Lucy awoke to her entire body feeling hotter than the surface of the sun. Her skin was slicked with sweat and she was trapped beneath the hulking male and the too hot bed. How on Earthland he wasn't sweating from the heat she put off was beyond her, but if she stayed where she was any longer, she would melt into a puddle. Somehow she managed to wiggle her way out from underneath him and into the bathroom where she took in her disheveled form with a twinge of worry.

She didn't feel like this yesterday, no where close to how feverish and sticky. Her face was pale and her eyes seemed glossy. Her head felt as if it were stuffed with cotton, her limbs felt bogged down, as if she were suspended in a pool of tar. She watched, dazed as a drop of sweat dripped from her forehead down to the tip of her nose before it fell onto the bathroom counter. Shaking the haze out of her mind, she stumbled towards the shower before she hastily turned it on and made sure that it was freezing cold before she stepped inside.

The moment the water hit her skin, it felt as if a fire had lit within her. The warmth had gotten worse, turning into a raging inferno that couldn't be put out. Her vision grew dim and her legs stopped working completely. Falling to the shower floor with a heavy thump, Lucy lay in the stream, incapable of moving. The loud sound seemed to have roused the slumbering dragon in the other room for he came barreling into the bathroom with little care for modesty. Taking one look at the barely conscious girl, he picked her up and out of the running water, a light blush on his cheeks as he covered her with a towel before he was out the door and down in the main hall.

Rushing through the streets of the city with a naked woman in his arms drew a lot of attention and if it weren't for how angry he looked at the moment he was sure someone would've stopped him to question why he was holding her. Thanking his lucky stars that everyone seemed to understand the urgency of the situation as they parted for him to go through, he rushed about in hopes of finding a doctor who could help them. Scenting the air momentarily, he made out the scent of medical supplies and blood coming from a little ways down the street to his right.

With a sharp turn and a few angry shouts of the citizens, he sped down the pathways. The sight of a rather large hospital brought on a flurry of emotions, relief being the predominant one currently. Taking one look down at the girl in his arms, he quickened his already speedy pace, worried for the blonde in his arms. Crashing through the doors of the hospital, he took one look at a nurse before a large team of them came rushing out with a stretcher shouting demands for a doctor. Cobra felt them lift Lucy out of his arms and he had to bite back the snarl that threatened to spill from his lips as they practically tore the two apart.

Following the nurses down the hall until one of them stopped him in a waiting room, he kept his eyes on the delirious blonde until she was out of sight. Even then, he kept tabs on her by occasionally sniffing the air for her scent and tracking down her ever familiar light. Seemingly pleased with the fact that she was currently undergoing treatment for what he assumed was a bad fever, he allowed himself to recline back in the uncomfortable plastic chair for the time being. Closing his single eye, he listened out for a doctor to come by to explain what had happened as he drifted off into a light slumber.

When he awoke, he was being tapped on the shoulder lightly by a nurse in white scrubs. Raising a brow at the sudden appearance of another person, he sat up straighter before looking back towards the woman. She had a light blush on her face as she held out a few forms for him to look over, muttering something about paperwork before she left him to head back down towards her office space. Glancing over the sheet of papers, he placed them beside him on the empty chair before he leaned backwards.

Waiting for a doctor to come out and tell him what happened took a lot longer than he thought necessary for something simple like a fever, but seeing as how hot she felt when he picked her out of the shower, he supposed it wasn't very surprising. Hearing the sound of shoes tapping against the floor growing closer to him he cracked his eye open to glare down the hallway, hoping to scare off the nurse that came back only to stop when his eyes landed on a bear of a male.

The male's piercing red eyes scanned the waiting room for a moment before landing on him. The two locked eyes momentarily before the other male looked away and sat down closest to where he was standing. Cobra eyed the male for a moment longer before he too looked away and closed his single eye once more. After a short, tense silence, the sound of another set of shoes tapping got both of the males attention. A doctor in blue scrubs came wandering in.

"Which one of you is in charge of the feisty little blonde currently burning a hole in the stretcher she is placed in." The way the man worded it made it seem more like a demand than a question.

Before Cobra had time to claim that Lucy, was in fact his responsibility, the other male stood and motioned for the doctor to follow behind him and out of the waiting room. Cobra couldn't help the growl that slipped past his lips that time as he glared in the direction the two sauntered off to. Closing his eye, he listened in to the two that were down the hall.

"The girl should be fine in a day or two, she just joined my guild and it is a side effect of the guild mark. It brands the mage's skin that way even if their mark is removed, whether by force or willingly, they will always be recognized as a Red Hawk." The other male spoke.

"Even if what you say is true, I will need to keep her here for the rest of the day to make sure nothing else changes." The doctor thanked the man before the two came back from around the corner only to run into a silently raging dragon.

"She did what now?" Cobra growled, stalking forward and grabbing the red eyed male roughly before shoving him into the wall.

"Whoa there partner, whatever this is about, it doesn't have to involve a fight." The male surrendered too easily for Cobra's liking, but he reluctantly let go.

"What. Did. She. Do." Cobra glared at the male, impatient for his answer.

"She came into the guild yesterday, around noon and asked to join. I gave her the stamp and she walked away after we exchanged a few formalities, that's all man." The male shrugged, craning his neck to the side to peer around the male currently snarling in his face.

Cobra huffed in annoyance, of course she would do something as stupid as rushing off on her own before she even told him what she was planning. He guesses it could've been worse, she could've been found out and killed by them. Stepping back, he sighed before sitting back in his chair, his head in his hands.

"Name's Asael by the way, if you're looking to join too, just hit me up. We could use all the help we can get." Asael muttered before he turned on his heel and walked away.

"Hold it bucko, what do you mean?" Cobra questioned, watching as Asael turned back towards him.

"I'll tell you what I told your friend yesterday, we are kind of out of the way and since it's a little difficult to reach the guildhall, I send out groups to scavenge for supplies and the like in the city. We are a rather small guild so any help I can get is greatly appreciated." Asael rubbed at the side of his face as he sat back down in his chair, understanding that their conversation isn't yet over.

"You send those guys? You know they are breaking into stores and stealing right? It's scaring the crap out of these folks." Cobra took notice of the way Asael's eyes widened ever so slightly at the sudden news.

"I told them to scavenge, not steal! Jesus what do I pay those guys for!" Cobra blinked twice at that.

"You mean your guild isn't the one stealing?" Cobra asked after a moment, watching as the male shook his head rapidly.

"Gods no, we might not have the cleanest record, but we don't steal from people. I hire freelancers to gather supplies for us. They seemed trustworthy and I let them under the protection of a legal guild so they don't rise suspicion." Asael said.

Cobra's brow furrowed in confusion for a moment. The King had said that they were a dark guild and those weren't legal in the slightest.

"You guys are a legal guild?" Cobra questioned, watching as Asael nodded his head once more, pulling out a paper from his wallet tucked away in his pocket.

"Legalized since last year man, we're clean." Cobra hissed in annoyance.

"That bastard…" Cobra muttered darkly, his hands curled into fists.

The King lied, why on Earthland would he was us to gather information on a legal guild? Cobra stewed in his silence for a moment longer before he was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of a chair squeaking. Looking up he watched as Asael stood before nodding his head in his direction before he made his leave. Cobra let him go this time, too busy having to deal with a now confusing set of circumstances.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on for the slayer. He couldn't tell if it was because he was apart from his partner or if it had to do with the sudden news. Once Lucy was cleared to leave, her fever having broken and now at a much cooler temperature, he was sure to fill her in on the intel he had gotten from Asael. At the mention of said male, Lucy's face flushed an alarming shade of red that had Cobra thinking her fever had come back. Only to find that Asael was the male that marked her up yesterday.

With a now fuming dragon at her side, Lucy succumbed to her fate. They skipped dinner that night, one being too tired to care and the other too angry. The second the crossed into the hotel room, Lucy was squashed against the bed. The silent snarl on Cobra's lips made Lucy shiver, his single eye boring into hers as he scented her once more. Moving to bury his face into her neck, he nipped at the fading mark left on her yesterday. His fangs itched as they brushed over her pulse that was racing.

Pulling away to stare down at her flushed face, he sucked in a breath only to choke on the scent that wafted around them. Her scent had changed ever so slightly. The same honey and lavender scent was still there, but it was tinged with a spicer scent, almost like cinnamon. Sniffing through his nose a second time, he pressed himself closer to her neck to get a wif. It wasn't coming from the mark on her neck, so that was a good thing. Breathing it in once more, he realized just what kind of affect the scent had on him. His mouth began to water and his fangs began to burn, something he had yet to experience since he had the damned lacrima implanted.

Being closer to her neck made the burn lessen, but it wasn't until they were buried in her skin that the tingling stopped of their own accord. The cinnamon scent had only gotten stronger, and Cobra was beginning to grow dizzy from the overwhelming amount of it in the air. The sound of muffled moans reached his ears as he began to suckle at the tender mark on her skin. Drawing a bit of her blood into his mouth, he groaned when the liquid hit his tongue. The cinnamon scent was lying within it as well.

Lucy had to bite back a moan when Cobra suddenly pulled away from her, his single eye burning with a passion she had yet to see from him. His lips were stained a light shade of red, most likely from the now bleeding wound on her neck, but she couldn't care less about that right now. His fangs seemed to glisten in the dimly lit room, dripping with a clear substance that made the blood on his lips sizzle off.

'Venom.' Her mind supplied her with the answer and she grew worried for a moment that he would hurt her.

The look in his eye however, gave her pause. There was a softness within the purple depths she had yet to see from him. Before she could figure out what it was, he was buried in her neck again, his fangs once again piercing the skin. A burning sensation slowly spread throughout her body as she felt him pump her full of the venom. Despite the pain she felt, his constant pressure on the wound made it numb to the point where she couldn't feel it sting. A soft purr started up in his chest, and the longer he stayed imbedded in her neck, the louder it got until it reverberated throughout the otherwise silent room.

Lucy felt a clawed hand run through her hair before he lifted her head and placed her face into the crook of his neck where he kept her until she finally got the gist and bit into the skin there. Her blunt teeth had a hard time breaking the skin but when they did, her mouth filled with the sweetest flavor to have blessed her taste buds. Moaning in delight, Lucy gratefully lapped at the blood, barely noticing that it had actually helped with the burning pain that was still spreading throughout her body.

Cobra purred louder once Lucy broke his skin, his fangs slowly staunching the flow of his venom until he was able to retract them from her shoulder. Eyeing the new mark at her neck in pride, he nodded to himself before burying his face back into her neck and nuzzling it. Lucy cooed at him softly, her hands running through his hair as they slowly drifted off to sleep, neither of them knowing that come morning they would have to deal with the repercussions of their actions.

*I'm so sorry for the rather long wait for this chapter, but since school started and college classes got a little stressful I was unable to focus much on this story or any other ones that are currently in the works. After the break I will most likely have one other update before summer break if I can manage my time better, with work and class and all that.

Anyway I'm grateful for all of you who have patiently waited for this and I hope you enjoyed despite of the rather short chapter!

Thank you!*