Her arms snaked around his neck and her fingers gathered in his hair. She didn't know how she'd had the courage to be so bold. Only that in those moments before he found her she couldn't stand the thought of not telling him. She loved him. She could have talked herself out of it had she not realized she was in fact his mate.
Lucy Heartfillia the mate of a dragon slayer, who would have known? Her closed eyes rimmed with moisture from her gathering tears. Happiness welled inside of her chest as her heart fluttered out. She was kissing him, her best friend, her partner, her mate. Her mind became hazy and warm, being engulfed by his presence.
His body had settled over hers at some point, his weigh pushed her into the mattress in a comforting way. Finally he pulled back, his breath hot and fast. "Luce?" he asked, a simple question in his eyes. Confusion.
Heat flooded her cheeks, "Yeah?" Her eyes held his as she watched emotions come and go from his expressions. "I don't think we should, um continue this, right now, exactly." He stumbled over his words the blush settling over his cheeks.
"I mean, it's just, with who ever that is, they might, well they might wake up." Lucy had never seen him so at loss for words, she grinned, her happiness overshadowing her embarrassment. "But Luce, I wanted to tell you, I think I realized something when I was looking for you. And I don't really know how to put it any better than just saying, that I love you."
He breath caught as he peered at her, waiting for her reaction. Her eyes became moist with tears again as she smiled, "I love you too, Natsu."
His grin was contagious as he asked, "Does this mean we're lovers now? I mean, you did kiss me and all." He seemed matter of fact as she smiled up at him.
They stayed in the bed resting for the rest of the night and Lucy finally told him about everything that she had read in the book from the archaeologist. He had never even realized that he was looking for a mate or that his dragon slayer magic gave him abilities for a type of bonding magic.
The following day was an exhausting run of helping the two archaeologist pack up every book that they found in the library and carrying them to their cabin that wasn't too far off from the cabin Natsu and Lucy had shared for that trip. Seba had finally come to and Natsu suggested that they take him to Poly when they got back, for healing and because creepy beings should stick together. He'd received a sharp elbow in the ribs for that comment.
"Well I don't see what the problem is, I think Poly would really enjoy his help, if not she'd just turn him away anyways. " Natsu crossed his arms over his chest and regarded the being still resting in his bed with slight displeasure. "Isn't he kind of creepy?"
"Natsu! He's the only reason that guy didn't kill me in the cave! He set me free and gave me my keys back! You better be nice to him." Lucy wanted Natsu to like him. He was a little, strange. But the little guy helped her escape and even put his own life on the line in hopes she'd take him with her.
"Well he definitely needs to go to her for healing at least." Natsu sighed.
"We'll take him by there before we head back to Magnolia." Lucy relented and huffed.
Natsu followed her as she walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Feeling like he had done something to bother her.
"Um Luce?" she turned to face him, being caught off guard at his close proximity and stumbled back. He reached for her and caught her before she tripped.
Grinning at her he pulled her to him and wrapped an arm around her back. His face was intense as he looked down at her. He pulled closer as he brought his lips down to brush hers. Then took her lips softly. "I love you Luce." he muttered pulling back.
The heat pooled in her cheeks as she looked away. She never thought someone like him would be so forward with affection, but then again, he'd always been very emotionally open. So it would make sense that the openness he always had with other emotions would extend to love interest.
Lucy watched Natsu on and off throughout the day. A lightness had settled over her. She was happy, and it was an easy comfortable happiness. Something about him just made her feel that everything would always be alright and she didn't have to worry about something happening to him. They got their belongings packed and waited for the old geezers to meet them for payment.
"So Luce?" Natsu asked as they were headed back to Magnolia.
"Yea?" she asked, looking over to her pink hair friend, mate. The blush rose to her cheeks as she thought about being his mate.
"Do we just tell the others that we're mates now? Or what should we tell them?"
"Oh, well, I'm not sure if they'd really understand mate. But maybe we should just tell them that we're dating?" Lucy was a little exasperated.
The rest of the trip back was easy. Seba kept up relatively well for his wounds and they would stop to give him a break when needed. Though his excitement when they finally made it to Poly's home made it very clear he was suffering.
Poly took him in without much fuss surprisingly and set about cleaning his wounds. "He should probably stay here for a few weeks. Just to make sure the wounds heal up well enough." she informed them as she gathered the herbs to make him an ointment.
"Where did you find him exactly?" Poly's suspicion was clearly on her face.
Lucy set about explaining everything that had happened in the cave and about the men who fought with shadows. Poly seemed disturbed by the news for some reason but didn't give any thoughts on the matter.
~And then.~
Lucy and Natsu got back to Magnolia too late to head to the guild hall and walked through the darkened streets back to her apartment. Exhaustion weighed on Lucy but another weight on her mind was that Natsu would be headed back home after she got back to her place.
She didn't know why if felt so heavy on her mind. She would see him the next day at the guild hall anyways. He seemed to be thinking the same thing as he asked, "Would you mind if I just stayed with you tonight? I don't want to leave yet."
The weight was instantly gone and she began walking with a little more purpose. "Of course you can stay."
Her apartment was cool and dark as the pushed the door open. Everything exactly as she had left it. Lucy excused herself for a shower as Natsu stretched out on her bed.
He breathed in her scent as he lay there and watched the ceiling. A grin plastered on his face, the exhaustion of the trip back finally settled over him as he drifted off.
Lucy walked back in drying her hair with a towel and smiled softly as the sleeping dragon slayer. Pulling her hair back into a loose ponytail for sleep she slid into bed beside him. Finally she was unafraid to wrap an arm around his waist and lay her head on his chest. She knew that everything about him was right, she supposed she had always known it but was fooling herself the entire time.
She smiled as she drifted off to sleep. Comfortable knowing that Natsu would be there when she woke up.
~And then.~
A dark figure watched the sleeping pair from a tree outside the window. His smiled revealed sharp rows of teeth as his red eyes glinted from the moonlight. "Sleep well my friends. It won't be long now."
A/N: So this chapter felt… very out of place and forced but I needed to finish this here. There are plans for another one, a Dragon's Mate II. But it won't be started until around the holiday's at the earliest. At the beginning of this coming year I'll have a lot more time on my hands than I've had previously. I meant to finish this much sooner this year but ended up working 7 days a week with a few 12 hour shifts thrown in there. Now I'm back to the regular 40 hour weeks, but that's because I found out I was PREGNANT earlier this year. Another reason that even though I promised renewed chapters, they just ended up not happening. With all the working and doctor's appointments my time has been stretched very thin. Anyways, I hope this ending wasn't too much of a disappointment and I'll be able to keep some of my readers through to the next story in this series. The next one will have a lot more fluff! So be prepared. I'm going to start working on chapters now. ;)