Lucy stared blankly at the spot where Laxus had thundered out, utterly confused by his departing words. What did he mean he wasn't any good for me? Did I do something to upset him so badly? Lucy had barely seen the blonde dragon slayer since she had come to Bosco and she was saddened by that fact, but watching him leave made her heart hurt and she wasn't sure why. He was being a huge ass hole, Lucy unknowingly fisted her hands at her side and the Fairy Tail mages took several steps back. Lucy closed her eyes to get her anger under control, so could let off some steam when they went to the club tonight and could dance it out of her system.
"Why's everyone so tense?" Evergreen asked as she entered the room followed by Emzadi, Xally, and Cobra.
"Laxus is being an idiot," Bickslow offered as Freed glared at the mage for insulting their leader. "Don't give me that look Freed! You know I'm right."
"Bickslow is right? Better mark that on a calendar," Evergreen snickered from behind her fan.
"Is it national pick on Bickslow day, like fuck!"
"What did Sparky do this time?" His eye strayed to the celestial mage, looking over her carefully and noticing how rigid her entire form was. "Who do I need to poison Tink?" He watched Lucy spin around to face him and saw her relax some with a small smile on her face.
"No one," Lucy said and then after a moment added, "well no one at this particular point in time. I'll let you know if circumstances change."
"You better! No one fucks with my kin and gets away for long." Cobra went and sat in a chair, satisfied that Lucy had perked up once again.
"So back to Laxus . . ." Evergreen looked at the seith mage for answers.
"Dragon slayer bull shit."
"That's all we're going to get for now huh?" Evergreen rolled her eyes knowing that in time she would get her answers.
"How are you feeling today Lucy?" Xally asked linking her arms with the blonde and leading her to the table to eat their noon meal.
"I'm much better, thanks!" Lucy smiled at the group. "I was a bit groggy when I woke up, but once I sorted everything out all was good."
"What was there to sort out?" Farron asked confused, obviously, there was a story here that he had missed.
"We just had some trouble in the market after we received our tattoos last night. No big deal?" Lucy nervously smiled at the sound mage.
"Fuck Lucy!" Cobra growled as he read her soul in regards to last nights events followed closely by mimicking events from Emzadi and Xally. "I'm going to find those fuckers and poison them all!"
"You will do no such thing!" Lucy rounded on the slayer. "They were a bunch of drunks that were taken care of, so no need to worry."
"Lucy, care to fill the rest of in on what happened?" Evergreen asked from where she sat between Freed and Bickslow.
"Some idiot tried to manhandle me last night when we were on our way home from the shop. I had a panic attack and blacked out, so Scutum pushed through his own gate and placed me in a protective barrier." She was getting several confused glances, so quickly added, "Scutum is a silver key and creating a shield is his main magic, but I am curious why he lifted the barrier."
"We called Kaleb, who brought Cris and Cobra, and Cobra talked to your shield about releasing you to us. It sent out several pulses of magic making our bond marks glow and then disappeared." Emzadi stated then pointedly look over at Lucy. "Why did our marks glow? I understand why Cris and Cobra's did with the whole kin thing, but when did you put one on me and why was Xally's also glowing."
"Well you see," Lucy bit her bottom lip nervous about their reactions. "I had fused my magic with the ink that was used on Xally's tattoo so that when it touched her skin it'd be similar to the other bonds I created. I added one to Emzadi's ankle when we were walking hand in hand, which you subconsciously accepted since I have a matching one on my ankle."
"No way! What's it look like?" Emzadi bounced in her seat excitedly. Lucy walked over to her and showed her bare ankle to the solar slayer who gasped in surprise. It was a beautifully round sun with flowing rays sprouting from all around it and inside the sun was a stunning mandala flower design. "It's beautiful Lucy!"
"Well, that explains that," Cobra said before stuffing a blueberry muffin in his mouth. "What are you doing for the rest of the day?"
"I was thinking that the four of girls would just chill before getting ready to go to the club tonight. Who's all coming anyway?" Lucy asked the group of mages.
"Kaleb, Cris, you lovely ladies, Cobra and myself," Bickslow answered the blonde. "Not sure if Laxus will show up tonight or not, but we don't need him to have fun." He winked at Lucy who giggled in response.
"Well let's put on our bathing suits and head out to the grass sea and soak up some rays before returning! I could use some sun therapy!" Xally exclaimed.
"If we weren't family you could have all the sun therapy you want," smirked Emzadi to he younger sister who snorted back at her.
"You can find someone at the club to therapeutically help," Xally smiled back, batting her eyelashes. "Let's get moving ladies!" The four of them left in a fit of giggles discussing what color bathing suit would look good on who.
"Think we should have warned them?" Farron asked the rest of the men at the table.
"Nah. The girls will be perfectly fine and I'm sure Lucy will adjust." Bickslow said shrugging his shoulders.
"That's not the blonde mage that'll have a problem with his appearance," Freed frowned not liking the potential disaster scene.
"Sparky needs to pull his head out his ass, so if he does something scandalous then he has no one to blame except himself," Cobra grudgingly stated, "Besides it'll be too much fun to sit back and watch." Cobra grinned at Bickslow who was cackling at how much trouble this could potentially be, while Freed and Farron exchanged a look that showed how relieved they both were at not going to the club tonight.
Lucy had thoroughly enjoyed the sunshine and the warmth of the Grass Sea plus all of the girl time. They talked a lot about Lucy's future and all the options there would be for her. She could join White Sea and be placed at any guild within the country, be part of the largest faction of mages ever, or she could join another reputable guild in the area. Lucy could get a job where her magic would be of use but nixed that idea since there wasn't much use for celestial magic in everyday life. She could head back to Magnolia and try to start over there, but that was all too painful to return too just yet. Lucy wanted to talk to Cobra and see what his plans were and what he thought, even though she knew that he was leaving it up to her and he'd follow.
They had gotten on the topic of boys, which had Lucy commenting on how good looking everyone in the Pradesh family was. Evergreen piped up saying that the White Sea guild had the hottest men around, which all the girls seemed to agree on. Which had ended up turning into a talk about sexual prowess and what may very well happen tonight. They weren't going to be able to hide or protect Lucy from the culture that was Bosco at the club, so they gave her a quick explanation. People would ask her to dance, similar to asking to share pleasure and she'd be able to say no just like normal. The only difference was that the club that had been chosen was well known for its sultry dances, but Lucy was more than eager to get out and dance no matter the mood.
Emzadi had brought supper up to the room and Lucy had called out Cancer and Virgo to help the ladies prepare for the evening, while Xally had left only to return with a bottle of spiced apple wine. Having a good buzz before heading out for the night would take some of the edge off so Lucy could relax more and have fun. Lucy as the last to get her hair styled and she couldn't help but smile at how beautiful the women before her were. Emzadi's unruly blonde locks were completely straight and pulled out of her face and off her neck in a hight ponytail with small red gems randomly placed throughout. She was wearing a navy blue backless dress that ended just below her ass and had a gold jeweled chained resting against her spine. The cowl neck front scooped low, showing ample cleavage and was paired with a pair of strappy gold wedges.
Xally was dressed in a strapless plum purple lace dress with a see-through mid-drift that hugged her form showing off every curve. Her cleavage wasn't spilling out the top, but there was enough showing to leave you wanting to see more. She paired the outfit with black flats and intricate black and gold dangles hung around her wrists. Cancer curled her black hair, pulling part of it out of her face with a braid and resting a matching black and gold headband on the crown of her head. Virgo was helping Evergreen into her two-piece emerald green outfit, which you could tell was slightly out of her comfort zone. The halter crop top wrapped around her neck ended just under her large breasts and had one thick strap running around her back to hold it in place. She was in a matching green mini skirt with a beautiful gold chain wrapped around her hips, enticing the eyes to her hips and gold stilettos. Cancer also curled Evergreen's hair but pulled it to one side in a loose ponytail placing a gold leaf band in her hair to complete her 'fairy' look.
Lucy let Cancer and Virgo have free reign with her look tonight, as long as it fits in with the culture and wasn't showing off too terribly much. Cancer pulled her hair into a high ponytail, knowing that his keyholder didn't like the way her hair felt against her neck when she was sweating and curled it to add some volume to her normally poker straight hair. Virgo dressed her in a royal blue halter crop top as well, except hers had a lace overlay exposing the creamy skin above her large chest and covering the top part of her back. The high waisted skirt she wore ended just below her ass, which was normal for her, but the risque slits up the outside of her thighs made her a bit nervous, and white wedges laced up her calves to complete her look. Lucy was thankful for the spiced wine now as she looked herself over in the full-length mirror. She thanked her spirits and asked if Cancer would see if the boys would want anything done differently with their hair and once he was done he was free to return.
The girls walked into the entranceway of the Pradesh estate and Lucy stopped to blink a couple of times. There was no way that the mages standing before her were the same men she had seen earlier that day, right? Kaleb, Cristoff, Bickslow, and Cobra were eagerly waiting for the women to come down so they could all leave. She knew the Pradesh men were sexy as fuck, but Cobra looked just as edible as everyone else. There should be a law about how many attractive men can be in the same place at once. Lucy pulled her cloak closer to her body, feeling self-conscious next to all these God-like mages.
Kaleb and Cristoff were dressed in their typical skin-tight leathers with their hair flowing freely, per usual. However, she was surprised to see Bickslow's blue-black tri-hawk hair resting flat against his head, running over his ears and slightly down the back of his neck. The shaggy look his hair now had was a huge improvement over his previous childish updo and he'd be even more of a panty-dropper now. He left behind his overly large knight like get up to replace it with a skin-tight deep blue t-shirt, black leather pants, and black combat boots making him look badass. Lucy blinked a couple times before turning to look at Evergreen who had her eyes locked on Cobra.
Lucy's eyes followed the same path as Evergreen's and took in Cobra's new look and couldn't help but smile at how handsome the mage looked. His thick shaggy maroon hair was gone and instead, he had short spiky hair and fit his ruggedness more than his previous look. He wore the same tight red leather pants and black boots as before but had opted for a tight white shirt with a black leather jacket covering his bare arms. Lucy looked back at the fairy mage and wondered if anything would transpire between the two of them tonight.
"Well look who finally decided to grace us," Cobra snickered at the four women.
"It takes time to look this gorgeous," Evergreen replied, even though she pulled her cloak closed to her body as well.
"Well maybe if you weren't all wearing those damn cloaks we'd be able to tell how sexy, or not, you look," Cobra baited Evergreen, knowing how to rile the brunette up.
"These are so we can actually get to the club, otherwise we'll be stopped so frequently," Emzadi proudly stated with a sly smile. "Speaking of which let's get going. I want to get lost in a sea of bodies grinding on one another." Emzadi looked over at Kaleb and asked if Laxus or the stranger had shown up yet or not, to which he replied no. Emzadi heaved a sigh of relief, at least for the time being, knowing that the calamity wasn't biting at their heels.
The line-up to the club was quite long, but Xally raced to the VIP access line and hugged the bouncer that was standing outside. He handed her a card and the group of mages entered the club. The music was loud and Lucy could feel the beat in her very soul, her body humming in excitement. She followed an equally excited water mage up the steps and watched as Xally slid the keycard through the scanner and the door opened up to them. Inside the room was a large booth and table with a personal bartended at their beck and call.
"Each of you will have to press your thumb onto the scanner so that if you want to enter or exit the room you just need to use a finger. It makes things much easier if one is drunk," she giggled before holding her thumb onto the scanner for a couple seconds and watching the light turn green. Each mage took a turn and then sat down and ordered their drinks, but Lucy was looking over the balcony watching the crowd below dance to the beat of the music.
"Hey, boss man. Glad you decided to join us." Lucy spun around to see Bickslow clapping Laxus on the shoulder, the two men smiling at one another.
"Wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to check out Supernova and have some friendly drinks," Laxus stated looking at everyone except Lucy, causing said mage to frown.
"Supernova? Emzadi is this your club?" Lucy asked the solar slayer.
"I'm a silent owner. Xally was referring to my partner that day in the market when we were talking about going dancing. Being an S Class mage in White Sea for so many years pays quite well, so we all have dabbled in other investments to make a profit should something happen. Kaleb is a technological master and has patents for several pieces of equipment he's designed. Farron deals with the council, but he also has a spa he is a silent owner in while Xally co-owns the beauty boutique we were at. Cristoff has several medical clinics he invests his time in and then there's . . . well, you get the point."
"That's amazing!" Lucy smiled at the group, feeling a small twang of guilt thinking about how she was living off the Pradesh's and not contributing to anything. She felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up at Kaleb to see him smiling down at her. There's no need to feel guilty. We are more than willing and capable of helping family out until they can get situated.
"I'm going to dance. Anyone want to head out there with me?" Xally asked the mages, but Lucy decided to stay in the lounge for a bit. She wanted to observe how everyone interacted below before making her way into the crowd. Bickslow and Laxus stayed in the lounge with her, but she paid no attention to the men who were idly chatting with one another, instead, she focused on the people below. Watching as men spun women in circles, smiling and laughing, or how women would grind themselves into their willing partners. She watched everyone's hands graze over each other's bodies and how kisses were placed on bare shoulders, cheeks, or lips. It was enticing, but at the same time, it made her nervous. It wasn't like dancing in Fiore where guys would generally leave a group of women alone, especially when those women were Fairy Tail mages.
Bickslow had been watching Laxus watch Lucy stare into the crowd, still wearing her cloak. He knew that Laxus would be in trouble if she took it off while he was there, and a sly grin appeared on his face. He was also a firm believer that Laxus needed to be pushed in order to admit to Lucy that they were mates, but his leader was stubborn as fuck. His family was going to help the two become mates even if it killed them, and for the most troublesome Pradesh, it just might happen this time around. He formulated his plan and waited for Laxus to stand up to get another beer from the bartender.
"Hey Cosplayer," Bickslow leaned on the railing next to Lucy. "How about you and me head down to the dance floor and show them how it's done?" Lucy brightly smiled at the seith mage, her fears of dancing with a stranger put off to the side. "You'll have to ditch the cloak though. Would be mighty hard to dance with that fuckin thing on."
"You're right." Lucy undid the buttons and Bickslow saw Laxus from the corner of his eye watching the celestial mage. Bickslow heard the heavy jacket drop to the ground but was focused on Laxus' reaction. The lightning slayer's eyes widened and nostrils flared, his mouth slightly ajar before licking his lips which caught Bickslow by surprise since he wasn't expecting such a strong response. He looked back at Cosplayer and felt his own jaw drop because hot damn did she look amazing.
"Damn Cosplayer! I'm going to have to beat everyone off with a stick. You look amazing!" He heard Laxus growl at his insinuation and mentally clapped.
"You don't think it's too much do you?" Lucy said feeling over-exposed.
"Never! Now let's go show these amateurs what real dancing is all about." Bickslow grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the lounge before she could change her mind. He found a place on the dancefloor that would give Laxus a perfect view, but also so he could keep an eye on his reactions. They didn't need him to electrocute anyone in Emzadi's club or cause a huge scene. The music changed to a light and fast-paced beat that had the crowd jumping. A couple of people had brushed up against Lucy but she either ignored it or didn't care, but Laxus seemed to care judging by the way his hands were grasping the railing. Bickslow knew that Laxus' restraint was being tested, but hoped that he'd come to terms with how he felt for the blonde dancing with him.
When Lucy had dropped her cloak Laxus felt his brain shut down. He couldn't formulate any coherent thoughts, phrases, or pictures it was all just Lucy. The way her hair tickled her lower back, how her skin seemed to glisten in the clubs lights, how alluring her pouty pink lips full breasts and wide hips looked in her outfit. He was instantly hard, there was nothing that could be done about that and his dragon has smoke coming out of its nostrils. Before he could say anything Bickslow had pulled her out of the room. When his brain restarted he walked over to the banister and watched Lucy amongst the crowd with Bickslow.
Laxus knew that she was safe with his teammates or the Pradesh's siblings, but the strangers that had been purposely bumping into her had him grinding his teeth. They shouldn't be hitting on Lucy, because Lucy was HIS mate. Laxus grasped the railing, knuckles turning white when some men copped a feel of Lucy's ass. His dragon was foaming at the mouth and ready to jump down there to kill its competition. He calmed down when he saw Lucy gesturing to the fact that she was going to head back to the lounge. Laxus sat released his grip on the abused wood and relaxed, waiting for Lucy to enter. Her strawberry-vanilla scent wafted into his nose, filling his with a sense of calm and watched her get a drink, her back to him. His eyes traveled up he long legs, to the skirt that barely covered her ass, her toned back where her beautiful blonde locks rested.
Lucy could feel Laxus' eyes on her person and she couldn't help the smile that pulled at her lips, the way her heart fluttered, or the dampness between her legs. She had noticed him the moment she walked into the room earlier but was too busy being upset about the fact that he was ignoring her. He was wearing the same black leather pants the rest of the Pradesh family seemed to love and had a tight purple sleeveless shirt on and no fur coat. You could see every muscle on the man's sinful body and the tight pants left little to the imagination, so Lucy was doing her damndest to curtail her arousal so that his dragon nose didn't pick up on it. Lucy turned around and was about to ask Laxus a question when Emzadi entered the room.
"There you are! Xally and I have been looking all over for you. We want you to come dance with us." She pulled the celestial mage out of the room and to a place on the dancefloor where Xally was. Laxus groaned in frustration but went back to silently watching from above.
Lucy wasn't thrilled that she had been pulled away from Laxus. She was going to ask him what he had meant earlier and use her womanly whiles if she had too, but that all went up in flame. She'd just have to corner Laxus another time. A group of men were dancing with Xally and Emzadi when she felt a pair of large hands rest on her hips and a feather-light kiss touch her shoulder. She felt her body get hot in response to his actions and turned to look at the man that was behind her. Chocolate orbs were met with wine colored eyes and messy shoulder length red-black hair, broad shoulders with a lithe toned body that was showing under his open dark red vest. He was incredibly sexy as they swayed together on the dancefloor.
Laxus watched as the man whispered something into Lucy's ear earning him a bright beautiful smile. He growled when she leaned into his body whisper something back, a shit eating grin on the man's face. He could feel magic start to swirl around the pair, as several people backed away from them. Shadows licked at their feet as Lucy locked her arms around the man's neck, face resting on his chest. Laxus watched as the shadows fully enveloped the two on the dancefloor before disappearing from sight. Laxus felt his magic respond in kind and start to spark off his body, ready to electrocute that stupid little shit when found him, but for now, he was content with yelling his name out, knowing that he'd hear them even in the shadows.
"VANDER!"