The campfire crackled; the sound echoed across the ragged cliffs, filling the recess that was nestled within the canyon’s walls. Water trickled out from one of the wall’s fissures, feeding a small basin huddled against one side of the room. Here, at least, was some life: stringy shrubs and stalks sprouted around the murky pool like palm trees clustering round an oasis. The sky had mellowed out to a warm orange as the sun continued its descent behind the horizon. A shadow had long since engulfed the recess, and coupled by the cold wind drafting in, signaled the coming of the frigid night.

He should be more concerned about the lack of a ceiling: after all, they were not completely out of wilds, and the threat of a monster peeking its head in loomed in his mind, despite what Sheik said otherwise. But he couldn’t find the strength to care – he had already fucked everything up.

Heat wafted against the front of his body where he sat near the fire. Scales, like small, warm pebbles, pressed against his back, pushing then receding in a slow rhythm. A tail draped his lap, the heavy appendage made thicker by the plumage adorning it: feathers that gradually turned from dull olive into shades of cyan and indigo at their ends. Attached to said tail, and curled behind him and to his side, scales and feathers following the curves of a body larger than his own, was Sheikret.

She was a palociraptor: two-legged omnivores that resembled flightless birds. Her bones and muscles contoured into a sleek profile, dressed with olive scales and adorned with tufts of purple plumage. A curved neck ended with the visage of a predator: sloping face growing into a curved, blackened beak; eyes nestled beneath pronounced ridges; little horns sprouting out just in front of the mane of purple feathers dressing a serpentine neck. She was sleeping – at least, he thought so. Her head was nestled in her chest fluff, eyes closed, her midriff steadily falling and rising against him.

His chest tightened, and he looked away. The innards of the campfire pulsated as its flames tore at and devoured the twigs above. He stared at the fire, the guilt in him feeling much the same. It was meant to be an easy hunt. Now what was he supposed to do? He doubted there will be any other contracts when they got home and it was too late to make something himself. All his savings amounted to very little. He started to fidget with her tail’s stems. Now what?

“David.”

Her voice ripped him out of his trance. He whipped around. She had reared her head upright and was gazing at him with one slitted, tangerine eye.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, the words rolling out of her open beak from deep within her throat. “You’ve been like this for hours.”

David bit his lip and pondered his options. She’ll be pissed if he told her the truth. What can he say? A few moments passed as he rolled one of her stems in his digits. “I… feel like a fuck-up,” he finally said, “I got this close”-he trapped an inch of air between his fingers-“then stepped on a fucking twig. In this wasteland of all places. I should’ve seen it.”

Sheikret pivoted her head, allowing both eyes to gaze at him. She pressed tighter against him; his heart hammered in his throat as butterflies fluttered in his stomach. “We all make mistakes, David,” she said, “Even ones in which we should know better. At least we’re not hurt.” The feathers on her back shuffled. “Who knows, maybe you’ve spooked it into not raiding trade caravans anymore.”

His lips stretched out in a halfhearted grin. The words slipped from his lips: “I don’t think, with that tiny skull, it’ll be smart enough to figure out cause and correlation.”

A soft gasp, and she drew her beak close to her neck in an exaggerated motion. “Really?” she drawled out. The flesh at the corners of her beak tugged upwards. “My head isn’t that much smaller. Are you saying I’m stupid?”

Immediately David sat up straight and held out both palms. “No no no! That’s not what I meant!” he exclaimed, “I’m just saying… you know, since it’s a carnivore and from its actions and from what we know...”

A chortle bubbled up from her chest, a dry, high-pitched series of short chirps that oozed into David’s ears and filled his chest with a warm fuzz. “By that logic, it means your race are the most stupidest of them all.” She shook her head, shaking her mane of feathers. She tapped her head with a claw. “So you’d do good to listen to your mental superiors. Now listen: This one misstep doesn’t determine you to be a bad hunter. It’s how we learn. Don’t take this loss to heart.”

David lowered his palms as he gazed at her. Warmth stirred in his chest. If only he could show how much she’s worth to him.

Reality pierced the memory of his failure into his heart. His shoulders slumped as he looked at the ground. “Thanks Sheik,” he said.

He had expected a ‘sure’ or some sarcastic comment: not silence. David raised his sight. Sheikret’s eyes were filled with concern.

“But I’m guessing that’s not the real problem,” she said softly. “Please. What’s really wrong?”

He opened his mouth to lie; paused. Closed it. Swallowed a lump down his throat. “I wanted to buy something with the money,” he whispered.

“Okay.” She shifted her weight; the ground crunched underneath her. “What was the thing?”

His mouth felt drier than the air he breathed. “You know that necklace back at the trader’s?”

She cocked her head, narrowing her eye-ridges. Her sight trailed off unto a distant point. Then her eyes snapped back at him. “The one I gushed about?” she asked in a tone he couldn’t place.

Feeling as if his lips had been sealed shut, David simply nodded.

For several moments, she just looked at him. Then she straightened up. Rolled her withers. “Okay.” A deep breath. “So, you are telling me that we went on an entire hunting trip so you can afford me a gift. Correct?”

He couldn’t deny the truth. “Yes,” he said softly.

She shuffled and tapped her claw against the ground. Then, in a tone completely devoid of warmth: “Do you understand... just how much danger you’ve put yourself in?”

“It was a low-rank hunt,” he said, dread rising in his spine. “And if I told you to stay behind you’ll refuse-”

“I know!” Her voice cut through the air like a dagger. She leered at him. “Its because it’s dangerous out there. There’s no telling what other monster will show up, or what would happen to you.” Abruptly she stood up – he nearly fell over, but remained seated. She stepped away and turned her body round to face him, her bulk towering over him, eyes glaring into his. “You could’ve gotten hurt, David. There’s always a risk. If it’s a hunt we need to do – fine. It’s our jobs. But not like this.” She drew her talons across the stone, leaving deep gauges in their wake as a sharp shriek rebounded in the canyon. “Not for a necklace. You could’ve gotten hurt – you could’ve died!” Her plumage flared outwards into a halo of feathers surrounding her furious eyes. “Do you understand?”

It felt like he was just slapped across the face. “Yes, I understand.”

“Promise me you won’t do something this fucking stupid again.” Her gaze bored into him.

“I promise you,” he said softly. It felt as if his stomach fell down into the depths of the earth. “I-I’m sorry.” He looked down.

Silence flooded the space between them. Dirt crunched and shifted as Sheikret shifted her feet.

“David. Please look at me.” Came her voice, so soft it was nearly lost to the wind.

He raised his head. Her plumage was tucked flat, and her eyes were glistening. “I don’t want you to get hurt,” she whispered. Slowly, like a leaf fluttering to the ground, she sat down.

The sight shattered his heart into countless pieces. He reached for her clawed paw and entwined his digits; she gripped his hand. Something twinged in him.

“I don’t want things that you can give me,” she said. A shuddering breath exhaled from her nostrils. “I want you. Just you. Okay?”

He drew closer and embraced her. Soft downy feathers met his hands as his arms curled round her neck, her chest fluff pressing against his face and chest. She leaned into his embrace, curling her arms round his torso and pulling him in tight. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I’m sorry.”

She hiccuped as she rested her heavy head against his shoulder. Warmth bled into his soul as her heartbeat echoed his. They held each other for the longest time, before their grip slackened, and they both pulled away. She gazed at him, and he at her.

“I just wanted to get you that necklace because, frankly, you deserved it,” he said, holding both her hands with his. “I wanted a way to tell you how much you mean to me.”

She sniffed. “Okay.” A shuddering breath blew past her maw. “I’m sorry for the yelling and the shouting, I was… I stress enough when we go out on regular hunts, and knowing that you risked yourself for a necklace…” Her throat flexed as she swallowed.

David cleared his throat. “Yeah, you were pretty terrifying. You sure you weren’t a Fatalis in your previous life?”

A soft chortle rumbled out of her. “Maybe.” She shook her head, rustling her feathers. Then her eyes met his.

“You know. David,” she began, shuffling forward. Hot breath blew out her nostrils and wafted against his face. “You didn’t need the necklace to tell me you fancied me.”

Heat bloomed in David’s cheeks. He tried to say something, stammered, then shut his mouth. Sheikret chuckled and tightened her grip on his hands.

“I am, in fact, not blind. I know you keep stealing glances at my rear when you think I’m not looking. Well…” Her tail started to sway, sweeping up dust with each oscillation. “You’re not the only one that peeks.”

His heart started pounding in his neck. An electrifying feeling wafted through his veins. Sheikret’s maw hovered an inch before his nose, her eyes staring deeply into his.

“Do you want to… take a closer look?” she whispered.

After a moment of hesitation, David leaned forward and kissed her.

Warmth and a tint of copper met his taste as his lips met the tip of her upper beak. He watched as the feathers on her back flared out so much that they were near-perpendicular to her body. She stared for a moment before yawning her beak wide open and forcing her thick tongue through his lips.

Hot, humid breath enveloped him as her jaws parted around him. Her thick tongue jammed his mouth wide open, completely filling his mouth and reaching down the back of his throat; he had to stop himself gagging. David cupped her cheeks in his palms, fingers stroking the fine feathers sprouting out from under her maw. All he could see was ridged and flexing muscles slick with her saliva; the darkness spilling out from within her throat; the webs of flesh joining her mandibles together. Little points of teeth lined the edges of her beak, nips of white pock-marketing the rosy flesh of wet muscle. A vivid memory of her crushing a watermelon in her beak flashed in his mind.

Then she drew back. Her tongue slipped out his throat, then his mouth, almost coaxing vomit out of him. He coughed and hacked, the corners of his mouth burning with sweetness while the taste of old meat lingered on his tongue.

She licked her lips, catching a lone strand of saliva yawning from her beak. “It’s about time, David.”

He chuckled, feeling the heat in his cheeks reaching down his neck. “Did I ever tell you that you’re beautiful?” he said.

“Yes. If all those peeks by you were to go by.” She giggled. Plumage flared and retracted across her body in synchronized patterns. “Since we’d kissed…” Her voice grew smoother yet rougher; almost into a growl. “Something should follow that, shouldn’t it?”

“And what might that be?” he asked teasingly.

Her eyes twinkled with mischievous. “It’s a surprise,” she whispered.,“But we… you can start by running your hands over me.”

Sheikret stood, stepped back, then sat down and eased unto her side. She gazed at him, long and thick bulges of muscle flaring in her elongated neck. David reached out and, slowly, started tracing his touch down her form. Fingers rolled over the contours and bulges of her face, traced around her horns and parted her silken feathers. Touch journeyed across her rolling landscapes of scales; trekked up the bulges of muscle; walked down the smooth declines and slid up her rolling hills. Scales widened and retracted in tune with the contours of her body, dressing themselves to the svelte figure that years of hardship shaped. His hands rested on the uppermost part of her haunch, warmth easing into his fingers. A soft chirp reached his ears as Sheikret rested her neck on his shoulder. It felt as if a heavy weight had been slung on his shoulder. Her beak peeked past the corner of his vision; he could feel – not just hear – her breathing growing quicker. David let his fingers idle a few moments more. Then he slid them around and pressed into the crook between her tail and ass.

A purr rolled through Sheikret, across her throat, and vibrated into David, causing a wave of goosebumps to erupt across his skin. Plush and plaint meat gave beneath his prodding as he explored her haunch and thigh. Scales didn’t protect her here; her hide was bare, creases and crinkles adorning her leathery skin instead. She was so, so warm here. Heat enveloped his digits and hands as he explored her soft rear. As he pressed in deeper, her muscles met him. They were as hard and unyielding as bundles of corded steel.

David continued to fondle her ass, pressing past the soft layer of lard to rub against her hardened glutes. He squeezed, massaged, fondled, cupping his palm around the circumference of her thigh, barely able to hold less than a quarter of it. The purrs continued in high and lows, rolling against his body like the waves of an ocean. He tried to part open her leg. Resistance.

“Wait, wait,” Sheikret said. She leaned back, her eyes staring straight at his tented pants. “I… I want to see.” One claw pointed at his groin.

“My dick?” David withdrew from her rear. “Do you want to feel it?”

Sheikret’s throat flexed, then she nodded. Feathers shuddered on her neck.

David reached down. Clasped the belt buckle; undid it. Slowly, he slid down his pants. His cock bobbed out in the open air, veins bulging out the throbbing tube of flesh. Sheikret stared at it; her eyes widened and her feathers flared out in shock.

“Isn’t…” Surprise and confusion colored her voice. “Isn’t it supposed to be out?”

The hunter looked down at his penis, then back at Sheikret. “Yes?” he said, “It’s out?”

Sheikret peered at his dick, like how a scientist would examine a rare bug. “So the sheath does grow with it,” she said softly. A sudden shiver rolled through her body. “I thought the other monsters were exaggerating or something but… wow.”

David rolled his eyes. “Technically speaking that’s skin-”

“Are these your balls?” She reached for his testicles, and before he could move or even shout, pressed the back of her claw into them. The sudden cold shot through his groin, and he stepped back.

“Sensitive, Sheik!”

“Sorry, sorry!” She raised both feathered arms in surrender. Then her eyes shot back to his genitals. “It’s just so… weird. Weird in a good way, of course.” A pause. “Why is it shrinking?”

He sighed and gently stroked his receding penis. “Because it’s… I’m not being stimulated anymore. It grows when I want to fuck something. It shrinks when I don’t, or get distracted.”

“Oh, sorry.” Then, as if a switch had been flicked, her body relaxed, assuming a more curvaceous position. Then, with a batter of her eyelids and a husky voice: “Then let me fix that for you.”

Massive, thick digits with claws erupting out their ends gently took hold of his cock between the forefinger and the thumb. David shuddered as her cool touch met his warm skin. Slowly, carefully, she started stroking. First her motions were soft, smooth, pulling and pushing his dick forward and backward. Steadily however, she increased her speed. David bit back a moan as she pumped his engorged penis, his body going rigid. The tension in his groin grew tighter and tighter, closer and closer to his climax. Pre-cum coated his cock as she worked his dick over.

“W-wait,” he said. Sheikret stopped and withdrew her touch. David took a couple of deep breaths. “I’m close.”

“Already?” She chortled. “Didn’t know I could do so good a job.”

David ran his hand across her beak; she leaned into his touch, a purr bubbling out her chest. “You’re a natural.”

Her tongue darted out and lapped against his urethra. Instantly, like a hammer-blow, a wave of prickles bolted across his body.

“Salty,” she said, smacking her tongue. “But I wouldn’t mind having a throughout taste-test.” Her feathers fluttered.

Without a word, David went to his knees, both hands reaching for her head. He tried to speak; couldn’t, all he could do was breath, his heart hammering in his throat. Sheikret craned her head towards his nethers and took hold of his waist, claws pricking his skin. Then, gently, she put his dick in her beak.

Cold ivory gave way to warm, slick muscles as his cock slid into her mouth. Her tiny teeth prodded his member from above and below. Her thick and powerful tongue slid over his cock, its weight pressing down unto his manhood. Then she started to work.

Up and down she dragged her tongue, rubbing it against his dick, engulfing it in her saliva. Short huffs shot out her nostrils, her hot breath washing over his groin. Her tongue curled around his throbbing manhood, squeezing his thick meat; nearly wringing it like a wet cloth.

A moan slipped from his lips as Sheikret continued working his dick. She worked her head back and forth, pumping his cock, knocking against his balls with her lower beak with each pump. Hot, damp breath enveloped his manhood, slick muscles rubbing against his urethra, her teeth pricking his sides. Violent shudders took hold in him; shivers so powerful that his teeth clacked against one another. He gripped the sides of her head as wave after wave passed through him. The static inside of him build and build, growing and growing to the inevitable release. David forced his lips to move. “S-stop,” he stuttered.

Her tongue relaxed and she drew her beak away from his cock. Saliva yawned down from his throbbing member. Sheikret licked her beak as she gazed up at him.

“I-I’m close,” he stuttered. His heart was thundering in his throat, and breaths came quick and shallow. His touch trailed down her side. Rested just above her waist. She purred, her flank pumping in and out, heart thumping against his touch.

“Please,” she whispered.

David rose to his feet. She preened up at him, head cocked, arms tucked in, feathers flat. His body felt as if gripped in the throes of a dream; electrifying waves of energy rolled through his body, warm static filling every single pore and inch. He gently took hold of one of her hind legs and pushed. Sheikret rolled with his motion; truly the only way he would’ve succeeded, as her thigh is as large as his chest. Once settled unto her back, she splayed open her hind legs.

Her warmth blanketed his face as he neared her nethers. Smooth contours of her inner thighs rose up to the apex of her pelvic bone, flesh thinning until only a smooth layer of skin covered the bone. As his fingers, too, explored her vulnerability, the thick smell of comprised of sweetness and sour pierced into his sinuses. There, situated just above her pelvic bone and before a clenching sphincter, was the puffy lips of her vulva. He shuddered as another wave of pricks washed over his body. He gently placed his thumbs on either side of her vulva, then parted it open.

Sheikret’s body shuddered so violently her thigh smacked against his shoulder. A stuttering chirp rolled out her open beak as she gazed down at him. “S-s-sorry,” she stuttered, drawing another loud breath.

“It’s okay,” he whispered. David leaned down towards her nethers and sniffed. The scent buffeted his nose, reaching down to sweeten the corners of his mouth. Shivers rose and wracked his body, goosebumps flaring everywhere he can see on himself. David sat down unto her thick tail. His penis smacked against her groin; she released a warbling groan, pushing her legs further apart. He leaned forward, smooth skin sliding past his forearms, ending with his chest flush with her abdomen and his fingers intertwined with hers. The strong thumps of her heart vibrated into him and mixed with his own. Finally, with one last look at her, he slid forward and entered her.

Instantly her vagina contracted around his cock, clamping against it tight. A warbling cry flew out Sheikret’s beak as her body started to shudder and shake. David kept drawing forward, pressing more and more of himself into her, her purrs vibrating into his groin, until finally his pelvis met hers. He paused, him inside her, Sheikret’s nethers massaging and welcoming his cock. David gazed at her, and she at him. Comfort flowed through his body, warmth intertwining with the other. Then he drew back and slammed home.

A sharp cry burst out from Sheikret’s beak as her body stiffened. David took a quick breath before sliding back out, then thrusting in again. Soon he settled into a steady, energetic pace, thrusting in and out, in and out. Wet slurps and smacks echoed in the recess, groin slapping against groin, his being entering hers again and again. His entire soul alights in ecstasy; body filled like a cup of energy. Between her garbled cries and caws, words reach his ears: yes, please, more. And more he gave.

He thrusted deep into her. She chirped, beak wide open, eyes lost to ecstasy. He went wild inside of her, humping as fast and as deep as he could. Again and again he fucked her, a boiling ball of static building in his groin, growing tenser and tenser until-

Hot strings of jizz spurted out his cock and filled her vagina. David grunted as he pulled himself against her, letting all of him give itself to all of her. It felt as if a tidal wave descended unto him, pushing him flat against her, battering his body and draining him of all of his life as her slick insides clamped down on his throbbing member. Then, after several moments, the climax ended.

They both lied there, breathless. His erection slowly dwindled inside of her. Her arms wrapped around his back. Pressed him tighter against her.

“Gog,” she whispered, hot breath washing over his ear. “You can fuck.”

David grinned and shuffled his head to face her, her downy underside pressing into his cheek and ear. “You’re amazing.”

Sheikret giggled, feathers flaring in delight. The sound of feathers sweeping across stone reaches his ears. “No, you’re amazing.”

“No, you are.”

“You are, dumbass!” She gave him a playful slap on his back. They snuggled into one another, heartbeat joining another.

He felt a warmth bleed out into his soul and fill every inch of his being. He had never felt something – anything – as strong as the feeling he’s feeling now. He felt fulfilled, safe – happy. He felt like he could lie in her chest fluff forever. He relaxed against her, totally and unconditionally. Her heart echoed his; a strong thump to his beat. If there was a heaven somewhere, far above the struggles and challenges of the earth, he’s sure it would feel exactly like her chest fluff. Sheikret’s clawed hand cupped David’s head and gently pressed him tighter against her.

“I love you,” David said. Sheikret smiled, nuzzled her beak next to his head, and whispered back:

“I love you too.”

Man and raptor fell asleep that night, huddled in each other’s arms.