Third, they will become protective.

{LUCY'S POV}
Okay, in our defense, it was very startling. We were searching around the base, looking for some clue as to what Dark Eclipse wants our blood for, under the guise of looking for ourselves.

"You're right!" one of the other guild members told us when we mentioned searching inside the base. "They might have gotten caught in on of the boobytraps. Good thinking!"

"Booby...traps? Oh right!" We laughed awkwardly, sharing a look. "Those boobytraps!"

That guy must have jinxed us, because after he told us, we couldn't not set them off. These guys really like their hidden floor tiles.

Levy-chan stepped on a hidden floor tile and we had to dodge arrows shooting from the walls. Mira stepped on a hidden floor tile and we had to avoid axes swinging from the ceiling. I stepped on a floor tile and activated a pitfall.

That's when we scream. Wouldn't you if the floor suddenly disappeared beneath your feet? We fall about five feet and landed on our butts. The floor slams shut above us, leaving us with nothing but darkness and sore backsides.

"Ow." Levy-chan groans. I'm about to answer when a toe curling, blood freezing roar shakes the dark room we're in, the whole base, the very ground itself.

"Please tell me that's not what I think it is." I ask. Every cell in my body is on fire.

Unfortunately, they can't tell me what I want to hear. "It's exactly what you think it is."

Natsu and the other dragon slayers. They've found us. We hear a bunch of growling and crashing and high pitched screaming, and even more growling.

A trio of footsteps is walking in the hallway we're currently underneath. "Where are they?" A familiar voice snarls.

"Natsu." I whisper, wanting desperately to see him. Hey, I'm not a damsel in distress, but I love my knight in flaming armor. I love him.

They're right over us, and suddenly stop. "Another damn hidden tile? Don't they know any other traps?" Laxus growls.

"Looks like a pitfall. Should we set it off?" Gajeel asks. Levy-chan begins pounding on ceiling.

"Yes! We're stuck!" She shouts. We also begin pounding on the ceiling and shouting, hoping to get their attention.

"Nah." Natsu says. "Better not risk wasting time getting caught in it. Who knows what those bastards are doing to Luce."

"I'm in here!" I yell. The foot steps start again, getting further and further away, until it's once again silent above us.

"We didn't they smell us?" I ask.

"Maybe it's airtight?" Mira suggests. I guess that makes sense. Then more foot steps sound, coming from the way the boys left. Did they realize where we are? Are they coming back?

"Oh man, did you see those dragon slayers back there? Wicked!"

"Yeah! I'm so glad we found a place to hide. They looked ready to kill!"

"Boss is so smart, making it so our masks conceal our scents."

"Watch the pitfall, man."

"Herman and his stupid hidden tiles. Who put him in charge of boobytraps anyway?"

I roll my eyes. Of course it was Herman. The Dark Eclipse members walks away, their voices fading. We quickly shed our masks. Hopefully, Natsu will smell me now. He'll rescue me, the way he always does when I'm in danger.

{NATSU'S POV}
It irks me how I can't smell anyone except Laxus and Gajeel, like I suddenly went deaf in the nose. I can't smell Lucy either, so I don't know where she is or if she's safe. If they so much as breathed the same air as my mate, they won't live past today.

We come across an intersection of hallways, and literally bump into five dark guild members. They scream like little girls when they see us, releasing draconic auras and leaking rage from every pore of our bodies.

We watch them run like terrified little mice in amusement. After all, who doesn't like the hunt?

"They're mine." Laxus snarls.

In an instant, he's in front of them, covered in crackling and flashing lightning. They skid to a halt, and flinch as Laxus raises a fist. He takes all five out easily with one punch.

Then, Laxus grabs one by the face, and pulls him into the air so his feet can't touch the floor. Through gritted teeth, he growls, "What... have you done... with Mira?"

The dark guild member whimpers, "I-I don't know where they are! Honest!"

Laxus's nostrils flare. "He's telling the truth! They escaped their cage!" One of his comrades on the floor who isn't unconscious speaks up.

I kneel beside him, and smile. "You had my mate locked up in a filthy cage?" He shivers and tries to crawl away from me, right into Gajeel's legs.

We have no use for them if they don't know where the girls are, so we leave them there. We're walking away when I smell something sweet and familiar down their hallway.

The dark guild members are sighing in relief, thankful that we've left them alive, when they look up and see us charging at them full speed. At least one pees his pants under that dark cloak.

We run right past them, towards the smell of our mates. Finally, we reach the place where the smell is strongest, but, "Where are they?" I growl.

"Hey, isn't this the place with the pitfall?" Gajeel asks, looking around. We look at our feet. I put my ear against the floor and hear my name.

"Luce!" I shout, pounding on the floor, and feel a slight vibration in return. Meanwhile, Gajeel and Laxus find the seam in the floor where it splits open once the hidden tile is stepped on.

"On the count of three." Laxus orders. "One. Two. Three!" We pull with all our strength, and the floor slowly begins to open. Hands from the other side start to help us as soon as the crevice is wide enough for arms to fit.

Finally it's open enough to see the girls inside. Aside from red marks where her hands were bound and a little bit of rock dust, Lucy is unharmed. I reach in the pit and lift her out of it easily.

"Natsu!" She hugs me tightly as soon as her feet are on the ground. I hug her back, to protect her from the world. My danger magnet mate.

*that night*
{NO ONE'S POV}
When they got back to the guild, everyone was relieved, and threw a huge party. The girls' safe return was a cause to eat, drink, and be merry.

Afterwards, the dragon slayers escorted their mates home, and made sure they were absolutely safe, before sneaking out. The three boys met up with Misaki by the East Forest.

*at Dark Eclipse base*
The guild members who aren't unconscious or too terrified to move are cleaning up the mess made by the dragon slayers.

The boss is standing in front of a huge magic circle carved into a stone, which neither the dragon slayers nor the girls noticed before.

It's the magic of his ancestors, sealed by dragons long ago so only the blood of a human mate of a dragon or dragon slayer can unlock it.

"It's okay," He consoles himself. "There's still one more dragon slayer without a mate. What's her name, Wendy? I'll have another chance."

Suddenly, a ice blast shoots out of the woods and crashes into the magic circle, destroying part of it.

"No!" The boss cries, falling to his knees, all his plans ruined surprisingly easily.

"That's it?" A feminine, bell-like voice. "That was all that made them try to kidnap Emery and the girls? How anticlimactic."

Inhuman growling follows. Slowly out of the woods, eight orbs of light appear from the inky darkness. Two white, two red, two purple, two yellow. Everyone shudders, realizing what they are. Eyes, slitted like a snake's and glowing like coals.

"You want to know why no one got hurt?" Another voice asks. "We didn't want to conduct such dirty business with our mates near."

"Now that they're gone, though—"

"—it's toasty time."