Primal

Mystic25

SUMMARY: Max is in heat, and meet up with Zack. The reality of what they go through. Told from Zack's perspective.

RATING: PG13 for language and imagery.

DISCLAIMER: Don't sue me James Cameron.

A/N: This isn't a relationship deal between Max and Zack, so don't expect it.

XXXXX

I can smell her. Only inches away from me standing there in cotton and leather, but it's not the leather I smell, it's her.

She's looking at me with eyes so dilated there is no white around them.

"Zack," she says my name lazily, letting it glide deeply out of her mouth.

I haven't moved one inch in this crappy apartment she calls home. I came here to give her the Speech, the order to leave, knowing full well that she would be pigheaded and not listen to me, but I'm not about to let that stop me. I found her sitting on the couch when I slid in through the window her roommate stupidly left open for a breeze. When she saw me she didn't say anything at first, just sat there looking at me like I was holding a present for her, and one that had absolutely nothing to do with birthdays.

I knew right away that she had gone into heat. When exactly, I couldn't tell you, but Cheshire grin on her face told me that she was already lost to it. No speeches for her tonight, she most likely wouldn't remember a word I said.

Her apartment was empty except for her, and me. No sounds except for her deep breathing, whether out of desire, or restraint, I couldn't tell.

She had stood in the same position for five minutes just staring at me before she said my name.

Then she prowled around me slowly, I could feel her eyes watching me the way I've seen prostitutes eye me before. Manticore's fault or not– right now she was a slut. Her hand slowing sliding up my neck is a testament to that fact. I hate thinking that way about Max but what she wants tonight had absolutely nothing to do with self-control

I'd be lying if I said I didn't think she was attractive. The world of good looks had turned her out, and everything male in me salutes how good that fact is. I know the status of our relationship, but I'm still a man, dogmas can't touch the uncontrolled.

She leans into me and inhales the air around my neck. I feel the warmth of the sigh that escapes afterwards at whatever she found on me that pleases her. "Mmm," the world is more of a moan then anything else. "God Zack, you smell fantastic." Her hands are moving over my shirt, gliding down the muscles of my chest.

She smells fantastic too. It's something I can't help but notice. She's the one in heat, but I'm the conduit for its results. The raw essence of her heat is meant to attract me, that's what it was designed for. She smells like sex, that's the only way to describe it.

"And so ripped," this time her words are lost on a purr and she starts to glide her hands under my shirt, touching her skin to my skin. Her hands are hot and my skin."Damn," she pulls up my shirt and examines my abs with a pleasing eye. She kisses her palm and presses it to my chest.

Heat instantly claims the spot she touched and a smile comes to her because she felt the reaction, which makes her smile even broader, stretching across her face, pulling her full lips back.

Her face is coated with a thin sheen of sweat with drops hanging above her top lip, above that suggesting smile. "I'd love to press my hand on something else." Her hand moves lower to the fly of my jeans and she grasps the bronze button with exact, deft fingers.

"Max," I close my hand around her wrist before she can continue.

She yanks her hand away and stares back at me, almost pouting with all the anger of a vixen that got denied access into the lower regions.

I place a finger under her chin and tilt her head up to my gaze, and she holds it, impatient, agonizingly. "We can't."

"Yes we can," She emphasis her remark by tracing the edges of my mouth with her thumb. To her logic this makes perfect sense. "You're hot Zack. We were made for each other, just let me show you," she leans forward to kiss me.

"Max-" I grab her head in my hands, and hold it there. She is beautiful beyond comprehension; the way Manticore made us all. Hairs so deep brown it's almost black, dark eyes that were staring longingly at me. She wanted me tonight, and I could give in solely for that look soulful brown eyes made want to deny her nothing and giving her everything.

I caress the skin of her neck, feeling the smooth contours and soft skin. The smell around her is getting stronger, undeniable. She is watching me, holding her breath.

Her breath comes in deep intakes and I feel her hands once again slip under my shirt and slide up and down my chest. I bite back the sigh that comes from pure hormonal attraction and remain motionless allowing her moments to continue. I feel the warmth from her hands move lower, resting again on the edge of the boundary of my jeans and hear her breathy whisper. "Zack-"

"No," Once again I stopped her, pulling the wandering hand off me. She tries to snatch her hand away, but this time I don't let her, caressing her wrist.

I kiss her on the edge of her face, next to her ear then deeper on the bridge of her nose. I pull back to her intent eyes, my heightened sense of hearing picking the pounding of her heart. "I love you Max." I can tell she already knows that, but she needs to know something else. "I would never hurt you."

Her eyes are now completely black. If she were out on the street now every thug in this city would be willing to accept her invitation. I will not allow some nameless prick to go down on her. I'll do what I have to do to protect her; including giving her the release she needs; but I will not take advantage of her. Max doesn't want this; her genetics want this, not her.

"If you love me Zack," her voice is getting impatient, angry. "Then show me." She kisses me before I can react.

Her kiss was warm, sensual but I pull her mouth away from mine in a second. "I love you," I repeat again. "I'll help you." I raise her chin with my finger and kiss the hollow of her neck. She arcs her head at my touch.

"Zack-" her voice has lost its anger; she sounded like a starving woman. And she was, but she wasn't starving for food. "Please-" she, wraps her arms around my back, her hands in the back of my neck.

"This isn't you," I pull back enough to look into her eyes, but I'm still only inches away from her face. "There's a line between human and animal urges, even with Manticore. I won't help you give into darker side of yourself."

Her anger is back and she pushes me away, "Fuck you Zack!" she doesn't shout these words; they are a low growl. She slaps me hard, angrily, like a regular girl. "Fuck everything about you!"

"Not tonight Maxie."

She rears her hand back to hit me again, but I grab it and pull her arm behind her back, pulling her entire body over my shoulder.

She was caught off guard because otherwise she would be retaliating on me. She may have slapped me a minute ago like a regular girl, but she was foremost a soldier.

I walk with her out of her tiny living room and into her closet sized bathroom hearing her taunting me the whole time.

"I thought you weren't going to give in Zack, what had to go caveman before you screwed?"

"Shut up," I stepped into her bear claw tub and turned the shower water on as high as it would go. The water that came was out ice cold.

Max tore at me the minute the water hit her. "What the hell are you doing?" She bucked at me, trying to pull away but I knew she would try to escape so I was prepared for it. I shoved her body in front of me and looped one arm around her waist.

"I'm helping you Max. Fuck me all you want, but you're going to damn well take it." I tilt her head up to the spray and she chokes on the water pouring on her face. I let the water douse her face for another minute then pull her head back against me.

The water has soaked through her clothes and mine; making them stick together, or maybe because it was so damn cold they froze together. After the first few minutes Max stopped fighting me and was still, letting her arms hang by her sides. Again I could hear the pounding of her heart. I peeled off her sweater and let it drop to the floor. When I unclasped her bra, she tried to turn around to face me, but I kept a firm arm on her waist to hold her still, dropping her bra on top of the sweater. The water fell on her bare chest and arms. I rubbed her back with one hand, stroking the toned muscles then moved up slowly to her shoulders kissing her barcode when I got to her neck. She moaned at the contact, her head falling to her chest. Five minutes went by, then ten, fifteen.

Max was standing on the drain so the water puddled in the tub. I cut off the shower and pulled an old towel off a poorly designed rack and wrapped it around her. She didn't try to stop me, but she took the towel from me to wrap it aound herself. I stepped out of the tub, my shoes squelching from the water that had collected in them, and pulled her with me before she said anything.

I left her wet clothes lying in a heap on the floor and pulled her to what I suspected was her bedroom. She didn't say anything and followed me as obediently as she did when she was a kid.

I led her, soaking wet andin bare feet, to the twin sized bed. She stopped at the head of the bed, eying it and me, but not making a move. I didn't push her down on it gently, that's melodramatic crap done by empty-headed lover boys, not me. I shoved her onto the mattress and she fell on her back, making her towel come undone and exposed her bare breasts. She didn't make a move to cover herself up but I did, pulling the sheet, which looked like it was once dark blue over her. Max eyed me the whole time; her breasts were warm under my hand I'm a soldier, not a prick. Having your oponent on equal ground doesn't just mean on the battlefield, it means everywhere. I can feel up a woman in a lap dance theather who wants it. Max doesn't want it, she only thinks she does.

"Zack-"

The way she said my name this time, wasn't in longing, or anger or even in satisfaction. It was in understanding. She was hardly satisfied, but she wasn't lacking.

I smoothed her soaking wet hair away from her face and kissed her, this time on her mouth. I didn't kiss her passionately, or hotly. I wasn't her lover; but I loved her.

Her hands were still on the back of my neck when I pulled away. "Go to sleep. I tire people out when I help them."

For the first time tonight a creeping of amusement comes across her face. "You probably think that makes you a stud." She's joking but her eyes turn serious a moment later. "Thanks, for not giving in." the way she said it was half pleased but also half torn. But not because of what I didn't do, but because of what I had to do. Her eyes close a moment later. Sex left you tired afterwards, but pure primal heat with no sexual erotica left you exhausted. I watch her breathing slow down caressed her forehead for a moment and leave her bedroom.

I heard the sounds of her roommate entering the apartment as I slid out the same window I had come in.

"Boo, what the hell happened in here?"

I brought out my crossbow from the bag I left hanging outside the window on a cracked piece of concrete and repel down the side of the rundown building silently before I can hear any of Max's replies.

A man eyes me suspiciously beside the trashcan fire that keeps him warm, looking at my saunched clothes, my wet hair. But my glare keeps him from acting on anything that would only get his neck snapped.

I walk away from the building and the losers and duck into an alleyway where I had stashed my bike. I slide into the backpack and straddle the motorcycle. I crank the engine and rev it a few times to get it circulating. Something wet fell on my hand. I look up to see that it's raining. It always rains in the godforsaken city. The rain hits my head and falls on my already soaking wet clothes.

But it wasn't the rain that had dropped on my hand a minute ago, I think I was crying. It's was hard to tell between the rain and the water leaking out ofmy clothes, but it wasn't that hard.

XXXXXXXXX

I know this might be a little hard to believe for some people when the think of Max and Zack, but I don't think Zack would have sex with her, but on the other hand I don't think he would just spend the whole night talking to her. He's has do things on a phsycial level. And here's why in a nutshell: Zack loves Max; Max as the sister, and Max as the woman and he would help her no matter what the circumstances.

I've read a few fics about Zack and Max's heat and Zack and Max wind up sleeping together and to me they seem completely unrealistic, no matter how Zack cares for Max I don't feel he would take advantage of her when she wasn't in the condition to argue about it.

I can't stop any M/Z people from thinking what they will on this fic, I just ask them to respect my reason for writing it in the first place.

I originally planed for this to be shorter, but it took on a mind of it's own.

R/R please

Peace

Mystic