The Rogue & The Alpha

Chapter 8 - Playing by a Lake

Lucy's POV

When I woke up from the best sleep I've had in years, my heart raced as I didn't recognise where I was. I rushed outside and looked around. The first thing I noticed was all the wolves wandering around. "Are you ok Lucy?" I heard Natsu ask and I turned to find him standing to my right with concern on his face.

The events of yesterday flooded back into my memory. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't realise where I was and freaked out" I replied honestly. "No need to be sorry Lucy. Everything happened so fast yesterday but I'm glad you're a part of my pack" he said with a bright grin. "I'm glad to be here too" I replied with a smile.

"Oi Ash for Brains Alpha where are you?!" I heard Gray call out from a kilometre away. "Oh no they're on to me" Natsu muttered. "Huh?" I questioned but I didn't get a response. 'Why is he trying to avoid Gray?' I wondered. "Quick come with me before Ice Freak and Erza find me" he said quietly and then started running in the opposite direction of Gray. Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to follow him.

We kept running until we reached a beautiful lake. The water was as clear as a crystal and the sun reflected off the surface like hundreds of tiny diamonds. "This lake is gorgeous Natsu" I said in wonder. "This is my favourite place in the entire territory. Barely anyone else in the pack comes here. I come here often when I need time away from my Alpha responsibilities" he says as he sat by the water's edge. I walked over and sat beside him enjoying the scenery before us.

We sat there for about a minute before Natsu suddenly jumped to his feet. He turned to face me with his upper body lowered in a playful stance. I responded by turning to face him and mirroring his playful stance. With my paw, I tapped his nose lightly before running off in the opposite direction, initiating a game of tag. He chuckled and chased after me. Once he got close, I weaved between the trees around the lake to avoid getting tagged by him.

Even with the weaving, he managed to get close behind me. Just as he was about to tag me, I did a trick that I learnt as a Rogue to get away from male wolves. I took a sharp right turn around a tree and kicked up a bit of dirt at Natsu's snout. He skidded to a stop in shock while I kept running with a smirk on my face. "Hey no fair!" he whined playfully and then ran to catch up to me.

He soon tagged me and I spun around to chase him. His speed increased every time I got close to tagging him like he was taunting me. It's so unfair how much faster he is than me. He turned his head and poked his tongue out at me. 'Now that's just rude' I thought playfully and then noticed he hadn't noticed the incoming tree ahead of him. Before I could warn him, he hit headfirst into the tree and collapsed. I stopped running and couldn't help but laugh. He rubbed his head with his front paws.

"Tag. You're it" I giggled as I put my paw on his back, just below his shoulder blades. He groaned and pouted as he took his paws off his sore head. I giggled since he was acting like a pup. "Come on, lets have a swim in the lake" I said, hoping to cheer him up. It worked because his head shot up and his tail wagged in excitement. "Race you there!" he quickly said before bolting towards the lake. "Hey no fair! I wasn't ready!" I complained before running after him.

As soon as Natsu reached the water's edge, he made a massive leap and splashed down into the water. He laughed as he turned to me. "I win. Join me Lucy" he said as he swam. I stopped by the water's edge and decided to tease him a bit. "Nah I don't think I want to anymore. You cheated" I said and then sat down with my back facing him and the water. He whined and a teasing smile grew on my face, knowing he couldn't see it. I heard a few splashing sounds behind me but stood my ground. Suddenly I felt teeth grab the pelt behind my neck and my heart instantly raced. Natsu started pulling me towards the water with a smirk on his face.

Immediately I struggled in his grip. "No Natsu! No! No! No-AH!" I screamed before he threw me into the water with him. As soon as I put my head above water, I glared at the idiot who was laughing hysterically. To get him back for that, I splashed him with my front paws. He instantly stopped laughing and then splashed me back. We both were laughing as we splashed each other and had a bright smile on our faces.

After our splash session, we walked out of the water and shook ourselves dry. Tired from our previous activity, we laid down beside each other at the water's edge. We enjoyed a short comfortable silence until I spoke up a question I was wondering earlier. "Hey, I was wondering. Why did Gray call you a fire-related insult earlier?" He turned his head towards me, "oh that. Well, Gray and I were pups when we joined the Fairy Tail pack but before we joined, I was from a Western pack called the Fire Dragon pack while Gray was from a Northern pack called the Ice pack. My old pack lived near volcanos while his lived in the snowy mountains" he explained.

He had a look of sadness as he remembered his old pack. "Can I ask how or why you left your old pack?" I asked gently. He took a deep breath and looked out to the lake before replying. "They vanished. One morning I woke up and my entire pack vanished. My dad Igneel, my uncle Atlas Flame and everyone else" he replied. I couldn't help but feel sad for him. I understood the feeling of losing a family. I rubbed my head against his neck to give him some comfort and he returned a smile. "Thanks Lucy" he said quietly, "anytime" I replied with a kind smile.

We heard the bush behind us rustle and whipped our heads around to the noise. "Found ya Pyro" Gray said as he appeared from behind the bush. Natsu tsked as we both sat up, "damn it, he found me" he muttered. "You should feel lucky that it was me who found you instead of Erza. If she found out you were having a play date with Lucy instead of doing your Alpha duties, she would be furious" Gray said while rolling his eyes. Natsu had a look of fear in his eyes when Gray mention Erza being mad. "Sorry Lucy but do you mind if I take our idiot Alpha back so he can do his duties" Gray asked. "I don't mind, go ahead" I replied and Natsu groaned loudly. "But I wanted to hang out with Lucy some more" he complained like a little pup. "You can't keep Erza and Gray waiting and besides we'll have plenty of time to hang out later, it's not like I'll be going anywhere" I said to him. "You promise you'll hang out will me later?" he asked with begging eyes. "As long as you finish all your Alpha duties then yes I promise to hang out with you later" I replied. He yipped in excitement and quickly ran away to do his Alpha duties. Gray and I chuckled at the excited Alpha.

"I've never been able to get him motivated enough to do his Alpha duties but you've done it in less than a day. I'm impressed" Gray commented. "It was nothing" I replied and then suddenly Gray looked down awkwardly with his ears pinned down. "Um Lucy, I'm-ah sorry for-" "I'll stop you there. You don't need to apologise for what happened yesterday. You were protecting your pack so you did nothing wrong" I interrupted him. "Yeah but I still feel bad for how I treated you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" he asked. I knew of the perfect way for him to make it up to me.

"How about you make it up to me by hunting with me later?" I suggested. He looked a little surprised by my request but smiled. "Alright, we'll hunt later this afternoon once I've done my Beta duties" he replied and I nodded. "Gray! Hurry up!" we heard Natsu shout eagerly and Gray sighed. "The idiot Alpha calls. I'll see you later Lucy" he said and then ran off towards where Natsu was. "See ya later Gray" I replied. Since I have nothing to do for a while, I decided to have a nap underneath a tree besides the lake. The cool breeze and the smell of the water lulled me to sleep.