Author's Note/Warning – Parts of this chapter will again be mature and not suitable for work. I will indicate those with the following red page break icon.  There is one paragraph in the beginning I thought was dicey so I separated that too just in case.

Chapter 9

Lucy opened her eyes to the sunlit room. She shifted ever so slightly and felt pinned down by one well muscled arm. She smiled at the memory of the day before. He had been worried he would be so forceful and at one point he was. For the most part though he was able to reign in his need and had been quite gentle.

It was a difficult step since she was trapped underneath his arm but somehow she had managed to disentangle herself, turn over, ending up with her laying against his chest. She smiled up at him and stroked the panel of muscles adorning his abdomen.

She took a visual tour of his body. The previous afternoon she really didn't have much time to peruse but she took the opportunity to now. She smiled shyly as she took in his length. He wasn't fully erect but even so he was still large. She gasped as it twitched in her gaze.

"What do you think you are doing?"

Busted...she turned back up to look at Natsu. He had a cocky look on his face. Lucy's face felt ablaze. She tried to think without broadcasting what to say in this predicament when she came across a clever thought.

She traveled her fingers along the sides of his rib cage. He shifted under her ministrations, obviously enjoying the caresses. Her smile turned devious as she started tickling his ribs.

He cackled whooping bouts of laughter. This went on for a few minutes before Natsu finally trapped her hands and flipped her underneath him. He began kissing gently at her neck where her mate mark was which prompted a sigh of need from her. Without stopping his onslaught of open mouthed kisses he thought at her. That was very naughty, Luce. How should I punish you?

"Punish?"

Yes, punish. She pushed him away so she could look up into his eyes and noticed that they shifted. One minute they were a deep ebony the next they looked reptilian, bright yellow orbs with slanted pupils. It was only for an instant before they went back to the normal ebony. She didn't have long to contemplate his eyes however because Natsu had leaned in and tormented her with more desire inducing administrations as he began licking at her mate symbol.

She shifted restlessly beneath him as he nibbled and coaxed her body. He traced patterns down her sides as he shifted to her collar bone and trailed kisses along it toward her breastbone. She felt her back arch to meet him and he gently laughed into her mind. Like that do you?

She didn't respond with her mind or verbally. She knew her body was expressing to him what words could not.

He continued a path of kisses trailing the length of her body. He pushed his leg between hers to situate himself between them. Once he did he scooted back to the edge of the bad. He pulled her body toward him and spread her legs wide. "Luce, you smell amazing." He momentarily thought her scent was still different from last night. But he didn't broadcast this, it wasn't important right now. He crouched to his knees and began kissing her thighs. She whimpered below him. I wonder if you taste as good as you smell, Luce.

His nose nuzzled her blonde curls as he scented her directly at her core. In reaction her body tried to close herself off from him. Her thighs clamping together almost like a vice. Natsu soothed her thigh gently and talked to her mind to convince her it was okay. No, Luce, you're mine, and this is just as much for you as it is for me. Afraid she would try to push him away again he felt a need to show her how good he was sure it would feel. So, he took the direct approach and quickly parted her folds with his tongue. He searching in a coaxing manner at her until he came across a spot that had her pulling at his hair and moaning in approval.

More, Natsu...He continued his administrations and mewled in satisfaction at her taste. She was exquisite. He could probably stay like this all day but he had other plans in mind. He inserted a finger into her, partially testing her tenderness but when her cries came out with desire and need etched into the sound he was satisfied. He pumped and licked at her lovingly in a rapid but tender manner until she came apart in his arms.

He climbed back up her body and let her catch her breath. She was panting as if she had been underwater gasping for her replenishment of air. After a few minutes he grinned at her wickedly and situated them so he could pull her on top of him. Her thighs straddling his body. She immediately panicked. "I...Natsu?"

He knew she was nervous but he quickly and eagerly reassured her. "No worries, Luce. I'll help." He positioned himself at her entrance and pulled her hips down to meet him. He felt her sigh all around him. They met each other thrust for thrust. It was gentle and it was giving and when Lucy felt an echo in her body similar to the time before she felt her speed increasing trying to reach the peak.

Barely able to form a coherent thought with his voice he told her with out audible words. We will reach it together. He reached between them and stroked at her while his body pumped inside her. His eyes had taken on the reptilian golden quality again. He felt her keen in satisfaction and her body squeeze him as she came. This triggered his own release and soon they were panting in each others arms.

He kissed her shoulder. "Love you, Luce."

She pushed herself to her elbows, smiled, but was quite winded. Love you, too!

She got up and headed to the bathroom. "Hey, where are you going?" Natsu frowned up at her. He had been looking forward to some cuddling action.

"To take a shower, we have a lot of things we have to accomplish today." She looked over her shoulder at him. I never said you couldn't join me.

The shower was merely a visual exploration of each other. They were enjoying how they could pet each other just because they belonged to each other in a way neither ever anticipated.

"So, what all do we need to do?" Natsu asked as they dried off and got dressed.

"We need to find a cart to tote my items from my apartment. I need to tell my landlady what is going on. Hopefully she doesn't kill me for the short notice. We probably should stop by the guild at some point..." She trailed off her thoughts. Did everyone in the guild know what was going on? They knew about the house and she suspected someone had took in Happy for the night. It didn't worry her or anything. She was quite happy with the outcome. It was just one of those things she mulled over in her head.

They walked hand in hand to her apartment. Once they got there Lucy was in for a bit of a shock. Turned out the talk with the landlady didn't go over as badly as she had worried it would. It is possible though that was because every time the landlady seemed about to get defensive, Natsu would growl at her menacingly.

Natsu was now taking a full cart back to the house to unload. Unfortunately, she still had much more to pack. So she had volunteered to stay behind and try to get a jump on that. She was in the kitchen trying to pack away some of her nicer dishes that Natsu and Happy hadn't managed to break when she heard a noise coming from her bedroom. Maybe Natsu had forgot something and had come through her window like normal. Natsu?

She didn't get an answer in response. Curious, she headed to the bedroom to investigate. A large man cloaked in shadow stood there. A scream attempted to climb up her throat but as she opened her mouth something struck her. She felt her knees go weak as her body fell and she plummeted into darkness.