“So, do you want to?” he asked her late one night, as she was mid-shift getting ready for bed.  She gave him her serpent eyes and a slow blink. He lowered his gaze out of respect and muttered an apology and let her finish her shift so that she could get into the coiling pose that they liked to sleep in.  His hands caressed her sleek cobra scales as she wound herself around him. 

He had fallen asleep before he remembered to re-ask his question like she had hoped he would.  He loves being constricted,  one of the few reasons non-Nagablood, marry Nagablood. She was mostly full-blood, granting her the ability to full body shift into serpent form. Her particular bloodline was mostly cobra with a little bit of boa and python thrown in for good measure,  making her blood very cold even in humanoid form.  Most Nagablood can only do partial shifts or are only cold-blooded and cannot shift at all. But the more full-Nagablood one is, the more Serpent needs and traits they had: slit pupils, forked tongue, the recurring need to molt or shed their skin.

Cyandre Hazo, her husband, is of the Ovipositor species.  And they have an estrus period every month where they are most fertile for producing eggs that will mature to actual spawn.  It hurts them to go through it if they don’t mate or deposit their eggs somewhere.  He’s been wanting to start a family for months, nearly a year, but she hasn’t been as eager to do so, she didn’t know why exactly, either way, he ends up going to the clinic to deposit his unfertilized or sterile eggs to be repurposed as fertility drugs for those in the Populace that are struggling to conceive.  It always made him depressed and weepy.  

She woke up the next morning to an empty bed.  She didn’t know how he’d escaped the coil, but he did. And was standing at the foot of the bed.  Staring at her.  

“What is it?”

“Why won’t you mate with me, Tahldais? It's been years since we’ve been married. Don’t you want a baby with me?”

She blinked.  “You realize I am still half asleep and just waking up, right?”

“My time is in a few days and I just need to know if I need to go to the clinic to make a deposit again or if you actually want to lie with me and carry my eggs,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest. 

She sighed.  Not sure how to answer this but feeling like if she didn’t figure out why she was so resistant against the idea, she’d lose him, and that thought broke her heart so severely it was hard to breathe.

She took too long to answer him and he just shook his head and turned to leave the room. She spent the whole morning coiled around herself, trying to comfort herself in her confusion. Part of her knew that if he was Nagablood, she would not hesitate to let him breed her to make a child. Was she really this much of a clone to her family’s problematic purist thoughts?   Cyandre was the love of her life and she did not like that a LARGE part of her didn’t want to breed with him because he wasn’t the same species, and that it would be difficult to raise his young because of whatever ovipositor traits they would have.  She pouted in bed for hours more before she shifted to bipedal form and found her mate in the kitchen.  She called his name, her hands, holding a calendar.  He was still upset by his neutral expression, as he turned to face his mate. 

“The Spring Equinox.”

“That’s in two days, what about it?”

“My gestation cycle will be at its height then. Perfect time since your ovulation cycle is on its first day that day, the strongest eggs.”

“Wait. Are you saying what I think you are saying?”

“Let’s make a baby,”  she said. And the look of joy and relief on Cyandre’s face was worth any anxiety she was still feeling about this.

He came close and hugged her.  “Are you sure about this, I mean… I feel I may have nudged you too hard,  I don’t want you making this sort of decision under duress.”

“Cy, I am gonna be anxious about this no matter what.  It's a big responsibility, carrying a life.  It's a new start in our lives,  a new chapter. I just.  I never really thought I’d breed with --”

“An Ovipositor,” he said knowingly.  She nodded slowly, feeling the shame flush her scales darker.

“Are you saying this would be easier if I was Nagablood?”

“Much easier,” she said.  Then dropped her gaze, still ashamed before continuing, “Accepting and admitting that,  is where I need to begin, in moving forward.  Shedding the skin of my family’s prejudice.  Pun unintended, or maybe intended, I don’t know.”  She attempted a small smile. But her skin felt tight, and so it looked more like a grimace.

“How long has it been since you’ve Molted your scales?”

“Oh, many, many moons.  I am overdue.”

Cyandre suddenly got that look, that said he was thinking something dirty and weird.   She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest, “What is it, what are you thinking?” she asked, convinced she wasn’t going to like it, cos she hardly ever did. 

“What if we did both at once? What if you molt, and I breed you as you do that and  --?”

She made an aghast sound and took two steps back.  “Do you have any idea how taboo that is!? It isn’t done! Molting is our most vulnerable time.”

“You think it's more vulnerable than it is for an Ovipositor to implant his egg into someone he loves?”

“Yes!” She hissed emphatically, her eyes partially shifted, and the world swam from so much emotion coursing through her at the very idea of this breeding plan. Cyandre winced and looked genuinely hurt and offended.  She hissed again and threw her hands up in the air,  making an exasperated sound.  “Cy… I …  I have never…. Let anyone … see me like that. I would be defenseless!”

Cyandre paused for a moment, staring at her, something dark flickered in his cyan blue eyes, then he smiled slowly. It wasn’t a kind smile. It was a dark smile. One she had never seen from him before,  “Then it's perfect.”

She frowned so he continued, letting his face relax a tiny bit, looking at her with tender but fierce eyes now, “When an Ovipositor is doing implantation, they are at their most hostile, the most dangerous.  I would protect you,  I would protect our young,  with every fiber of my being. I swear on my soul.”

She had never heard such ferocity in his voice.  It gave her chills and aroused her deeply. He was so resolute and in control, looking into those eyes, this wasn’t the submissive, tender, and mild man she married, who wanted to be coiled by his Nagablood wife as he slept. No, this was a man who would defend his brood and mate with his very life.  It was what she needed to see to feel secure in breeding with anyone, she didn’t believe she’d ever see it from her tender Cyandre. But somehow,  her cells knew he had it in him, otherwise, why would she have married him in the first place? 

“I consent to this breeding plan, dear husband.”

He moved toward her and pressed his lips to hers, she moaned, soaking his warmth into her skin and scales,  through the contact of lips, as if he were a warm steady rock drenched in heat from the setting sun.  That night they retired to bed in a comfortable silence of a happy decision going forward. 

_____

The next day, she needed to visit her mother.  She had to tell her what was going on.  She also just …missed her.  It had been a number of years since she had seen her, back when she and Cy got married. She took a deep breath and knocked on the large door to the mansion house.  

“Tahldais,  my beautiful one. What a beautiful surprise to greet an otherwise dull day, by all means, come in come in, please~”  her mother stepped to the side and allowed her daughter into the stark, but very extravagant home she grew up in that her mother now lives in alone, with none of her pit brothers visiting her as often as she would have liked, and her mate, Tahldais’ father had ascended a few years ago. She felt guilty for participating in the neglect that had her mother so lonely.

Her scales were vibrant and new.  Tahldais felt self-conscious of how dusty and ashen she looked.  Her mother welcomed her in and immediately made tea for them both. They sat in the sunroom to bask and chat.  She looked at her daughter over the brim of her spectacles.  “What is on your mind, Tahldais?” her simple stern manner in all its glory,  no cordial niceties and airs she put on for the humans and the public.  She was an ‘old has been’ celebrity actress.  But this was her spawn. No one better to be real with than your own young, right?

“Cy and I have made the decision that I will carry his eggs and  expand our family.”

The maternal Nagablood sipped her tea in silence for a long moment.  “Why the trepidation? Do you not want to have a child with him?”

Tahldais squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.  “He wants to breed me while I molt.  One vulnerable time for another or something like that.  I’m nervous, mother.  It came to mind that the only reason I waited so long to try to breed with him is that … all your talk about Nagablood purity.  Stay with your own kind, and how upset you were when I married outside the species.  I … really love Cyandre,  I don’t want to mate with anyone else.  But no one has ever seen me molt before,  you taught me that it is the most private time for Nagablood to be with just themselves and --”

“There is one exception, Tahldais,  I never revealed it because it no longer seemed pertinent since you weren’t with one of your kindred species.  You were with an outsider.  I know nothing about Ovipositors. They are an insular race too.  More so than us.  Because they can pass for humans until they try to mate.  They have their own species secrets but we are exotic and fetishized by the media.  I can’t begin to tell you how many human males tried to proposition me, especially after your father ascended.  It’s grotesque how they see sexuality.”  She took a sip of her tea before continuing.

“When Nagablood breed to start a den or pit of their own, culturally it is seen as an increased chance of conception and a way to enhance the general fertility to do it while one or both partners are molting. Some of our people have what is called a family breeding ground. A plot of land that is passed down the line, that holds the energy of that bloodline, that legacy, and history.   But some.  Like our family.  Have a family heirloom tool they use to help the process.  In the Common tongue, it is called a Slough Slicer. Instead of a rock or the earth,  your mate would begin the process, taking the tool to make a small cut,  above the nose bridge,  and peel the skin from your body,  it is … an incredibly intimate and intense thing.”

Tahldais listened with wide eyes full of rippling tears.  “You denied me this information because my mate is not from the Scaled People! How could you rob me of that!”

“I am telling you now, Tahldais.  You may choose to forgive my silence in your time or not. But by the gods be grateful I am telling you at all.  Be grateful you were prudent enough to come to me in the first place. And above all.  Be grateful, that  your siblings are  no longer of the Breeding age,  and  the heirloom is still within my possession.”

The younger Nagablood sat back.  Silenced.  She stared into her teacup.   The Elder Nagablood rose up and went over to a mantle above a fireplace in the other room. Returning with a small box,  she opened it with a hiss of the old language of the Nagablood.  And took out a small blade made of stone and wood covered with a dark cloth with a strap attached so it may be worn around the neck.  Tahldais looked up at her mother, feeling small as she often did around the Matriarch of her family.  She handed her daughter the covered blade, the act, was like the passing of a baton, or a psychic mantle. Tahldais was the only daughter in a pit of brothers.

“Go now, my daughter.  Go and breed with your husband, listen to your heart.  Go with my blessing.  And save your molted scales,  bring them to me, I can turn them into a blanket for your young, so that they can be swaddled with your scent,  and know their legacy, their history,”   she said. 

Tahldais bowed her head out of respect and took the blade, bringing it to hold it to her heart.  She thanked her mother, in the old language of the Nagablood,  and her mother placed her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and pressed her forehead to hers in affection.  They finished their tea in silence,  and then Tahldais left back home.  Feeling that restlessness that comes before the need to molt.  One day to go, and then,  she would be bred with Ovipositor eggs. 

That night, Tahldais told Cyandre about the family knife, the Slough Slicer. And he told her about the breeding room he had reserved for them tomorrow night. The priests of the Order his family belonged to,  had two lots reserved for interspecies couples. Apparently, the Ovipositors were more tolerant of interspecies coupling than the Nagablood.  But still,  there was always tension around the topic, to begin with. It was a restless night, and Tahldais tossed and turned all night, Cyandre had to soothe her back to sleep several times.  

____

Rough-hewn rock and lava pitted fireplace, melting and eating the bark and herbs thrown into it.  Cyandre smelled when his mate entered the space, he took a deep inhale and felt his body start to glow with aroused bioluminescence.  He turned slowly to see her in a partial shift,  a stone blade around her neck dangled between her scaled breasts, full with an alert, bright red nipples. She slithered toward him.  The only humanoid part of her was her upper torso,  her head with her arms. Cyandre knew she may lose her humanoid elements once the mating and molting began. It was validating in a way. He’d only been with humans before his wife.  And all day long, most of their lives, they had to blend in with humans,  him and his wife.  In this space, they could be their true nature.  She reached the center of the room, standing face to face with him.  

“You … smell exquisite” he breathed as he leaned in and took a deep whiff of her and growled softly in the back of his throat.  Tahldais smiled.  Then took the necklace off.  

“Make the cut here.  At my nose bridge, then it will activate the molting process.  Slowly peel my skin from my body,  and when it feels right,  breed me.  Just keep in mind, once the molting begins.  I will be rendered blind until the process is done”

He took the stone blade from her hands. “I will make it enjoyable for you, and keep you safe,  I swear on my soul.”

Tahldais lowered her head.  “Please, I need to hear you say it. I know it's ridiculously human of me to ask, but  --”  

He placed a finger on her lips.  “I love you, Tahldais.  I love you more than anything in life, and it is an honor to breed with you, on the night of the Spring Equinox.”

She exhaled a soft hiss sound.  “Thank you,”  she said.  Then they kissed deeply and fully,  only breaking the kiss for him to make the mark. She barely made a sound when she felt the sharp stone slice her skin, and the humanity left her body,  all those human features melted into a full serpentine form of a giant king cobra,  her eyes opaque, blind, and her scales starting to flake, and peel. It was thick and heavy for Cyandre to pull the scales and skin free of his mate’s body.  

The scent was intoxicating. He felt the pressure of his eggs needing to be ejaculated into a fertile host and fertilized, making him feverish and woozy. She smelled so good, so primal and musky,  his hands shook as he peeled the skin from her flared head, her forked tongue lapped at his face,  a couple of times.  Soft vulnerable hisses made his phallic ovipositor stalk rise between his legs, rigid and firm, heavy and dripping with fertilization lubricant.   

It was hours of work, Tahldais had never felt more turned on in her life,  feeling him peel her skin from her body and the bright pleasure of her new scales and new skin soaking up the lava heat and humidity of the room,  her lower slit was getting wet and open, her need to be bred only got louder once he got to her torso. And lower, having had to slide the old skin around her sex down and off her body, She hissed loudly and squirmed. 

“I know, I feel it too.  I feel it too.  I don’t think I can bear it much longer but I --”

She leaned forward and tongued his ear, as she whispered in a hiss heavy accent,  “Then breed me, my love,  Let me feel you inside me.  Give me your eggs~”  

Cyandre made a whimpering growl sound before he couldn’t help it.  She was right, they both needed it.  They kissed and her agile, forked, tongue wiggled in his mouth and then he moved to straddle her serpent hips,  right over her slit, angled his stalk to penetrate her, and once he was inside, he grew, like a tentacle.  He started to thrust, and wiggle,  grunting softly, basically birthing the eggs out of his body and into hers. 

She wiggled her bottom half against the earth to continue the sloughing.  The lower half of her tail was the last part of her that had her old skin on it.  She could feel the heavy weight of her mate on her body.  She wasn’t much bigger than her human body in serpent form, and her husband was over six feet tall.   He wasn’t moving and she hissed at him. 

“What is it?”

“My egg, my egg is stuck.  I am having trouble, trying to push it out.”

“Is there a way I can help?”

“I can’t pull out, I’m tied.  We can wait it out, but …it's beginning to …”  he started to drift off.  Tahldais acted on impulse, she shifted her hands on the top part of her body,  and reached down, into the slit, his hand caressing his stalk. He cried out from the shock and pleasure of it.  

“I feel it,  can I squeeze you?”  

He whimpered and nodded his consent.  She squeezed his stalk until she felt the egg move,  then she squeezed again and Cyandre cried out an orgasmic cry as the egg plopped out into her body, along with a rush of fertilization fluid.  The eggs were soft like gelatinous membranes, but once fertilized they would harden,  and she’d carry them until it was time for them to be born.  The whole gestation period lasted a few weeks. Plenty of time to build a suitable pit nest for their young.  

She pulled her hand back,  as he pushed more eggs into her, crying out climatically each time,  once he’d gotten the clutch of eggs birthed inside his mate, and fertilized and ready to start their development and gestation in her body, he withdrew his softening stalk that slowly shrank into what looked like a small sack of skin.  He went down to get the rest of her old scales and skin off her lower body. 

“I promised I would make it good for you,  are you ready?”  

Tahldais just looked at him expectantly,  she could feel the eggs inside her.  Cyandre leaned in and suddenly she felt a sharp sting, followed by body convulsing pleasure. “Ohhhh my love….”  she hissed passionately as a series of orgasms flooded through her as her mate,  Cyandre, took his turn to coil-cuddle his wife best he could as a non-Nagablood, it looked like an awkward big spoon, trying to pretzel his limbs around his lover’s body.   She brought her tail up to coil him back, scales shiny and new.   His sting gave her visions,  bright, happy visions of their young,  their life to come, the new beginning they had started together.  Tahldais had never felt so happy in her life. Never felt so renewed and ready to face a new adventure that was to unfold.