Happy Saturday readers. Hope you enjoy!

For those reading the NSFW version, there is an alternate chapter over there just waiting for a read! Go check it out.

As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!


Lucy huffed as she began to fling more clothes across her bed. "I know it's here somewhere…"

Her guests were going to start arriving soon and she hadn't finished getting ready yet. Well, she was as ready as she had intended to be, but Natsu's late night visit had left a very visible mark near her neck and there wasn't a single shirt in her closet that covered it, so she needed her green scarf.

"How on earth could it go missing in just a week?" she groaned. She'd torn apart her closet, even gone through her dirty clothes basket and looked under her bed with no luck. With a sigh, she straightened and looked around her room one last time before calling for Natsu.

He appeared at her door, a bright smile on his face. "What's up, Luce?"

"Can you help me find my green scarf?"

He frowned. "Why do you wanna wear a scarf inside? Isn't it warm enough?"

"Yes, but someone decided to leave marks on me last night and I don't want to flaunt them in front of our company." When Natsu's eyes zeroed in on her bruised skin, Lucy self consciously raised a hand to cover it. "Stop staring at it."

"Sorry," he said. He frowned as he moved forward and pulled her into a hug. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry." He sighed. "And I told you I wouldn't do any of the weird demon stuff to you. Not that I think that was a demon thing," he thought out loud, "but still. I'm really sorry."

Lucy hugged him closer, but pulled away when a thought occurred to her. "Wait a minute…" She squinted up at him as he pulled away to meet her gaze. "You haven't offered to heal it yet." In all the time she'd known him, the one thing she could rely on was him offering to magic away any inconvenience he caused.

Natsu gulped as he looked away. "So? Is that what you want?"

"Whether I want it or not doesn't matter right now. The point is that you haven't offered, and you offer all the time for things that don't leave any mark at all." She tipped her head as she studied him. "Why not?"

Natsu's face twitched a little and he tried to find an excuse, but the truth came out before he could. "I… don't want to, because… I, uh… I like… it…"

Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "You like that I have a bruise?"

"No," he said with a shake of his head. "I… like to see my mark on you." He looked away again, clearly uncomfortable. "I'm not sure if it's a demon or a dragon or a me thing, but I do."

Heat pooled in Lucy's stomach but she ignored it as she pulled his face back her way. "Well, as long as you can find my scarf, I won't ask you to fix it for me, how does that sound?" She pulled away and began to search again, trying to work off the desire building up in her body. "I just don't want to flash a hickey in front of my new neighbors. And Loke will have a hayday if I have this out on display."

Natsu frowned but decided he didn't care what the angel thought. He owned Natsu some explanations, and until he got them, Loke could stuff his opinion right up his-

"Do you have a spell for this?" Lucy asked, breaking him from his thoughts. "I really need to find it before people start arriving."

"Sorry, yeah, I can find it." Natsu raised his hand and a ball of red light formed in it. "Come here." When Lucy stopped in front of him, he held his hand out. "Bring up a picture of the scarf in your mind, and when you're focusing on it, squeeze the light in your hand."

Lucy nodded and raised her hand, carefully closing her entire hand around the orb. After a moment, she cursed. "Are you kidding me?"

"What's wrong?"

"I forgot that I let Levy borrow it. It's in her suitcase, which is with her at her parents' house." The doorbell rang and Lucy looked over her shoulder in a panic. "Natsu, you have to fix it!"

Loath to remove his mark, Natsu began to unwind the scarf from around his neck. "Here, wear mine instead."

"But-"

"No buts, just wear it." Once it was secure, he turned her around and pushed her toward the door. "Come on, guests are waiting."

"But-"

Natsu cut her off again. "Stop arguing. It looks great on you and we don't have time for me to fix it."

Lucy twisted around as they entered the kitchen. "That's not what I was going to say."

"What were you going to say then?"

"I just wanted to remind you that you can't be so grabby in front of company," she said as she adjusted his scarf. "Some touching is fine, of course, but it should be more like how we were before we started… this," she said, waving a hand between them.

"I'll be on my best behavior," Natsu promised.

"Good. You go get Happy and I'll get the door."

Natsu grinned at her as he leaned in for a quick kiss before heading towards his room. Lucy swatted at him, but missed as he laughed and walked away. When she finally opened the door, she was surprised to see Loke, since Plue had not announced his arrival. "Hey Loke."

"Hey!" Loke gave her a one armed hug before fully stepping into the entryway. "Long time no see."

"Longer than usual at any rate." She took the dish he held out to her and went to place it on the counter. "I'm glad you were able to make it."

"Of course I made it," he said as he pulled a few gifts out of the bag in his hand. "I can't miss Christsmas with my favorite princess."

Lucy sighed. "You can stop that any time you know."

"Don't think I will," he said with a grin.

"Didn't you say you were bringing Manda and Aries?"

"I was, but they had a last minute errand to run. I gave them your address, so they could find their way once they're done."

"Sounds good." Lucy reached down to grab her box of extra serving spoons from a cupboard and when she stood again, Natsu's scarf caught on the handle and came partially off. "Whoops." She stood and worked on fixing it, not aware of the intense look in Loke's eyes. She finished and then began to sort through the spoons.

"Is Natsu here?" Loke asked.

"Yeah, he's just hanging out with his friend Happy." She gestured towards the living room. "He might be in there, otherwise he might be in his room."

"I'm going to go say hi," Loke said as he began to walk passed. "Unless you want help?"

"Nope, I'm good." She flashed him a smile. "Thanks for offering."

"No problem." Loke quickly made his way to Natsu's room and entered without so much as knocking.

Natsu and Happy jerked away from each other, the looks on their faces telling Loke they'd been in some sort of heated argument.

"What did you do, Natsu?" Loke hissed quietly.

Natsu frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"What. Did. You. Do." Each word was spit out with barely contained violence. "Tell me you didn't."

Happy looked back and forth between the pair. "Should I leave?"

"Yeah Happy, go help Lucy. I'll deal with him." Natsu crossed his arms, confusion coloring his features through his own anger. When Happy had finally left, the hybrid reached behind him, opened a box near the window and flipped over the large flat stone inside.

Immediately the room shifted, and Loke could tell they were in the Inbetween, so he didn't try to remain quiet any longer. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" he roared.

"I didn't do anything," Natsu answered, not at all phased by the angel's anger. His shouting was as scary as a cub compared to the anger he'd felt from his father on occasion. "You on the other hand have been very cryptic, and I'd like some answers from you first."

"No." A golden aura began to appear around Loke, his angelic appearance beginning to come through as his eyes glowed bright. "Tell me you didn't bond with her. Tell me now so I don't have to kill you."

"Bond? With who?" Confusion broke through his anger. "What are you talking about? I've never met my mate, so how would I bond to them?"

"You bit Lucy," Loke accused.

Natsu glanced away. "So? That has nothing to do with anything. What I have with her is… well, it's none of your business."

Instantly, Loke's glow and aura disappeared and he stared at Natsu in shock. How could he have not realized by now?

Loke had always been under the impression that dragons could not lay with their mates without realizing who they were. That Natsu had, and even started the bonding ritual, if the bite on Lucy was anything to go by, without figuring it out… would he ever?

Loke rubbed his hands over his face as he began to pace. "Why me? Why did I have to deal with this? Being the strongest guardian angel does not mean I am the most patient." He groaned out loud, the volume increasing slowly but surely, until he was out of air. "Where is Capricorn when I need him? He's so much better at these kinds of things than I am."

Natsu sat on his bed to watch the angel pace, his anger slowly cooling as he watched the other man lose his mind. "You wanna tell me what's going on? I don't know what kind of thing you're talking about, but I find that being straightforward and honest is the easiest way to tell someone something."

"Stop trying to be so calm and wise, I know you're pissed at me."

Natsu chuckled. "I'm not so sure you can handle my anger in the state you're in."

"Don't mock me, Natsu. You have no idea how much stress I'm under." Loke glared at him. "I am in charge of guarding the life of someone who is quite probably the most important person to ever live, after the first Heartfilia queen, anyway, and you are trying to ruin it for me."

"Me?" Natsu blinked several times. "What the hell am I doing that's making your job so hard?"

"Being here!" Loke took a deep breath. He kept reminding himself about Happy's warnings, about the fact that he couldn't just bring it up to Natsu that he was obviously bonded to Lucy and that she was his mate. "Lucy should not be able to make a contract with you. She is already bound to an angel, and having you around, not to mention the other demons, is wreaking havoc on my patience. I want you all to go away and allow me to continue as I have for the last decade, preserving Lucy's life in the background while maintaining a friendship with her."

"You'll have her all to yourself in less than a year, just chill out." Natsu rose to his feet. "Besides, I think the people kidnapping her are the big problem, not me."

"Yes, but the increased magical presence with you around is what tipped them off on where to find her."

The hybrid paused. "What? You have angels all over the place here, how is this my fault?"

"I didn't before." Loke moved to sit on the one chair in the room. "It used to be just me and Aries in a borrowed body, to dampen her powers. We weren't enough to draw their attention, since angels do hang out here, but with the increased magic from you and your friend that neither of you bothered to hide, it drew the vultures and now they all know where she is. I had to bring in the others as a deterrent. Without them, the people after her would try more often. With so many angels around, I'm at least making it harder for them to get her."

He sighed and sat back in his chair. "It doesn't matter. Let's clear up the air on your end. Go ahead and yell at me. I'm too drained at this point to fight back, so maybe you can get whatever off your chest and one of us can feel better."

Natsu sat on his bed once more as he eyed Loke's tired look. "I still don't understand why we had to lie to Lucy. I don't like to lie. I'm not good at it."

"Good enough, since she doesn't suspect anything."

"I still don't like it," Natsu repeated. "Why can't we just tell her who you are and what's going on? If we did, she could be prepared. We could maybe even convince her to move somewhere else and then they wouldn't know where she is."

"I can't," Leo said. "Under the original agreement, not to mention at the behest of her mother and many other previous generations, we are not allowed to let her know of her importance to the magical community. I am not allowed to tell her who I really am, or even that magic exists.

"You are an anomaly. She knows more than she should because of you, but there's nothing in our contract that says she can't find out from another source. Because you had your own contract in place before I found out what was going on, I couldn't do anything to get rid of you in time. The legal system is hard to navigate, but only the involvement of the kings can break a contract between two people that don't wish to break it, and since yours has not endangered ours, much, I have not spoken to my king about it. Yet.

"Not to mention Lucy's life is here. I am supposed to keep her safe and allow her to live the most normal life she can. Moving her across the world somewhere else isn't what she wants, so I have to make this work instead."

Loke looked up. "Does that appease you? Can we move on now?"

Natsu sighed. "Fine. But I still think she should have her memories back."

"Giving them back in any capacity would be a violation of the contract. I can not do that."

"I could."

Loke froze, half risen from the chair. After a beat, he slowly finished standing and moved to stand in front of Natsu. "You will not do that," he said quietly but firmly. "You will not remind her about what happened, or help her to remember. Remember, she saw a dangerous, out of control side of you. Do you really want her to relive that? To see what Natsu Dragneel can truly become?" Loke hated to lie, but he would use any tool in his arsenal to keep Natsu from ruining his job.

Natsu frowned, not sure he'd heard right. From what Virgo had told him, Lucy hadn't seen him in the arena. How long had it taken her to pull out his dragon side? Had she really seen the demon locked inside of him?

Loke reached over and flipped the rock over, shifting them back out of the Inbetween. "Remember to put that scarf back on as soon as this party is over. Just heal the bruise on Lucy and be done with it. I know you can. Unless…" Loke looked over his shoulder, his hand on the door handle. "You chose not to remove it for a reason?"

Natsu didn't respond, just glared.

The angel nodded once. "I thought so. One more thing." He turned to face Natsu. "You are not, under any circumstance, allowed to bond with Lucy, understand?"

Natsu frowned. "I already told you, I can only do that with my mate. Lucy will be fine."

"As long as you keep your fangs out of her," Loke said and then left the room.

Natsu hung back for a moment, an itch starting under his skin. He was confused and annoyed, so it didn't surprise him that the buzz had already started.

Why had Loke brought up the bonding thing, not once, but twice? He remembered talking to his father about bonds a few times, but never specifics about finding them. From what he'd heard it was a pretty obvious thing, so he should have no problem figuring out who it was, once he met them anyway.

Of course he wouldn't bond with Lucy. Besides her not being his mate, he'd never heard of a dragon mate being a human. Dragon mates had to be magical beings, so that they were able to carry and birth dragon children. Human bodies couldn't handle that sort of thing.

Natsu made a note to have Happy talk to Grandeeney later.

With a quick breath and a shake, he went into the living room, determined to help Lucy have a good Christmas.