The Library

Lucy was thoroughly aggravated. She knew she liked Natsu, but she wasn't sure if she liked him. Sure she knew she was attracted to him, but hell he was her best friend and partner; why would she do anything to jeopardize that? Jeopardize them? Besides, if he did know who his mate was then there was no point pursuing anything beyond friendship with him. Why couldn't her body just get in line like her mind already had?

Sitting on her usual crate she was kicked back and forth, seeing as her feet couldn't reach the ground, and had Plue perched in her lap. She couldn't just sit with Natsu yet, she needed the distraction that Plue could give her. Since their earlier conversation however, Natsu hadn't pushed her on the subject, instead he was sitting in silence, nose twitching.

Though when he finally did say something she couldn't help but stare at him. "What?!"

"I said, what makes someone become a lover instead of a friend?" he repeated, seemingly exasperated. He leaned forward staring at what she knew would be a gapping mouth. His face completely serious.

Her mind ran over any reason why he would be having this particular conversation and landed upon a certain reason. He knew who his mate was and was going to attempt to court them. She felt an uneasy feeling arise from her chest and stomach, almost sick like. Of course it didn't matter if she liked him, her chances were done.

"Why are you asking me?" she replied hotly. Still attempting to think of any other reason that he may be asking.

"Well, besides Happy you're my best friend, thought you might be able to tell me." He seemed a little bit let down, knowing that Lucy probably wasn't going to reply.

Lucy cracked open her book and read the next section as a way to let him know that she was done talking.

Earlier we stated that it would only be a matter of time before they lost themselves to their 'true nature'. Which is a polite way to put their lust. The lust of a Dragon Slayer toward his mate is like no other lust, there have been reports of behavior changes and the slayers starting to push for a mating to take place, even if they are normally shy or innocent in nature. It seems this lust gets harder for the slayers to control when the bonding magic becomes more set and active.

"We did it!" she was pulled from her book to see the last bit of wall crumbling away and two very excited archaeologist. There was a gaping hole in the wall about the size of a narrow doorway. Relieved for the interruption Lucy hopped off the crate.

~And Then.~

Natsu knew he wanted Lucy, his body reacting to her every little movement was nothing he didn't notice. What he didn't know was what to do about it. She was the only one there to talk to about it and he wasn't sure if that was such a good idea, considering she was the subject of his questions. He didn't know why he'd want those things that flitted around in his head with his partner, but his mind seemed to become hazier and hazier as to why it was a bad thing. Would it really be a bad thing to taste those lips he'd been fantasizing about or explore every inch of her body that was causing his fingers to tingle in anticipation?

When he finally decided to ask her his question he didn't understand her reaction. Why would she be getting mad at him for something like that? It's not like she could know that he asked for any particular reason, right?

An exclamation from the old geezers drew his attention as part of the cave's tunnel wall crumbled away. Sighing, he stood up and gave a quick stretch and followed after his little blonde partner.

The 'library' that they had been searching for was surprisingly…..small. A book shelf about the size of a single bed turned up on it's side, filled with books, sat in an open cavern. Though you would have thought that they stumbled into a treasury full of gold and gems with the faces the old men were giving their discovery.

Natsu watched his partner follow the old geezers into the room. She was mad at him, though for what he couldn't say. Her being mad made him almost sad, which of course didn't make any sense, none at all. Wait, shouldn't he be more fired up about finally finding the library? Finally, he attempted to pour more energy into his positive thoughts on finding Igneel.

"So, anything there look like it may say where all the dragons went?" Natsu asked, enthusiastically running up to the old archaeologists.

They looked over the books, scratching their heads incredulously, "It seems these books are in an odd language. It's the same odd language that comes up in snippets in the book we let you two borrow. Though that language doesn't appear until the end of that book."

Lucy walked to stand beside Natsu, her scent drowning him in it's sweet warmth. Instantly he wanted her and he groaned as her sleeve brushed his arm, feather-light. His body and mind objected when she continued to take a few more steps toward the two men, and away from him.

He should just tell her, right? They were friends, it wouldn't mess that up, they were too close for something like that to kill their friendship. At least then he would be able to talk to someone about it too, right?

Lucy turned to explore the cave further as the two men started gently pulling books off of the shelves and arranging them into boxes. Natsu watched her out of the corner of his eye as she ran her fingertips across the cave wall.

"Young man, could you perhaps hold this?" one of the gentlemen asked while shoving a box into his hands. Natsu nodded, turning back to look at them and maybe see if there was more information to be found. By the smell of the musty books he knew that the books most likely didn't hold any information about why the dragon's left, they were too old.

A surprised gasp from Lucy at the far end of the cave drew Natsu's attention. His heart sank and he dropped the box and started to run. Lucy was being absorbed into a shadow on the cave wall. Arms were wrapped around her body and dragging her in as she struggled against the shadow form to reach her keys. Natsu saw the fire, and also the fear, in her eyes as she became completely engulfed and the shadow faded to nothing.

Natsu's mind went blank as the fury rushed over his body. And somewhere far away in his mind he heard Lucy calling him, "Natsu! Help me… please."

A/N: I'm terribly sorry about this update being so late. Recently had a friend move in and was helping her get her stuff from her ex's place and possibly trying to help her with a custody battle for her little baby girl. Sometimes life gets in the way of what you want to do. I'll try to have the next update out within 2 weeks. The story is actually coming close to an ending. I know the story isn't too awfully long but I didn't want to plan out something huge for my first Fairy Tail Fan-Fic. Though for the 2nd part of my little Dragon's Mate series I'm going to type out lots of chapters before I post anything so that I still have something to post while I'm working. The next Dragon's Mate couple up is Gajeel and Levy. Thoughts or ideas?