Coffee: jet black bliss in a cup, the perfect antidote to an all night strategy meeting. I savoured the aromatics of the freshly stolen beans as I poured them into the filter and set it to percolate.
Alec stirred from his napping place in the corner of CC break-room, he'd nodded off about three quarters of the way through the meeting, slacker. He yawned.
"Mmm something smells good." He said stretching and making his way over to me.
"Something smells really good." Suddenly he spun me around, catching me off guard and pressed his face to my neck inhaling deeply. "Oh crap." He half whimpered half moaned into my skin sending a rush of tingles down my spine. "Max you're in heat." The look in his eyes was pure lust, and he was standing close enough for me to know that other parts where similarly affected. I couldn't resist the urge to sway a little closer to him, god it felt good. He pushed me back, breathing hard, struggling for control.
"You have to get out of T.C. right now." It was like ice water over me. How could he want me gone when I was like this, when I needed him so much right now? I was staying right here, fuck Alec. Yes, said my libido, fuck Alec. A little inhuman growl escaped my throat the second before I leaped. I wrapped my legs around his waist and attacked his mouth with mine and he responded, oh god did he respond. After a milliseconds hesitation he slammed me into wall and kissed me; hard. His lips where hot and as frantic as mine, his tongue tasting, sparring with my tongue and his teeth grazing and nipping, my jaw, my throat anything that was close enough to reach. The coffee boiled over as I ripped his shirt off feeling his smooth hard chest. Yes. Yes. This is exactly what I wanted, exactly what I needed.
Mole dropped his shotgun onto the table and I woke up with a start.
"Morning sunshine," he said with his normal sarcasm and proceeded to light up his habitual cigar. I looked around; no infuriating, cocky, troublesome Alec. The heat of my body told me this was a mixed blessing.
Oh shit. I had been dreaming and I didn't know what was worse: that I was dreaming about sex with Alec or that it had been a dream. Wait no that was my libido talking. I ran my hands through my hair.
"I have to get the hell out of T.C. right now." I said and then I ran.
Getting out was turning out to be the hardest thing I'd done since I torched Manticore. It wasn't because of the difficulty of getting around the wall of army tanks and cops that surrounded T.C. – Dix and some other trench builders had built a tunnel out months ago. No it was forcing myself to go that was the hard part. All around me T.C. was stirring to life and trust me when you're on heat Terminal City is the meat market you want to go to, at least for the X series. Manticore knew how to build them tall, handsome and ripped.
I could just hang around and wait for one of them to come find me... No, I had enough sense left to know that was a bad idea; there had been deaths from males fighting over females on heat before and I did not want that on my conscience. Already I could see a few males in the distance staring at me, catching a trace of my scent. I had to get away right now.
I could go to Alec and ask for help. Yes, I could go beg Alec to shag my brains out and to hell with the consequences. Shut up libido, you are ruining my life. Finally I made it to the warehouse we kept Dix's tunnel in. A few more minutes and I was out of T.C. and above ground.
I needed a place to crash for a couple of days that was safe. I could go to OC's but White might be watching her, too risky. I shoved my hands in my pockets and looked straight at the ground not willing to chance a glance at any passing male. Lucky ordinarys don't wake up as early as transgenics and most where still in bed.
Mmm bed; tucked between real sheets with something male to keep you warm. Okay I really needed a cold shower, add that to my accommodation checklist: place has to have a shower. Alec's place. Hadn't I seen him come out of his shower once all bronze and glistening and yum. I hadn't paid much attention at the time, something about a gossamer on the loose but I was thinking about it pretty hard now.
My filthy mind kept straying back to him but luckily this was a cause for inspiration. His pad was nearby and I knew it was still empty because he kept it as some sort of storage space for stuff he was making trades with. Thank god for Alec's dodgy deal making. I took off as fast as I could run.
"So she just took off, just like that?" I asked Mole puzzled.
"Yeah, she just said she had to get out of T.C. and then she sprinted off."
"Hmmm." That wasn't like Max, to run from her responsibilities. I use to do something like that, but not Miss-goody-two-shoes-must-save-the-world-or-implode-Max. She had to be in some kind of trouble. A whiff of something caught my attention.
"Can you smell that?" I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply "It smells really, really good."
"Do I look like a sniffer dog Alec?" Mole said churlishly turning away. "Just go find her will you, X5 freak." He muttered as he walked away.
I sighed, the smell was coming from a particular chair and for some reason I really wanted to rub my face against it, like totally all over it. Also, I was feeling a little frisky. Okay… Max had been AWOL for less than two hours and already I was loosing it. Time to concentrate on the task at hand, but without knowing why she had to leave in such a hurry there was no way of knowing where she could be.
Why the hell didn't that girl have a phone? I mean seriously, a pager, what the hell use was that in the 21st century? That was it. I was getting her a phone, I even knew some guys who would trade me for it. At least that was something to do while I thought of a way to find her.