{Hello amazing GaLe shippers!! I hope that you all enjoy this chapter! Please vote and comment to show the love!

Also, I have a new GaLe fanfiction out called The Wolf Beside Me! Please check it out! It will also be updated daily!

Now onto the stuff that you all came to see, erm, I mean read!!!}

~Gajeel~

Once the smoke from the smoke bomb finally cleared up, Gajeel was left to discover a horrid outcome. His mate, his Shrimp, taken from him. Despite not wanting a mate, the hybrid couldn't help but to feel guilty towards this situation. Had he watched the little bookworm more closely, she most likely would still be here with him, with what he guessed to be her new family.

Those idiots will pay with their lives when I find them! Stupid, worthless humans.

Though his mate was a human, he still hated the entire race in general. To hell with the fact that he was half human. To hell with the fact that his mother was human. The disgusting race proved day in and day out of how greedy and unworthy they were.

Mate and Mother are the only exceptions.

'It was our parents who put us in this mess, and who gives a crap about Levy?!'

"Gajeel! Stop sulking around and come on! I'm sure they left their scent behind. I mean, it's not like they would ever guess that you had super senses or anything," Lily mentioned as he roughly patted the top of Gajeel's head, his feather wings keeping him in place.

Swatting the cat away, he began to walk. "I'm only going for the mission. If we find the Shrimp along the way, I'll save her. But that's it, got it?"

The small cat managed to catch up to his companion, a glare on his face. "Do you really hate the fact of having a mate that badly? She is suppose to be the girl you love and cherish, and look at you! You're letting some guys do whatever that want with her!"

The dragon hybrid suddenly froze in his steps, his mind contemplating what Lily had just said. Here he was, an outcast who had no one to talk to but a flying cat and an old fairy man. He always had secretly wanted his mate, though he knew that her life would change for the worse if she had ever met and accepted him. And yet...Levy came. The little Shrimp barged into his cave, his home, and what did he do? He kidnapped the girl, holding her hostage and keeping her away from her friends and family.

He blamed his instincts. His inner beast wasn't going to simply let their mate walk away from him, and Gajeel knew good and well that his inner beast was twice, maybe even three times as more powerful. The monster could take control over him at any point, which led to the young man agreeing with most of his inner beast's wants and desires. He'd rather be in control while doing what the beast wanted, and what his beast wanted now was to save their little mate.

Yes! Save mate! Save man and kill those fools for dare laying a finger on her!

'Fine, fine. We'll get the Shrimp back.'

"On second thought, I guess we can go an' find tha Shrimp, Cat," he grunted out, switching directions quickly.

Tilting his head into the air, he sniffed a few times, attempting to find the scent of his mate, the scent of ink and flowers. He'd never really paid attention to her scent before, and yet he still had it memorized. Now that he had a purposeful whiff of her scent, he wanted more. A new desire coursed through his veins, and Gajeel wasn't too sure if what was going on with him was a good or bad thing.

"They took her this way," he announced, running through a narrow ravine that was located deep within the mountain range.

The duo raced down the narrow pathway, suddenly halting when they reached a dead end. Both the hybrid and panther looked around to see if they could find a secret entrance of some sorts. Gajeel sniffed around, determining which area contained the strongest aroma of Levy's now addictive scent.

"Find anything yet??" Panterlily asked his companion.

"I'm working on it!"

Deeply inhaling the air, Gajeel concentrated on her scent and her scent only. Soon, he was able to pinpoint the area where her scent was the strongest. However, he still found the situation confusing, as her scent led him to a barren rock wall. He observed the area closely, seeing if he could find anything unusual about it. But, unfortunately, he couldn't seem to find anything different about this area. He knew there had to be an entrance here, but he just couldn't figure it out.

"Lily! I found the area where the entrance is, but I don't see nothin'!" he yelled towards his cat.

Pantherlily made his way over towards the obviously stressed out dragon hybrid.

"Look, don't try an' find a way in cas yer gonna be just as confused a--"

"Found it!"

"Whaa?!"

A large slab of the wall elevated upwards, creating an entrance for the duo to enter.

"Lily?! How did you find it?!" Gajeel asked, still in a state of shock.

The cat gave him a very bored look, pointing towards a stone switch. "It was there as obvious as can be, Gajeel."

"Tch, whatever. Let's just go inside," he mumbled, walking inside the entrance.

As they walked deeper into the tunnel, they noticed how there was very little lighting. There were also pictures hanging on the wall, one of a girl who Gajeel instantly recognized.

"What's Shrimp's picture doin' hanging on the wall?!" he whispered/yelled as he stared at the picture.

It was obviously Levy, but she seemed younger. Her face was more childlike, and her hair wasn't pushed back with a headband. It was much longer, her hair pulled back into a high ponytail. Even her expression was different. She wasn't cheerful or happy, but cold and emotionless. Her portrait held no smile, only a cold scowl. This Shrimp was a different Shrimp, a broken Shrimp.

"Gajeel?"

The hybrid glanced down at his companion. "Why do you think she looks so...sad?"

"I sense a secret past," Lily chimed in.

"Yea...let's just keep moving," Gajeel mumbled out.

They continued on down the tunnel, stopping when they reached a wooden door. Without pausing, Gajeel quickly opened the door. Instantly, new and disturbing scents swept over him, the strongest being the scent of blood. But it wasn't just ordinary blood, no. It was Levy's blood, his Shrimp's blood.

"The Shrimp's hurt!" Gajeel yelled out, not giving a crap at who heard him.

Grabbing Lily, the hybrid raced through the rooms, following the scent of her blood.

Kill them! We will kill them for harming mate!

'Yer darn right we will!'

Barging into the final room, the only room with polished double doors, Gajeels breath caught in his throat at the sight that lay before him.

His little Shortie was tied up to a chair, her bloody feet chained together. A dagger was stabbed through her thigh, blood pouring out from it and dripping onto the floor. One of her eyes was turning black, and her nose was clearly busted. Blood dripped from her mouth and nose. She even had bruises and deep gash wounds all over her body, and the hybrid's anger increased at each one he counted. As he looked over her, he growled at the sight of the word, 'our leader' , engraved onto her other thigh with what had to have been another dagger.

To hell with the consequences! This is MY Shrimp! MY mate! And she'll know who she belongs to by the end of today!

Rushing over to her, he snapped the rope, unwinding it from her body. He also ate away the chains, giving her freedom to move again.

"G'Gajeel?"

The young hybrid man glanced down at his little mate, her eyes barely opened. He gave her a small smile, leaning down and nuzzling the top of her head.

"I'm gettin' you out of here Shrimp. Yer gonna be fine," he promised her, picking her up and holding her close to him.

"D'don't....c'call me that," she attempted to scold him, but she ended up smiling in the end.

Chuckling with his signature 'Gihi', Gajeel carried Levy out of the room, Lily following behind them. Walking through the rooms, the hybrid glanced around every now and then, wondering where the culprits who had done this were.

I ain't lettin' em get off this easy!

But, it seemed as if they had disappeared. He didn't bother with that too much at the moment, as getting Levy medical attention was more important.

Do you want Mate now? Do you?

'......Yea, guess I do.'

The warm feeling that Gajeel received from having his mate so close to him had proven to become quite addictive. It was as if he finally gained enough common sense to see more to the world than fighting and hating humans. He knew that now, Levy would be one of his top priorities. Though it made him somewhat guilty that it took his little Shrimp getting beat up and stabbed to get him to finally realize what he needed in this messed-up, insane world. And what he needed was for his mate to be at his side, forever.

I'll slowly introduce her into my world. Then, I'll court her, inject her with my venom to give her my life-span, and then...

The sound of footsteps broke Gajeel from his thoughts, causing him to glance over towards the approaching figures. He heard Levy wince and bury her herself deeper into her chest. It gave him the knowing that these were the idiots that dared to harm his mate.

"And where do you think you're going with her?" the shorter, but skinner man asked with venom laced into his voice.

"You two gotta lot of nerve stealing my girl from me," the hybrid growled out, his instincts kicking in, which caused him to miss Levy's gasp and widened eyes.

"We wanted our leader back, but she refused to return to her old ways. We weren't going to let her foolish choice go unpunished," the large one bit out, glaring at Gajeel.

Setting Levy down behind him, Gajeel smirked evilly towards the duo of idiots. "I don't give a crap about her past. You got yourselves a nice, long death sentence for messin' with Shrimp!"

"Oh? Would you care if I told you that this is the headquarters of Shadow Gear, and that the girl behind you created this thievery and was even once the leader of it?" the orange headed man inquired.

Gajeel was shocked at that statement, but he shook his head to focus on killing this morons.

I can ask Shrimp about that later, but right now, these fools need ta die for what they did to Shortie!

"I don't care! Now prepare to die! Death by the dragon hybrid!"

Growling in slight pain, Gajeel quickly transformed into his dragon humanoid form, shocking the Shadow Gear clan members.

"You're..."

"It can't be!"

Laughing darkly, Gajeel shot out, swiping his iron claws across the orange head, knocking him quickly to the floor. The pudgy one attempted to slash at Gajeel with his sword, only to discover that his skin was now entirely composed of iron dragon scales. Laughing his 'Gihi' laugh again, Gajeel punched the large one, causing him to fall down onto the ground as well.

"Shrimp. I don't know what you've seen or done in yer life, but you might wanna close yer eyes."

With that said, Gajeel allowed his very angered and very dangerous inner beast to surface. His eyes began to glow blue as his beast surfaced and took control of his body. With a mighty roar, the beast tore apart the men, slicing and dicing. Blood spewed everywhere, covering the floor and walls with it. Gajeel himself was completely drenched with the men's blood, but he could care less.

"That's right! Bleed from every crevice of your body! Scream until your vocal cords explode into nothing! Watch as I rip apart your flesh into nothing more than scattered bone and sliced organs!" the beast snarled out, laughing evilly as he made short work of the men.

Soon, the beast had his fill of vengeance and revenge for his mate, allowing Gajeel to take over his body again. Gajeel, now beginning to gain control of his body, wobbled around, eventually slumping against a wall. He glanced over towards Levy, who was utterly shocked by what she just saw.

"I warned ya to look away, Shrimp. He wasn't very happy with them," he told her softly.

When she didn't respond, he glanced over to see that her eyes were watering. Sighing, he walked over towards her and picked her back up once he had full control over his body. She, much to his surprise, snuggled back into him. He would have thought that she wouldn't due to his blood-drenched clothes.

Smiling slightly, he carried her out of the Shadow Gear hideout, Lily following behind them once more.

"You have a lot of explainin' to do, Shrimp."