We feast side by side, no words, no thoughts, our faces touching, our mouths wet with his blood, our lips brushing by each other's as we bite and tear.

My lust builds even more as my hunger abates and I find it difficult to ignore her presence beside me. My breathing turns ragged, my eating slows. She too slows the pace of her feeding. Her breaths also grow louder, more rapid. I press against her, nuzzle her neck and she shivers, stops eating entirely and backs away.

"Where are you going?" I ask.

"You'll find out." She spreads her wings and takes to the air-the deep full tones of her laughter resonating inside my mind.

The sight of her pale-cream underbody flying over me, her womanhood swollen and exposed, makes me suck in a breath before I leap into the air myself.

"Catch me if you can!" she mindspeaks and wheels out of sight.

I hear her laughter, smell her scent all around me, but the irregular terrain, the half-egg-shaped hills, the deep crevasses and ravines in between them give her hundreds of places to hide. I roar in frustration and she calls out, "Can't you find me?"

Finally, I catch sight of her entering a deep, long ravine. I swoop in after her, strain to catch her. As I close, I marvel at the beauty, the delicate lines of a female of my kind, thinner, less broad than me, her length four feet shorter than mine, her wingspan six feet less. I wish it were daylight so I could examine her more fully, enjoy the delicate colors of her scales, the flashing brilliance of her emerald-green eyes.

She laughs just as I near her tail, then swerves and shoots skyward, beating her wings as fast and hard as she can.

I laugh too, follow and overtake her, soaring above her, close enough to prevent any further escape.

When she sees her position, she no longer tries to evade me. "My name's Elizabeth," she says, coming closer, turning so she flies upside down, her underbelly almost touching mine.

"And mine is Peter."

I soar slightly lower, let my body brush hers and, when we touch, we both say, "Oh!"

We separate for a moment. "I liked that," she says.

Flying closer to her, I know nothing but unbridled lust, insatiable need. I bump against her again, grab, hold and join her in midair, thrust myself inside her.

Sighs explode from both of us and we fold our wings against each other. I ride her, thrust in sympathy with the violent contortions of her body as we plunge toward the earth.

We break free of each other a scant two hundred feet over the trees, spread our wings and soar back into the sky, going higher this time, so we can stay coupled longer the next time we join. Elizabeth and I repeat this three more times. Then, "Follow me!" she calls and leads me, aching, wanting, on a twisting journey through ravines and hills until she lights on the lip of a cave, halfway up a hill overlooking a wide valley.

I land behind her, follow her inside the cave to a bed made from branches and soft leaves.

She says nothing, lies on the bed in front of me, watching me, her sweet underbelly exposed.

"I've waited a long time for this," I say, thinking how fortunate I am. I take in her scent, the sweetness of her breath, the rich odor of her body, like the fresh, earthy smell of a forest floor. "I've come a long way to find you."

"I'm glad you did, Peter.…"

I approach her on all fours. The smell of cinnamon and musk, blended with the thick, wet aroma of her excitement, envelopes me and I breathe it in, every part of my body aflame, aroused.

She lets out a low moan, almost a growl, barely moves as I rush forward, pin her beneath me.

I thrust into her and gasp at the hot, wet hold her body takes of me.

Roaring, thrusting and twisting beneath me, she clamps her teeth on my throat-just below my jaw-rakes my back with her claws, opening and closing her wings, wrapping her tail around mine, pulling when I retreat, pushing when I return, her breath coming in loud gasps.

I bellow and ignore the pain of her bite, her scratches, as I continue to pin her beneath me. When she pulls her head back and opens her mouth to bite me again, I meet her mouth with mine, lock my teeth against hers, breathe her hot breath as she breathes mine-our bodies entwined, entangled, woven together as tightly as a mariner's knot.

When I can't hold back anymore, I pull my head back and roar into the cool night air. Elizabeth bellows, gyrates beneath me and we push each other toward orgasm, writhing, roaring, losing all capacity for thought or control until, at last, our bodies are overwhelmed by a frenzy of wracking, almost painful spasms-followed by unbeliev-able relief.

Afterward we lie apart, let the night air cool us, Elizabeth and I stroking each other with our tails. "Peter?" she asks. "Was it what you expected?"

I laugh, say, "More."

"Good," she says, moving closer.

"Was it what you expected?" I ask.

She pauses before answering and for the first time in my life I worry about a female's reaction to my performance. With human women I always knew I was good and rarely cared. But Elizabeth is oh so different. "I think it was," she says and then laughs at my frown.

"No, it was good… wonderful really." Elizabeth hugs me, strokes me. "But you've had human women before, haven't you?"

I nod. "None of them were anything like you."

"I like hearing that," she purrs. "But that means you had something to compare it to. I didn't. I only knew what Mum told me and, believe me, she left quite a bit out." Elizabeth giggles and I laugh with her.

She snuggles against me. "Peter, really, I'm delighted… I'm thrilled to be with you. I think we'll make each other very happy."

I say nothing more, but silently thank the fates and Father for my finding her. Content for the first time in my memory, I hold her, listening to her breathing slow, feeling her body grow warmer against me as she falls off into sleep.

A cold wind blows into the cave and Elizabeth shivers and pushes closer to me. I embrace her, pull her toward me, then extend my wings and fold them over us, forming a warm cocoon for us both.

She sighs in her sleep and I grin, slowing my breathing to match hers, giving myself up to sleep just as willingly as, I realize, I've given myself up to her.

A flock of green parakeets, screeching and cackling in the trees outside the cave, wake me the next morning. The cool morning air surprises me when I open my wings, then fold them back. Beneath me, Elizabeth mutters, curls herself into a ball and sleeps on. I smile, nuzzle her gently, then get up and stretch.

I can't think of any part of my body that doesn't ache and that's just fine with me. Never in all my couplings with human women have I ever found one with even a hint of Elizabeth's passion. I walk to the mouth of the cave, stare at the mist blanketing the green treetops in the valley, marvel at the way we made love the night before.

All around the valley and beyond, other egg-top-shaped hills jut from the ground. In places where the mist has cleared, I can make out the deep holes in the ground, the ravines and sinkholes in between the hills-everything covered in thick, lush, green vegetation.

Cockpit Country, Elizabeth said. I wonder how she came to it. We've yet to tell each other anything about ourselves and I can't wait to learn about her.

If we were human, I think, this would have been a one-night stand and both of us would wake embarrassed and anxious to leave each other's presence. But somehow, I know with certainty that the sleeping female within this cave now belongs to me, as I do to her-for life.

Elizabeth awakens an hour later to find me sitting near her, admiring her in the light of the morning sun.

"Peter, you'll make me blush," she says as I continue to stare at her, marveling at how much more beautiful I find her than human women-the soft light green of her scales, the delicate arch of her back where it curves to her tail, the delightful, cream color of her underbody, flushed pink around her sex.