THE ELEMENTAL HUNT

By: Sage 360

Disclaimer: M-X, Don't own them. Enjoy!

Hey! I know it's been awhile but life calls. This is a short piece I thought up while at home. Seemed like an interesting idea to get the 'feral' experience in some way, so hit me up, and let me know what you think.

Takes place anytime during season three.

WITHIN THESE WALLS

The idea is gnawing at my very senses.

This late at night, and so restless, I can pick up on anything happening inside Sanctuary. Jesse's typing away, Lexa's crawling under her rock (okay, she's in her room) and the freakin' computers buzz on my eardrums till the book in my hand goes flying across the room. Hell of a place to be on a Friday night.

But I can also pick up something else. With an ear to the wall, my eyebrow raises; my skin cools against the metal. The thought is traveling to my fingers, causing the most intense itching in my nerves. This is so tasty- my tongue curls at the idea.

I found a prey.

The thing about being feral is that reaction and emotion can damn near be the same thing. Even now it's taking the entire human in me to stay in the bed. Crawling these walls would be too easy-and easy is never fun.

Planning is not an aspect I have to address either. As jolting as my senses are, patience is more so dominant. If I just wait,,,ah, its happening. Jesse's following after Lexa, whose following after God knows what! So that only leaves me, in these walls, with my senses. I can do this two ways, either the 'chase' or the 'trap'. Neither are much fun on their own! But because it is so late, and routines are so predictable, bait is needed to make this more exciting. And when I exit my room, 'bait' is waiting for me on a nearby chair.

Leaves of Grass, by Walt Whitman.this will be sweet indeed.

I pick up the book, absently flipping pages while walking my territory. Faded corners, and bent pages have turned tan from their continued use. The idea of such a valued possession in my grasp has me giddy. Now it's time to work.

Stepping lightly, I piece together a location. If I want to exert energy, then I'll do it with an element of surprise. Coming to a stop, I place the book in the one place making no sense at all- right smack on the Dojo room floor.

I can hear it now.

Leaping down the other flight of stairs, I climb the walls till purposely out of sight. Strange as it is I can feel my eyes go feral in the darkness. But the hunt is officially on, I can smell it on the air. And the engine cutting in the garage tells me its almost time.

I can taste it.

As I crawl the walls towards the cars, the smells are so much stronger. Alcohol, maybe a cheeseburger, and smoke- it was a club night. Then comes the leather, expensive and died triple black. (The 'chase' looks so good in black!) And as I crawl the upper rafters, my eyes narrow in anticipation.

I can see him.

He will prove to be a chase. Tall, strong, and agile, I make a note to self to prepare for any 'action' that comes with taking him down. But then it occurs to me, A takedown is too easy; I need a study for future reference.

There is no doubt that he is an alpha male (and I knew Adam's locking me in the lab would finally come in handy). I just may need some back up - just in case. Before I can think about it, he's on the move again, coming to the place where he just knows the book was.

It's so good, I almost laugh.

I must admit, watching him pilfer for the thing is fun. And he goes everywhere: in his room, the kitchen, the lab,,, in my room! That gets me poised (that and he has seen me take it before, just to annoy him). Finally, he removes his covering, exposing the nicely constructed form, laced in relaxed jeans and a T-shirt, and heads in the direction I've been waiting for. I dart ahead to get in position.

Above, the dojo, I see everything. The weight of his steps shake the stairs and lights cast gold onto the burgundy floor. I sit in position, seeing him stop. He knows he didn't leave the book there, and glances over his shoulders, eyeing the room. My muscles strain in their wait, and seeing the smirk on his face shows my time is running short.

He knows I'm there.

But I'm much quicker.

I semi-fly, stretching downwards towards him. Feeling the wind on his back, he swiftly turns to counter me, but it's too late. Locked onto him, we slam to the floor, nearly dizzy from the interaction. I'm grinning while pulling back to examine my prize. Out cold, he lays contorted beneath my legs. This is going to be fun!

THE STUDY

If I can say anything, it's that Adam is a freakin' generous! With the simulator, I constructed the perfect environment for my experiment. I sit at the computer, before the stirring catches my ears. I want him completely awake for this!

"Shalimar?" he mumbles. "What the hell are you doin'?" When he tries to move, I grin, very much proud of myself for 'securing' my catch. The thick dark ropes encase his calves, and forearms, even his neck, before securing to the surrounding walls. He watches me with such questioning eyes, that moving nearly becomes impossible.

"Simulation off!" He yells. I knew he was smart.

"Won't work," I say, moving towards him. "It's only programmed to respond to me." Soon, you will be, too I add mentally.

With a press of the controller, the ropes raise, lift, and then lean the man back into a slight angle. I pace slowly, eyeing every exposed muscle of his body (Isn't it great to take off someone's clothes?!) But I was nice and left on his underwear. It does get cold in the dojo.

"Shall," he asks again. "Are the ropes necessary?"

"Thought you might like them." I smirk.

"I'd prefer them on you." That got him a smack on that tight little backside. He grunts, trying to hide the laugh I know I heard. "This isn't playing fair." He smirks.

"I know."

My fingers trace the handsome face, curving along his firm jaw and lips. Brown eyes watch intently. I know he wants to bite me. I just may let him!
As I move down his neck, the subject tenses up. I've found a sensitive spot, and began to stroke it torturously slow. Another grunt escapes his lips, even his body jumps. Finally, my lips taste the skin, my feral side begging to break it.

"If this is what you had in mind," he whispers. "You didn't have to tie me up."

I pull back, outlining the large pectoral muscles with the edge of my nails. "Yes, I did."

I want to know everything about him: how he works, moves and functions. The very thought has me stepping back to purposely catch his gaze. A little visual aid is in order. In one patient motion, I let the gold nightgown (I was in bed when this all started!) fall to the floor. And his eyes widen, nearly becoming pools of white. Oddly enough, he grins, making no attempt to turn away. That's Brennen for ya, one sick dog!

I move back towards him, running my fingers down the flat of his stomach. The muscles tremble at my touch, before contracting under his tan skin. And those eyes are still on me, wishing his fingers were. I brush against him purposely, nearly grinning into his face. Those slender lips are parted, and steadily taking in air. "You're doin' something dangerous." He whispers. I lean close, nearly tasting that mouth, but I have to pull back, finish my study! "What if I get out?"

"You won't." I reply. But I am on guard. The man has many talents and judging from his past, one has to be as an escape artist. I'm really on guard.

My fingers travel over his thigh and behind his knee, tickling a spot I already knew existed. His macho façade falls, causing a near girlish giggle. But the dark underwear is interrupting my fun. I finally rip the garment off, leaving us both 'exposed' and him very much 'at attention'. Of course he would only grin. Men and their egos!

Now I can see how hard he's breathing and stand up. Grabbing the remote and pressing a button, the ropes on his neck loosen. I watch as he rotates the muscles, before I push the coils from around his neck, an action that brings me in direct contact with 'Brennen Jr.'. He leans down attempting to kiss me, but I pull back. His look is one of pure danger. If he does get lose, I'm over with.

I circle him again trying to get composure, all the while teasing every muscle and nerve accessible to my touch. His head leans back, eyes closed in self-control. My nails slip through his scalp, teasing the raw skin in a slow rake. "Shal-I-mar,,," he grumbles. "When I get out, you better run."

"Catching is the fun part." I grin. Finally returning to face him, I lean in and kiss his lips slowly. His tongue flickers back and forth along mine, and I know he's contemplating biting me. I pull back trailing slow tastes down his neck and chest. His heart races, and the corner of my eye can see his hands sporadically balling into tight fists. My hands race ahead of me, moving down his stomach to explore the 'length' of him. Brennen curses under his breath, inhaling violently as I continue downward.

That should have been my warning.

The electricity sizzled in his fingers, hitting the computer, and almost instantly EVERYTHING began to dissolve. I jumped back, stupidly watching him yank from the fading ropes, faint lines now present in his skin. The man stood, conjuring the largest charge I'd ever seen. And it had my name on it. His lips curled in the most devious smile. His mouth opened only one time. "Run."

I was gone.

GETTING CAUGHT

Let me tell you, climbing Sanctuary's walls naked (and semi-aroused) is not a fun thing! And damn him for having that electro propulsion thing! Just as quickly as I crossed a wall, he was after me. It's safe to say that when a feral actually gets scared, they become frantic. He was always a step behind me, and only because he knew he could catch me. My study was ruined, my clothes were in the dojo and it had to be cold right then. We raced around the lobby, before heading down the hall. I had only one shot to get to my room. And that died when I ran face first into his chest. Before I knew it, he flung me over his shoulder and took me to his room, kicking the door closed behind us. I was in a world of shit.

I hit the bed hard, nearly flying back upwards. And I knew he was gonna pounce on me! I just knew it! Instead, he walks to the bathroom, grabs us some towels. Then pulls two bottles of water from the mini-fridge he keeps. The white terry cloth hit my head as he wrapped the garment around his waist before sitting down beside me. In my mind, I was like 'what the hell just happened?' I mean I knew that we should have been doing 'something' right then. All Sparky 'does' is open the bottle and take a long drink. I'm still in stun mode.

"Did you have fun?" he smirks sarcastically. "How long did it take you to think that up?"

"Not,,,long." I reply. "You knew you could get out." That actually surprises me. Brennen is fairly studious when it comes to his surroundings.

His eyes glance me over before returning to the water bottle. "So did you." He replies while leaning back on his forearms. "Jess is gonna kill me, now that he has to fix that simulator."

"Whatever. Why did you let me keep on if you knew you could get out?" That almost made him grin.

"Who said I wasn't enjoying it?" That was so rhetorical.

"You chased me like you were gonna kill me!"

"And you stalked me all the way from the garage, jumped me, KNOCKED ME OUT, then tied me up and stripped me in the Dojo, of all places!" I sat back watching his face. Now it all sounded kind of desperate. "But I liked the tease," he replied before yanking my towel. "And the 'visual aid'."

Before I could ask, he continued. "I always know when you're around, Shal. Just like you know when I am." And that was true. I never had to look up to know when Brennen was in the room (But the visual was always a nice one). "I had to turn the tables sometime," he began. "And you were doing some thing,,,very dangerous."

Right then, I took the time to take him in. Brennen lay nearly stretched out on his bed, the white towel sitting low around his narrow, tan waist. His face while serious was nearly comical in its glow. He picked a hell of a time to be so hot! I gave up, standing to leave. His grip said otherwise.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm going to my room." I reply half-heartedly. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"You give up too easily this one time." He grinned. Brennen moved behind me, wrapping those long arms around my waist. "I'll give you whatever you want,,," his lips burned a path onto my ear and neck. "And when you want to take it, I'll be more than happy to comply."

"Really." I whisper. The hands pull at our towels before pushing me back onto the bed. "Anything I want."

Brennen grinned his response before turning off the lights. "Anything. Shalimar Fox, you are something dangerous."

I grinned before giving in to him. My 'hunt' was very much a success.