. “We're here to keep the peace, most of the time anyway."

There was a pause then, as they moved closer to the hall. There were a few other dragons making their way to and from the same direction. The path was lined with a well-kept series of trimmed bushes and gated fences, leading to a harsh drop to the lower levels. They were mostly reserved for citizenry that lived within the citadel walls, whereas outside consisted of other, smaller townships and cities.

They were responsible for the protection of all of them. The lands within, and beyond, for as far as the eye could see. Without the bond that he and Aera shared, they wouldn't be able to cover so much ground, and to protect so many people. It was a duty and an honor, and every member of the guard knew it, human and dragon alike.

“Sometimes you get to fight to keep the peace," Aera argued, continuing their conversation, even as the broad, arching doors of the command building came into sight. She bared some of her fangs as she spoke, giving her rider a rather intimidating grin. “Though let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Desmond couldn't help but sigh and shake his head. His dragon certainly had a fire within her, one that he'd grown accustomed to since the day she'd hatched for him. “Just try not to talk too much about violence once we reach the hall, alright? I don't think that would go over well." He only received a snort of amusement in response, and the two of them continued in silence, the entrance still a good distance away.

Upon approach to the command hall, both Aera and Desmond were surprised to see the door open to reveal their Captain, his expression stern as he strode to meet them in the courtyard.

"Lady Aera and Sir Desmond," he greeted swiftly, using their standard honorifics as he came to a stop in front of the pair, "this is rather urgent business, I'm afraid." His fingers reached up to drag through his long beard, as Aera seated herself politely in front of him.

"We received reports of a bandit camp not far from here," Regis continued, "and while I intended for you to investigate the claims this morning, there's just been another report. This time, the bandits robbed one of our traders' caravans, and left the driver with a knife in his gut to boot." Desmond's eyes widened, and Aera flapped her wings impatiently.

"Where should we go?" she growled, betraying her eagerness, "we should act swiftly to catch them." Captain Regis frowned, and gestured towards the forests east of the Citadel.

"They are hiding in Englor forest, by account of the witness who escaped," he replied, "but do not make a fool of yourself, Aera. Rash, impulsive behaviour will get your rider killed." She huffed, displeased at being called out, but tempered herself quietly.

"What would you recommend, Captain?" Desmond asked with a nod, "flight is limited in the forests." Scratching his beard thoughtfully, Regis looked up at the rider a moment later.

"The witness said it was only two men, so you shouldn't be outnumbered. Use Aera's keen senses to sniff them out, flush them out into the open with intimidation, then separate and apprehend them. I daresay you should be able to arrest two men exhausted from fleeing a dragon." Aera perked up a little, pleased at the opportunity to scare a few bandits into submission.

"Yes Sir," Des replied, "we'll leave right away." With his hands grasping the saddle, Aera turned and took a few steps back from their Captain before flapping her wings and taking to the skies with a powerful leap.

As they flew off together, Desmond couldn't help but feel a distinct weight in the base of his gut. It wasn't the pull of gravity as his dragoness lifted him away, no, he'd long since rid himself of that sensation. It felt much like nervousness and fear, knowing that they were heading off to their first real assignment: an entire camp full of bandits. So much for a lack of excitement.

“Well, it seems like you got your wish," he shouted over the rushing wind and flapping of wings.

Aera turned to look at her rider. “What do you mean? This will be easier than flipping a hatchling," she commented, before focusing on the journey ahead with a confident smile etched on her snout.

Desmond rolled his eyes. She knew exactly what he was talking about. The shorter homes, walls, and tall towers of the Citadel passed beneath them as they left the grounds, small enough from his perspective to be a tiny model of the home he knew so well. On the east side of their territory, thick forests and greenery rose up a good several miles off. A few, smaller settlements were dotted along the landscape, with a dirt road heading off into the world beyond. It was all rather uncivilized for the time being, and a common ground for dragon riders and their ilk to go for assignments. It offered a good amount of cover from flying beasts, but there was always bound to be trouble.

“The more experienced riders must be going someplace else if they're sending us on a mission like this," Desmond commented over the din of the wind rushing by. This time, Aera did look back at him with some confusion, her eye giving him a look.

“Do you have doubts? I'm sure we'll do just fine," she responded, picking up the pace.

“It's not usual for a new rider to be sent off to arrest bandits, a group of them at that," he quickly snapped. “This is a lot, especially for us. We might need help."

“Desmond, I will keep you safe," Aera responded, keeping her head forwards as they neared the edge of the forest, the woods rising up to meet them as they got close. “There will be nothing to worry about. No bandits will harm you when I'm around."

Desmond looked down at the woods with trepidation, still not convinced. He then took a deep breath, shook his head, and focused. He brought his eyeglass up to bear, wrapping the leather strap over his shoulder and holding it tight in his hand, ensuring that it wouldn't fall.

“Just promise me, if I think it's too much, we're going back to request backup, got it?" He demanded. “If the group is large, proper procedure is to mark their location, then bring it back to base for more assistance. Got it?"

“Got it," Aera answered, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. She didn't want to have to turn around, but… her rider was correct. She couldn't put him in unnecessary danger. They flew higher, up towards the skyline and the clouds, as Desmond pointed his eyeglass down towards the woods, looking to spot them. They knew the area, they just needed to find a sign.

It didn't take long, but Aera was first to sense something through the thicket of treetops and branches.

"I think I hear something, little one," she remarked, head tilting slightly, "about a half-mile north, voices. And... hints of smoke. A campfire." Turning his gaze ahead, Des followed where she was looking, seeing a tiny plume of smoke spiraling up through distant trees.

"That must be them," he agreed, stowing the eyeglass and gripping her saddle, "how do you want to do this?" A deep, rubbing chuckle reverberated through her body as she slowed her flapping and began to cruise more stealthily. Hunting.

"It's a little thick for me to land, so how about I hover above them and try a little intimation of my own? she suggested, and Desmond nodded.

Soaring towards the spot where the camp had been spotted, Aera cast her wings out wide and swept them back powerfully, bringing herself to a stop in the air right above the camp with a shockingly strong gust of air assaulting the ground below. Des looked over to see the campfire blown apart, and the shapes of two startled men looking up at the sky.

Bringing her head back, Aera let out a feral roar, even catching her rider off guard with the rumbling ferocity as she flapped heavily to hover in place.

"You must be the men who robbed our trade caravan," she snarled, watching as they began to regain their wits, "surrender to us and I'll consider not setting you ablaze." To accentuate her point, she allowed fire to sizzle in her maw, a sight enough to get both men on their feet and fleeing properly.

"That should do it," Des commented as both men began to sprint away from their camp. Although hard to see much detail, he could tell both were still armed with swords and likely some daggers as well by their silhouettes. Below him, his dragoness rumbled in excitement, the thought of giving chase stirring her blood. With some heavy flaps she began to follow one of the men, singling out the fastest one as he stumbled blindly to the edge of the forest in fear.

"When that one is out of the tree cover, drop me off nearby," Des told her firmly, "I'll take him down and tie him up."

Aera kept her eyes fixated on the fleeing bandit before them as she responded. “Are you sure? We could take this one down together, then move on to the next," she said. Despite her previous bravery, she felt more concern for her rider in the middle of the hunt.

“It's only two bandits," Desmond argued, already beginning to take his foot out of the leather straps holding him on her back. “Your eyesight and smell will be better at tracking the second one than my own. I'm more than capable of subduing this one myself, then you can simply come meet me after. Remember, we need them both alive." His dragoness snorted back at him at those words.

“Of course, I'll be 'gentle,'" Aera said, before dipping her wings down towards the forest floor, her sarcasm detectable through the rushing wind as they descended. She dropped down to the closest opening, right in front of where the bandit was fleeing, her wingtips brushing against the surrounding trees as she lowered herself down.

Desmond almost felt sorry for the other bandit. He was better at avoiding capture than his friend, true, but there was no way he was going to avoid a dragon in here, not even with the cover of trees. Aera's hunting capabilities were too strong for a human to avoid without special training and knowledge. The other bandit would be brought back alive, yes, but most likely terrified, bruised, and casually manhandled by a reptile large enough to carry a horse-drawn carriage in her claws.

In their shoes, Desmond would much rather prefer to be the clumsy one.

He dropped off the side of his dragoness and landed smoothly on the ground, immediately drawing his sword. His keen eyes spotted the bandit a short ways back, and he allowed himself a smile. His prey turned and began to flee with a curse, but there was no escaping them now. He'd been marked.

“Don't take your time with him, Desmond," Aera ordered in a commanding tone, pushing herself into the air and taking off with a flap of her great wings. “Take him down, and signal for me to come meet with you. No playing games."

With a grunt of affirmation, Desmond silently agreed, before taking off towards his quarry and moving along the forest floor like a wraith. He held his sword at the ready and moved with deadly precision, brought on by years of training at the highest level. He didn't need to be reminded that speed was of the utmost importance. There would be no talking with this bandit, or bargaining: he was focused on taking him down immediately, then worrying about the second fugitive after. They could explain their crimes to the citadel.

As the sounds of his dragoness' wings grew distant, Desmond chased his quarry. With fresh legs he caught him easily, watching as the man stopped sprinting and drew his sword as the rider approached.

"You're under arrest for armed robbery," Desmond called out firmly, his own weapon in hand, "place your weapon on the ground or I'll be forced to do this the hard way." The bandit clenched his sword firmly, intending to do nothing of the sort as he began to run at the dragon rider, weapon raised aggressively.

Planting his back foot, Desmond waited until the man was upon him before taking a quick step back, letting the swung blade breeze by his face harmlessly. Using the back of his blade he stepped back in and clubbed the bandit across the side of the head, sending him stumbling past under his own momentum and falling to the ground.

Before he could get back up, the dazed bandit's body was pinned by Des, rope in hand as he began to bind the criminal with strong knots to ensure he wouldn't go anywhere but the Citadel prison cells.

"Like I said, you're under arrest," he repeated, pulling the ropes tight, "quit your struggling, or I'll make them even tighter." It didn't stop the bandit from trying, resisting the weight of the dragon rider on his back as he attempted to reach for his dropped weapon nearby. With a hearty tug Desmond pulled the rope tight, securing those arms firmly behind the man's back.

Satisfied his captured quarry wasn't going anywhere, Desmond had barely turned his thoughts to the second one his dragoness was chasing before a sudden noise behind him alerted him to danger. The rider was just in time to throw himself back on the ground to avoid a sword blade swung at his neck, the second bandit having emerged from the nearby forest to catch him off guard.

Having dodged away from his own sword, Des found himself unarmed as the second bandit quickly pressed the offensive to rescue his comrade. Without time to free his friend from the ropes, instead the bandit attacked the rider, sword raised as he thrust down to try and spear it through the young man's chest. Des rolled to the side to avoid the first thrust, but the second was right behind it, plunging towards his heart mercilessly.

A single gust of wind was all the warning he received before the bandit simply vanished into the sky.

There was a flash of green, a sudden yell of terror, and then silence. Desmond had seen Aera attack enough straw dummies during training to know what had happened. He had observed such aerial maneuvers from afar, but this was the first time he'd experienced it up close. The sheer quickness and lethality of a dragoness was never to be questioned.

Whether or not Aera had spared the bandit's life however was yet to be seen. Their orders and her training dictated that both of the criminals should remain alive, and yet it all happened so fast. He quickly pushed himself onto his feet and held up a hand, trying to see where his dragoness had gone. Desmond heard a thundering flap of reptilian wings in the distance, but it was challenging to place her location in the sky. With branches blocking his vision, he decided to focus on his immediate environment so that no further surprises could catch him off guard.

His heart was still racing and his breathing was heavy from the near-death experience. Years of training had prepared him for an assignment like this and yet he'd still let his guard down in the heat of the moment. Despite his ability to subdue the first bandit effortlessly, he'd allowed himself to grow overconfident and careless. Without Aera around, he'd most likely have a blade in his gut.

Collecting his fallen sword from the ground, the rise sheathed it back into his belt. Silently shaking his head, he waited by the bandit for Aera to return. He would have to discuss this with her when they were back in the Citadel, alone; he couldn't let his guard down like this again.

“Where did your animal take Mayson, you Citadel pig," the bandit wheezed next to him, still out of breath, face down in the dirt. “Figures you needed help to best us. All that fancy armor and gear, and still nothing between your legs."

“Silence, you'll answer for your crimes soon enough, just as he will," Desmond quickly snapped. He cast an eye over his quarry's bonds, ensuring the ropes were properly secure, before keeping an eye out on the surrounding forest. As confident as he once was, now finding himself without Aera briefly, he felt vulnerable. He wanted her back, and was staying put until she returned.

Any further words were put on pause as he heard the returning flap of dragoness wings. It had taken longer than expected, but he figured it was because she was fighting to keep the human in her grip. All the training in the world couldn't prepare you for a stubborn man attempting to free himself from the Citadel's justice. The wing grew louder, and closer, and it wasn't long before Aera came swiftly down from the canopy of branches above.

To Desmond's surprise however, her claws were empty. Aera landed in front of him, her massive body facing sideways and causing the ground to shake lightly as her limbs flexed, absorbing the impact. Something seemed different about her.

“Where did the bandit go?" He asked, taking a step forward. “I could've sworn you…" And that's when he saw it. He stopped speaking completely as his gaze ventured down to her belly, seeing the swell of a meal inside those emerald tummy scales. It was the sight of a full, well-fed dragoness, one that he only saw after gorging herself on a large amount of meat.

Licking some stray saliva from her lips, she looked at Desmond with guilt for the briefest of moments, unsure of how to explain herself at first. “I'm... sorry Des, I… I couldn't help myself," she admitted. “When he tried to kill you I... I felt myself lose control. I didn't hold him in the air, I ate… I… swallowed him whole."

Both Desmond and the captured criminal paled slightly as they realised what had occured, their eyes fixed on the added weight under those emerald scales. Even Des, with his training, had no idea how to handle such a situation and stood in place blankly for a few moments.

"Y... you ate Mayson..." the bandit muttered in shock, looking up from the dirt at the sizeable dragoness before him, "you..." His sentence was cut short as Desmond turned and struck him across the back of the head with his sword hilt, knocking the bound man unconscious.

"Fuck, Aera..." he managed to say as he sheathed his sword, "you ATE him? W... what? You can't just... eat someone on our first mission! Whole? Is he still alive in there? Gods above..." He couldn't think straight, looking at his mount standing there with a belly full of bandit. The dragoness looked guilty as she gazed upon her rider, but her gaze stiffened, not willing to admit she'd done the wrong thing.

"He was going to... to kill you, Des," she rumbled in her defence, "I can't forgive that."

"Aera, everyone out here might be trying to kill me. That doesn't mean... fuck... how do we explain this to the Captain..." He looked down at the bandit they'd captured, face down in the dirt.

"And, we have a damn witness. Shit..." Running his fingers over his sword pommel, he tried to collect his thoughts, until Aera stepped in and bumped against him with her snout.

"Come, let us return to the bandit camp," she suggested, "we can think on this. I can't go back to the Citadel like... this." She looked down at her weighted paunch, where the man within was vigorously struggling against the conditions of the chamber he now found himself occupying. Desmond could see the movements, and shivered at the sight.

"Gods above, Aera... you ate him alive. Why isn't he... I can't believe I'm asking this... dead yet?" He knelt down and lifted the other bandit into his shoulders, knowing they'd need to bring him along. Aera hesitated before replying to her rider, knowing full well he likely wouldn't appreciate the honest answer.

“Let's just get back to the bandit camp; I'll explain everything on the way. We can walk, it's not far," Aera said, casually suggesting it to avoid carrying three humans with her in flight. That would be rather exhausting.

“I'm not sure what else there would be to explain," Desmond answered, failing to hide some anger in his voice as they started walking. “This was our first mission, Aera, there was going to be some danger. I was bound to get in trouble sometimes, and I'm sure you would as well. It doesn't mean we fall to our basic instincts and eat our enemies. Dragons just... don't do that anymore."

Aera walked alongside her rider in silence for a long while, attempting to find the right words. Her belly was round and heavy, yes, but not so much as to be uncomfortable walking. More like a gentle swell in the middle of her gut, with the odd, panicked motion or struggle from the other side of those emerald scales. Even walking was more awkward this way, but nothing she couldn't handle for the time being.

“No they don't, and I'm sorry," she said after a while. “I don't know what came over me. When I saw the bandit about to impale you with that sword, I just… snapped," she admitted. They had gone through training to ensure their emotions didn't get the best of them in a difficult situation. In this case however, she had failed. “I felt anger inside me, and rage. I knew that I shouldn't do it, but I wanted to punish him right then and there for trying to hurt my rider. As I lifted him into the air I decided to eat him. Not just eat him though, but to swallow him whole."

As his dragoness explained, Desmond looked over at her again. His eyes looked past the bandit on his shoulders to watch her, looking into those deep, reptilian eyes and finding them full of sorrow and regret. Not of eating a human, he assumed, but of disappointing him, and failing as a dragoness on their first assignment out. He couldn't help but also look past her striding limbs to her scaled belly. “So you decided that to eat him in this way was to get immediate justice, in a sense?" He asked.

Aera merely nodded in return to that answer, keeping her eyes fixated on that path ahead. There wasn't much more to say behind her reasoning, so she simply waited for a response from Des. She hoped she hadn't disappointed or disturbed him too much with her actions.

With a sigh, Desmond continued on, the other man growing heavy on his shoulders. “I can understand why you did it," he admitted, offering consolation to his troubled companion. “If I were in your position, I don't think I would be able to hold myself back, not in they were trying to kill you. I'm not mad with you, just... this isn't easy to fix."

Aera breathed a short sigh of relief. “I'm...glad that you think so, Des," she answered, the happiness quite clear in her voice.

“You're my dragoness, Aera, I will always be on your side," Desmond added, smiling over at her. He could tell his disapproval was bothering her, and he would do anything to distract her from the problems that faced them ahead. “We can talk more about what we're going to do in a moment. We're almost there." The camp was located just a little deeper in the forest, and they would be arriving soon.

As the bandits' tents and campfire came into view, the rider double-checked that his unconscious prisoner was securely bound.

"I'm going to put him in one of these tents for now," he suggested, carrying the man over to the closest one and depositing his limp form inside. Closing it up behind him, Des looked back to his dragoness, who puffed a light breath of fire over the extinguished wood of the campfire, setting it ablaze once more. It was still light, but the air was frigid and she knew her rider would appreciate the warmth.

Picking out a large space in the grass nearby, Aera slowly sprawled out on her side, letting her fed belly rest upon the soft surface to alleviate the weight it added to her body. With that new bulge on prominent display, it was difficult for Des to look at her and not think about the fact that a living human now resided in her gut. With a final glance at the tent beside him, he moved closer to the fire and sat down on the stump the bandits had no doubt been using as a seat. Now that the adrenaline was subsiding somewhat, he wasn't sure what to make of the situation he now found himself in.

"Des?" she inquired, drawing his gaze to hers, "are... are you upset with me?" She could feel the man within her still fighting, leaving her emerald scales to shift and reflect the light from the fire in a way that made it very obvious what she'd done.

"No, I..." he began, his eyes drawn to her active gut, "I haven't... I don't know what to do in this situation. We can't go back with you looking so... so fed. Gods above Aera, did you have to swallow him whole? There's a living man in there..." He couldn't help but think of that bandit looming over him, weapon in hand, now sealed in the blackness of his dragon's foul guts.

"He wouldn't have hesitated to run you through with his blade," she replied bluntly, "and I am going to spend the next few hours killing him for it. I make no apology for that." He winced at her directness, before a part of what she'd said nagged at him.

"H... Hours?" he remarked, and she nodded slowly. She could feel the feeble kicks and punches of her prey against the soft inner walls of her stomach, the man looking for any escape from the putrid furnace of a healthy young dragoness' active guts, tiring himself out with the constant attempts at escape. It was not a sensation that displeased her, stimulating a long-dormant part of her brain that demanded submission from her foes.

"Yes, Des," she responded, her claws running over her belly scales slowly, "you should have paid more attention in biology class. Our stomachs secrete oxygen to stoke our breath-flames. This bandit will have no trouble breathing in my stomach, which means I must digest him alive. From what I've read, this will normally take a few hours. Would you have me return to the Captain displaying this much additional weight?

Desmond stared at the expanded paunch of his dragoness. It was an obvious conclusion that they should remain in the camp until Aera had fully digested her prey. Such a thing wouldn't go unnoticed, and the Captain would surely punish such an act, despite the provocation from the thief. They might even lose their duties and go back to simply being a patrol.

With a nervous gulp, Desmond distracted himself, leaning forwards and rooting through his bag to find one of the few provisions they brought along. After some searching, he pulled out an oatmeal bar, unwrapping it from the fabric before taking a few bites. Afterwards however, he found he didn't have much of an appetite. He stopped eating and simply held it a moment longer, before putting it back in his bag.

Aera watched him, still concerned that she had disturbed her rider by her actions. “Do you think he didn't deserve it?" She asked.

Desmond gave her a sidelong glance. “I didn't say that…"

“No, but you are avoiding looking at me, Des" Aera, responded, trying to keep her voice gentle, and understanding. “Do you want me to go somewhere else while I do this? I don't want you to be bothered by me." She cast her snout downwards after she spoke, before lifting her eyes, finding him staring back.

“No no, you can stay, of course," Desmond answered. “I don't mind it at all. I've seen you eat things before, and what is done is done. I'm more concerned for you, and for us, than anything else right now in this moment." He then stopped attempting to find any firewood and simply sat down on the stump, facing her sprawled form. “I want you to stay."

Aera smiled at that, flashing him some fangs and breathing out a sigh of relief. “Mm, good, I'm glad to hear it," she said, lifting up her claws to stroke her paw slowly over the surface of her scaled middle. It was an involuntary action, but one that she couldn't deny gave her a small measure of...delight. The human inside pushed at her stomach walls just as she did it, her gut making a deep, muffled gurgling sound at the same time. A shiver fell down her spine.

“This might sound strange, Des, but…" Aera began, casting her eyes down the length of her body. She paused for a moment before responding, tilting her head in thought, and watching the subtle movements in her round belly. “I'm not bothered that I ate him at all. This bandit in my gut feels… pleasant. I like it," she admitted.

Des wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that confession. Upon joining the ranks of the season riders, he and Aera had sworn to protect both human and dragonkind. Now, looking over at the proud, powerful beast splayed out on the opposite side of the campfire, he could see the darker, more instinctual side of her showing through. Decades ago, dragons preyed upon humans frequently, and humans in turn hunted and killed their kind. Only the establishment of the Citadel and the Riders had managed to bring stability to such a difficult time.

"Aera..." he replied finally, watching the reflection of the flames shimmer off her scales, "I know you acted in the heat of the moment, but... you know this is against the oaths we swore together. You can't..." He paused, watching her claws run over that shifting bulge in her middle. "It's just this one time Aera. You know the old stories; you can't just eat people and enjoy it." The dragoness exhaled quietly, pondering his words. The feeling of a full belly, prey that had tried to kill her rider, was undeniably satisfying, however wrong she knew deep down it truly was.

"I'm worried one taste of human has given you a real liking for it," Desmond added quietly, and she shook her head.

"It's... not like that," she reassured him, "I just... cannot forgive anyone that would bring you harm. I... care too deeply for you as my rider, and acted to protect you with my instincts. Yet... I will not lie to you, Desmond. It feels good. I am going to enjoy killing him for daring to do the same to you. I am not so tame as to deny my nature, though I shall not get myself, and by extension you, caught in the act, so to speak."

It was difficult for Des to argue with his dragon when she was so assertive, and instead he gazed down into the fire, stretching his arms a little as thoughts ravaged his mind. It wasn't too surprising to hear that she was enjoying her meal; humans were a natural prey for dragons, after all. Yet, he certainly didn't want to regress all of the hard work put into ensuring both species could live in harmony these past few decades.

Looking over at the emerald dragoness, he could see her claws caressing that bulge in her middle. A lump in those perfect scales, indicating a live bandit was fighting for his very existence beneath those layers of fat and muscle. It was clear by her attitude that she wasn't intending to let him free, but it unsettled him that she seemed so intent on digesting the man alive.

"I won't stop you," he told her finally, "but I don't like this. Like I said, you can't just... eat anyone you don't like. That's going to raise a lot of eyebrows if we return empty handed every time. I can cover for you this time, but... this cannot be a pattern. Promise me that, at least, Aera." She hesitated for a brief moment at his request, but she valued her relationship with Desmond too much to refuse.

“I won't eat anyone I don't like," Aera agreed, choosing her words carefully. She felt the urge to smile in that moment, but felt it improper for the seriousness of the conversation. Instead she simply waited for Desmond to approve of her promise, holding his gaze.

Desmond didn't take long to answer her. He simply nodded his head and closed his eyes, looking down at the ground. “I think that will have to do," he said, before turning on the stump and facing back towards the fire. He rested his hands on his knees for the moment, sitting there with his dragoness in the silence that followed. He listened to the fire and stared at the bright flame, finding it comforting, and knowing they would be stuck here at the campsite for a while.

However, the comfort was only brief, as the silence soon revealed the continuous, noxious gurgling and digesting sounds coming from his dragoness' belly.

He turned after a moment, giving Aera a look. She was once again running her claws over her middle, finding just a bit too much joy in consuming another human being for his liking. It was a disturbing thought to know that the bandit was on the inside of her predacious form… inside those layers of scales, while the process of his digestion was only just beginning. Not only that, but she was quite clearly enjoying every second of it. Try as he might, he couldn't convince her to disobey her natural instincts.

“Still rubbing along your belly are you?" Desmond asked pointedly. “I don't think I've ever seen you do this with other meals. This is something new, isn't it?"

Aera looked up at him in mild surprise, as if coming out of a pleasured daze. “Oh… oh right, yes... this is something new indeed," she answered, tilting her head at him, and swishing her tail along the ground. “Am I bothering you? I apologize if I am, Des."

“No no, it's alright, I'm just… still trying to understand everything that just happened," Desmond admitted. “We've been together almost our entire lives, and I always like to see you so happy. You're not bothering me at all." As he spoke, and his dragon gave a rumble of approval, he found himself staring back at her body, watching as she slid those claws along those emerald scales. Her belly swelled with the weight of food, right between her strong, muscular legs on each side. They shone in the light as beautiful as ever, as perfect as he always knew them to be, and hiding the consummation of her prey just beneath. In that moment, he couldn't help but feel a mild curiosity, with some of his disgust melting away.

“Mind if I… come and have a closer look?" He asked. Her head tilted slightly as those keen reptilian eyes fixed on her rider questioningly.

"You want to come look?" she inquired, lifting her claws from her belly as her tail thumped the grass heavily, "he's just a bulge now, Des, there's not a lot to see." The man shook his head, and slowly got to his feet. Taking a few steps around the crackling fire, Des found himself kneeling down beside the impressive beast.

She'd always been a large dragoness, but with the added weight of a live meal she looked positively imposing. Splaying out on the forest floor only accentuated her impressive length, but it was the roundness to her middle that drew her rider's gaze.

"I've been your rider since you were a hatchling," he commented quietly, "and in that time I've trained with you every day. I never thought you'd go this far..." He fell silent as he realised he could hear something, albeit almost imperceptible, through that mass of scale and muscle.

Aera watched in interest as his hands pressed to her middle, Desmond laying the side of his head right on her warm underbelly as he tried to discern what he'd heard. A moment later, a large, disturbingly fluidic gurgle rumbled in his ear, followed by the unmistakable sound of a man's panicked voice.

"Gods..." Des breathed as he pulled back slightly, "I... I can hear him..." Aera exhaled heavily, her tail flicking anxiously from side to side at his reaction. He'd lay against his dragoness' paunch many times before in the privacy of their quarters, but never had he experienced her in this new and unsettling way.

"It... sounds like he's begging," he commented nervously, "I... I can make out the words. Gods, Aera, he's pleading for help."

"I'm killing him, Des," the dragoness replied bluntly, "I imagine he'll have a lot to say, at least for a while." The matter-of-fact way she said such things left the rider feeling a shiver of apprehension, a glimpse into the depths of that power that dragons naturally held over their prey. Human prey.

“I suppose there's no chance you're going to let him out?" Desmond asked, already knowing the answer. His dragon scoffed at him.

“Of course not," Aera answered. “This is how dragons have always eaten their food since the beginning times, human or otherwise. I have no sympathy for him, and it's in my belly that he will stay." She responded, in a direct and authoritative tone. “Of course… I don't want to disturb you with this Des, you know that. If you want me to move away for a while, I can leave you alone."

Desmond continued to look down at his dragoness' body, observing everything laid out before him. He knew he should be uncomfortable with what was happening, but he found that the pleading noises coming from within didn't disgust him like he knew it should. The low, muffled gurgling of digestion that bubbled under his exploring hands left him with a sensation of… excitement, and a deep thrill that he didn't want to admit. His own reaction confused him at first. Society had taught him this was a horrible, illegal act that no criminal ever deserved, and yet, he didn't care at all.

He continued to run his hands over those emerald scales, entranced by what might be happening beyond them; the undeniable display of power and strength of his lifelong partner. Of all the days spent by her side, Aera had never felt so beautiful and magnificent at this moment. She was a strong, predatory creature, capable of completely dominating a human without mercy. Inside a dragon's belly, someone like him could do nothing to get out. They were hers to conquer at her leisure… and she savoured it.

“No, it's ok, it… doesn't bother me," Desmond answered with an unsure tone. He was still processing the emotions going through him, trying to find the correct words to say. Aera was looking at him with concern, and a little inquisitiveness. Clearly it wasn't the answer she'd been expecting from her normally by-the-book rider either.

“It... doesn't? What are you thinking, Des?" Aera asked, remaining still as she lay on her side for him. He'd been close to her before, but not in this manner. Not with such interested and exploring eyes. “Does this truly not bother you?"

Rather than answering right away, Desmond carefully smoothed his hands out along her belly scales, reaching out in either direction. Slowly he lowered himself down onto her middle as he'd done hundreds of times before, closing his eyes, and pressing his cheek to her warm, soft scales. Her warmth cascaded over his skin, while the scent of her reptilian form filled his nostrils. From here, he could hear and feel every little thing: the rise and fall of her breathing, the distant drum of her heartbeat, and the continuing cries of distress from her prey, locked away behind inescapable walls of muscle and fat.

“Not... not as much as I think it should," Desmond told her quietly. “I… I think I like you like this, Aera. Coming to my rescue, taking what you want. Powerful and confident. I... I like you." The last part seemed to slip free of his lips, without a second thought.

The dragoness regarded her rider for a moment as he lay against her, evidently listening to the sounds of suggestion rumbling up from her stomach. What he'd said sounded simple enough, but she'd known the young human long enough to know that he didn't usually talk about her in such a manner.

"Like me?" she pried, thumping the grass with her heavy tail, "I'm your dragon, Des. I thought you always liked me. Or do you mean something else?" The man's cheeks flushed slightly at her question, having not thought she'd read so deeply into his.

"I mean..." he tried to respond, but found himself wondering what he really did mean. He was alone with his dragoness, deep in the forest outside of town, with only one unconscious and one devoured bandit for company. Their first mission, ruined by Aera's poor decision making, and yet... she looked utterly resplendent sprawled out before him.

"Des?" she prodded, catching her rider lost in thought. A muffled scream escaped from her paunch, the bandit inside no doubt in a great deal of discomfort as the dragon's body took what it wanted from him. It was brutal and cruel, and yet the dragoness above showed no indication that she considered it anything other than perfectly natural.

One of her large claws gently brushed under his chin, lifting her rider's head off her underbelly and directing his gaze up to her own. Curling her head so that it was close to his, she stared into his eyes and let him truly observe her expression, alien as it often was to her human.

"Des, do you feel... more strongly about me than... you feel a rider should, for his dragon?" She asked quietly, ensuring he couldn't look away as her warm, predatory breath rolled over his face as she spoke. His face turned redder at her more forthright query, and she lowered her head a little more until it dominated his view.

"I trust you more than anyone, Des," she admitted gently, "you raised me, cared for me, taught me... and yet I failed you on our first real mission together for... for very selfish reasons. I am sorry... but my blood boils at the thought of anyone bringing you harm... and delights in their punishment. I... perhaps feel more strongly about you than... I should."

Desmond had been lost in his own thoughts when his dragoness finished speaking. He'd been trying to put his feelings into words, unable to find them, when Aera simply went ahead and admitted it as well. “You have feelings for me as well?" He asked, continuing to look into her eyes. “I mean… I didn't think you would. They're forbidden between us, as you know, I haven't thought much more on the subject."

Aera smiled at her rider with a soft expression. “Not until now, but now we've each said our piece, haven't we?" She responded, tilting her large head at him. “The only question now is… what do you want to do about it? You did say it was forbidden, but let's not worry about that for now, I don't care about that." With a pause, she tilted his head at him, a dragon sign of affection. “I want to know, Des, my rider… what are the feelings you have for me? What were you going to say?"

Desmond tried to hold her gaze, but ended up looking down. He went back to studying the shining, emerald scales of her body stretched out before him. It was a lot to think about in such a short amount of time. He never could've imagined revealing his true feelings to his dragoness like this, not with a live human trapped inside her stomach, and her eyes observing him with a loving understanding.

“I've always thought I might want you as more than just my dragon," Desmond admitted, looking back up at her finally. “But I never thought it would be possible. I've heard stories and rumors of course… of a dragon and a human being this way. But Aera, I… are we even compatible? Would you even want me? I'm not a dragon, and never will be. You don't want to settle down with a mate of your own kind?" He asked.

Aera peered at him with an unwavering stare, unbroken by the question. It was as if she expected the question to come, having prepared an answer already. “My own kind doesn't interest me at the moment, Des… not when I have you," she said.

As much as he wanted to look away, Desmond kept staring right at Aera. Those words made him realize how close they were, how they seemed to be drifting towards one another without intentionally closing the distance. They'd been with each other for so long, but he'd never considered the possibility it would lead to something like this. She was a dragon… a much larger being, and more impressive than himself, and yet she wasn't moving away from him.

“Yes, but are you sure we could even make this work?" Desmond continued, his voice going quieter with his dragoness so close. “I mean, look at you… we're not compatible. I'm not going to be able to give you what you want, not what another of your kind could."

“Let me be the judge of that," Aera rumbled at him, her lips so close to his now that he could feel her warm breath with each exhale, the scent of predatory breath filling the air. “We've already broken some rules together here, Des. I say let's break some more."

He could smell the intense edge to her breath as it wafted over him, similar, yet different. It hinted at the cruelty occurring within, and yet her eyes only gleamed as they observed her rider in a new light. Not just the intelligent human who rode upon her back, but a prospective life-mate with whom she would mate with.

A keen blush filled the young man's cheeks as his thoughts finally turned indecent, looking up at the female he'd spent the better part of his teenage and early adult years with. He'd always found her naturally beautiful, with scales like gemstones and a grace in her movements that simply couldn't be matched. Yet, he had never paid her a great deal of attention between her hindquarters.

"Don't... don't you find it... uh... a little strange?" he asked, earning a tilt from her large head as she gazed at him inquisitively, "you know... I'm a human, and so is..." She pondered for a moment as his words trailed off, the silence punctuated by another muffled protest from within.

"Perhaps," she replied thoughtfully, "but the simple fact of the matter is, you're my beloved rider, the man who raised me, and spent every waking moment of my existence putting my needs and care ahead of his own. He... he might be the same species as you, Desmond, but he is lowly scum that I will take pleasure in snuffing out in my stomach. I cannot lie to you... his struggling, his pleading... it fuels my lusts." Her tail slapped the grass heavily as she rolled over a little more, stretching out her hind legs and tucking her leathery wings in a little tighter.

"Why don't you go take a look at your dragoness properly?" she suggested, replacing the predatory edge in her voice with a more sensual one, "I want my rider to know every last inch of his mate."

Desmond gave her a look of surprise at that offer. Of all the scenarios running through his head since his admission, her immediate acceptance and teasing wasn't taken into account. She made it sound like he could go anywhere he wanted… and that she was open to taking things to the next level, immediately. He was quite intimidated by his large friend, and he couldn't help but gulp in nervousness.

“Um, sure, I can do that," he responded, awkwardly, his eyes wandering over her form for a moment. “Where would you like me to start?"

Aera tsked at him after he spoke, shaking her head lightly. “Oh Desmond, you don't need to ask for permission. Just start touching and exploring where you want. Learn what your dragoness is like when she's full of food, relaxed, and open to her human touching her." She rumbled, her serpentine tongue flicking out when she finished.

With a nod of understanding, Desmond bit his lip, and simply reached out his hand to touch her on the bridge of her nose. It was a simple gesture to start, but one that was welcomed by his dragoness completely. She closed her eyes at his touch, letting out a delighted rumble to spur him onwards. With the courage to continue on, he took a step past her front paw and placed himself near the crook of her neck, starting to slide his hands down.

He'd touched her in these areas before of course, but only at appropriate times: such as helping her with an itch, or slapping away some insect that landed on her. Nothing that was this… sensual. He cupped his hand over her jawline, using both of them to rub down her snout as she remained perfectly still, his hand gliding down her neck to sense the soft, smooth scales of her muscular form. He could feel every cord of strength under that natural armor, the power and size of it all making him shudder with awe.

To imagine that a full, adult man had just been swallowed down the same neck he was feeling with his hands...It was almost surreal to imagine. Aera truly was a force of nature, an apex predator in these lands, and she was surrendering herself to him, letting him do as he wished. Keeping his hands in place and his eyes closed, he concentrated on the heat of her body, and the raw smell of her bestial, reptilian body in such close proximity.

It was after a few moments that he noticed her jaws hovering close, right next to his ear.

“Are you feeling what I'm feeling, Des?" Aera asked, looking directly into his eyes as her heated breath washed over him. Her mouth was large enough to encompass his shoulders in a single bite, and yet Desmond didn't look away.

“I think I am," Desmond answered softly, his voice full of emotion. “This… sense of thrill and excitement? Of being with someone you've wanted to be with your whole life?"

“Something like that," Aera rumbled in a soft growl, a sonorous and pleasing sound coming from her throat. “I think I'm going to let you explore more of me in just a moment here, Des. But first, I… want to try something I've seen a few humans do at the Capital. Something like… this, right?" She inquired, before moving in and pressing her lips to his, the tip of her tongue touching his chin.

Desmond's eyes widened as his dragoness kissed him for the first time, her thick tongue leading most of the action as it dragged up from his chin to press against his lips. He opened his mouth briefly to speak but found it immediately invaded by the pointed tip of her oral organ, the eager female seizing the advantage as he presented it to her.

With his mouth stuffed with her heated tongue, Des groaned as her viscous saliva painted the inside of his mouth, reminding him of just how little like a human his mount truly was. Still, she seemed to relish in the act, keeping her connection firm to his face while she explored the inside of her rider's mouth.

"Mmmf... Aera..." He grunted from around her lips, their combined saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth and down his chin. He was vaguely aware that she'd just eaten a man alive with that same orifice, but it didn't stop him from clutching her jaw and leaning in to match her aggressive intimacy.

They made out for nearly a minute, dragon and human sharing a deeper connection than ever before, leaving little doubt in either of their minds that their relationship would become sexual in nature going forward. Eventually, Aera pulled her tongue tip from the human's mouth, leaving a messy strand clinging between them briefly for a few moments.

"Aera..." he huffed, and was met with a thick cloud of dragon breath as she exhaled over him. He shuddered at just how potent it was; as a dragon rider, he was well used to the smell of a dragon's breath, but now it carried the unmistakable edge of the meat her belly was actively working on. Aera's eyes narrowed a little in concern as her rider stepped back briefly.

"Would you like me to find some mint to chew, Desmond?" she asked with a wry smirk, and he shook his head. "My breath will continue to be unpleasant, I expect."

"Sorry," the rider apologised quickly, "I was caught off guard." He stepped back in and gently caressed her jaw. "I want you to... enjoy your meal, no matter what or who it is, Aera."

Aera gave him an odd look at that comment. “It sounds like you're getting used to the idea of me consuming a human," she responded. “Perhaps my kiss has left you a little awestruck. Not many humans get the chance to kiss one of my kind." She teased, her tone dropping into a playful rumble.

“I'm starting to get used to a lot of things I think," Desmond said. His hands remained on her jaws even after their passionate act, massaging her scales there in continuous, soft circles. “And I imagine I'll get the chance to do a few other things that… not every human gets a chance to with a beautiful dragoness."

Aera let out a short, delighted laugh, which came out more like an amused growl. “Oh my, Desmond, I really like this side of you," she said. “Do tell, what sorts of 'things' did you have in mind? I'm curious." She then waited expectantly for him to respond, her tail twitching with anticipation along the ground. They both were thinking the same thing now, but she wanted to hear him say it: to put him on the spot and hear the words from his mouth.

“I… well," he stammered at first, blushing. “You mentioned feeling something, just a moment ago, and I feel it too," he said, his eyes cast down her massive body as he stood before her. “We have a lot of time to spend with each other before getting back to the capital. I thought that maybe… if you wanted to…"

With a soft coo in her throat, Aera silenced her human, tilting her head at him and getting close. She flicked her long, serpentine tongue in a graceful lick along his lips as her eyes radiated with nothing but affection and lust. “I do want to, Des. I do," she answered, lifting a paw to touch his arm softly with her claws. “Never in a thousand years would've I imagined doing something like this, but with you… I think… it feels right. We're alone here, with not a soul here to witness this but ourselves. Let us share this experience together, here and now."

Aera then dropped her paw back down and took a look at her surroundings, making sure she didn't destroy anything as she rolled her reptilian form onto her back. As she sprawled outwards, she revealed even more of her sleek, feminine scales, and the lighter shade of blue covering her chest and belly. Her middle was still quite protruding: rounded and swelled with the weight of prey inside. She kept her hind legs crossed for now, closed from view, choosing to keep that part of her teasingly blocked for now. With an arch of her back and a slide of her tail, she gave her human a sultry look and said something Demond would never forget.

“Do you want me to keep the saddle on, or off?" she practically whispered, and her rider's body shamefully betrayed how the sight before him made him feel, a crimson blush caressing his features.

"I... I like a girl in uniform," he replied bashfully, barely able to meet her gaze despite how eagerly she looked down at him. His arousal was evident now, a firm bulging in the front of his pants giving the dragoness a reasonable idea as to how much her antics were stimulating her human life-mate.

"I, however, have no need of yours, Des," she told him firmly, confidence filling her voice as her stomach gurgled heavily around its meal. "Disrobe for me."

Her bluntness was only more of a turn on as his fingers found his tunic, removing it with trembling digits as the forbidden thrill of what was to come filled his mind. His pants followed suit, unbuckled and discarded as he left himself bare before the stunning predatory beast he had raised since a hatchling. Unlike his mount, Desmond gave her a complete view of himself; his muscular torso a common sight in her company, but the seven inches of uncut manhood below a new and savourable treat to her eyes.

"H... how do I look?" he asked apprehensively, and she chuckled in response.

"You are no dragon," she admitted, dragging her thick tongue over her maw as she observed him closely, "but there is more to mating than sheer size. I doubt I'll have any difficulty in getting off with my lover inside me." Once more her forwardness left him crimson-faced, but shockingly erect as her legs unfolded to reveal what she'd been coyly hiding from her human companion.

In all their time together, Desmond would've never imagined Aera displaying herself like this for him. Sure, he'd caught glimpses under her tail as he spent his life with her, but never in such an alluring and sexual manner. She was so beautiful to him at that moment, knowing that she was exposing herself in an equally vulnerable and revealing position. All for him.

Once her legs parted, he found himself looking directly at the smooth, pink slit of her sex, nestled between her toned and muscular legs. The opening was surrounded by the softest and smallest scales he'd ever seen on her, with delicate lips touched by a thin layer of moisture and heat. There was a slight reveal of flesh directly in the middle that dipped down into darkness, though it was mostly hidden by those same scales that occasionally squeezed and clenched to show some internal muscle. It was bestial and reptilian in nature, but Desmond didn't find it offputting in the slightest. In fact, he was entranced.

“I hope you're right about that," Desmond managed to say after a moment. “Because I have to admit, that's going to be a lot for me...satisfy." He admitted with a nervous swallow.

Aera retained her confident outlook on the situation, only smiling at her rider more. “Trust me, you will be adequate for me," she said. “You and I share a connection, Des. This will be just like our kiss, except much more personal and close… much more raw, passionate, and sexual." Her voice dropped lower when she spoke, inhaling deeply with excitement.

Desmond shivered at his dragoness' words. Something about the way she spoke resonated with his desires, and he found himself painfully erect, his pleasure throbbing between his legs. Her strength, her power; all of it there submitting on the ground right before him. He could very well be that human in her gut, tucked away behind those rumbling layers of flesh to be nothing more than nutrition and food, and yet here he was: her human mate and lover.

Sensing that her human was adoring this, Aera tilted her head and licked her lips again in a slow and sensual manner. She then placed her paw on her belly and slid her claws down, massaging over her rounded belly, before dipping down to those small, soft scales at her crotch. With a growl and a lift of her tail, she touched her sex with those same claws, and spread open her wet, reptilian sex, revealing more of those wet, fleshy depths.

“Come on Des, climb on my tail and fuck me, now. Don't make me wait any longer," she breathed. Her demands were met with obedience as her rider straddled her thick, powerful tail, pressing his hands against those incredible inner thighs while lining himself up with his mount. All thoughts of right and wrong had left him as he gazed over the sight before him, taking in all that raw, animalistic power on display.

From his position between her legs, the bulge in her belly was quite prominent, leaving her rider with no room to deny the merciless act of occurring under those stunning scales. As his shaft nestled up against her steamy outer lips, he could hear the deep, satisfied rumble from her maw, the sounds of a dragoness close to purring in delight like a common feline.

The heat from her body was intense as he gripped her thighs firmly and looked up into the eyes of his lover, noting the intensity with which she observed him and leaving him slightly nervous about his inexperience in the moment. Yet, he pushed onward, first grinding his length across the outside of her sex, before angling forward a little to penetrate her properly.

A deep, resonant snarl of delight escaped Aera's maw as she felt her rider enter get for the first time, his cock slipping halfway into her folds with relative ease. Her arousal, both sexual and predatory, had left her with plentiful lubrication to enable Des to press into her without much resistance.

"Gods, Aera..." the young man breathed at the warmth, tightness and texture of her more intimate of places kneaded every inch he'd pushed inside her, leaving him weak at the knees as her body responded to his advances with natural eagerness. Pulling back out almost entirely, he broke eye contact with her to gaze at the thin, glossy layer of her arousal on his tip, and the stunning glimpse of her pink inner flesh before a single clench hid it from view.

His second thrust was harder, deeper, entering his dragoness nearly to the hilt. Her legs quivered briefly in unbridled delight as she savoured the feeling of her lifelong companion finally claiming her for himself. With the prey in her belly now in the more agonising throes of her digestive process, every sense in her incredible body was alight as her blood surged with the energy robbed from the living meat that so handsomely bulged her middle.

For Aera, it felt like the perfect combination of pleasures: having both a meal in her belly, and her rider inside her folds. Despite his worries, Des was truly off to a great start in pleasing her. He took his time initially, teasing her with the buildup, touching her sensitive, wet sex with the tip of his throbbing member, just like a partner would. When he pushed inside, she had to bite back a needful whimper, her tail lifting in an involuntary motion as she felt her walls spread around every inch of his thick, human cock, quickly showing off her bestial strength by clamping down and giving him a loving squeeze.

“That's it Des, just like that," Aera breathed, keeping her emerald eyes fixated on his movements. “Keep going harder, this is exactly what I need… Gods it's been so long." She exhaled at him with a panting, open maw, her body showing all the signs of a dragoness losing herself in the throes of pleasure. She reached back and dug her claws in the ground, keeping herself in place, and doing her best to not move too much due to their size difference. She flexed her haunches upwards and widened her hind legs from time to time in a pure, blissful reaction to the waves of ecstasy spreading through her loins. That alone was almost enough to throw Des off.

Down at the dragoness' hindquarters, Desmond kept his grip tight on her thighs and used his legs to keep himself steady on her tail. Each passing second he was learning something new about dragon anatomy: how hard she could clench, then release when he pulled out, the smell of her sexual fluids filling his nostrils, and the heat...by the gods her heat was more intense than anything he'd ever felt. Her vaginal walls were hot to the touch as he ploughed within her, and he could only hope that he'd be able to hold off his orgasm long enough to make this a truly amazing experience.

Although he tried to keep his thrusting straight and true, Aera's tail seemed to have a mind of its own...darting from side to side, even lifting up to nearly throw him forwards. He could only take it as a sign that he was doing a good job. He bit his lip and continued on, spurred on by her words.

Eventually, he decided to lean forward and lay directly on her belly, the effort of fucking Aera already starting to get to him. The exertion from fighting her tail alone was nearly a full workout. From this position, he hugged her as best he could, thrusting and moving his hips with as much strength as he could muster. From here however, he began to focus on other aspects of his predatory partner: namely the deep, reverberating gurgles of digestion sounding from within her gut. Her drooling, panting maw hovering but a few feet away from his face also caught his gaze, the view reaching back past her teeth and into the darkness of her throat beyond.

As he mated with his mount, her luxuriously soft and tight inner walls gripping every inch he could offer, he knew he wasn't going to last much longer. Having held back as much as he could already, his inexperience and her incredible body weren't going to let him have much more time to resist his own climax. As he got closer to his peak, her predatory side dominated his experience in every imaginable way.

Her hot breath, her maw panting with lust, basted his bare flesh in the dramatic stench of a feral predator. The bulge in her belly, that of the bandit she'd saved him from, now squirmed beneath that thick layer of scale and muscle as her active gut kneaded caustic chyme into bare, broken flesh. The sheer contrast between the raw intimate feeling of her pussy gripping his cock and the bestial brutality mere inches below his fingers was now something that the young human knew he could no longer deny enjoying.

"Aera..." he moaned, his balls slapping her scales as her tail thumped the ground behind him with incredible force, "I'm close..." She fixed her rider with a keen stare, dragging her tongue across her lips as her legs stretched a fraction wider, encouraging her human to do as he desired. He had no idea if he was going to be able to get her off, but a sudden, harder clench of her cunt and a curling of her toes reassured him that he was doing a good job.

"Des..." she huffed, her thigh quivering slightly as she watched his breathing grow erratic, "gods... you might want to... I don't know if..." She gasped, throwing her head back as she tried to resist the pleasure that threatened to overwhelm her. She didn't want to ruin the moment, but...

"... If I... If I cum I'm going to break him..." she managed to moan, and Desmond pushed himself in to the hilt and lay himself across her, eager to show his dragoness that he would no longer deny her predatory nature.

His only response to her concerns was to lay his head right up against her scaled belly, wrapping his arms around as much of her warm body as he could. She was such a massive beast compared to him. There was still a risk of being thrown off as their pleasure built, but he didn't care. He grunted as he slammed his hips down as hard as he could, knowing there was no possible way he could hurt her, even if he tried. He felt the heat of her reptilian pussy encompassing his cock with each downward hump, his legs holding onto her quivering tail hard as her feminine juices steadily drool around his shaft and across her groin.

“I don't care," Desmond breathed, his keeping his eyes slammed shut as the moment approached. “Do it Aera, cum with me, I'm getting so fucking close…"

Those words were all Aera needed to hear to drive her to orgasm. Despite the overwhelming pleasure, she still retained the presence of mind to realize that she could toss her rider away when she came. Her body was immensely strong, and she was most certainly going to lose control of it in these next few sections. Realizing this, she lifted both of her hind legs and crossed them over her human lover, locking him in place at the base of her tail.

When Desmond felt those heavy, scaled legs hug against his ass, he couldn't hold back any longer. He gasped loudly as he shot a powerful, steady load of cum deep within his dragoness' sex. Held in place, with his shaft completely buried in her pussy, he had no choice but to paint her wet, squeezing walls with rope after rope of pent up rider breeding juices, his length throbbing in response to each of her passionate clenches. It was a good thing those legs held him in place, because only a few seconds later, Aera came as well.

Her back arched and her haunches thrust up into the air, bucking him wildly as she roared with a deep, instinctual mating cry. She pulled her human right up against her with a powerful hug from her legs, her clawed feet curling and twitching in the air as the throes of passion gripped her. Hot, undulating squeezes of her vent milked her rider's cock for everything it was worth, her walls rippling and stimulating that smooth, male organ within her, taking every shot of human jizz as deep as her body would allow. With jaws open wide, she panted and huffed out into the air of the surrounding forest, not having a care in the world… and especially not a care for the poor bandit in her stomach.

After she arched her back and held the position for a moment, Aera reached forward with both her front legs and leaned into her human, her body wracked with the blissful throes of her bestial orgasm. As her muscles flexed, her body clamped down on the digesting human inside her scaled belly, squishing the struggling man within her gut. Already weakened by the lengthy amount of time spent within her predatory digestive acids and enzymes, it didn't take much more for her meal to break.

Even Desmond heard it as he pumped the last small spurts of semen into his dragoness, the intensely disturbing sound of bone cracking beneath her twitching belly. Despite relishing in her predatory side, he still felt a deep shiver run down his spine as he heard the bandit's body succumb to her merciless treatment. Coming down from the high of her climax, Aera fixed her gaze upon her lover and watched with concern as his eyes lingered on the bulge in her middle.

"Des..." she huffed, her body still trembling from the pleasure she'd just experienced and the feeling of her rider still hard inside her. Realising she was staring, he ran his hands over her muscular inner thighs reassuringly.

"I'm okay, Aera," he replied quietly, breathing heavily from the intensity of sex with a feral dragon. He eventually felt her legs lift off his back and release him from their intimate hold. Her warmth all around his slowly softening shaft, and the thought in his mind that he'd just finished inside a beautiful dragon, were enough to leave him incredibly satisfied. He watched the mass in her middle, now just meat to be kneaded away and added to her magnificent frame, and gave her a warm smile.

"I'm more than okay," he added quietly, "that was incredible. I... I can't believe I didn't... think about you like this before." She chuckled at his words, dragging her claws over her rounded middle.

"Am I only attractive to you when I'm killing bandits?" she teased with a smirk on her features, and he scowled at her playfully.

"I... I mean, this isn't exactly how I pictured... any of this," he admitted, "but... I feel better knowing the real you. I mean... you're incredible any day of the week, but..." He paused, feeling his soft cock finally slip from her folds with a sloppy squelch. Sitting down on her tail, he continued to rub over those large thighs, but her strong inner muscles denied any of his viscous deposit from escaping her depths.

"I guess I didn't think you'd... I dunno, enjoy it so much? To see a dragoness I spent my life with, eating someone just like me, and then relishing in digesting them alive... not exactly what I thought you were like, Aera." He sighed, watching as she gazed at him with concern.

"I'm sorry," she apologised softly, "I... I did enjoy it. And you're not just like them, Des. You're mine. You're my rider. I love you. Perhaps I shouldn't have been quite so brazen..." She hung her head slightly, apologetically, and the human slowly stood up and walked around to her side.

"Perhaps," he agreed, before placing his hand on her belly, "but I still need my big, predatory dragoness tonight. We can't leave any evidence."

Aera looked at her rider with a confused expression for a moment, and tilted her head. “Are you telling me that I should eat the other bandit, Des?" She asked, checking that she fully understood.

Desmond looked up from her belly and met her eyes, unable to hold back a blush. He lowered his gaze and instead focused on rubbing along her smooth scales, admiring the healthy, rounded paunch of her middle, with the first man tucked away inside.

“I think you should," he admitted, finding the ability to look up at her once more. “The other criminal knows what happened, and I'm not about to compromise our status within the citadel by letting him go."

“Yes, but there are other ways to get rid of him, Des," Aera said, giving him an amused smile. “Nobody would believe a bandit like him if we brought him back. Did you perhaps enjoy me having a full belly?" She said with a teasing tone, licking her scales lips for him.

Desmond then had one of his biggest blushes yet, scratching behind his head. “Well, I don't want to risk him saying anything at all, right?" He began, before sighing and shaking his head. “Not only that, but you're right… watching you enjoy your meal while we fucked was hot as hell, Aera. Laying on your belly like that, experiencing your body working on him in the most intimate way possible. I never imagined having sex like that in my life, especially not with my dragoness. But now I want to see more."

With a predatory grin, Aera moved her muzzle down to his level and hovered her lips close, inhaling his scent before dipping her maw down. “As do I, Des," she purred, which sounded more like a growl than anything else. “The only question is, how much more do you want to see?" She asked, as her dextrous tongue slithered out from her mouth and began to clean him up, licking under his nuts and dragging over his half-erect, naked cock.

With a blissful shiver, Desmond bit his lip and placed both hands on Aera's head for support, finding her soft, exploring tongue more than enough to nearly get him going again, even if it was just to lick away some of the leftover fluids down at his groin. When her mouth moved away and they resumed eye contact, he was able to continue talking.

“Well, I uh… ahem, didn't really get to see you eat the first bandit at all, you just… came back with a full belly, he answered, before casting his eyes back to the tent behind them, where the unconscious human lay. “Can I watch this time?"

With a low chuckle and a wicked grin, Aera rolled onto her footpaws and steadied herself, joining her rider on the short walk over to her second, human prey for the evening. “I like this new interest of yours, Des… I really do," she hummed. “Come, let's go wake up my dessert."

The young rider felt that nagging rush of adrenaline as he tried not to think too hard about what he'd just asked his dragoness to do. It was against every oath he'd taken, yet the thought of pleasing his dragoness overruled nearly all common sense as he watched her eagerly stride to the nearby bandit tent. Pausing to grab more rope from his nearby pack, Des followed the dragoness up to the tent.

As he stepped past her and lifted the tent flap, he could see the gaze of the bound man looking back at him, groaning a little at the pain from being struck hard earlier by the hilt of Desmond's sword.

"Ah, you're awake," Des commented as the bandit squirmed, trying to remove the sturdy bonds that held his wrists beyond his back.

"Go to hell, Citadel lapdog," the man spat, and Des shook his head slowly in feigned disappointment. Stepping into the tent, he knelt on the man's back and pinned him to the ground.

"It's unfortunate you feel that way," the rider replied as he bound the man's feet together firmly with the remaining rope, before grabbing them and dragging the protesting criminal from the tent. He tried to kick and struggle all the way out, until he caught a glimpse of the imposing beast looming overhead as he emerged into the cool night air. Aera's eyes narrowed as she gazed into the bandit's own, and his expression turned from bold resistance to a sudden and visible concern.

"Where's Mason?" he managed to ask, watching as the dragoness sat back and drew herself up to her full height. Her claws caressed the healthy curve of her gut, the edge of her maw curling in a dominant smirk.

"Some of him is in my thighs and belly," she explained in amusement, "a little in my tail, most likely. What's left in sure is somewhere in my intestines, too." Desmond watched the color drain from the bandit's face, his eyes widening as he gazed at her well-fed middle.

"Y... you can't!" he spluttered, squirming against the ropes that held him, "you Citadel fuc... people have... have rules! Trials! You can't just..." Des chuckled, looking at Aera briefly before kneeling down and propping the man's back up against a nearby stump.

"We certainly do," he explained, "we take oaths, and give those who wrong us a right to fair trial. But, unfortunately for you, there's absolutely nobody out here who is going to make us uphold those virtues. As you can see, your friend Mason is currently serving a lifetime sentence as dragon pudge." Des could hardly believe he was taunting a bandit about being eaten, yet the thrill it gave him was undeniable as his powerful dragoness snarled in agreement behind him.

It was enough for the captive, who finally knew he was in a seriously poor predicament and changed his tune almost immediately.

"Please..." he begged quietly, "I... I'm sorry, okay? I'll come quietly with you... I'll stand trial for my crimes. I won't breathe a word of this... just... don't eat me!"

Aera only widened her smile as the bandit begged, peering at him through the tent opening. “I'm afraid that's not really an option for you," she taunted, showing off her pointed fangs and licking her lips. “We aren't about to risk our new, fun way of dealing with bandits being exposed to our superiors. You weren't scared of murdering one of our caravan drivers, and there's no telling what you will do. Des… drag him out here and let me get a better look at my meal.

With a nod of confirmation, Desmond walked into the tent and grabbed the bound prisoner, hooking him under the arms and pulling him backwards outside into the open air. The bandit blinked at the sudden change in light, before fixing Aera with a horrified stare. He was dumped unceremoniously on the ground and left there for the moment, bound from head to toe, unable to do much more than fixate on the giant reptile with terror.

“W-wait just a second alright. You've already eaten Mason, and he was an asshole," the bandit continued, shaking his legs and testing the ropes holding his limbs together. “He was the one who stabbed that driver, not me! We just needed goods to survive, nothing more. Don't eat me!"

Desmond stood and walked over to his dragon, standing by her side. For this part he didn't need to help her much. Despite the man's complaints, he felt only a thrill and delight in watching his glorious dragoness start to tease and taunt the man. Her scales shone brightly in the light as her predatory nature began to reveal itself in the fullest. When Aera started to talk… he got chills.

“You can stop talking now, murderer, we have all the details we need," Aera began, rumbling deeply in her chest. “The caravan was carrying trinkets and furniture for our lower districts. Hardly something you would need to stab someone over to survive, yes?" She narrowed her eyes and took a step forward, a strand of thick drool visible from the corner of her mouth as she eyed her prey up and down.

“No, you did it all for yourself, just like you'll go back on your word as soon as we leave. You're not going anywhere, except down to join your friend in the wide, welcoming expanse of my belly. It's really no trouble; I've eaten an entire cow once when I was really hungry. I'm sure another human in my gut will hit the spot just right."

As the bandit continued to helplessly make his case, Desmond could only watch with a powerful sense of foreboding and anticipation as Aera dipped her muzzle down, her jaws opening wide and tongue extending lazily. Although the man attempted to move his legs away, there was simply no escaping the hungry dragoness that had just developed a taste for human prey.

His protests turned into panicked squirming as her huge, sloppy tongue curled around his bare feet and slathered them in a thick gloss of her pungent saliva. The sudden heat and moisture was shocking to the young bandit, who tried to pull his legs away from her only to find his calves and knees consumed by her merciless maw.

Her lips pressed to his thighs, teeth grazing his knees as she slurped and suckled all over his lower legs and gazed directly into his eyes with shocking intensity. It was a simple reminder that she could chew right through his knees if she wanted to, and he stopped his frantic squirming to avoid slicing his knees on jet sharp teeth.

"Please..." he begged, "please... gods... I'll do anything!" Her piercing eyes stared at him intensely, before casting a sideways glance to her rider. Des looked at his mount with appreciation, knowing full well she was giving him the chance to let thy bandit go if he truly wanted her to.

Kneeling beside the man, Des looked down at him and asked, "Anything?"

The man nodded frantically, and Des looked back at Aera with a light smile.

"Then tell me if there's any more of you bandits in the area," the rider questioned dutifully, and the prisoner nodded desperately.

"Y... yeah... fuck, there's...like... a big camp a half day south from here, down in the valley near the river. We take our stolen stuff there... I don't care about that anymore, just... call off your beast, please! I cooperated! I'll even show you where it is!" Des nodded reassuringly, and reached out to pat Aera on the snout.

"Thank you," he told the bandit finally, while Aera basted him in hot, fetid breath, "now you cooperate a little more with Aera's digestive system. You're going to look great on her paunch."

The bandit seemed pleased with himself, but only for a moment once he heard those words from Desmond. He looked back to the dragon, terrified, before resuming his pleading cries. “What? No, I gave you what you wanted, you have to let me go now," He shouted, renewing his struggles against the bonds holding his limbs. “Please, don't allow me to be eaten by your creature!"

Desmond shook his head and tsked, just as a low, offended growl came from Aera at those words. “It's not me you have to argue with anymore I'm afraid," he confessed, taking a step back. “Aera is the one you should be speaking with for your life, though I'm afraid you just insulted her. Your chances of being spared are quite low, knowing her."

True to that prediction, Aera wasted no time in renewing her attempt to eat her human meal. She appreciated her rider's gathering of information: granting her the promise of possibly more bandits to eat down the road. It almost seemed like he was developing the same, powerful desire to swallow down this delicious, newfound kind of prey. The danger of it all was exciting for them both.

She snaked her jaws forward and easily grabbed his feet with her teeth. He tried to kick away, but soon found that it hurt too much to pull away or move from those jagged, sharp incisors. Her eyes locked with his own, full amusement and hunger as she walked forwards, engulfing more and more of his legs as she used her slimy tongue to lift him forwards. The sounds of slimy, heated drool slopping over the bandit's legs, and the smothering, meaty aroma of her breath coated his body as she forced him in. Although she could easily snap him up without much effort, she'd already rushed her first meal earlier that day… she didn't want to rush a second.

“Ok ok, uh… Aera is it?" The bandit began, wheezing as her jaws closed around his waist. “You can understand me, right? Please, I'll do anything, j-just don't eat me. Oh f-fuck this is disgusting," he groaned, shuddering as his legs pushed into the hot, saliva-covered flesh of her reptilian throat. Not only that, but the massaging, pressing motions of her predatory tongue slipping along his legs, giving him a more intimate experience of the inside of a dragon's mouth. Far more than he ever wanted to experience. Perhaps the most terrible feature however, was that breath: the scent of a voracious, meat-eating dragon that had just earlier that day eaten another man his size. At his words however, the dragoness growled at him, and he felt the vibrations along his legs. “Oh shit, no, you're not disgusting Aera, b-but… being eaten is," he corrected, wriggling his hips as if he could still get away.

Aera continued to growl as she lifted him into the air, awkwardly holding him halfway out of her mouth before easily tossing him a few times, allowing her strong neck muscles and jaws to lodge him further inside. Her powerful maw stretched wide to welcome him in, which had easily swallowed down meaty chunks of flesh from cows or other livestock numerous times before. It was an easy task. Her neck expanded with the weight of his legs, making a shape in those scales that wriggled with his desperate struggles. The wet sounds of swallowing accompanied these actions, and it soon became apparent that the dragoness would not be letting him go at all… he was done for.

Her powerful tongue funnelled her prey into her gullet, the man squirming helplessly as her teeth passed harmlessly over his waist, chest and then his face. Any semblance of fresh air vanished and the rank fog of her meaty breath remained, and he cried out for help mere moments before those huge jaws snapped closed over his head.

Des watched in awe as her neck stretched out, having missed this part of the experience the first time around. Her throat bulged with the mass of the man that she was consuming whole and alive, let she lingered briefly to swirl and slap her thick, sloppy tongue all over his face and neck before that final, gut-wreching gulp.

Finding Desmond pressed against her sturdy neck, Aera purred in delight as her rider listened to her drag the bandit down out her throat, swallowing him with a hearty squelch and submerging his face in her esophagus. It was incredible to see such undeniable power up close, watching the lump in her neck travel down inch by inch towards her stomach.

"Gods above that's good," she moaned as her prey's feet found the entrance to her belly; the constant struggling down her throat a delightful sensation for her predatory body to indulge in. Des was following him down, tracing the sizeable bulge of live meat as it began to pass from her throat and round out her stunning belly.

"Mmmf... might be a tight fit," she remarked, slowly laying down on her side next to the tent and splaying out casually with her paunch on display, "still a lot of the last bandit in there... I bet that smells properly awful." She spoke as if apologetic, but Des could see the twinkle of delight in her eyes as she traced that new weight in her middle and savoured the panicked squirming as the bandit was reintroduced to what was left of his companion.

Desmond had to take a large step backwards to avoid the heavy slough of Aera's body as she lay on her side. Now that the last, remaining human had entered her belly, he could certainly see the sluggishness of her movements. His dragoness only ever got this way when she stuffed her belly much too full of meat. It was a rare occasion, but such evenings typically resulted in her retiring to the tower to rest, or simply laying on the ground while most of her energy was devoted to digestion. The two bandits would be no different than one of those meals back then.

As he circled around Aera's body, Desmond couldn't help but stare directly at the swelled scales of her middle. He couldn't imagine the dreadful horrors that the lone, remaining human was experiencing within the fleshy darkness of her superior body. It was terrifying to think of, and yet, something in the way that his predator stared at him while it was happening, with a hint of desire and lust, made a shiver run down his spine.

If Aera was going to be staying here for a while, looking at him like that, he might as well help her feel comfortable.

“I don't think he'll be smelling much of anything soon; I know how quickly you digest your food, Aera," Desmond commented, continuing to walk carefully around her massive form, stepping over her claws to lay a hand on her belly. He froze when he did that, as if he was doing it for the first time. Another shudder ran through his body as those distinct, unfamiliar struggles pushed up against his palm. “Or perhaps for him, not fast enough. God damn, Aera… I… I don't know why I like this so much."

Aera could only chuckle at her small companion in answer, her middle almost seeming to bounce with her mirth. “I think you've always liked this Des, we just had to unlock your sense of daring and adventure," she teased, flicking her tongue in a serpentine motion. “You always did like watching me eat."

Desmond smirked, but quickly took his palm away once a short, distinct yell sounded from inside her gut. “I can be adventurous," he retorted, stepping over the inside of Aera's leg, forcing her to lift up her footpaw to avoid hitting him in the head. Once he was near the base of her tail, he took hold of her massive ankle and guided her to roll onto her back, using his touch to coax her into that same, spread-eagle position from before. “In fact, I'll show you just how adventurous I can be…"

Her eyes gleamed with excitement as her rider encouraged her to spread for him, his leg straddling her thick tail as her plump belly was exposed in all its fed glory. There was no hesitation from the massive dragoness, just a quiet understanding that Des was in charge as his fingers pressed to each side of her vent.

"I like this side of you, Desmond," she practically whispered, her voice a low, desire-filled rumble as his thumbs slid up the sides over her soft pussy lips, "my rider, knowing exactly what he wants from me." He looked up at her, a little redness in his cheeks but eager all the same. She looked so large, looming over him with her prey-stuffed gut like he was just another little morsel down between her legs. Yet, even with two men just like him within her, he trusted her with his life.

Sinking his thumbs in firmly he stretched her open wide, revealing her wet, pink inner flesh to him and the hot scent of her arousal moments later. She was a remarkable dragoness, plenty capable of taking a hung dragon stud to the hilt but similarly capable of gripping and pleasuring a human sized shaft.

He played with her for a few moments, the savouring the velvety softness of her sex to his touch while her guts grumbled and churned around their unfortunate prisoner. Before he could open his mouth to ask, she cut him off with a shake of her head.

"Don't ask," she told him firmly, "I'm yours. Have me as you desire." He shivered in lust at the intensity dripping from her words, recognising the near-feral force in her tone. He'd been around dragons all his life, but now he saw her for what she truly was; a beautiful, powerful predator.

He brought his head down between her legs and planted a firm kiss on her inner flesh, inhaling a rich lungful of her bestial scent as her warm flesh pressed to his nose. The smell was animalistic and raw, her inner walls gleaming with the natural lubricants secreted from her body. Keeping eye contact with that piercing reptilian gaze, he dragged his tongue right up through the middle of those warm, flavorsome folds, moaning briefly as he savoured the taste of his lover.

Desmond knew that he had a lot of work ahead of him. As the heated, feminine fluids danced over his tongue, he realized that he'd only barely tasted the beginnings of his dragoness. His tongue glazed over her soft sex once again, dragging up her scaled opening slowly, lapping at one side of her silken flesh, the hot temperature warming his mouth. He did it again and again, teasing her with those repetitive motions and focusing on the same spot. He was in no rush, and he couldn't immediately tell that he was doing well. He was going to make her feel like a queen.

Due to their size difference, he could easily sense every pleasured twitch, movement, and tense of muscle from his larger partner. Although her tail hardly moved, he could feel it pushing up against him and lifting him into the air as he tongue did its work. Her deep rumbling was punctuated by the occasional gasp when his exploring muscle reached the upper parts of her sex. He took the opportunity to focus on those particular pleasure centers, kissing into her and pressing his lips beyond the first few inches, digging in to see how much further he could sink inside. When Aera let out a deep, passionate gasp, he couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

“You're really taking my words to heart, aren't you Des?" Aera complimented, watching her human with an astute curiosity. She was loving every second of this of course. A full belly, with a man she'd spent all her life with down between her legs. She didn't know a tongue that small could make her feel these sensations, but she had to admit… Des was doing good work down there. She curled her toes and spread her legs more, arching her back to encourage him.

Her words were certainly true, more than she could ever know. Desmond had taken her encouragement to heart, burying his face deep inside her sex as she moved, feeling excitement and arousal of his own when she arched her back. She was an absolutely massive, stunning beast, and the fact that he had any power to bring her delight gave strength to his needful body.

Desmond placed his hands on her for support, dipping into that warm, soft space of flesh between her thighs while massaging each side. He simultaneously pulled her sex apart to give his head more room to wriggle inside. He mushed his face into her sex and licked along the left side of her velvet walls, feeling each inch of that smooth, delicate texture deep within, her fluids leaking and caking over his face in a thick, slimy layer of dragoness moisture. Once he was finished with one side, he prodded with his tongue over to the other, starting near the bottom, and working up, never moving on from one area too fast. Whenever he heard her start to gasp and moan, he would focus on that spot, using his legs to hold on whenever her tail swished over to the side, or her hind leg flexed with delight. He didn't want to stop, and he never wanted this to end. Perhaps the hottest part of it all was those deep, distant rumbles and gurgles coming from inside her belly above, her predatory body working on that heavy meal within as he helped her get off.

Resisting the urge to push her rider's head all the way inside her canal, the dragoness instead curled her claws in pleasure and slapped the ground with the tip of her tail. She hadn't considered that Desmond would be able to do a great deal with his tongue yet his efforts were far more satisfying than expected. He explored every inch available, from her firm nub all the way through the first few folds of her pussy that he could reach with his face pressed flush up against her.

From above, he could hear the muffled sounds of prey in discomfort, the second bandit stewing in the foul chyme within her core. His loud protests were barely audible, and yet it only filled the young rider with a dark thrill as he thought about the fact that the flight back home would be fuelled by what used to be two sentient beings. Everything about it was utterly immoral as he felt her body respond eagerly to the living meat deep within it, yet her arousal only rubbed off on him more as she openly showcased her natural predatory side.

Her grunts and growls only intensified as he kept working on her pleasure, tongue slurping through those feral folds and imparting her rich reptilian flavour on his palate. Much like before he knew she was getting closer to an orgasm, and he pressed her tail firmly between his legs for support as he stretched her open wider than before with his fingers. Her hot, bestial scent was all he could think about as he mashed his features to her sex and lapped firmly over the depths of her cunt, eager to get his mount off.

As he continued to pleasure her, Desmond found that he needed to keep a firm grip on her tail with his legs not only for support, but to prevent himself from being thrown off. Having already learned this from their earlier intimacy he was more than ready to hold his body in place this time, taking the motions as a telltale sign that his draconic partner was getting close to her release. With renewed energy, he picked up his pace, choosing those few, sensitive areas within her intimate depths that had gotten the biggest reaction from her.

Keeping himself steady, he positioned his hands on the inside of her large, scaled legs, rubbing strongly at the rougher scales decorating her beautiful limbs. He could see her muscles flexing and shuddering to each side of his vision as he continued, especially when he chose to press his lips and tongue particularly hard into the side of her pussy, massaging at those velvet walls, and dragging his mouth upwards in slow, repetitive patterns. Now that they were in the final moments, Des also took his time when he was up there to pause, his lips finding that bundle of nerves near the upper cleft of Aera's slit, before giving it a needful, powerful suckle. When he did that, his partner couldn't contain her delight.

Aera looked down with wide eyes at her human, feeling a blissful warmth begin to build inside her loins. Her core was flush with warmth and pleasure, though only partly due to the struggling, digesting prey within her belly. That part of the experience helped of course, but the rest of it was all Desmond… all his actions sending her on this wave of emotion and sexual release. Her legs spread for him while her toes curled involuntarily. She resisted the temptation to close her thighs and squeeze him like she'd done before, fearful that the same, immense hug of her limbs might end up crushing his head. Instead, she dug her claws into the ground and arched her back, her tail lifting and falling as that building ecstasy reached its peak.

“Oh Des, keep going just like that. I'm almost there," Aera gasped, her green scales glistening brightly in the late sun as her massive body moved. “Keep hold of me tight, I can't hold you with my l-legs this t-time." Her words were beginning to stutter as her orgasm approached. A deep, intimate wash of feminine fluids was rising in her core, growing more with each passing second. She couldn't keep it back any longer no matter how hard she tried. “Ah, Des I'm… oh by the Gods you're amazing, I'm…ah!" She gasped, clenched her teeth together before cracking open her jaws in a passionate roar as she came, flooding her rider's face with slick, viscous, reptilian juices, hotter and thicker than anything he'd experienced before.

He kept her well simulated through her orgasm, nothing else on his mind but ensuring that the massive dragoness he loved was satisfied in every possible way. The hot rush of her bestial arousal in his mouth was more gratifying than anything else he'd achieved in his life, making a massive feral beast cum using his tongue. He licked and kissed and swallowed his way through her sloppy pussy while she snarled in pleasure and lashed the ground violently with her tail.

He clutched her thighs for support while she indulged in her rider's face buried in her sex, drenching his features in hot liquid meant to reward a handsome dragon's cock for a job well done. Instead, it was her young human companion drinking from her well, while her stomach brutally snuffed the life out of another healthy human to fuel their taboo tryst. Des could hear it all with her rounded gut mere inches above his head, the superior power of a dragoness at work, no less than entirely repurposing another existence for her own selfish needs.

As his tongue swirled around her clit and those massive, trembling thighs quivered around him, and he listened as Aera churned up the meat in her belly to join his comrade. Even with the lusty overtones of his dragoness in pleasure, there was a dark thrill to the sheer animalistic dominance she displayed through her digestion. The bandit they'd fought with now clung to existence, spared the rigors of a court trial for a far less merciful end as fuel for a dragon. What had started as begging and devolved into screaming had now settled into the part Aera loved most; the quiet, grim silence where her prey yet lived but could hardly be recognised as anything resembling a man.

As her climax concluded, Desmond gently tended to her, knowing not to withdraw from her flavoursome depths until she was good and done with her meal. Her legs and tail settled and she looked down at her lover with a satisfied exhale, her breath heavily scented with the evidence of her meal. She ran a claw over her underbelly as the last helpless struggles rumbled through her guts, dragging her tongue over her maw in delight as she indulged in those last few moments of undeniable predatory cruelty. The rush of fear Desmond felt involuntarily at such a base, primal display of dominance left him feeling weak at the knees, but as quickly as it had occurred it had passed.

His chin dripping with her lust, the rider slowly pulled back from her puffy vent and licked his own lips, knowing he'd need a soak in the river if he didn't want the other dragons sniffing out their illegal indulgences. In fact, he wasn't the only one that needed some clean up if they hoped to hide their activities in the wild that day.

Aera was slowly coming down from the high of her human's treatment, her limbs warm with a lasting bliss from the second orgasm Desmond had treated her with that day. She breathed deep and passionately as she lay there on her back, feeling like she had no duties or a single care in the world, which was a rare sensation for a dragoness of the tower like herself.

“Oh Des, I never thought we would find ourselves at this point, but I'm happy we did," she said after a moment, lifting her head to look down at him with loving eyes. “You know exactly where to go with that tongue it seems. I don't think a male dragon could out-perform you."

Desmond smiled at that compliment, his face still wet and painted with the heated emissions of her sex. “Let's not get too carried away now," he said, running his hands once more over her inner thighs. "I'm glad you liked it though. I suppose I did a good job if I helped you release some stress... twice."

“You're not the only one to thank for that," she retorted, a paw coming down heavily on her gut. She dragged her claws along those belly scales, rubbing them with a predatory affection as her tail swished from side to side, making her human move along with it. “By the Gods it felt good to eat those criminals. Not thinking about any task or duty, but rather tucking them away inside me, trashing away while we mated, and churning into nothing but nutrients while you shoved your face up between my hind legs." She took a deep breath then, biting her lip. “It was exhilarating... I've never came so hard."

Demond blushed when she spoke those words. Pushing himself up into a seated position, he used her leg to steady himself as he sat straight upon her tail.

“On the subject of duty however, I think we have some more work to do before we can go back to the tower," he said, casting his gaze in the direction of their home in the distance. It was hardly visible from their position, not to mention the dense forests around their camp. The flight was going to be a few hours at least. “We need to get cleaned up, and you, well… you need to wait until your middle is flatter again. How much longer do you need?"

Aera smiled at him. “You calling me fat now, Des?" He raised his brow back at her, before chuckling and shaking his head.

“I think you're getting a little plump on humans, yes, but it's a good look for you," he admitted, blushing and turning his head as a thought crossed his mind. “We should do this again sometime." A sonorous, delighted rumble rose out from Aera's chest to meet him, the dragoness leaning forward to offer a quick lick across his forehead.

“I can't wait to go on another hunt already."