Chapter 34

Clean

The two got back to their cart, and Levy noticed Gajeel looked to be in a particularly sour mood. As his girlfriend and his mate, she naturally wanted to make him feel better, as she felt it was her duty.

"Gajeel," she said, holding his hand. "What's wrong?"

He contemplated telling her, but that would complicate things a lot more than he wanted, so he just kept it to himself.

"It's nothin', Shrimp," he grunted, not wanting to make eye contact.

Figuring he didn't want to talk about whatever was bothering him, she decided to try to make him feel better another way. She stood up, her hands on his shoulders. As she lifted her leg to claim her favorite position on his lap, he grabbed her wrists.

"Eh?" Levy was met with a pair of burning red eyes staring into hers.

Gajeel didn't know how to feel, or how to react. He'd never been in this position before and he felt dirty. Jade hadn't done much to him, but she'd done enough to make him want to boil himself in bleach.

Now, Levy was trying to make him feel better, and she was trying to sit on his lap, but he couldn't let her. He grabbed her wrists, staring deep into her honey eyes, searching for an answer, but what could he say? That he reeked of that whore, and felt filthy? That he didn't want Levy to touch him until he was clean of said filth? That if she were to touch him, she'd then smell like Jade, and that's the absolute last thing he wanted? Instead, he sat her back down next to him and laid his head on her lap, wanting to sleep until they got home.

Levy instinctively ran her fingers through his thick mane, hoping her mate was alright.

Revan walked back to his cart, going over the events that just transpired. Everything made sense, now. Levy, being a script mage, must have placed enchantments around their home to make them almost invisible, granting them a secure place to hide. Thinking back to the day of their first encounter, she walked into the woods that evening following their brief conversation, most likely to their home.

He was glad things turned out the way they did, because if Levy would have known about them, she would have been a problem for him… Not really, he supposed. Jade could kill anyone and anything, and would have stepped in if anything were to happen to him, but if she was too busy caught up with the dragon slayer, things could easily have gone left for him.

He now was curious as to how powerful she was. She didn't give off much energy, but that may have been because of the baby. A dragon slayer's baby. He shuddered at the thought of anyone attempting to harm Levy. Her mate would tear them limb from limb or die trying.

He sat down, staring at a neutral-looking Jade.

"Don't worry," Jade said to her partner. "I didn't do much to him."

Revan worried about what she really meant by that. He knew she was a bit wild and her version of a little bit always equaled a lot.

"Jade," he said, trying to read her face. "What did you do?"

"Let's just say, there's a reason that girl is pregnant," she said, licking her lips.

"So," he said. "What's our next course of action?"

Jade thought about their next move. Now that she knew who his mate was, she didn't want to kill him. Especially since he was about to be a father. She couldn't do that to the poor girl, not after she was so kind to her.

"I know what you're thinking, dear," Revan said. "You don't wish to kill him anymore, which is quite understandable, Jade. That only leaves us with Boss."

"Oh, don't worry about him," the dark-haired woman said. "He's not an issue."

"Yes, you're right. We'll simply tell him that we wish to drop the contract."

Jade sighed, knowing Axos was a hot-head and he was not going to let them just drop the contract.

"I'll just kill him instead," she grinned maliciously.

"If it comes down to that, then so be it."

Gajeel and Levy walked home from the station, most of the walk being done in silence as he unknowingly distanced himself from his mate, which did not go unnoticed by her. She knew something had to have happened for him to be acting this strange, and wanted to talk about it, but she knew he wouldn't. It did suck, though. He wouldn't let her touch him or kiss him, and it was like pulling teeth to get him to let her hold his hand. 'What could have happened?' She thought to herself, as she studied the side of his face.

Gajeel was subconsciously putting up walls and shutting himself away. He felt weak. It pissed him off royally that he couldn't do anything to stop that wench. He was one of the strongest people in the guild and it made him sick to his stomach that he was trapped in a situation like that and couldn't do anything.

Now, there was Levy, who wanted nothing but to make him feel better, and understand what was going on, but he couldn't do that to her. He knew they liked her, considering they let him go because of her, and he knew they were just doing their job, but that fucking woman was crazy! She clearly didn't give two fucks about him being mated; she was going to try and seduce him anyway. If it weren't for Levy getting up to look for him, and also for being so kindhearted, he would have been a goner.

"Thank you," he said so low, she almost had to strain to hear.

She wasn't sure what he was thanking her for, and she wanted to ask, but she knew he most likely wouldn't respond. Instead, she squeezed his hand.

"I love you, Gajeel," she said.

"I love you too, Levy," he said after a few seconds.

He actually looked at her when he said it, his eyes showing something she'd rarely ever seen; vulnerability. Why? Why was he vulnerable? She supposed it was natural to be vulnerable around your significant other, but his… his was deeper than that.

Of course, Gajeel wanted to kiss her and hold her tight, but he needed to get that smell off of him first. As they walked through their front door, Lily came flying out of the living room looking somewhat panicked.

"What are you guys doing here? You're home early," he said, his eyes darting around.

"Somethin' came up," Gajeel grunted, about to walk away until he realized the cat seemed to be hiding something.

"Oi! What'cha hidin', cat?"

"It's nothing, please, just go to your room. You weren't supposed to be home for a few days anyway," he said, attempting to shove them off into their room.

"You always forget, cat," Gajeel said, stationary. "I'm stronger than ya."

Gajeel plowed through the exceed, making his way to the living room to see a certain white exceed sitting on the couch.

"That's enough for today," Gajeel said, exasperated and overwhelmed.

He wasn't upset, actually, he was happy for his cat. Maybe he'd stop being so uptight. But, he was tired, dirty, and really just wanted to lay with his Shrimp.

"What was it?" Levy asked, curious.

Gajeel whispered in her ear and Levy blushed, not expecting that at all. "Well, maybe he'll pull that stick out of his butt!" She laughed.

They got to their room, Levy unpacking things and putting them away, Gajeel hastily making his way to the shower.

As the soap and water ran down his body, he couldn't get the images of before out of his head. He scrubbed each place she touched with vigor, unsatisfied until his skin burned from being rubbed raw. He scrubbed his neck first, where her scent was most prominent. He scrubbed his face, where she'd touched several times. He scrubbed his chest and abs, where she'd practically drooled. Then, he scrubbed his dick. She hadn't done anything but touch it through his pants, but that was enough to make him heave.

After about forty-five minutes, he emerged from the shower, finally rid of that whore's scent. As he wrapped a towel around his waist, Levy entered the bathroom.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?" She asked, her arms crossed. "You were in there for a long time."

She hated sitting there while her mate was dealing with something that clearly brought him stress. She rubbed her belly as she walked toward him, that fire, earlier burning in his eyes, now softened.

At this point, all traces of Jade were removed from his body, and he was starting to feel like his normal self again. Although, he was still very vulnerable, that would change with time.

"Levy," he said, getting on his knees and hugging her midsection. "I'm sorry for shutting you out, today." He lifted her shirt and kissed her bump.

Right as he did that, she felt fluttering in her stomach.

"Oh my god," she said, her eyes wide.

"Did you feel that?" He asked, his ear to her stomach.

She nodded her head, tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

"Apparently, the baby didn't appreciate it either," she giggled.

"It won't happen again, I promise."

He took her in his arms and kissed her, gracious to smell her scent again.

"Absolutely not," Axos snarled at the two. "I've already given you Jewel, I expect the job to be completed!"

"Well, find someone else to do it, and pay them less," Revan said, standing from his chair and holding out his hand. "Come on, dear."

Jade took his hand and stood, shooting Axos a glare, who then appeared in front of them.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, irate.

"We have other matters to tend to, if you could please excuse us," Revan said politely.

Axos really didn't want to kill them, but they were grating on his last nerve. He could always find someone else to take down the slayer. He looked them up and down with disgust. Did they really not know who they were dealing with? He could snap both their necks in an instant, in fact, it was his favorite move.

"I'd rethink whatever it is you're thinking of doing," Revan said, sensing evil intent coming from the hooded man that stood before them. "You have no idea what she's capable of."

Those words irked Axos more that you could believe. A sadistic smile crept across his face as he turned a deaf ear to Revan's warning.

What followed next was a series of unfortunate events, including a pitch black aura that encompassed Axos' hideout along with a large portion of the area surrounding it. Axos had deftly broken Revan's neck before he could react as Jade watched his lifeless body fall to the floor. To her, time stopped right then and there. Her eyes widened at the sight of her best friend being killed, as she dropped to her knees in front of him.

Axos was satisfied until he felt Jade's power emanating from her body. Now that there was no one to mask her magic, anyone would be able to feel the power she harbored. As a result of never having felt this amount of magic power before, he was mortified, frozen still as Jade stayed silent, a dark aura gradually radiating further and further from her body.

"You…." She said, her head still hung low.

Axos wanted to take a few steps back, but his legs were stuck. He couldn't get any of his limbs to respond to his brain, giving him flashbacks to his father's famous beatings. He knew he was going to die right then and there, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

"You took… the only thing… I've ever cared about… away from me…." She said, slowly rising from the ground.

She finally looked up, her green eyes now glowing blood red, boring a hole through his face.

"You WILL die." As she said those words, her miasma quickly exuded from her body, circling her and getting bigger and bigger until it swallowed his entire hideout and then some, killing all life inside of it.

She thought she'd be satisfied when she watched Axos die, but nothing would numb the pain of losing Revan. She fell back to her knees, holding his body in her arms feeling at fault. She was supposed to protect him, but she couldn't. Axos was too fast. She'd never wanted to die more than anything.