Much love and hi! to the new followers and favorites.

I don't own FT or the Pradesh family. But it's the first appearance of one of my OC's.

Kaleb brushed the hair out of Lucy's face, careful not to wake her. The gesture caused her to snuggle into his side and press a sleepy kiss to his chest. The sun was still breaching the horizon, but he had no interest in walking out to her balcony to greet it.

It had been Bickslow that first noticed that Kaleb was smitten with Lucy. He, Erik, and Lucy were always goofing off when at the guild together. They'd created a weird game that they played as a way to train. He'd attempted to follow it once, but he wasn't entirely sure there were rules since each person's thoughts went off in different directions.

Bickslow caught up with him in his office.

"You know that's dangerous, right?" Bickslow asked.

"What is?"

"Falling for Lucy. She's a dragon slayer so she's gonna have a mate."

He'd grown up around Emzadi and Cristoff. With Emzadi, she'd known that Laxus needed time and was willing to wait until he was ready. Cristoff had claimed Meredy on the first night of the full moon but pulled out the stops to get Meredy to a place that she was willing to accept him.

When Lucy hadn't reacted to him at first, he'd assumed that he wasn't her mate. That didn't change the fact that she was beautiful and kept up with Cristoff on a full moon. That she was brilliant and sharp-tongued with no qualms about putting him in his place.

"You're thinking awfully loud," Lucy mumbled, pressing kisses to his chest.

"Sorry." She continued to press kisses and nipping him with her teeth. "Don't start something you're not awake enough to finish," he growled.

She giggled and sat up. "I dunno. I'm pretty sure you're the one that passed out first."

"I'm sorry that I don't have dragon stamina but that was a couple of hours ago."

His gaze slid to the dragon. He'd noticed that the detail in the dragon had been slowly becoming clearer. Now, it looked like it could pop off her skin and become a physical creature. Its scales were blueish-black, and he wondered if he'd feel ridges if he ran his finger across them. Though the wings were closed, the faint pattern that looked like a cross between the aurora borealis and the milky way could be seen. It looked asleep around her neck with its tail wagging slightly.

"You didn't claim me."

She kissed him then nipped his neck. "No. A fresh mating would have been too difficult to separate. And the location of the keys might take too long for you to leave White Sea for." She kissed him again. "We have time."

"Okay," he said.

"Have you checked the tablet? I heard it go off."

"That was three orgasms ago. I got a bit distracted." Kaleb rolled over so that he hovered above her before kissing her.

"Just a bit?" she asked, her hands slowly tracing the muscles of his abdomen. "I must try harder."

She wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him in closer. It would be another hour before she'd get a chance to look at her tablet.

*.*.*

She swatted his hands away as she crawled over him to get to her tablet on the bedside table.

"What could be so important?"

"Says the man that rarely takes a break from work? I put a special alert tone for that star map program." She opened the program and slowly deciphered the results. "Fuck."

"What? Where is it?"

"Pergrande. Looks like it's right under the capital."

"No."

Lucy stood. "Excuse me?"

"You're not going to Pergrande," he said, sitting up. "It's too-"

"For future reference, when I say 'excuse me' in that tone, it means I'm giving you a chance to correct yourself."

"I'm aware. Pergrande is one of the most dangerous places for women in the world. They would take you and sell you off as a breeder."

"I know that." She grabbed a random dress from her closet, slid it on, then grabbed her comm from her dresser before leaving him in her bedroom.

"Who are you calling?" he asked, following her without dressing.

"Van. Do you know anyone better for getting me into Pergrande?"

"No one. That doesn't change the fact that the half-baked schemes in your head will likely get you killed."

It was a testament to how mad she was that she chose Debussy to block him out. She didn't like the composer, but Kaleb hated him.

"Hey, Van. Did I wake you?"

"A little," Vander replied, carefully extracting himself from the man he'd fallen into bed with the night before. "What can I do for you?"

"I need a favor. The keys are in Pergrande."

"That explains the seething feedback that I'm getting from Kaleb. I'll be there in a bit."

"Thank you."

"You're going to ignore me, aren't you?"

"Right now, yes. Later, I might let you seduce me into bed. If you don't intend on being helpful, get dressed and go deal with what is probably an impressive stack of paperwork."

As Vander had commented, she could feel his frustrated feedback loop.

"Do you think I'm weak? Is that the issue here?" Lucy asked, an old frustration flaring up.

"Of course not," he said, reaching out to here but letting his arms drop when she jerked away. "I just don't think that you appreciate how difficult it'll be to not only get into Pergrande but more importantly, get out. Even Vander doesn't do jobs going into the capital."

"I know it won't be easy, but I'm doing it. I've come too far to stop now."

"Fine."

Kaleb walked into the bedroom, dressed, and left.

"You can come out now," Lucy said, falling onto her couch.

"You all right?" Vander asked, stepping out of the shadow.

"Ask me again in a bit. So, any ideas?"

"Who are you going to ask?"

"You, since you're the only one that knows Pergrande, Cris, and Meredy."

"Are you sure?" Vander asked, sitting on the coffee table.

"Cris is my knight. He won't let me go without him. His and Meredy's bond is too new so she'll need to go as well."

"Laxus will be pissed."

"I know, but same thing with Emi. And that many dragon slayers on one mission would be like a bright flashing light."

"Fair enough. I think you should bring Erik and Bix though."

"Why?"

"Pergrandian guards have a fondness for poisons. It'll be useful to have Erik. And I don't think he's ready not to have Bix around. Besides, it'll be good to have one male couple in Pergrande."

"Okay."

"Where exactly are we going? How close are the coordinates?"

Lucy sat up and grabbed her tablet. "I'd say probably within a square mile. Tops."

"That's still a decent amount of real estate to cover." He took the tablet and studied where the celestial coordinates dictated. "You know, I think Bix might be right about you being a trouble magnet."

Lucy frowned. "Why?"

"Because Skys Reach Coliseum is dead center of that area."

"The gladiator pits," she breathed.

"Yeah. If we're going in there, we're gonna have to be public about it. Between the wards and the fact that a number of the gladiators are mages, we'd never make it out alive without some official protections."

"We can't get in through the Boscan government."

"No, but I might know someone who can get us in."

"And you haven't tried yet?"

"I was saving it for a rainy day. I've never needed to get into the capital."

"Okay. Thanks."

He sighed when he saw her chewing on her lip. "Do you know what happened to Ganier and Zen?"

Her eyes widened when she looked at Vander and nodded. There was a portrait of Arman with Ganier, Farron, and Zen in his office. She'd asked him about it one day and found out about the second son that had died with Ganier in Pergrande.

Ganier and the two boys had joined Arman in Pergrande because the assignment was expected to be a long one. She had been at the house they were renting just outside of the capital with Zen, who was still nursing. Farron had joined Arman at the castle so that he could play with the children of the nobles. They'd felt the explosion, but it wasn't until Arman and Farron were on the airship to leave Pergrande that they found out that someone had set off a bomb in his house killing his wife and son.

"Can you blame him for being worried?"

"No. I blame him for acting like a Neanderthal."

Vander laughed. "Go easy on him. I've gotta make a few calls. So do you." He stepped into his shadow with a jaunty salute.

Lucy called Cristoff first. As she'd predicted, he demanded to go before she had a chance to ask him. Meredy laughed when Lucy gave her an exasperated look.

"Has he fully seen your magic?" Lucy asked.

Understanding what she meant, Meredy shook her head. "No. There's been a few things that I've wanted to try out in bed, but I haven't yet."

"Can you do that with it?"

"In theory. I've never tried."

"Hm…"

"Right now, I'm wishing I could read your mind," Cristoff grumbled.

"Where'd the fun be in that?" Meredy asked playfully, turning in his lap to kiss him. "I think Emi is planning on cornering you to ask how last night went."

"Hm…We'll make a shopping trip out of it. You need some lovely Boscan clothing to show off that mark."

"Lucy, I would prefer you not kill my mate."

"Talk to your sister about that. I'd rather try my luck with an all-day event instead of her trying to shove an all-day event into three hours."

"I think we're frightening her," Cristoff said, nuzzling Meredy's neck.

"No. It's just shopping," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Have you ever gone shopping with Erza?" Lucy watched as her eyes widened. "Think that but worse."

"You know, on second thought…"

"Nice try. You're not leaving me to deal with her alone. I'll get Xally to act as a buffer."

"She left to go back to her hospital this morning," Cristoff interjected.

"Fuck. Cristoff, my dear knight-"

"No."

"But you're supposed to protect your queen and mate," Lucy whined.

"From life threatening scenarios, like my queen deciding to go to Pergrande. Not shopping with their sister-in-law."

"Have you been shopping with your sister? It's pretty damn close to a life-threatening scenario."

"While I can't argue that point, the answer is still no."

"Fine," Lucy said with a pout. "I've gotta call Bixy. Maybe he will."

"What about Laxus?"

"Going shopping? Have you met the man? He buys ten of the same shirt."

"I meant is he going to Pergrande?"

"Oh. No, and I'm sure I'm going to get an earful about that. It's too many dragon slayers. Our magic signatures are too unique and given that we can't sneak in, I don't want to make them suspicious."

"Okay."

"I've gotta go. I need to talk to Kaleb today too."

"Wasn't he just there?" Meredy asked.

"He's not thrilled about me going to Pergrande."

"Makes sense," Cristoff said. Lucy was certain he was feeling the same undertone of annoyance as the rest of them.

"Yes, I know. I know about Zen and Ganier but-"

"But you have to do this," Cristoff said.

"Yes."

"He'll get over it."

Lucy sighed. "I hope so."

"Put on that lavender lingerie that you got because it reminded you of Kaleb's eyes." Lucy opened her mouth to refute that. "Oh, don't bother. Get to it. We're expecting lots of details," Meredy said with her own wicked smile.

"Hmph," she said but hung up to call Bickslow.

The two men were downstairs playing poker with the rest of the Thunder Legion. She'd known they would be and would have gone down, but she'd have gotten sucked into the game.

"Is Laxus going?" was Bickslow's first question.

"No, because Emi would have to go too."

"Are you trying to get me killed?"

"Actually, I mostly wanted Erik, but I know he's not ready for you not to be around yet."

"You wound me. Can I be there when you tell Laxus that he's not coming?"

"Sure."

Bickslow turned to look at Erik who nodded. "We're good."

"Okay. Thanks."

Lucy hung up and stared out the window before deciding to take Meredy's advice. The color looked good against her skin and she wouldn't lie to herself that she'd bought it with the expectation that the only person that would see it would be Kaleb.

Thane found Lucy leaning against the wall opposite the door for Kaleb's office. He stopped, glanced at his schedule to confirm that he didn't have a meeting or anything, and then looked back at Lucy. It took a minute for him to realize that she was as anxious about their fight as Kaleb was. Not that he knew what it was about though he hoped it meant they'd stopping dancing around each other.

When Kaleb arrived in the office, he was cranky and it surprised Thane that his first action was to call his father. He was glad that he'd heard parts of the conversation since he'd been about to get Lucy. That had become his go-to response over the last few weeks. Everyone knew about what had happened to Arman's wife in Pergrande, so Thane wasn't too surprised that Kaleb's instinctive reaction was to say no. Even he couldn't pretend that it wouldn't have been his reaction if it had been his wife.

"You know Miss Lucy is outside, right?" he asked as he placed the papers on Kaleb's desk. The normally polite guildmaster grunted and glanced past Thane at the door. "I'm going to get her," Thane said.

"Wait!"

Thane decided to ignore him. He swung the door open, grabbed Lucy, and shoved her in before shutting the door with a resounding click.

The two stared at each other before both saying, "Sorry."

Kaleb chuckled, set his tablet to the side, and gestured for Lucy to come to him. He lifted her so that she was sitting on his desk and looking at him at eye level. His hands were on her thighs and his fingers were making random patterns.

"I don't think you're weak or stupid. You're brilliant, amazing, beautiful… I could go on for eternity if you let me. I was falling for you when I thought I wasn't your mate and knew that falling for you was stupid. Even Bix called me out on it.

"The idea of you going to Pergrande terrifies the shit out of me. I don't want you anywhere near that country."

"I know. And I understand, but-"

"Do you? You haven't lost yet."

"I've lost."

"Since you've become a dragon slayer?" Lucy hesitated. "You're not indestructible. Nobody is. And I've just gotten you. I don't think I have it in me to lose you."

She pulled him to her so that she could kiss him. "I get it," she said softly, not moving away from the kiss. "I get it, but I have to get these keys. It's how I'll get Aquarius back. According to Loke, Cassiopeia is fit to be tied up there. Whatever's got her so riled up could have consequences for us. Besides, I'm not going alone. Van, Bix, Erik, Cris, and Meredy are all going."

She lifted one of his hands and pressed a kiss to his pulse point. "And do you have any idea of how hard it was not to jump you for the last two months? I knew you were my mate and I was falling hard. I just wasn't ready. I was falling too."

He pulled her into another kiss and she reveled in it. Reveled in the sensation of this powerful man wanting her.

"Has anyone ever told you that you taste like apples?" she asked breathlessly.

"You, a few times last night. I vaguely remember you wondering if my cum would taste like apples."

"Yeah…it didn't. I'm a little disappointed about that." She kissed him again. As she did, she slid her arms out of the straps of her dress. "Do you know how many times I've fantasized about you taking me on this desk?"

"Yes," he growled, watching as the fabric pooled around her waist. He'd had to suffer through more than a few erections because she didn't shield her thoughts from him.

He sent Thane a message not to let anyone disturb him, picked the position she seemed the most interested in, and fulfilled the mutual fantasy.

"That was fun," she said, curled up in his lap. "We should do it again."

"Now or in general?"

"Both?"

Kaleb paused. "That might have to wait."

"Huh?"

The door flew open as an irate dragon slayer burst in. "Fucking hell, Lucy."

Hm. He's mad enough to use my name, Lucy mused while Laxus raged. Erik must've had a shitty hand.

Really? Kaleb asked.

Yeah. It's his tell. He gets everyone riled up so that they make sloppy decisions. Like slamming his cards down and storming up here. Then she made a low, grumbling growl that stopped Laxus.

"You're both naked," he said. His normal fluster at seeing the mage he considered a little sister was smothered beneath his dragon's need to pay attention to his queen.

"Yes. You interrupted us about to have another round of sex on this desk."

I was thinking about bending you over it, Kaleb told her.

I like that idea, but can we find a way to avoid the bruises?

Probably.

"You're not coming," Lucy said while having the conversation with Kaleb.

"Why not? I'm the most powerful-"

"Cris and Emi would probably disagree."

"One of the most powerful dragon slayers you know."

"You're right. But if you go, Emi goes. That makes five dragon slayers. And that's too many. Cris and Erik are both going for reasons beyond stroking their ego."

"Fine," he said, slamming the door behind him.

"Are you going to go after him?"

"No. The world is weird, but I believe that there had to be a reason that the universe decided there needed to be a dragon queen amongst the slayers. If I go after him now, it'll set a bad precedent. Emi will soothe him." She turned in his lap to straddle him. Both hissed as his erection teased her folds. "Are we good?"

"Yeah, little queen. We're good."

.~*~.

Deep in the woods, far from civilization, a young woman sat meditating. Her wild ginger curls strained against their hair tie. Her eyes were closed as she focused on the ground beneath the feet of a man and woman.

"Damn it," the woman said.

"Soon. You'll get it soon."

Even thousands of miles away, the man's voice sent a shiver of fear down her spine. It caused her to drop the connection since he could occasionally sense her through it.

The fire dragon slayer was headed towards Crocus. The twin slayers were already there. The iron dragon slayer and his mate were also in Crocus but preparing for battle. The wind dragon slayer and her mate were in Margaret Town. Sun, moon, lightning, poison, and the Queen were all interconnected in Bosco. It wasn't time yet, but when it was, she'd send the others to Bosco.

She didn't react to the dragon summoning herself next to her.

"If you'd been a little earlier, you could've caused problems," the young woman said.

"I know. That's why I waited. Is it time yet?"

"You know that it isn't. She still struggles to revive more than two at a time, but with the right two…" Her cerulean blue eyes glanced up at the dragon. "Soon, Nurem."

"I worry, Rhiannon."

"My mother would say that's a parent's job. If we find them, it'll be safe for you to stay on Earthland. I've theorized a hundred different scenarios. We have to let the queen get the keys. She needs to be allowed to use the time she has."

"It would be easier if you were there."

Rhiannon took a handful of sand out of a jar and threw it in the air to watch it fall and read the patterns only she knew. "In only three of a dozen scenarios was that true. Generally, she doesn't trust me. Even in my preferred scenario, I'm not her favorite person."

The dragon huffed. "Fine. Play your games."

Rhiannon heard her fear and turned to look at the dragon. "I'm watching. Don't worry. Now go. I'm an equal distance from most of the slayers. I would prefer that he not sense you."

She didn't respond to the dragon returning to the celestial realm. Her fingers were in the dirt. Listening to what the earth told her.

This ended up being much more citrus-y than I'm used to writing. It was weird. Especially considering how much was written while at work. It's like lemon pound cake. (Okay, so I snorted when I first wrote that line, but it was too funny not to keep.)