Dragon Mate

Story by Cinos on SoFurry

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#3 of Dragon Breeder

The third part of Dragon Breeder, and possibly the last one. In this we follow as our protagonist goes through with his hasty plans of eloping with his feral mate. He's plagued by nightmares and doubt, and there are some internal changes happening beyond simply being fucked full of eggs. Yet despite all that, it simultaneously feels so right and so wrong, leaving our hero torn. One more chapter to go! Remember, if you want access to my stories two weeks earlier than everyone else, you can get that at https://www.patreon.com/ruddertail starting at $1 per month. You can also get to vote on what stories will be next. Currently, the next story is Your Otter Life, a second person short about you getting transformed into an otter for a peculiar zoo.


I turned around as we walked, watching my home disappear into the horizon. It was a bittersweet feeling, a burning sensation behind my eyes, and my throat feeling tight. And it was somehow liberating. I could've turned back, stopped myself from burning the bridges behind me, but I also couldn't. I couldn't go back home, not now and not ever. Not as long as they couldn't accept who I was. It felt like I was transgressing. I knew I was. But I'd never felt it before, not viscerally like this, what it was like to truly go against society's rules. It's hard to put into words; catharsis, perhaps, the ugly yet pleasant feeling of releasing all my pent up emotions through this act of rebellion. I knew I shouldn't do it, I already longed to go back, but it wasn't an option, so I pressed on, with my dragon companion at my side. At times, it barely felt like I was there at all; I was a shell, a corpse perhaps, an empty marionette moved by the strings of fate. I didn't tell any of that to Scorch; he didn't deserve to be affected by my instability, my sudden depression.

It had been a clear night when we left, but by the time I couldn't see my home anymore, the clouds were gathering; great, dark grey clouds covering up the stars, threatening rain and lightning, as if nature itself was reacting to my emotions. I just didn't understand why it felt like this; I'd fantasized of this moment for so long, and now that I was finally doing it, it was nothing but misery. I know I'm repeating myself, but my rational side truly wanted to go back, to cancel all these plans. But I couldn't. As far as I was concerned, my home no longer existed, my parents didn't exist, none of the memories of growing up there existed. The wind picked up and felt as if it blew right through me.

I looked at Scorch. He was just like normal, the same focused look on his face, probably not thinking about anything except finding us a suitable new home. It gave me some hope, perhaps, of those negative feelings being my own warped perspective rather than any kind of truth. He looked almost black in the darkness, especially now as the stars disappeared into the gathering stormclouds, leaving only the barest hint of his azure brilliance visible. For him, nothing was amiss. This was his natural habitat, he probably thought of home as wherever he rested his head, and I feverishly hoped that I could feel the same one day. As much as I tried, I couldn't bring myself to say anything.

But those feelings burned inside me, scorching the very core of my being like dragonfire.

"Hrrm, could carry you," Scorch finally grumbled after what felt like hours of walking in silence. I snapped awake, as if from a trance. My shoes were wet from the moist undergrowth of the forests. I had barely been aware of us entering one, lost in thought as I was, but we were walking between trees now, trees older than either of us. I barely knew where we were or which direction we had come from. My legs felt heavy, although at least that strange state of depression had dissipiated, leaving me feeling nominally more energized.

"No, that's okay, Sc-"

I tripped over a root, crashing down into the wet dirt, barely managing to catch myself. I knew my center of balance was off - my belly was fairly swollen by now - but it being that off was surprising. It seemed that dragon eggs grew much faster than any eggs I knew of. It made sense, but I'd never given it much thought at the farm. The eggs were laid quickly, but had to be hatched over a considerably longer period of time. I was tired.

What surprised me was the way Scorch scooped me up, almost aggressively pulling me to my feet and then leaning me into his warm body.

"Yes. Will carry you. Not risk eggs," he hissed, a tone I hadn't heard before. It worried me, but then again, so did everything else. I knew he wouldn't react like that to me falling - or so I thought, at least - if I wasn't carrying a clutch of his eggs.

I didn't have a particular reason to disagree, and climbed on top of Scorch. His scales were rough enough that I could manage to stay there without slipping off, and so we continued onwards to places unknown.

"Do you know where we're going, Scorch?" I asked him after a few more minutes of silence.

"Will know when I see," he grumbled in response. As good a response as any. We were looking for somewhere to nest, after all. Likely a cliffside.

Thunder suddenly struck accompanied by an immediate, deafening rumble, and then the skies were torn open. Rain began to pour, and my draconic mate wrapped his wings around me to keep me dry. He wasn't much bothered; not only was his body temperature much higher than mine, but his scales didn't exactly get wet. It did slow us down, however, as the deluge quickly turned the forest ground into mud and Scorch began sinking into it with each step. He grumbled and growled. If it wasn't for me, he could've flown, but those were the kind of sacrifices we made for love. At any rate, I was grateful to not have to brave the muddy terrain myself.

Luckily, it didn't stretch very far. As we proceeded, the forest thinned out, and the ground was firmer there. The rain didn't let up, and probably wouldn't for the rest of the night, but Scorch managed to work up a sort of galloping pace - I'm not sure if dragons gallop, but it was close enough - across increasingly hilly terrain. With my elevated position on his back, I kept a lookout for cliffs and caves, though with the rain thick in the air, I couldn't truthfully see very far. I also didn't really know how far we'd traveled. Scorch probably did. I'd read stories of dragons finding their way home over hundreds, sometimes thousands of kilometers. Of course, typically they flew, but... I was probably worrying too much. I had to trust my mate if we were ever going to make this work.

Instead, I decided to lean down into my mount. He wasn't the most comfortable thing to relax on - there's a reason dragonscale makes for extremely sturdy armor - but he was warm, which comforted be anyway. Luckily, my belly wasn't too swollen to get in the way, not yet at least. I found myself drifting off with his wings draped over me like a pair of leathery blankets, keeping me relatively dry.

That's when I first had that nightmare.

It wasn't the usual kind where I'm being chased through the forest by some unseen terror. No, those are manageable, if somewhat unpleasant. Rather, in the dream I was in a cave, with piles of eggs all around me, and looking down at myself I was gaunt and worn, except for my belly, which was protruding like that of a late term female. And Scorch wasn't there, either. He never was, except when it was time to make more eggs. I was laying them, in the dream. It didn't feel much like anything - probably because my mind had nothing to go on - but I felt myself growing thinner and older with each one popping out me, as if they were absorbing me, mercilessly consuming me to grow, just like dream-Scorch was using me for more and more offspring with no regard to my health or psyche. I knew I'd die if I let him keep breeding me, but I didn't have a choice; where would I go, having been away from everyone else I knew for this long? At best I'd end up as a meal to some other animal or dragon. It was the sort of crushing despair that one only really felt in dreams. Being swallowed whole by my own bad decisions, utterly ruined by hubris-

I woke up as I hit the ground with a thud. Scorch was instantly there next to me, nuzzling me, grumbling in a worried kind of tone.

"Grff, nightmare? You were flailing, couldn't... hold you still..." he said, trying to get me to sit up. For a moment, I was in that strange state between dreams and reality and I recoiled from my lover, afraid of him forcing himself upon me. I couldn't take it anymore, I had to, had to-

Oh. Reality reasserted itself. This wasn't the evil dragon from my dreams, it was Scorch. The Scorch that I loved. I hurriedly embraced him, pressing myself against his heated body.

"I'm alright," I whispered, hoarsely. "Just a nightmare, yes. I was..."

I probably shouldn't tell him. I didn't know how he'd take that, if dragons really understood how strange the oneiric landscapes of humans really were. I didn't even know if they really dreamt like we did, although they were familiar with the concept. Sure, dragons twitched in their sleep, sometimes made sounds, but they never _talked_about what they'd seen, if anything at all. Instead, I hugged him, as best I could. He was all I had, and I didn't want to lose him.

Scorch nuzzled at my neck affectionately, trying to soothe me. I realized I was shivering, despite his warmth, or perhaps not shivering but rather shaking. The dream had already started to fade, leaving only that vague sense of fear and unsettlement. The only reason I remember it now is because I'd keep having it, many times over. At this point it's so etched into my memory that I couldn't forget it if I tried.

But right then, I did. Finally, Scorch spoke again. "Rrf, found a cave, but is... high up," he muttered, gesturing towards a nearby cliff with a tilt of his head.

I looked, following his gaze. Indeed, there was what appeared to be a cave about halfway up the side, but it was an almost vertical sheer cliff. I could probably make the climb for now - I was fairly nimble - but later in my pregnancy I'd have to rely on Scorch to fly me up there. That sense of unease intensified, something about the dream, but I couldn't remember what. I didn't like the idea of being cooped up in a cave for... weeks? Months? I had no real idea of how interspecies pregnancies worked. Then again, what better choice did I have? I wouldn't be able to explore or walk around much anyway when I got big enough, and Scorch would be able to fly with me on his back soon, at least those time I wasn't filled with his eggs. He wasn't done growing either, although in a different sense of the word.

I look a long look around. The landscape didn't really look any different that it did at... where I'd live before. Same kinds of dramatic cliffs, seemingly endless forests, only difference was that there wasn't a city in the distance anymore. It made for an eerie sight, everything was what I knew, but different, somehow. Different. Like putting on a pair of shoes you haven't work for a month. I gave Scorch a nod and he grabbed the rucksack I'd been carrying - a pretty heavy thing - flew up to the cave.

Watching him fly always made my heart soar. It was beautiful. The sun was shining again, and the rays reflected off his scales with brilliant, almost iridescent radiance. That, and the way his body moved, like an otter would move through the water, effortlessly slicing through the air like he was completely weightless... that was the first time I felt confident in this whole plan since after we'd left the farm. Everything was going to work out. This'd be our new home, and we'd be together come hell or high water. Nobody would find us, and we'd be safe, with just us two, forever.

The cliff was rough enough that I could make it up with relative ease, never once looking down. I knew that if I did I'd certainly fall. I might not have died, but I'd almost certainly have broken bones. When I think back on that now it was foolhardy at best; I should've just told Scorch to look for a cave closer to the ground. But I was determined. If I was to live out here I had to take some risks, just like Scorch did. I had to be more like him and less like a civilized creature.

So, I kept three points of contact, only moving my arms when I was absolutely certain that I could do so safely, onto something solid. I had liked rock climbing when I was younger, although I'd only done so on those walls. It wasn't that different here; some points were easy to hold onto, others not so much, and the trick was figuring out which were which. I had my claws to help in places where dirt had somehow managed to gather on the cliffside.

Soon enough, I was there, and Scorch greeted me with a lick to my face. He seemed almost proud of me. Maybe he was, or maybe I was anthropomorphizing him, but either way I took it at face value. Regardless of what he was really thinking, he'd teach me to survive out here. He'd have to.

It wasn't a terribly big cave, but it was shelter, too high for any predators except dragons to reach us, and I had my own dragon. Besides, they usually didn't eat us humanoids either way. I suppose we were too close to them, being the only two sentient creatures that we knew of. There was enough space for me, Scorch and... our children. It was bizarre to think of them as our children, but there was no denying it. Fantasy had been one thing, but reality far harder to accept. I repeated it to myself: our children. The eggs growing inside me, equal parts me and Scorch. I wondered how they'd look. Dragons with fur? Wolves with wings? Perhaps pure dragons? I had read plenty of articles, but none of them had really gone into great detail. Would we make more eggs after I laid these ones?

I rubbed my belly. It was feeling rounder, bigger than it had when we'd left. It couldn't have been that many days, they seemed to be growing faster every day. I'd have to eat a lot more to keep up with this kind of growth, but Scorch would take care of that. I wondered how laying them would feel. Good? Horrible? Would I have to sit on them like a hen, waiting for them to hatch for months? Would Scorch do it?

It was all questions that I should've known the answer to, and it bothered me. I had been so focused on the lust back at the farm, so focused on the idea of letting a dragon mount me, that I hadn't thought about what it'd lead to at all. Not a single thought about the consequences. Oh, sure, there'd been worries, but I'd brushed them aside.

Then it dawned on me; I had a dragon right here that I could ask.

"Scorch, what are we going to do with the eggs when they come?" I asked, while going through my rucksack for blankets and the like to make the cave floor a little softer to sleep on. For myself, anyway; Scorch didn't need or want them.

"When you lay eggs... hrrf, keep warm for a few weeks..." he grumbled, noticeably thinking about it even as he spoke. "Whelps will be strong in a few more, ready to be independent."

"Well, how much longer do you think before I lay them?" I inquired further.

"Not... sure. With two dragons, a month. Maybe the same for you," his mate replied, before curling up in the back of the cave.

He's been awake almost two full days now. I'll have to let him rest, I remember thinking. But then, I was tired too. Sleeping on top of him hadn't been the most restful sleep, especially with that nightmare. I considered snuggling up to him, but I just didn't know if he wanted me to. It was hard to tell. It was hard to tell what he ever wanted, except for when he wanted to mount me. That was one of the big issues I'd come to have.

I unfurled the sleeping bag attached to the rucksack and fluffed up a pillow, crawling into next to my mate. I'd have to adapt to his schedule.

As I laid there, staring at the cave ceiling, I had time to think again. I didn't feel miserable like I had at first. I'd successfully cut the ties to my previous life, I thought. On the other hand, I didn't feel _good_either. It was hard to quantify why. Without any of the trappings of modern life to distract me, I dozed off soon enough, into a dreamless sleep.

When I woke up, it was pitch black. For a moment, I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed. I felt around myself for Scorch and couldn't find him. I was about to call out when I heard the thud of him landing at the cave entrance. I couldn't see anything, which was a problem I hadn't foreseen, despite it being very obvious in hindsight. But that's how it was with everything.

Eventually I managed to dig out a flashlight from my bag and aimed it towards the cave entrance. For a moment, I'd been afraid that it'd be some other dragon, but the light revealed Scorch's azure countenance, and the prey he was carrying, a deer. I turned away as he went to work tearing it apart. It was something I'd have to get used to soon enough, but not right now. Listening to the sounds of him tearing that a carcass was enough. That and the smell nearly had me vomiting in the back.

I had to get used to it.

I had to get used to it. Was I lying to myself? I'd never be able to butcher a corpse like that. I've never be like that. I choked down the bile rising my throat. In a while, Scorch was done. Noticing my discomfort he took the remains out, dropping them somewhere over the forest, leaving only the meat.

Shining my flashlight on that, I couldn't help but admire his handiwork. Raw meat wasn't a problem, it was all the other things. Scorch returned, landing on the cave's edge with a thump as usual, folding his wings on his back.

"Scorch, I... I'm n-not sure if I can do this," I stammered.

"Why not?" he asked, eyeing me with equal measures of curiosity and worry.

"I don't think I can do that," I said, gesturing towards what was now only a pile of meat. "I don't think I can really help you much, I'm... not a dragon," I continued. "This whole thing, living in the wild, I think it's too much for me."

"Hrrm, but you are my mate," my love answered. "I hunt. You..." he paused. "...breed. That is what you want?" he asked, cocking his head.

Seeing my bewildered expression, he continued, before I could reply. "Rrrgh, difficult... to explain, find words... seed changes body? Old dragons say each time we mate, more..." he gritted his teeth, as if digging deep into his mind for the right words. Finally, he sighed in defeat, exhaling a small plume of smoke.

Yes, I had obviously changed, in that I could now carry eggs for my mate. A feature that males typically didn't have. But I could only guess at what else would change. I could see two options here; one was that I was gradually becoming more of a dragon. That it was rewriting my very genetics. A female dragon, perhaps. _That_thought was appealing, and I could feel blood rush to my groin.

The other option was that he meant I had already changed, that my place was now to stay here and provide clutches of eggs for him. That I'd sealed my fate by letting him fuck me too many times, and he was now confused, as if I was expected to know that would happen.

"Scorch, am I going to become a dragon?" I asked.

"Not... like me," he grumbled. "Do not know. Old dragons say half, perhaps. Perhaps not. But your place is here. Agreed to be my mate. This... is what mates do."

With that, he took a step closer to me, our meal forgotten for now. As he did, my flashlight's beam illuminated his underbelly, and with that, his beautiful cock, engorged and red with excitement.

For the first time, I tried to resist his advances. I had to figure out what exactly was going to happen to me if we kept doing this. I put my hands on his haunches even as he inhaled one of my ears, "lipping" it, gnawing on it with just his lips rather than his sharp teeth. It drew a moan from me. He moved onto my neck, licking it with his strong, wet tongue, intensifying those mind-numbing vibrations going through my body.

"Hrrf, see, you want it..." he whispered. "Just let me breed you..."

His smell, a spicy mixture of ozone and musk, filled my nostrils, my mouth hanging open in a wordless gasp instead of forming the questions that it should have. I could feel a wet spot forming where my hardness was tenting my pants. My arms fell to my sides and Scorch followed them, nudging at them, telling me to take off my pants. I complied, undoing the belt and letting them fall to my ankles.

"What's going to happen to me if we keep doing this?" I asked, even as Scorch pressed his nostrils against my sheath, inhaling my scent and then exhaling hot air, causing my lupine cock to jump.

"Why worry?" he asked. "No more eggs, for now, but it may speed it up," he answered, before wrapping his tongue around my cock, caressing and stroking it. My hips thrust forward without any input from me, and my whole body was quaking from the intense pleasure radiating from my cock, my brain threatening to hand over the decision-making to my genitals. To my hidden womb, perhaps. And I knew what choice it'd make.

"Your place is here. My breeding mate..." he whispered. It was driving me wild, the way he talked to me. He might've been more animal than humanoid but he knew exactly what pushed my buttons. It was almost worrying, like he was manipulating me, and worse yet, he was successful.

With a sigh of pleasure I sunk to my knees, my legs feeling like jelly. Consequences be damned, this was what I wanted. I wanted him to take me again and again, make me his breeding hen, regardless of the consequences. Arousal was forcing all reason out of my mind, but I hesitated for just a brief second, and so Scorch stepped over me. I didn't figure out what he was doing before his thick, eager maleness poked my muzzle, rock-hard and ready for breeding. Just watching it bob in the air right in front of me like that, so lewdly and obscenely, loudly broadcasting his intentions with me, more accurately than any number of words would. It jerked, and a splatter of nearly scalding precum hit my cheek.

Damn my weakness. I reached out and wrapped my fingers around that sweet, forbidden fruit, again feeling its now-familiar stiffness, every ridge well-known to be at this point. I ran my finger along the outline of the first one, feeling how it yielded a little to the pressure. Even if I'd never had it inside me, I knew exactly how it'd feel bumping through my body. I tightened my grip and got a rumble of appreciation from my bestial mate.

Still, for all my arousal, I couldn't push that thought of his cum changing me somehow from my head. Would I become more draconic as time passed, as I let him fill me with his eggs over and over? Or would it be something else, with me as helpless host for his young? I didn't know, but right then and there, either option seemed extremely appealing. I realize I repeat myself, but arousal really did drive one to stupid decisions.

In this new cave, unlike the one at the farm, there was a roughly waist-high rock. I thought about it as I stroked my virile mate. Yes, it looked like it'd be just the right height if I rested on top of it. The right height for him to really drive his cock into me, something that was hard on flat ground because of our height difference.

I told the dragon as much, and he immediately took a step back, yanking his cock from my grasp as he did, and nudged me towards it while making excited rumbling noises. It was rough, yes, but I draped my sleeping bad over it and then climbed onto it. It wasn't the most comfortable thing against my swollen stomach, with my legs dangling off the side, but I was at just the same height as Scorch's cock.

"That's a good look for you," Scorch said, stepping closer and looking me over. He stuck his scaled muzzle under my tail and inhaled deeply. "Rff, scent like a dragon heavy with eggs," he teased.

The dragon stepped over me. I was alarmed for a moment, thinking about us needing lube, especially if he was going to go deeper into me than usual, but by the time I realized that, he was already prodding at my hole with that wonderful tapered member of his, and I decided to grit my teeth and prepare myself for a rough ride.

With how many times we'd done this before, at least I was pleasantly stretched out. My ass wasn't quite gaping, but it was definitely looser than I'd been as a virgin. Probably too loose to satisfy a male of my own species, but for a massive draconic whelp-maker, I was perfect.

He drove himself into me and I gasped for air. It burned like hell at first, but the added friction quickly had my mate groaning and growling. He seemed more primal here, like he was shedding the trappings of civilization much in the same way I'd been forced to, fucking me faster and harder. Caring less about pleasure and more about filling me. Of course, for him they were one and the same, as the stud. The seed wouldn't take - I was far too full of eggs already - but for Scorch, there was no denying the powerful instincts that told him to breed his hen.

It didn't take too long before he erupted inside me with heavy spurts of his thick draconic cream; he didn't even bother to knot me this time. Still, I was happy that I'd satisfied him. I could feel his cum seeping into the deepest recesses of my body, and that was when something strange happened. The heat felt like it rose to my head, and I couldn't think clearly. I found myself snarling, twisting beneath my mate and pushing him off me.

He shot me a knowing glance. I suddenly felt hungry, my stomach growling. It's hard to recall what order things happened in, like my ability to form memories was being inhibited by something else. Something fierce and primal that'd awoken inside me.

My mate gestured towards the raw meat he'd gotten for us, and I knelt next to it without a second thought, still leaking with Scorch's seed. Like some kind of filthy animal. Or like a dragon. I have hazy memories of holding a piece down with my forepaws- my hands, while tearing at it with my jaws, hungrily devouring it, and I also remember it tasting absolutely delicious, coppery, tough, and stringy. I didn't care about the rawness or the blood; it was food, and I needed food if I was to provide strong offspring for my mate and myself.

Then, just as I stuck my muzzle to my meal again, that sensation faded, and I recoiled in terror. What the hell was I doing? Scorch didn't say anything, but he did smile - or his best approximation of a smile - even as he started eating.

That's how we lived for the next weeks. I mostly stayed in the cave and Scorch hunted, just like we had planned. He'd mount me, and I'd slip into that strange bestial state, each time lasting a little longer. Something was definitely happening to me, but I didn't have the energy to worry about it too much, not when I had my pregnancy already occupying most of my thoughts.

Life in the cave did get boring, but I had my mate burn some wood into ash and charcoal for me, and so I took to what I can only describe as cave painting. The rock was light enough that the blackness of my drawings contrasted against it well in a rather appealing manner, especially those times we had a fire at the very entrance. I tried to illustrate our story; first, a lonely wolf among other wolves, dragons among other dragons. Then, a wolf being mounted by a dragon, then the wolf getting pregnant. It was hardly the height of artistic talent, but when one's bored enough, doing anything becomes strangely appealing.

At the end of those weeks, or perhaps months - telling time was becoming increasingly different without a phone or watch - my belly had grown to the point where I could barely walk. One of those days, I was laying on the ground for the better part of it, with Scorch curled around me. We couldn't really mate with me in that shape, but Scorch had eventually learned to appreciate blowjobs, though only in the absence of the "real" thing.

And suddenly the cramps started. I doubled over, whimpering and cradling my belly. It hurt, and it hurt a lot, at least at first. Constipation would be the closest equivalent, only it was much worse. What it meant was obvious, and Scorch gave me a nudge, encouraging me to get upright.

"Calm, mate. Time to lay eggs," he murmured. "Squat. Pain will ease."

He was being very matter-of-factual despite the fact that I felt like my stomach was going to explode, but I did as he asked; after all, he was the dragon here, the one who'd at least have a little experience in this. Not much; he was a gay male, and young at that, but it was something.

So I squatted, and the pain eased a little bit, as if my body was telling me I was in the correct position for this. I thanked my lucky stars that I was stretched out thanks to Scorch's cock, because if I weren't, this would've been absolutely miserable. Then, things shifted inside me, the pressure easing just a small bit, as (I guessed) one of the eggs was deposited into my rectum, from where it'd hopefully find its way out. At least I was already naked, the day was hot and there really wasn't much of a reason to wear clothes out here. Scorch didn't.

I groaned and moaned; the egg didn't feel as hard as a bird's, but even then, it felt like I was trying to pass a melon. There was a jolt of pleasure as it passed over my prostate, and then mind-shattering pain as my body forced it through my sphincter. More so then than ever did I think I was literally going to split apart.

But I didn't. The egg plopped down on the ground safely, leaving me gasping for air. I didn't even have time to look at it before the next one started moving. This will be a long day, I thought. I was surprised when the next egg popped out, hurting a lot less. My stomach was already starting to feel better, though there were at least half a dozen more.

"Hrrf, enjoy it. You will do this a lot..." Scorch growled. He was already planning for the next time, and I couldn't help but like the idea. Realistically, it'd take me a few days to recover from this, but the idea of being pumped full of his seed and subsequently more eggs immediately after laying this clutch was enough to get my blood pumping. It excited me. The next one sliding past my prostate made me moan, but this time with pleasure, as I realized my cock was sticking out of its sheath, just the slightest bit of red protruding from it.

"Hrrm... female dragons often... climax, when they lay," Scorch whispered, putting his head on my shoulder. "Pleasure when mating, pleasure when laying," he continued.

He was right. There was pleasure. By the time I pushed out the fifth egg, I was panting, only this time with pleasure. I could focus more on the experience with my body stretched out enough to handle them. They were somewhat soft and leathery, not unlike the texture of Scorch's manhood, though from my experiencing handling eggs at the farm they'd harden up in a few hours. Must've been an evolutionary thing to make them easier to lay.

The sixth one slipped out of my now-gaping hole, leaving behind it a profound feeling of emptiness and a rock-hard erection. I didn't entirely understand how the cramps had started to become pleasant, like miniature orgasms, but they were accomplishing their purpose; if laying eggs would feel this good, I'd have a very hard time resisting breeding.

It was a scary thought, but as usual, my mind wasn't strong enough to resist pleasures like this. I think there were two eggs left when I began to masturbate, stroking my cock in time with the internal spasms. I could feel every second of it. First, the egg was forced through some sort of cervix or equivalent, which was mildly pleasurable by now. Then, being pushed through my bowels, it felt like a massive cock being withdrawn from me, and I was anticipating the next moment with baited breath. It pushed into my prostate as it passed, and I whimpered, my cock squirting clear lupine precum into my paw. Then, finally, it spread my sphincter, forced out with an agonizing slowness that caused pleasure to radiate throughout my whole being.

If only it lasted a little longer. I couldn't believe I was really wishing for that. But it felt so damn good. By now my stomach was almost normal, almost flat. The last egg. I was feverishly stroking myself, groaning and moaning. Cervix. Prostate. Sphincter. And then Scorch grabbed my neck with his jaws, nibbling the scruff, and I climaxed with a howl, the last of the eggs plopping down onto the cave floor. I hurriedly stuck a finger inside me to replace the empty sensation, and immediately clenched down on it as rope after rope of my cum shot onto the rocky ground.

"Hrrf, good mate. Good mother," Scorch grumbled, stroking my front with his massive clawed paw. "Better than mating?" he asked.

I couldn't quite find the right words to reply to him. My legs finally gave, the muscles burning, and my lover caught me, both of us leaning backwards so we could look at the eggs. They weren't anything special. Each was perhaps the size of my fist or a little larger, but I felt an unfamiliar sense of pride looking at them. After all, it was my body that had made them for my beautiful mate, just like it should. Huh. There was a sense of wrongness to it, too. Some part of me suggesting that this was perverse, that I had other goals to pursue than getting bred by this wonderful specimen of maleness, but I couldn't think of a single one.

Scorch was getting rather intimate again. It seemed that watching me lay the eggs, eight in all, was exciting to him too, going by the hardness I felt against the small of my back. We both knew that we couldn't breed immediately, my body needed some time to recover. But when I offered him relief with my paws or mouth, he said something that gave me goosebumps all over:

"No. Will save it. Will seed you with days of cum," he growled, dominantly, hungrily, eagerly. I knew how virile he was normally, staring at the proof. With him pent up after several days of waiting and finally shooting all of that draconic seed into me, I imagined myself so heavy with eggs that... I don't even know. It just felt like a warm glow of happiness. Motherhood, I suppose. Not something I'd ever considered that I might feel, what with having a cock and all. I was happy I'd chosen a mate so strong, so masculine...

I shook my head. Were those really my thoughts? They felt like they were, but I couldn't be sure. There was a faintest ember of anxiety lodged somewhere in my now empty stomach. It felt like I was becoming an animal, a perfect eager breeding bitch (or hen) for the dragon, unable to control my instincts any more than he could. Not that it'd ever been my strong suit, but losing that small amount of control... it unnerved me. It was a hazy kind of anxiety, hard to focus on, like a blurry shadow over my other thoughts.

But right then and there, in Scorch's warm embrace, it didn't feel so bad. He'd chase all those anxieties away. He'd protect me.

"Warm enough that don't have to... sit on eggs," he finally spoke.

"Incubate them?" I suggested.

"Yes. Warm enough. Only in colder seasons," he answered.

Days later, I was already roaming around the forest beneath our cave. It felt amazing to be able to run, jump and climb without my previous burden. Intoxicating, even. I felt stronger now than I'd ever felt before, more energetic. I was chasing a deer, the adrenaline coursing through my veins and my heart beating fast and strong. Scorch was more than capable of catching them himself, but we had this, I suppose, play routine, where I'd chase the deer to him. He'd been hesitant at first to let his mate risk his bones with such things, but he'd relented when I told him that I'd need to learn to survive, or at least grow stronger and faster, so I could defend myself when he was away.

Of course, I'd still be no match for a dragon, not without proper weapons. I had a wooden spear that I'd sharpened with the hunting knife I'd brought, which was enough to take down a deer, but not more than that.

I'd also insisted on foraging for food that wouldn't spoil, something that we could keep in reserve in the winter if Scorch ever failed at hunting. All of that was in the now otherwise empty backpack that the spear was strapped to. Mushrooms and berries that I'd try best I could, perhaps with the help of Scorch's flame, a variety of nuts and roots I knew to be edible from my time at school. Scorch was dubious as to my ability to recognize the edible ones; finally, I found something that I could teach him.

The deer jumped over a small creek. I hunched over, dropping onto all fours like my forefathers had. Digging my claws into the dirt, I sprung, barely clearing the stream. The hunt was still on.

Yet, as much as I moved like a wolf, it felt different. My muscles burned like dragonfire. Only a few more meters and-

The deer bolted out of the forest and into a clearing. I heard a crash and a pained yelp quickly silenced. I was only seconds behind. Scorch was there, as we had planned, having dived for our prey from above. It laid unmoving beneath his majestic form, and I could tell the faintest sign of a grin on his face. It was something he only did for me, to show his emotions. Dragons didn't naturally grin like we humanoids, but he had understood the meaning, and so he forced himself to display it.

I slowed down and then stopped, panting with my hands on my knees. I could taste blood, nearly at the point of vomiting from exhaustion.

"Well done, mate," he growled, audible excited with the thrill of the hunt. "Not only a breeder," he continued. "But perhaps a hunter. Much to learn."

I took it as a compliment.

We sat there in silence for a moment, and the whole time my mate was staring at me, as it trying to peer directly into me. Like he was looking for something. It was a pleasant late summer evening. The birds chirped around us, the sun warming us. It was almost idyllic, reminding me of days I'd rather forget, of myself as a cub back in that place I used to call home. But this was my new home, right in the middle of nowhere, far from any cities or even towns. Scorch hadn't seen any when he'd flown above us and scouted; not a humanoid soul for miles upon miles.

There were other dragons, of course. He'd spotted a black one trying to hide in a swamp not too far from us. No doubt there were others, and we'd eventually have to make peace with them, or drive them out. I say "we", but effectively, it was Scorch's task for now, at least until I became better at fighting. It was interesting. Scorch still intended to breed me again eventually, but he'd seem some mysterious potential in me. Perhaps it was what I was turning into, something not dissimilar to him. Because of that, and because of the eggs we already had waiting to hatch - they'd hardened by now, their texture turning to that of dragonscales with blueish-brown tint - I was somewhat hesitant to indulge in another round of mating, and surprisingly, Scorch was fine with that. Of course, fate had other things in store for me.

We returned to the cave. It was a few hours away; we'd decided to not hunt in the immediate vicinity of our home so as to not scare away all potential prey. By the time we got there, it was getting dark. I'd lost track of time a while ago; the time might've been anything between four in the afternoon and nine of so in the evening. There was no need to know exact times when living like animals. All that mattered was that were awoke at sunrise and slept when it set, barring the occasional nightly hunt.

At this point I was familiar with the climb and cleared it in a minute, while Scorch flew in overhead, carrying our prey. The hunt has loosened something up in me, or perhaps intensified it, and a while after I reached the cave, I begun to feel increasingly dizzy and hazy, just like after we fucked. I sat down on our rock and the dragon took his place next to me, with a look of curiosity.

At first I couldn't tell what was happening. It wasn't the same kind of primal feeling as the previous times, but more like an itch in my mind, like there was something missing. I wasn't hungry or thirsty, I knew that much. It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling, not exactly; that inarticulate longing for something I didn't know yet. A feverish sensation was creeping up on me. I hoped it wasn't sickness; anything more serious than a cold would be bad news out here.

"Scorch, I'm not feeling so good," I told him.

"Hrrm, what do you feel?" he asked. I saw his tail twitch. That meant barely suppressed excitement, he knew more than he was letting on; I recognized enough of his body language, just like he knew mine.

"A fever, like I'm getting sick," I answered, nonetheless.

"Mrh, should rest perhaps," he suggested.

I did, as he did he. Preparing the meat could wait until tomorrow. As usual, Scorch curled up, and I placed my sleeping bag next to him, so that his body heat would keep me warm. It was a good thing that dragons, at least this particular one, didn't move much in their sleep.

That night, I had that nightmare again. The same cave, but darker, more sinister somehow despite looking identical on the surface. I was resting of top of countless eggs, heavily pregnant with more. A sense of desperation. I knew I couldn't handle the constant breeding for much longer. Maybe this'd be the last clutch. In the reality of the dream, I'd been used like a mindless egg factory by the dragon; my body was barely strong enough to move at all anymore. My arms and legs were thin, a horrifying contrast with my swollen belly.

I could see myself from the outside, like my soul was hanging on by just a thread. My features had warped into something barely resembling a wolf anymore; if anything, I was a dragon, but not a natural one. Even if I was strong, even if I didn't have Scorch constantly shackling me to himself with the constant pregnancies, there wasn't anywhere I could've run to. I'd given up; there was no more agency, no more will to do anything. Many of our whelps had come and gone, with little interaction with me; they were only animals, independent almost immediately following their hatching, and so I was utterly alone.

Dream-Scorch returned to the cave, his scales black as midnight. That was the first time I actually saw the nightmare version of him. He'd grown into a mighty dragon as he aged, while I'd withered away into almost nothing.

"You still haven't laid the eggs? It's time to get filled with more. Do your one job so I can do mine," he growled. He was far more eloquent than the real one.

But I couldn't do anything. My limbs wouldn't move an inch, and Dream-Scorch grew more and more angry at my disobedience. "Lay the eggs or I'm going to tear them out of you," he roared. He raised one of his paws, each claw like the blade of a scythe. It didn't matter what he did to me. I was already dead. As his claws descended, I woke up.

This time the memory didn't fade. I woke up fumbling around in cold sweat, momentarily unsure of where I was, or even which way was up. Adding to that confusion and terror was I felt like I was burning up, with a maddening itch somewhere inside me. My blind flailing woke Scorch up as well, or perhaps he'd never been asleep. It was hard to tell.

"Hrr, still feeling like you have a fever?" he grumbled.

"Just tell me what this is, Scorch!" I asked, angrily, the nightmare still fresh in my mind. I had no patience for anything.

"You are female, on the inside," he stated. "Female dragon."

"How exactly do you know that, and why does it matter, Scorch? Just tell me! And if I'm female, that makes you straight," I snarled. It wasn't much of an insult, but it was the best one I could come up with.

"Male body, male mind, female deep inside. Close enough," he spoke, giving me an amused snort. "It is mating season. You are in heat."

"But I just laid a clutch!" I protested.

"Grrf... dragons mate all summer," he replied.

On the one hand I didn't want to spend the last month and a half of summer pregnant. The boredom of sitting in the cave doing nothing was a very unpleasant prospect. On the other hand, the itch was getting unbearably annoying, as was the heat.

"How long is it going to last?" I asked.

"Until summer ends, mate. Or until you let me scratch it," he replied, standing up. It was still dark, but dawn must've been close, as I could just barely see him move. He buried his nose into my neck-fur, as he tended to do when he wanted to mate.

The heat seemed to have heightened my senses as well, or at least all the ones related to physical contact. His hot breath sent tingles down my spine. Now that I was able to put what I was feeling in words, it felt obvious that my body was telling me that it wanted to be fertilized again. I hadn't smelled anything when we'd been laying still, but Scorch moving stirred the air, wafting his scent into my nostrils, and as always, it threatened to drive me wild. Not that it'd take much in this state. There was no doubt in my mind that everything he did right now was entirely intentional.

Truth be told I'd have let him take me right then and there if it wasn't for that nightmare. I knew it was just a dream, but it'd felt so real. I didn't want to end up like that.

"Scorch, stop," I groaned as he pushed his nose under my tail. "I had a-"

I was going to tell him, but it felt wrong. I couldn't blame him for the actions of an oneiric construct of my own making, and even just telling him... I knew he understood what nightmares were, in theory, but I didn't know if he truly understood them for what they were, exaggerated reflections of the waking world created by our minds for no apparent reason as it recharged overnight.

"-I don't want to spend that long without being able to hunt with you," I said instead. "I need to learn to survive."

"Hrf, breeding is survival. Strong offspring to help us," he grumbled, licking under my tail. It felt almost electric, and I arched my back, pressing my rear into his muzzle. I moaned, unable to stop the purely physical reaction.

"Instincts are survival," he continued. "Must learn to follow them."

He gave me another probing lick, digging into my bared pucker. My tail was sticking out, readily hiked to give him better access. It was absurd to the point of comedy. I was trying my hardest to squirm away from my mate, even though he was giving me exactly what my body wanted. It felt amazing, but the logical consequence of letting him continue was a belly full of eggs, which had also felt good, but nonetheless the reasonable side of me protested. One clutch a year was surely enough.

My protests weren't very convincing regardless of what I was thinking, each "no" punctuated with a moan or obvious spasm of pleasure. A humanoid mate might've relented, but Scorch was, ultimately, a beast. And my body language very much said yes.

As expected, I quickly found myself on our mating rock, body low along the downward slant of it, and my ass hiked, unmistakably presented. Maybe it won't take, maybe it's okay just to soothe this itchy heat, I told myself. It'd only been a few days since I laid his eggs, there was no way my body would be ready for another clutch yet. The fact that I couldn't see much in the darkness only added to the hazy, dreamlike feeling. Maybe I was dreaming, in which case It'd be stupid to pass on the opportunity for some relief.

Scorch stepped over, pinning my arms to the rock with his arms. Not too hard, but just enough so that I couldn't move at all.

Just like in that dream.

The spike of anxiety was quickly washed away by a wave of pleasure as his breeding spire sunk into my wet hole. Exactly like it would sink into a female, only the wetness was Scorch's saliva. It felt better than it'd ever felt before; somehow his cock felt cooler than the raging inferno that was my body, and it prodded in all the right places, like a masseuse releasing knots in my muscles. Just let him do it, my body told me. Just let him fuck you until he pumps you full of that oh-so-virile seed and puts out the fire inside you.

"That's a good hen," Scorch huffed, forcing himself all the way into me. It was easier in his position, just like we'd previously established. I didn't know where in my body my womb was but his tip was surely right at the entrance, already leaking precum into me.

The fact that there might already be sperm in it relaxed me, somehow. If I was going to get successful bred it probably already happened, so there was no point in resisting. That, plus the watery liquid was like balm on my inflamed insides, and I welcomed the faint sensation of it being deposited into my eager body. My arms and legs already felt gelatinous and weak, but I forced my clenching ring back against his thrusts.

"F-ffucking - huff - breed your mate, Scorch!" I called out, and he sped up his primal dance, causing my whole body to vibrate. But the pleasure was different than it'd been before, building up in my belly rather than around my cock, which was pressed into the blanket and well out of reach. Almost like... how I'd imagine a female might feel, a quivering, fluttering pleasure slowly building up as his ridges popped into me only be pulled out one after the other. I had heard of men being able to orgasm from just getting fucked - if I even was a man anymore - and now, I realized I was well on my way there, unable to touch myself.

"Grrf, will do," Scorch replied. What he lacked in dirty talk he made up in the feral, energetic pounding he was giving me, intent on seeding me again, of driving his swelling knot into me to make sure a certain part of me swelled in turn. I'd thought he'd been primordial and rough before, but this was a whole new world, pounding into me like a jackhammer, fast enough that I couldn't even relax between each push. It was obvious that my heat was getting him far more excited than usual, from the way he fucked me, possessively, growling and clutching at me where he could.

I could feel his engorged knot pounding at my entrance. He wasn't quite managing to get it inside me, and as much as I tried to relax it wouldn't quite slip in.

Suddenly, he grabbed my sides, rolling over onto his back with me still speared deeply on his maleness, and then he let go. Gravity did the job, just as nature was about to do hers; with a wet slurp and a yelp of pain, his knot popped through my clutching ring, tying us together. I had been teetering on the edge of climax for a good while, and that final spreading sensation, combined with the intensely erotic knowledge of what it meant, as enough to cause the damn to burst. I yowled like a cat in heat, my back arching and cum jetting onto Scorch's legs from my twitching cock. But there was more to it, like a dazzling, spasming energy that seemed to erupt from within me. I felt myself squeezing down on him, my body caressing every inch of that wonderful maleness in ways I didn't even know I could. Oh god, I was milking him, wordlessly begging him to inseminate me as I squirmed in pleasure on top of him.

And inseminate me he did. With a near deafening roar, he bucked his hips, as if he could get any deeper inside me, and erupted. I could feel him throb inside me, growing even bigger for a split second, and then I felt the familiar wet heat start spreading through my body. It felt ecstatic, euphoric, like a drug bringing with it a profound sense of contentedness, soothing the itch inside me and sending me into another spasmodic climax, like every atom in my body was electrified with pure pleasure as he pumped his thick offering deep under my tail, into my fertile womb.

And then, it was over. I was about to fall backwards, unable to support myself with my muscles melting into happiness, but Scorch caught be, keeping my upright.

He rolled his hips into me. He'd keep seeding me just about until his knot softened again, but until then, there was nowhere for it to go but towards my hidden womb. My head swam as I imagined his rich cum seeking out my eggs. I couldn't feel anything but intense satisfaction, no worries about my very likely future pregnancy. Biology's little way of making sure I didn't shy away from a mating next time I went into heat, or otherwise.

By the end of the night I was so bloated I looked a week pregnant. Scorch didn't stop there, of course, instead breeding me each time my heat returned until it finally faded permanently, leaving no doubt that I'd soon be laying more eggs. Each time he filled me up I felt a little more feral, a little more like Scorch, but it'd be a while yet before anything would show.

The nightmares kept plaguing me, however. As satisfied I was otherwise being Scorch's mate, if a little bored when I had to stay inside the cave, there was something my subconscious was trying to warn me about. Or perhaps there wasn't, and the dreams were merely dreams, at least for now.

Of course, the real challenge still laid ahead; soon, fall would come, and in its wake winter would follow. Surviving in the late summer warmth was one thing, but in ice and snow it was entirely different. Still, I didn't doubt that Scorch and I could manage, not when we were together.