Heart and Claw Artwork, and Update

Cover art for Heart and Claw is here and ready for you lovely people. I really wanted to put some oomph into the pink and white colouration of our scaly love interest, and hynvale delivered! Check their page out here: https://www.deviantart.com/hynvale

Oh, and here's the next 3.3k words, because you're awesome.

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“Fine,” she began. “I’ll use my mouth for… other stuff.”

She pushed her snout into the nape of his neck, eliciting a gasp from Cooper as he felt her teeth sink into his flesh. There was a pinch of pain, which was quickly chased by warmth as she raked his throat with her tongue, drawing wide circles on his skin. She’d bit him, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to make him feel it, diluting the pain with her saliva.

She circled his Adams apple, her orange eyes drinking in his reaction as she repeated the fake attack, her jutting teeth catching on his skin, the pain quickly abating as she soothed him with her slimy tongue. The last time she’d had her teeth to his throat, he’d thought he would die, but now he felt like he’d never been more aroused in his life, the way her teeth met his jugular making him feel vulnerable and sensitive, which only excited him further.

It was difficult to concentrate with a predator at his throat, but he brought up his hands, mauling at her chest, taking handfuls of her scales and feeling them deform between his digits, the harder tissue beneath her hide flexing at his greedy touch. Her next lick faltered a little, and he grinned at her reaction. The darts from his syringer had struggled to penetrate her, but his fingers were able to locate her sensitive weak points, how odd…

“Faster, faster,” Pearl whined. “I’m – ah! – getting there.”

He slammed into her with a new vigour, the noises of their coupling growing in volume. She was gushing around his length, her nectar spilling to wet his balls and stain the sheets, the added lubrication allowing him to glide along her velvety walls. Her legs acted like a noose around his waist, Pearl squeezing when he bottomed-out inside her, ensuring that his glans pressed up against her eggs. They were smooth and rounded, with the texture like that of her scales, covered in a slimy coat of unknown fluid. It walled him off from her womb, the texture so starkly different of her slippery tunnel, the creases between her little tongues and the circles of muscle barraging his senses with pure ecstasy. Every time his erection flexed, her passage would respond by clenching down on him, a loop of pleasure linking the two, drawing them ever closer to their limits.

Cooper ran his hands down her waist, finding that she was slippery to the touch. He blinked, turning his head to see droplets of sweat cascading down her flanks, unknowingly exposing more of his throat to her attentions. Was she sweating? No, that was his own sweat raining down on her, his torso covered in a layer of droplets from all the exertion.

They were slamming into each other now, Pearl pushing back against his thrusts, the two rutting like beasts as they gave themselves over to the mounting pleasure. Her breathing grew heavier, his hair blowing back as she nuzzled at his head, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as his thrusts caused her to visibly rock backward in the nest.

“A bit more,” she pleaded. “Please, oh please I... I can’t…”

She was just barely able to formulated a sentence, and Cooper took that as a win on his part. If he could reduce her to a mess and stave off his own rushing climax, he might be able to bring down Omega after all.

He parted her tight passage once, twice, three more times, every flaw and wrinkle in her sopping vent leaping out at him. On the fourth, Pearl opened her chops, crying out his name as her pelvic muscles clenched, tightening around him harder than they ever had before. Her spine arched off the floor, her struggling nearly bucking Cooper off kilter, her legs hugging him as close to her hips as they could manage. Her insides sealed around him, her hips rocking reflexively as her orgasm crept up on her, her passage contracting in roiling waves as she gave herself over to it.

A torrent of her juices spilled around him, the milking motions of her passage sending Cooper over the edge soon after. They clung their arms around each other, questing hands sliding on skin and scale as his dick smothered against her eggs, the first rope of his ejaculate coating them in his essence. Cooper’s vision flashed as her contracting walls drew out rope after rope of his emission, pleasure so raw and harsh making every bone in his body freeze up.

He shuddered as another rope joined the last, then another. It felt like she was sucking the lifeforce out of his dick one knot at a time, leaving him a heaving mess as he collapsed on her chest, his warm semen filling her passage to capacity. He held onto her scaley torso for dear life, fearing that his climax would never end, but secretly hoping it wouldn’t.

With one last spurt, he felt the familiar ache of euphoria submerge him in its sweetness. He shut his eyes, relaxing in the afterglow as Pearl held him, the deathclaw snorting like an angry brahmin somewhere above him.

Gradually, his senses returned, and he opened his eyes as though he’d just had the best rest in his life. Pearl peered down at him from between her bosom, a warm smile on her face as she reached down to stroke his hair with her claws, his member jumping in response to her touch.

“It’s better when you don’t have to pay for it, right?” she asked, chuckling when his cheeks flushed.

“I’m starting to regret ever telling you that.”

She laughed again, encouraging him to lie face-down on her belly, Cooper draping his arms over her slim sides as he relaxed into her inviting scales. They stayed like that for a while longer, and then Cooper rose to a kneeling position, beginning to pull slowly out of her.

“Wait!” Pearl said, holding up a finger. “Keep it in a little longer.”

His heart, and his dick, fluttered at her words, and he lowered back down, the pair laying down on their sides so that they were both comfortable, the subtle movements of their loins sending aftershocks of pleasure through their bodies. His cock was surrounded by hot fluids, a blend of their juices sticking to his shaft, forced to either leak down his thighs or be plugged against her womb.

They were quiet as they regained their strength, the afterglow warming them as much as the nest did. After what felt like hours, but what could only have been minutes, she tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned his head, meeting her gaze, her orange eyes glowing brighter.

“Looks like you finally slew me, Coops,” she said, flashing him a grin. “Worth all the effort?”

“Absolutely,” he replied, and she responded by bumping him with a horn, a display that must be a sign of affection for deathclaws.

“I could get used to laying with humans,” she continued. “Might need to go one or two more times, though, really test out the waters, y’know?”

“Give me a second to recover,” he said.

“Sounds like a yes to me, I knew you couldn’t resist me forever.”

She rolled him onto his back, placing her knees on either side of his chest as she straddled him, her body stretching to the ceiling from this angle. His length still inside her, she began to move, twisting her hips like a corkscrew as they prepared to go again.

-xXx-

When Cooper woke up the next morning, he did so very reluctantly. The sleep he usually got was the half-baked kind, where one lingers on the edge of dozing off without quite falling through, but for the first time in what felt like centuries, he truly felt rested, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why.

Pearl’s claw was draped over his chest, her body leaning against his right side as she spooned him in her sleep. Her forked tongue lolled onto the pillow she was resting on, looking like she’d been knocked out cold. He felt some measure of satisfaction at having brought the chatty deathclaw into exhaustion from their proclivities last night, but that was a feat he didn’t feel like he should start boasting out loud.

Her leg twitched as it rested over his hips, Cooper shivering as the minute movement made him gasp in pleasure. Pearl had insisted they stay mated for the whole of the night, and his dick had stayed lodged inside her during their rest, resulting in more than a few lurid dreams and half-hearted romps in the night.

As heavenly as the sensation was of being buried in deathclaw pussy, Cooper was awake now, and he grabbed her by her malleable thigh, gently sliding out of her. He winced as her walls, lined with those hellish bristles, clung to him on the way out, gripping him with an almost desperate pressure, as though her loins couldn’t stand to be empty.

Pearl muttered something in her sleep as he pulled all the way out, but she didn’t wake, even as the blend of their juices slapped loudly to the sheets below. The nest was ruined down there, but Cooper imagined Pearl would be too satisfied to care.

Wary of her thorns, he sat up, placing a hand on her shoulder. His chest swam with a mix of sensations: his feelings towards Pearl, and his shame being the biggest of the bunch. He’d let his sexual frustrations get the better of him once again, and he’d loved every moment of it. He had no excuse this time, he’d gone all the way with Pearl, he should be embarrassed at reducing himself to such a state, concerned with the moral ramifications. And yet…

Yet all he could feel was a swim of butterflies every time he looked at his lover, everything about her was just… right. The novelty of her inhuman parts, the way she teased and joked, the way they’d created that book, it all brought a smile to his face. Damn it, what was going on? One tumble in the sheets and his thoughts were all jumbled up. He needed to get some fresh air, that always helped.

His eyes lingering on her slumbering body, he lifted away the covers, pulling on his clothes and making a hasty exit, making sure to grab his hood and coat for the cold. He gave himself a quick clean in the bathing chamber to get their stringy fluids clear, then made for the entrance.

He shielded his eyes against the white glare as he rounded the last corner, the windstorm still kicking up sheets of snow, obscuring the distant trees and outcrops in a mist. Powder billowed a little into the tunnel mouth, smothering the campfire in a cold sheet, and Cooper brushed it clean, flicking on his lighter after placing some fresh kindling within the ring of stones.

Cooper sat against one of the walls for a while, staring into the crackling flames and trying to make sense of his thoughts. The stark, cold air helped him focus, and he knew why his mind was a mess. He liked Pearl, that was obvious, but what wasn’t obvious was what he should do with that knowledge. Too many nights together had resulted in him getting all too comfortable with her. She’d made him feel wanted, loved even, but was that just how deathclaws behaved with each other? She might have been part human, but on the outside she was just like the pack, she shared their mentality, but to what a degree?

He considered just telling her his feelings and see what she said, but in the end decided against it. His problems were his to deal with, alone, as they always had been.

He flinched as he heard a branch snap, and he turned his head, squinting into the snowy landscape. There were four figures fading in from the haze, their bodies protected by long cloaks and fur hoods. His first instinct was to reach for his weapons, but his heart froze as he remembered he’d left everything back in Pearl’s room. He wasn’t even wearing his armour.

His heart began to hammer against his chest as he noticed the figures were carrying guns, making a beeline for him. Hiding would be pointless, they’d already seen his campfire, probably from hundreds of meters away. Damn it, he’d become so complacent that he’d let someone get the drop on him, and he hadn’t done that in years, if one didn’t count Omega’s reveal. He was lucky it hadn’t been a pack of hungry animals that had happened upon him out here.

Trying to appear less alarmed than he actually was, he settled back against the wall, waiting for the group to close in. It wouldn’t do to make any sudden moves, if they were here to rob him, he’d rather part with his possessions than his life.

As the group drew closer, Cooper could make out more details of their apparel. Three of them were sporting mostly leather armour, the occasional sliver of metal glinting as the wind bracketed their clothing. The fourth was wearing pre-war military armour, the kind only rich mercenaries could afford. The ballistic plating was thick and bulky, and was known to reliably stop bullets.

The group formed a ring around the tunnel mouth, their rifles slung across their chests, two were bolt-loaded, while the other looked like an automatic. The one in combat armour was holding a laser rifle, the bulky battery pack making up the stock, the muzzle ending in a pair of lenses rather than a traditional muzzle. Unlike his companions, he was pointing it closer to Cooper’s feet.

“What do you want?” Cooper  asked, looking to each man in turn. He noticed one of them was a woman, and he thought he might have recognised her, but couldn’t be certain.

“Hendrix sent us,” one of them answered, a man maybe a few years younger than Cooper. “Old man was worried you kicked the bucket, sent us to bring your corpse back.”

“Sorry you had to waste your time,” Cooper replied, relaxing now that he knew they shared the same employer. “Still kicking, as you can see.”

“And the pack?” another asked, gesturing with his hunting rifle. “You ice those overgrown iguanas yet?”

Cooper hesitated before answering. He didn’t look the part of a weary hunter with all his gear missing, but he had to make up something the hunters would believe. Hendrix’s people were afraid of Omega’s abilities, maybe he could play into that and drive them away.

“Managed to down a couple of them.” Cooper said. “But whatever’s in your darts must have diluted, cause it took two clips to knock just one of them out. They ripped straight through my power armour like it was nothing, came this close to running me through. Took damn near everything I had just to off two of them.”

“I’ll say,” the one in the combat armour muttered. “You got nothing but the shirt on your back. Quite the investment for two deathclaws.”

“What about Omega?” the woman asked. “You manage to bag it?”

“Caught a glimpse of it on my way over,” Cooper replied. “It was eleven feet easy, but so pale it blended with the snow. Even if I hadn’t lost my syringer, I doubt me or you could ever bring it down. I was just about to go home when you guys showed up, and I highly recommend you do the same. We’re in its territory, it could be watching us right now,” he added, glancing conspiratorially out at the haze.

That seemed to get one of the hunters spooked, but the other’s weren’t so impressed, especially the man with the energy gun. Cooper knew a well-travelled hunter when he saw one, and this man carried himself better than the others, the way he held his weapon, the way he stood and talked, they were all little tells that this one wasn’t easily tricked.

“Where’s your buddy?” the man on the right asked. “Don’t tell me he left your all alone to take on Omega?”

“Buddy?” Cooper asked, a touch of worry in his voice. Did they know? No, they’d been following his tracks and had seen evidence of Pearl’s presence, probably suspecting it was a fellow hunter’s. “Oh, her,” he said, pretending to remember something that was so obvious. “she was travelling up to the Abbey when I happened upon her. Long gone now.”

“I don’t like this,” the armoured man said. “Something’s not adding up, several something’s actually. Where are these ‘claws you took out?”

“Inside,” Cooper answered. “They made a den in there.”

“And you’re just camping out the front of it?” one of the other men asked. Cooper hesitated too long before he could answer, and the one in the combat armour took a step forward.

“I don’t know whether to be confused or concerned, but what I do know is, you’re talking bullshit. Arms above your head.”

Cooper had no weapons, the hunter must have noticed that, but he’d be stupid to not obey. “I really did take down some of the pack,” he said, raising his hands. At least that much was true.

“We’ll see about that,” the hunter said. “Jorden, tie this guy up.”

“How?” the one called Jorden asked. “I didn’t exactly bring a spool of rope!”

“Keep your gun on him then,” the hunter replied tersely. “Shoot if he moves. Carlson go check it out, see if our Tracker is telling the truth.”

The man on the right, Carlson, hesitated, peering into the tunnel in much the same way Cooper had when he first saw the den. “M-Me? How about I watch him while you all go?”

“You’ll probably shoot him before we get any answers,” the woman answered.

“Rather not corner ourselves like this,” Jorden added timidly. “if this is the only exit, and Omega follows us inside…”

Wish I thought of that, Cooper thought, watching the group start to argue. He prayed their voices were loud enough to travel through the mine and wake Pearl up, hoping that his virility last night wouldn’t come to bite them both in the ass.

“You people are fucking useless,” the armoured hunter grumbled. “I’ll go with you, Carlson. Jade, Jorden, you stay here with this guy. Get him to tell us what the fuck’s going on.”

The hunter stalked into the tunnel, a reluctant Carlson following behind, shooting Cooper a dirty look. He became more and more anxious as the two men walked into the mine, holding their guns aloft. Would Pearl wake up in time, or would they find her in her sleep, and cook her alive with that laser rifle?

He wanted to stop them, but the man and the woman had their guns trained on his chest, and the moment he moved, they’d plug him full of holes. He needed to make an opening, but no ideas came that didn’t end up with him dead. Pearl was tough, but would her scales stand up to a laser strike? Either way he couldn’t let her come to harm, he had to do something!

“You should just leave these things alone!” Cooper called out, exclaiming as loud as he dared. “They’ll kill us all if we stay in their territory much longer!”

There was a flash of pain, and Cooper’s braced his hands against the ground rapidly approaching ground. He rubbed at his temple, glaring up at the one called Jorden as the hunter reversed the grip on his rifle. “Be quiet,” he warned. “Won’t ask you again.”

He pushed himself off the floor, peering down the tunnel with a worried look on his face. The hunters were about to make the turn, and all he could do was watch uselessly, some friend he turned out to be…

“… Oooooh yaw-awwwn, slept like a big old scaley log,” -came from around the bend, the two hunters stopping as the voice grew louder. “Would have slept a bit better if you weren’t shouting all morning, Coopsie~”