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Expanding The Pack

Summary:

Takes place after chapter 10 of Life Essentials. Can be read as a standalone fic.

Since they met, they'd been ideal allies- Healer and Hunter, Sky and Land, Faerie Dragon and Primal Zerg. It was only a matter of time until their common ground grew, and things would change... after all, Dehaka was always open to new concepts, like mating and sexual reproduction. And Brightwing wanted to 'make' new friends.

CAUTION: Has a reasonable bit of gore, although neither main character is harmed. Once I've fixed my pc I'll tag properly.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

The battle was over for the day, his mission completed. Said mission wasn't truly of great consequence to Dehaka. Kerrigan's hold over him was strenuous at best, since he had no desire to die for his cause- simply to survive in the end. But said desire for survival also made it too easy for him to trade away a few of the pack for victory.

All he cared about right now was staying alive. As he fell back to the forward base escorted by some of his pack, his muscles reconstituted as best they could, the chips in his armour plating slowly returning to safe levels. He couldn't get the smell of smoke out of his front either, which concerned him the most. That might make it harder to catch the smell of an ambusher. Although he was satisfied to know that he could take a hit from a fireball.

The zerg base in Alterac was properly set up now, hidden from detection by the mountainous terrain, and receiving small contingents of expendable zerg often. For the moment they were just preying on the scouts of each side to conceal themselves further, until Kerrigan made her move. What the move would be, Dehaka didn't know.

His feet touched soft creep, and the zerg that had helped with the ambush scattered away to heal themselves. Dehaka loped along, past structures and Nydus canals, looking for an easy kill. Something to feed on and heal. For the moment, he didn't see one, and patiently he decided to wait for a moment, and maybe do something else first. She would be waiting, after all.

The only other being he would risk his life for.


The burrow was Dehaka's own quarters. A simple cavern he'd excavated, and allowed creep to coat in case of an attack from below. He slipped through the entry hole at the top easily, into the darkness of the room. It was fairly spacious inside, enough for him to move around. A shelf was scraped out at the top, for the only other being allowed inside. He could smell her faintly from here, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of longing wash away calmly.

A green glow was cast softly over the room, from the shelf. A pair of wings and eyes could be seen, along with traces of the walls. "Good friend, hello hello."

Dehaka just lay down, making a low grumbling growl. He was tired, and had been tense for days on end, ever wary. It was a tremendous relief to just slacken his muscles and lie down, knowing someone was watching his back.

"Was it good hunt?"

"Obtained biomass. Poor essence."

"Aw." Brightwing dimmed her wings, letting Dehaka's eyes rest a little more. For a few minutes, no words were spoken. "Hungry. Going to catch some food. Dehaka hurt? Want some?"

Dehaka opened one eye. "...Not hurt." Never show weakness. Never.

Though... I can trust her. I know that.

"No lies. Nope. Will get you something juicy!" Brightwing shuffled, getting up and preparing to climb out of the burrow, when an insectoid voice called out from the level above.

"Dehaka, there is a matter that requires your attention!" Called out a queen, one of two assigned to the base. This one was the younger, and far too brash for their own good. Advanced thinking and reasoning didn't grow into the zerg's queens for a few months, but the way this one acted, Dehaka had no doubts she wouldn't survive to that time.

He looked to Brightwing, and silently stopped her with one arm. She tilted her head in confusion, but didn't speak. With a tired, frustrated growl, he climbed out of the burrow, keeping his armoured points over his wounds, concealing his temporary weakness. He'd felt movement above. Too much of it.

The queen was waiting smugly. Too smugly for someone who was making a nuisance of themselves to a zerg who could and would kill them. "Was the earlier mission a success?"

It was exactly as suspected, if slightly underwhelming. Two hydralisks, two roaches, four zerglings and the queen attempting to prove a distraction. A quick betrayal in hopes of gaining fame and power as his killer, since he knew that the queen knew bothering him while in his burrow wasn't something he allowed casually. They all had their various maws and claws at the ready, and had no idea what they were up against beyond it being a large zerg.

The only question was how to take care of it without getting hurt worse. He had options. Dark Swarm would probably let him survive this, even if he were alone. It could grind them apart with speed, leaving him to subdue the queen. He could burrow faster than them, easily escaping to safety should things go poorly. He could Isolate the queen, leaving her helpless without a working psionic connection. But taking unnecessary wounds wasn't something he wanted. A split second later, he had his answer. There was more strength available to him than his own. "Wind, Brightwing!"

The shimmer of a warp started on his shoulders as Dehaka lunged, feeling spines shoot into his side and dodging a splash of acid, before he spat out his tongue to full length and grabbed the queen's head, dragging them in. Brightwing appeared on his shoulders, and as the queen writhed and drove a spine through his arm, a wave of air infused with magic spread out into the encirclement, stripping the life from the hydralisks and zerglings, blowing the roaches away.

Dehaka wrestled the queen to the ground, put his jaws around the throat and with a brutal tearing motion, ripped the head off. The roaches fled. A spurt of rich blood covered his face, as the body spasmed once and stilled.

"Fun!" Brightwing glided around to the dead queen, and pulled a single hydralisk spine from her chest, with a thin trickle of her own blood that soon stopped. "Easy hunt?"

She grabbed one of the zerglings with her claws, and started pulling it over to the burrow's entrance. She managed to lift it, before dropping it inside, where it rolled.

Dehaka grabbed the body of the once-arrogant queen, and pulled it down into the burrow. It had been a more fruitful, and much easier hunt than he'd expected. He left the broken bodies of the other smaller zerg above, knowing something this size was enough for now. They wouldn't be wasted.

As soon as they both got back into the seclusion of the burrow, there were no more words as they started to devour the large kill. Brightwing bit down hard onto the softer flesh of the back, struggling to get through the hide for just a moment until it tore, and she stuck her head into the still-warm body, lapping up pooling blood and biting off bits of meat, savouring the way it felt when it twitched occasionally, loving the scent of the insides. But compared to Dehaka she was eating like a refined lady at a tea party. He ripped off huge chunks of the body at monstrous speed, sliding them down his gullet without a care for parts that might need to be broken by chewing. He reached one particularly tough segment and tossed his head hard, breaking the bone and letting him continue to guzzle the kill.

Before Brightwing's eyes he grew more muscular. Dehaka's stomach never bulged in the slightest, keeping pace with his maw and helping him rebuild anything he'd lost. He went through the entire torso with ease, teeth sawing away, and then continued onto the back, sending giblets flying until he'd reached halfway, when he drew to a stop.

He could certainly have continued eating, but stepped back, with a contented growl.

Brightwing knew what it meant well enough, and continued to snack away, sating her own hunger. It was simply a point of the trust they shared- both of them got to eat. As Dehaka finally stopped reconstituting, she took a quick look- muscles were etched all over him, and his hide was thick enough to shrug off a bomb. And the matted goatee that she quite liked was wet with blood. She went back to eating.

She got a little deeper before tearing into an organ that made her pause. It wouldn't be quite right to say that zerg queens had wombs, but to all intents and purposes- it was the womb. Creep tumors, or sometimes other things could be made here. It made her think of herself, for a brief moment. She paused, curling her head to look at her own belly. Filled with zergy meat by now. Below that, a slit at the base of her tail, between the backs of her legs. Her cloaca. She didn't know the finer points of biology, but she understood enough to be curious. She knew that if dick went in, eggs eventually came out.

"Dehaka." And there was something that had been on her mind for a long time.

"Yes?"

"Now that Brightwing is zerg like you, what if I try to lay eggs? Do get creep?"

Dehaka had been preparing to rest away what little fatigue he had left, but stopped. He had absolutely no idea, but more than once he'd considered making Brightwing his mate the 'proper' way for faerie dragons. The primal zerg had a fairly uncaring view towards reproduction. It was normally aesexual, just a clutch of eggs with your DNA to serve as your mindless underlings, although some strains vomited out new zerg, and others used mitosis. But he knew it was a more significant act when it was sexual, for other species. His deduction was that it was a show of trust, putting yourselves in vulnerable states. He'd nearly made the offer to Brightwing many times, as a way of showing trust, but every time the thought of being vulnerable while mating... it wasn't worth the risk.

Was it? She'd proven herself again and again. They had their disagreements, but she'd been unwaveringly supporting him, even when she might have been able to use her magic to challenge him. Dehaka prowled a little closer. "...Do you..." How to please her? How to answer the question? "Want me to, ask Abathur? Kerrigan?"

She seemed to become wistful for a moment, before gathering courage and looking him straight in all four eyes. "I want to make eggs for you!"

A moment of surprise for Dehaka. Not for you, you read the summary. You came here for this. He wasn't sure what to say for a second, wasn't sure he wanted to be vulnerable for even a few minutes, even for... And suddenly he was sure. He wouldn't be vulnerable. He'd be letting her know that he had decided to trust her completely. "I will, if you are sure. I shall, block the entrance."

He tore away a chunk of the floor creep, and grabbed a huge armful of the soil below. Quickly, he packed it into the entrance hole, letting creep grow over it and seal it in place over the next couple of seconds. Neither of them needed to worry about air. They could survive in space.

Brightwing struggled to push the few remains of the queen and zergling to the corner, rolling it over. Dehaka reached down, the hole closed. The only source of light was her wings, even if they didn't need it. In fact, without the distraction of sight, her other senses seemed accentuated. She could hear Dehaka's breathing, the quiet, guttural growls that involuntarily mixed in and made her feel safe, protected by something fierce. The smell of her kill was everything here, so she sidled up to the big zerg, drawing in the scent of his rough, rugged hide, of his wiry patch of fur, of the thousands of kills long past, of the sticky, gooey saliva that he used to snatch foes. The feel of her heart beating.

Dehaka bent down. "Need... your essence. Will adapt, your sex organs." He murred gently. "Must take, some flesh. Just a small bite."

Brightwing was faced with a second of shock as she realised her own naivety, that Dehaka would need something for this. Yet instead of baulking, she found herself deciding which body part she needed least. They'd grow back in a few seconds. Benefits of being zerg. And she realised what she could do. "Tongue. Can take it. Grow back fast!"

Dehaka picked her up in his larger arms carefully, and brought them mouth to mouth. He opened up a little, and Brightwing pushed her tongue inside. He didn't want to hurt her more than necessary for this, and with a little difficulty, asked. "Ready?"

Brightwing didn't respond for a moment, as she licked around the inside of his mouth, and then a breath. "Twy it. Feel nwice!" She went back to licking and roiling her tongue, and Dehaka decided that he might as well try it all.

Brightwing felt a tongue that was dozens of times stronger than hers push its way past, into her own mouth. Dehaka could taste her watery spit, feel teeth that weren't as heavy-set as his own, taste the traces of that queen, along with all the ridges that shaped the mouth. It was more intimate than he thought possible, feeling her in ways that he'd never think to normally. Her eyes were open, but not for caution- they looked at him with a happy energy, as the mess of blood on their faces dripped down a little, adding a taste that was as savoury as gravy to the two beasts. They explored each other a little more, then Dehaka carefully went all the way down her throat, sliding deeper and deeper. Brightwing squirmed a little in his claws, as he eventually even reached her stomach, the slight nip of acid mixed with her meal. He drew back, and she let out a little gasp, and cooed. "Ooh, weeeird. Likey!"

They kept at it for a moment longer, and locked eyes. Brightwing winked once and stuck her tongue out, holding it still. Dehaka snapped his teeth shut, cleanly severing it. Unlike the previous biomass that he simply assimilated, this time Dehaka paid careful attention to the small piece of essence. And found what he needed. Genetic information that he normally never would have worried about, stored in her cells.

And they both desired a change. Dehaka didn't feel the essence vanish as he ingested it, and assimilated it into his genes perfectly- as naturally as it always had been for him.

Brightwing cringed for a few moments, but in mere seconds the lost limb was replacing itself, as if it were never gone. It felt stronger, in fact. The pain had only been for a second. She looked at Dehaka, watching him evolve. She saw a pair of bulges, forming under his skin, below the base of his tail. They were the male organs needed for breeding her- hemipenes. Even now, she was a little impressed at the size of the bulges, before a combination of adrenaline, lust, love and determination took over. She could take them. "Friend ready?"

Dehaka relaxed himself just a little, and unfolded the hemipenes. A pair of reptile dicks, dark black and with a set of tiny bone spikes set around the length, designed to rub but not cut- although they'd have shredded . There was no foreskin to speak of, the entire length sensitive and damp, nor were the balls on the outside of his body, instead held safely inside him- really, he had no idea how all those races that left them dangling out survived. His junk was now a match to a normal faerie dragon in shape, but with his colours, scent and unmatched virility.

The new dicks were quickly swelling with blood and sticking out of his slit. She could smell a strong secretion of pheromones and precum around them, and was about a moment away from trying to stick it into her slit herself when with a growl Dehaka grabbed her and pinned her, rubbing the underside of one of his lightly spined dicks against her opening, letting a little of her own wetness reach his sense of smell, the arousal awakening his most basic desires.

Pleasure. Good. Offspring, survival.

With a fierce snarl Dehaka forced the dick in and drove it deep, grinding his crotch against hers. She felt herself spread wide open, his length sliding through her. The hemipenes were covered in small spines that would have been unbearably uncomfortable to anything not meant to take them, but against her insides they were stoking a raging horniness, scratching a dozen itches she never knew she had.

The mad desires were tempered in a battle with a deeper love- or perhaps fuelled by it. Dehaka and Brightwing could both feel it. They were absolutely sure they wanted to live lives together. They'd seen each other at highest and lowest- Brightwing's infestation, her saving Lucio, Dehaka's defeat, and his adaptation to start surviving in the Nexus as more than an enemy to it's denizens. And they wanted each other, trusted each other, loved each other, even after everything.

He twisted it and turned it, trying for all the depth he could, wanting the female before him to be filled to the brim with his whelps, to lay for him and raise a pack. He wanted to breed her against the floor until she wasn't able to think straight, and he was going to damn well do that, putting on a burst of powerful energy. He wasn't going to draw this out, nor was he able to.

They were in a feral frenzy, lost in a cloud of pheromones that drove them to mate for all they were worth, and made even more passionate with love they'd long wanted to express.

Brightwing could feel the incredible force pushing into her from behind, drips of pre from the other dick on her back, and the huge primal cock that squished inside her, starting to throb and promise her womb a filling. She pushed back, trying with all her might to communicate 'Yes, go even deeper!' The feeling of sex and the roughness of the situation had her scraping the floor, eyes rolling back as the sensation of Dehaka fucking her hard and fast hit her mind like a tidal wave.

Dehaka continued his ferocious rutting for a few seconds more and started to get ready to cum. He'd made legions of sperm inside his body, gathering them and preparing to blast them deep into his mate, but he wanted to be sure she'd be impregnated. He held out for a precious few extra seconds as his cock throbbed and begged him to let loose, driving Dehaka mad with pleasure. Dehaka pressed Brightwing against the floor, pinning her totally, rammed in one more time and she called out. "Aaaah- DEHAKA! YES!"

The floodgates were opened. With a mighty pulse he started jetting cum into her, filling her insides to the brim while he roared and snarled, drooling over Brightwing's back and feeling her almost inflate as his load filled her up. The smell of his own spooge seemed to satisfy him as much as the peak, an electric high that dazzled his mind.

It filled her more and more, and finally started spraying out over Dehaka's crotch. Brightwing was feeling her insides stretch under the pressure, certain that she'd lay a whole brood, when Dehaka slowly drew out, continuing to cum. As he moved, any gap was filled with his seed, until in her entirety she was filled. He took himself out entirely, and a gush of sticky semen followed, the pressure abating.

It took a minute for either to regain the ability to think, as more cum leaked out. Brightwing eventually managed to flop down on the floor, feeling a slight tingle inside as her body started to respond.

Dehaka lumbered over and licked at her. He'd been rough, enough to spark a touch of worry now that he could think. "Are you not hurt..? Good." He curled around her, sniffing at her opening. She relaxed as best as possible, but there was a feeling building inside her. Like she didn't feel so well-fed anymore as her stomach did loops, but was still full...

"How long will it take until eggs?" She whispered, wings dimmed completely.

"Do not know. Rarely takes, more than a minute for Zerg. Definitely pregnant." Answered Dehaka, a far cry from the two months she'd been expecting- she'd seen other faerie dragons holding clutches for long times. But she didn't doubt it, the way she felt right now.

She got up and clambered up the wall to the shelf, out of breath. Dehaka stood up, and watched her as she shifted uncomfortably, backing into the corner. He split his attention between the entrance he'd sealed and his mate, as she took a deep breath. It was impossible to see at this angle, but a few quiet seconds later, there was an egg behind her when she moved. Wet and set against the creep, which responded to the zerg request for minerals. It seemed to glue the egg to itself, supplying concentrated solutions of life-giving chemicals, and helping fuel the growth ocurring inside the leathery shell. In the time it took you to read that, she'd laid three more.

Brightwing pushed out yet another egg, as the clutch behind her grew and grew. It was exhausting to create the spark of life so many times, producing enough material for so many nutrient-rich fillings was a fast drain on her resources. But she couldn't deny the feeling of pride that flowed through her, or the fact that she knew beyond doubt that if anyone messed with her now she'd rip their whole face off with one paw.

It took a short while, but eventually a far thinner Brightwing felt that there was nothing more inside her, and shuffled off the shelf, exhausted. She went for the remaining carcass of the queen, and started to lightly eat away, refueling herself. Dehaka stood silent, guardian. She finished off the meal after about five minutes, and rolled over. "Whew." She panted a little, still basking in the aftershock of feral enjoyment.

"Taking a, long time, to hatch. Should be, about twenty minutes? Thirty?" Guessed Dehaka, looking at the clutch.

"Want to go again?" Brightwing said. She gave her wings a pretty little shake, the meal already enough to reinvigorate her. Being a zerg definitely had advantages when it came to the stresses of birthing... and shrugging them off. "...I knows you don't want to do this often. Want to get what can."

"Are you, sure?"

"Sure! Actually... I want to... try being the strong one. Try being leader. Feel nice to be powerful! ...Just for tiny bit, friend."

Dehaka relaxed just a little, in amusement. "You, would be pack leader?"

"Brightwing can do it! Grr. Rarr. Eth-enthce." She mimed Dehaka's normal standing posture.

"...'Fight' for it? Winner, takes lead for, a minute?"

"Will get you, friend! Hehe." Brightwing jokingly nipped at Dehaka's beard.

Dehaka made a slow, gentle attempt at clawing her off, grazing but not breaking her skin. She let go and growled a bit, before biting at his arm, and trying to claw at his face, although she never could have hoped to scratch his plating, while he pulled back, and then stuck her with his tongue, dragging her in suddenly.

She struggled for a second, but then opportunity presented- and she opened wide and put her jaws around Dehaka's neck. "Gob yu, fren."

Dehaka let go, feigning surrender. "You, win. Are leader... for now." Willingly losing a fight. Even if it was just harmless foreplay, that was the strangest feeling Dehaka had experienced in a very long time.

Brightwing took a moment to decide what to do, and made a decision. She laughed. "Get on back."

Dehaka obeyed, sweeping his tail around and falling onto his back. On many levels, he cursed and cringed at himself for willingly getting into a position where he exposed his neck, inner legs, underside of tail... even if he'd evolved as best he could to minimise weak points, these were still all his softer areas. But then again. He was letting her be pack leader for a minute. And she'd never try to actually hurt him. He could have intimated any other primal into this position, begging for mercy. And it wasn't likely that he'd miss any real danger approaching...

Brightwing clambered over him slowly, looking over his form. Trying her best to look feral and in control, despite the difference between them. She licked her lips. Dehaka wasn't quite sure where she was going with that, until she licked at his crotch. She started slow, finding the well-hidden slit, tracing around the muscles that were as tense as springs. Then with a bit more vigor, she started to lick at it.

She felt the subtle movements as Dehaka started to get hard, the slit becoming just a little more open. Without hesitation, she put her tongue inside, feeling the pair of soft organs inside, tasting the remnants of the first orgasm they had minutes ago.

Dehaka let her keep going, as the dicks inflated. Soon enough they pushed her out of him, folding out into the dank air. She backed off and watched them grow in front of her, until they were back at full length. She was about to climb further when Dehaka decided there was something he hadn't done that he wanted to try. With a nimble flick of his tail, he managed to flip Brightwing where she was, much to her surprise. She landed still facing his hemipenes, but now her cloaca was in front of Dehaka's face.

He craned his neck in, and licked it once himself, tongue picking up every detail on her underside. Then, before she could react, pushed it deep inside. It was a curious experience, feeling her many folds as he went deeper. Tasting traces of himself. He felt a wet sensation on one of his hemipenes, and looked to see Brightwing with her tongue wrapped around it, pulling it into her mouth. He was worried she'd bite for a moment, considering how many nerves were in that small organ, but the instant she just slobbered over it, pressing her tongue into the sensitive parts, he forgot the worries.

They kept that up for a short while before Dehaka reached the end of the tunnel, her womb. Despite having just produced a full clutch of eggs, it was already fertile again, and would likely remain so indefinitely thanks to her powerful infestation. And suddenly he sucked his tongue back in, as to his surprise the cock Brightwing had been tasting spurted cum from the licking, sending a small geyser up into the air, wasted jizz splashing onto his crotch and Brightwing's head, but she lapped it up voraciously, before any could drip away.

He could smell it, and realised what he was pumping her with... it was effectively pure essence. No bone. No meat. Just his genetic code. How ironic, that she was ultimately so charming she even managed to convince him to let her collect his essence. No other zerg had ever managed to taste his DNA and live.

There was a second's pause before she turned around, incensed by the foreplay and spurred on by everything else. Dehaka watched her lift her back end up high, and with a few tries she pressed herself down onto his thick hemipene. Feeling himself inside her again was so much more detailed this time as he didn't worry about doing the breeding and focused on the way her insides firmly rubbed on him, how all the small bumps and ridges on his shaft were being warmed and wetted.

At first, she was only halfway down. Brightwing pressed her legs onto Dehaka's stomach and pushed up a bit, before coming down again, a bit deeper. It felt good, and without the time to say it in words Dehaka just murred, and let his head hang back, neck exposed. She went up and pumped down again, and again. By the time she'd worked herself to near the bottom, she couldn't get much further.

Dehaka thrust up a few times, and Brightwing giggled a bit. He could feel his dick swelling a little, and lifted his head, seeing his mate riding for all she could. As he felt the climax draw nearer, he inhaled deeply, drawing in the fertile scents of the infested faerie, and he brought up his larger arms and his powerful tail, drawing Brightwing into a tight hug. He was curled around her like a safety bubble, protecting her from every side. He could feel her whole body close to his, practically radiant with happiness, and with her scent, relaxing his mind with the knowledge that the dragon of his affections was here. Then he slowly growled and stroked her spiny back, before giving her a gentle nuzzle on the forehead. His orgasm was building quickly nonetheless, and in this rare serene mood Dehaka just made a guttural purring growl, before shooting ropes of potent alien semen deep into his mate, loving the way he could feel her fill up as she panted and hissed a sigh of relief, settling into his chest for comfort.

She could feel him inside her, impregnating her once again. But that was almost secondary to the way she felt. Normally, being this close to anything meant someone was in danger of being eaten. But now, she felt safe. Loved. Her heart ached under the weight of just how much affection she felt towards Dehaka, galaxies beyond her normal desire for friendship. She just hugged into him, wishing to remember the feeling forever.

He filled her with a steady stream of cum until the orgasm ran out, and let her stay as she was on his cock for a few everlasting moments. Gently, Dehaka arched his back enough to pull out his hemipene, a few blobs of cum dribbling onto him, and continued to hold Brightwing close. He'd valued her greatly as both an ally and companion before, but the way he felt now... She had his true loyalty. Not an easy thing to come by.

It was an affectionate moment between them, although Dehaka was sure that her body had already picked up on his sperm, and was in the delicate process of forming another clutch of eggs. The first lot was perhaps half-grown at this point, likely to hatch in ten minutes. Brightwing sighed lightly, and looked at Dehaka with softly lit eyes. "No room on shelf. Lay on floor."

Dehaka stayed still, and let her get down, to lie on the creep. He turned over, back to his normal standing position, and stood over her as she endured the extremely rapid pregnancy. Seeing her dim her lights again, Dehaka knelt and coiled himself loosely around her. "Feel, okay?"

Brightwing started to feel a bit short of breath again, and this time she could recognise the feeling of something inside her. She could feel a solid lump move, demanding to be laid. "Brightwing laying now... your eggs, bestest friend. Mate. Our whelps will be good..."

Dehaka watched as she spaced her legs apart a little more than normal, and raised her tail just a little. For a moment, she was still, and then with silence and held breath, she started to push out an egg. Soft-shelled, and with a wetness that helped it slide out without too much of a struggle. She gently deposited it into the floor with a small puff of breath, and shuffled to lay the next one. Even with the zerg enhancements to her body that minimized the stress and strain, two clutches in under twenty minutes was a herculean labor.

Dehaka split his attention two ways as always, keeping half on his surroundings for any hint of danger. The other half regarded Brightwing, watching her put out yet more eggs. He worried that she was making herself too hungry, producing all of them, but he didn't mind hunting for her. Finally, she took a deep breath and just moved away from the clutch a bit, flopping over his heavy tail to rest. He grabbed the zergling carcass and put it down in front of her, and watched contentedly as she consumed it.

Then the matter turned to what to do next. The hatchlings would be born entirely self-sufficient, with hard bones and armour, his adaptability and access to both his and her current essence- more than enough to survive. But to let them make their own way, or use them in his pack? Dehaka was indecisive for a few moments. Their lives were simply that: lives, something most pack leaders saw as either a threat or a resource to use. Their fates were of little consequence to him.

But they weren't normal pack. They were special, from Brightwing...

"We should go. Take, hatchlings as pack? Help us fight, hunt, survive. Or, leave them. If, you do not want to send them into, danger."

"More friends always good. Not take long to be strong. And can all protect each other!" Brightwing yawned, stretched, and seemed to regain her usual energy. "Ooh, be weird to see own eggs hatch! Always thought I would be far away, but maybe could make friends with little me if lucky. But now Brightwing can know them all!"

Dehaka grunted in affirmation. "I, will unblock, entrance. We should not, stay in one place, for too long."

"Yep, yep. Oh, Dehaka?"

"Yes?"

"When... you find way home... you will take me with you. Right?"

"I will."

Notes:

Writing a crucial essay? One week per thousand words, can barely look at the screen of the (currently broken) computer.

Writing lizard sex? 5000 words blazed out and proofread with only a Wii U to type on, in two hours.