“Scale!” the Rider gasped, coughing on the blood bubbling up
his throat, he reached up and cupped the ruby red dragon’s cheek, “Scale. I’m
not going to make it. I’m not going to make i…”

His last word was lost to the sound of his last breath. Verus!
Verus! The dragon screamed in his head. Roaring as loud as he could. Using
the tip of his snout he nudged the Rider’s body. There was no response. The
dragon reared its head to the sky letting loose a sound none should ever have
to hear. A sound that echoed throughout the lands, far and wide. It was a sound
that unfortunately, the people of their land knew all too well.

The sound of a dragon losing its Rider. The sound of a
dragon losing the one it cherished most. Its outcry of emotional anguish as it
felt as if a part of itself was ripped from its body resounded around the
valley. Before being quickly silen—

***

Jeremy sat up quickly in a cold sweat. He panted from the
dream.  He could feel the sensation of
the cold steel pressed up against the dragon’s throat as if it were his own. He
felt the anguish of the dragon’s heart his emotional core being ripped asunder
from the loss of the dragon’s most precious partner.

Then he felt the warmth of his lover’s burly, scaled arm and
the leathery feel of his wing membrane on his shoulder and brushing his arm
respectively. “Shhh, Jer. I’m here. Nothing’s gonna getchya. I’m right here.”

The human turned into the barrel chest of his scaly dragon
lover and just started crying. His emotion flooded openly as his lover caressed
him and carried him through his bout of emotional weakness. “Rex, it was
terrible. I was a dragon. A feral. I lost my rider. I watched a man die right
in front of my eyes. And I could feel his death as if it were my own. His pain
as if it were my pain.”

The dragon comforted the smaller human, rubbing his back and
enclosing him in his wings. Creating what he called his safe space. He held him
until the human’s sobs quieted down and he could sense Jeremy’s chest rising
and falling in the steady rhythm signaling sleep. The dragon let out a heavy
sigh. He lay the human down and tucked him in, before grabbing his cell phone
and heading up to the roof. He laid down on the roof gently so as to not damage
the wing membranes and quickly dialed the number of his father.

“Reginald? It’s rather late. Why are you calling me? Is it
Jeremy? Is everything alright?”

“Dad he keeps having these extremely vivid dreams. I don’t
know what to do. I’m afraid of what they may mean for him. He was the one who
approached me in the bar specifically because of my draconic heritage. Dad…I
need…I need your advice.”

“Have you taken him to see a therapist?”

“He just played dumb. Acted like I was the crazy one.
I’m so worried about him. I mean…”

“You love him, Reggie. I know. I knew from the first moment
you brought him home. It’s why I allowed you back in the Will. Why I’ve tried
so hard to be there for you both. He’s dying Reggie. You know that as well as I
do. The cancer’s too far gone. His last hope is Mr. DarkClaw’s procedure. I
believe that Jeremy is trying to reconcile with his losing of his humanity.”

“But the procedure is non-transformative.”

“That’s what Mr. DarkClaw said.”

“And I believe him.”

“Consider this for a second, Reginald. Elias’ great
grandfather was the man who invented the technology which gave rise to
Anthropomorphics. Jer’s subconscious knows the likelihood of him walking out of
that clinic tomorrow as a human is slim. It’s preparing him for what’s to
come.”

The younger dragon sighed. He sat up, scales catching the light
of the moon and making him look like a walking disco ball. “I know father. But
his dreams are becoming so much more vivid. It’s like he’s being transported to
this realm of Dragon Riders. It’s always the same dreams, just more to it each
time. He has the names now. The Rider’s name was Verus. And the dragon was
Scale.”

The other dragon groaned at the terrible name for a dragon.
“You must continue to be there for him. Tomorrow is a big day. If…When the
treatment works, he’ll likely be walking out of there as a dragon. I truly
believe his body knows what it wants to be. His subconscious is telling him…His
libido is telling him. So, when he walks out of there tomorrow with scales and
wings and puffing like a chimney. I want you to be there for him. Why? ‘Cuz
that’s what mates do for each other.”

The single tear that rolled down Reginald’s cheek sparkled
in the light of the moon, “And if he doesn’t…”

 “Then you come over
here and we’ll start doing the things we can to make his last few months
comfortable. Reggie, get some sleep. Worrying about what may come leaves one
less prepared for the things that are certain to come.”

“Kay, thanks dad. ‘Night.”

“Night son. Love you. Tell Jer that I love him too.”

“Will do dad.”