{Hello you amazing GaLe shippers! I hope that you guys enjoy reading this chapter! Please follow/favorite and comment to show the love!

Now! Onwards to Chapter 10!}

-Levy-

When Levy finally woke up from her slumber, as she had passed out in Gajeel's arms on the way back, she was surprised to see that she was not back at the hybrid's cave home. Instead, she was tucked into a large, king sized bed with a royal blue covering. Glancing to her right, she noticed that her arm, which was laying out on her side, was heavily bandaged. In fact, she was almost certain that nearly her entire body was bandaged.

She hadn't forgotten anything during her nap. She remembered the way that her old clan members treated her. She remembered the burning, the beating, the slashing, everything. And she also remembered how...protective Gajeel became of her. The little bookworm remembered the brutal and nearly disturbing way Gajeel had killed Jet and Droy. Though she was fairly use to seeing such activity from her days as Shadow Gear leader, she never witnessed such an act by one man alone.

True, he wasn't fully a man, but he was enough of a man for Levy to declare him as such. And...simply the way he looked at her. Those ruby red eyes that held such concern for her damaged figure. She had never seen such concern held for one person alone ever. What on Earth had made him change so drastically and so quickly?

She truly thought that the dragon man hated her so. After all, she had purposely crossed over into his territory. Surely someone such as he would not pity over a girl who basically changed his life forever, perhaps for the worse. And yet...he had called her something, a declared title on her behalf.

My girl...he had declared I his female, but...but why?

"Levy?"

The small, pained woman glanced up and over towards the door. Standing in the doorway, Gajeel looked over the woman, his eyed narrowed as if searching for something.

"Yes...what is it?" she asked.

He smiled slightly at her, crossing the room in only a few steps, a hint towards how tall this man was. Sitting down in a delicately decorated wooden chair, he gently took hold of one of her hands with his own. "We need to talk, Shrimp."

The blunette pouted towards him. "Don't call me that..."

Chuckling with his usual 'Gihi' sound, Gajeel leaned closer towards her. "How about we make a game out of this, hmm? Ya got questions for me, and I got questions for ya. So how about I ask one, and then you, and we go from there?"

She nodded. "Fair enough."

"So, what are yer connections to Shadow Gear?" he asked.

Levy sighed softly. "Three years ago, I was homeless and broke. I didn't know what to do, and I was far too young to qualify for a job. Returning home was out of the question. I ended up running into a small group of thrives, and using my high intelligence, I made a deal with them. I told them that we could form a Thievery clan, a clan that I would be leader of. I told them that I would scout out areas of possible loot and plan the attacks. The only thing that they had to do was act out my plans and retrieve the jewels and such. Over the course of one year, we became of the most feared thievery clans that went by the name of Shadow Gear."

"Wow...I would have never expected yer little innocent butt to be caught up with that side of the money makin'." he chuckled out.

"What about you? Why the change in heart all of a sudden?" she asked.

"Ya wouldn't believe me if I told ya," the dragon hybrid mumbled out.

Levy smiled at him. "Try me. You never know, and besides, I answered your question. Now, you have to answer mine!"

"Well, there was more to the reasoning behind me keepin' ya at my cave. Ya see, when dragons are born, their inner beast, the animal in them, chooses a soul mate for the dragon to one day find and marry. You'd think that they stick to their own species, but nope! My old man got paired up with a human! But she loved that idiot for some reason. Now I'm guessing' human soul mates run in tha family, cas my inner beast picked ya to be my soul mate. I didn't wanna burden you with the hardships of bein' an outcast like me, so I ignored ya. Then ya just had to get attacked by a bear. I couldn't control my instincts, so I had no choice but to save ya. Then ya ended up in my home! So I couldn't just lecha ya leave. My beast woulda takin' over my body and marked ya to force ya ta like me or somethin' like that. So I thought you could live with me an' tha cat. But this...I couldn't ignore it after this. Seein' my mate, seein' ya all beat up and bloody didn't settle with me. I couldn't ignore ya anymore, Levy. I couldn't. Yer mine now whether ya like it or not, got it?" he explained.

For some reason, when Gajeel declared that Levy was his, she became instantly happy about it. But why? He basically said that he's going to force her to marry him, possibly even to have children as well. However, the little bookworm wasn't at all mad about that. Sure those two delinquents had a thing for her, but they simply were not her type. Come to think of it, neither was Gajeel, but at the same time, something was different about him.

"So you're going to force me to marry you?" she asked.

He chuckled. "You already asked your question Shrimp."

"Don't call me that! And I'm serious."

The hybrid smiled softly down at her. "No, I ain't gonna force ya into anything. I'm gonna impress ya, show ya that I'm the best guy around!"

This caused Levy to laugh. "I feel bad for you, being paired up with a...dare I say it, shrimpy girl."

"Now that's were yer wrong shrimp. You aren't just any shrimp that no one cares about. See, you aren't a shrimp, yer my shrimp, and that's a huge difference. Yer cute and adorable. Other shrimps are annoying as heck. Ya get what I mean?" he explained, a smile planted on his face.

The little bookworm smiled brightly at him, tears forming in her eyes. "No one has ever said something so nice to me before."

"Tch, don't get all emotional Shortie. It was only a compliment," Gajeel grumbled out.

Since the top portion of the hybrid's body was leaning over Levy, she took this opportunity and leaned up slightly, wrapping her arms around his neck, bringing him for a hug. "Thank you, Gajeel, for everything."

"Um..yea Shrimp," he replied, hugging back.

Pulling apart, they stared into each other's eyes. Levy was able to finally openly stare into the ruby red eyes that had fascinated her so. His lips tilted upward in a smirk.

"What do you see?" he asked.

She didn't even hesitate to answer. "Eyes as beautiful a red as a rare gem, so full of emotion, unknown feelings that I want to know."

Unknowingly, the bookworm and dragon hybrid leaned in closer to one another. Their noses touched gently together. The smirk on Gajeel's face widened ever so slightly.

"Can I?" he asked her, his voice very soft and gentle.

She smiled and giggled. "Yes, you can."

Slowly, they leaned in closer. Their lips brushed against each other, and-

"Gajeel! Is Levy awake yet?!" the voice of Makarov called out as he burst through the door.

The hybrid, who now had a deep blush covering his cheeks, snapped his head away from the bookworm, glaring and growling at the old man. Makarov paled instantly, realizing what he had just interrupted.

"Oh..hehe. Sorry, children, I-"

"YER GONNA GET IT OLD FAIRY MAN!" Gajeel chased after the old man, the sounds of various items being broken followed.

Levy sat up in the bed, sighing as she heard the sounds of their footsteps all across what seemed to be the mansion.

Maybe, it was a good thing that Makarov interrupted us...oh, who am I kidding. Stupid old man! Gah! He's already rubbing off on me!