By Valjean
Promise
Out of the corner of her eye Max saw Alec leap over the couch in pursuit as she hit the door to the street. She didn't know if she could outrun him, but she had to try. Not knowing where to go, she blindly headed down the main street of Terminal City until she came to an alley. Ducking in, she plastered herself against a corrugated metal wall and waited.
His footsteps pounded on the wet pavement, then suddenly stopped. Oh shit, she thought. Of course he'd be able to smell her. She pushed off from the wall and tore down the alley, coming out onto an abandoned loading dock. On the other side were the genetic labs she and Alec had explored together a few weeks earlier. Running as fast as she could between two of the brick buildings, she came out onto a street filled with mutants, most of them X series.
"Oh no," Max said out loud, glancing up at a worn sign post. Oak Street was the last place she should be. Already some of the X4's and X5's were looking at her strangely, wondering why their leader was rushing around like a crazy woman.
"I'm just in a hurry," Max said as she pushed her way through the crowd. "Sorry. Excuse me." She sensed Alec was still close, but hoped she could lose him by mingling with the others, disguising her scent and throwing him off her trail. She rounded another corner, glanced behind her, turned back, and suddenly found her way blocked by a very broad chest.
Max looked up -- way up, into a pair of glittering evil eyes.
"452," Dante said. "Imagine running into you down here." He sniffed. "And at such a pleasant time." He grabbed her by the arms and Max lashed out with one foot, kicking him painfully in the knee.
Dante didn't even wince, just hardened his grip. Max wriggled, but to her horror realized she wasn't really trying to fight him that much.
"Come on little Maxie," Dante rumbled in her ear, his voice hoarse with desire. "You came to the right place for what you need. I've already got three bitches breedin'. You're not gonna be able to walk when I'm done with you. Guaranteed."
Max pulled feebly against his grip, but when he leaned down and took her mouth with his she stopped struggling.
Oh God, somebody please help me!
Dante had his hand under her shirt now ... Max still didn't fight. Instead her own hands were roaming to the waistband of his jeans and lower.
"My place is up here," Dante whispered hoarsely, indicating the building behind them. He licked the side of her face, then took hold of her shaking hand and began leading her up the flight of stairs.
"Let her go!"
Max turned in Dante's grip. Alec stood just below them. The gun in his hand was his favorite, a modified glock 35 given to him by Mole.
"If it isn't the fuck up," Dante laughed, pulling her in front of him as a shield. "Too yellow to fight fair, 494? Even when it's your woman bein' stolen? 'Course it seems to me 452 here has already made her choice."
He leaned down and took her lips again, his fingers caressing her throat. Max, to her utter humiliation, kissed him back. "Max!" Alec shouted. "Do you want him? Or do you want me?"
Alec's voice was low, primal, more savage than Max had ever heard. He was breathing hard, his black t-shirt plastered against his chest with sweat, his pupils dilated, his eyes feline. The gun in his hand didn't waver as he waited for her answer.
She wanted to cry out for Logan, but the words were so wrong they wouldn't form on her tongue.
Only one word felt right. The only word that could save her now. "Alec!" she screamed. And then suddenly Dante's huge hand was no longer caressing her neck but crushing it instead.
The sound of the gun was sharp and abrupt in the narrow street. Max felt Dante jerk and his grip on her went slack. When she looked up he was staring at Alec, his eyes wide with disbelief, a bullet hole dead center in the middle of his forehead. Even as she watched, those eyes glazed over, and he fell to the ground.
A crowd was forming. Alec leaped up the steps and grabbed her wrist in a grip of steel. "You killed him," Max breathed, rubbing her bruised neck with her free hand.
Alec was smiling, but his eyes were as cold as Dante's had been. "501 forgot somethin' about me," he said.
"What?"
"That even though I may be a fuck up, I'm still an assassin. And assassins never fight fair." Alec then tucked the gun into the back of his jeans beneath his jacket and led her away. No one tried to stop them.
He took her to an empty apartment in the same building as Joshua's, a place he'd been fixing up for himself. There wasn't much in the way of furniture -- a bed, a wooden chair, some boxes. He hadn't had time to scavenge for anything else yet. There was a bathroom, not that it did any good -- no running water. He was waiting for Dix to tap him into a water line.
The moment Alec closed the door she was all over him, her lips devouring his, her small lithe body pressing close, her hands wandering. He wanted her so badly it was driving him insane. She made him forget all about Logan, and the transgenic cause. She even made him forget about himself. He didn't care what was going to happen tomorrow, or the next hour, or the next minute. All he knew was that he wanted Max more than he'd ever wanted anything in his entire life.
But he also knew that this wasn't real. Oh, they could have sex -- passionate, unforgettable sex. However, when it was over, when her heat had passed in a day or two, there wouldn't be anything left but a hollow place in his heart and hatred in hers. Max didn't love him. Hell, she didn't even like him. He was nothing more to her than a piece of male meat for her to ride until her time was over -- nothing more to her than Dante would have been.
And that bitter realization was what gave Alec the strength to push her away. "No," he said firmly, holding her wrists.
"Alec," she said, her brown eyes desperate. "Alec, please."
"Max, you don't love me. You don't want to be with me."
"I don't have to love you to want you," she pleaded. "You sleep with women all the time that you don't give a damn about."
"Not women I really care about, or who care about me. I wouldn't do that to someone, and I don't think you want to either."
Max looked confused. "You're saying that you're in love with me?"
Alec swallowed hard. "I'm saying I want to make love to you, Max. Not just have a one night stand. I want more than you can give."
"I'll give you anything you want. I can be anyone you want."
"I'm sorry, Max," he whispered, hating the desperation in her eyes. He was so, so tempted ... While they talked, he'd been easing her toward the bed. Now, he gave her a hard push. She fell backwards, he blurred, and had the handcuff around her wrist. The other end he secured to the bed's heavy brass frame.
Max tugged frantically at her shackles, then looked at him with frightened eyes. "What are you doing, Alec?"
"Aren't you gonna say how it figures I'd have handcuffs in my bedroom?"
Max wasn't amused.
"I'm keepin' you safe, Max."
"You can't hold me here. I'll eventually get free."
"No you won't," Alec said, leaning tiredly against the apartment door and sliding down to sit on the floor. "'Cause I'm gonna make sure you don't."
*****
Joshua brought them food and told Logan that the pair had gone on a scouting mission outside. Max slept on the bed, and Alec slept on the floor in front of the door, keeping her safe.
His plan almost worked. But the last day Max's heat was insatiable. Her feverish body tossed and turned on the mattress and no number of cold clothes and iced drinks could ease her torment.
She looked like she was dying, and Alec felt like he was dying too, his own hormones raging in response to hers. He bet his body temperature was at least 105.
"I promise I won't hate you," she murmured as he sat on the edge of the bed gently stroking her hair and holding a cup of ice chips to her dry lips.
He swallowed some of the ice himself and set aside the cup. "You already hate me," he said softly, his hand sliding down the silky skin of her cheek.
Her eyes filled with tears. "I was just so worried about you. And the only way to stop thinking about you was to get angry. I don't hate you, Alec. I wish I could. It would make my life a lot simpler. But I don't. In fact, what's really wrong is that I'm afraid I'm falling in love with you. And damn it, I don't want to. I want to stay in love with Logan."
Was it just her hormones talking? Alec wondered. Would she say anything to seduce him ... tell him anything he wanted to hear? Did this mean he really had a chance? Because if he did, he didn't want to blow it by taking advantage of her now.
But the primal part of his brain whispered that the only chance he would ever have with her was now. "Max," he spoke low in her ear. "If we do this things are gonna be different between us. We won't be able to go back to how we were. I can't pretend it never happened."
"You won't have to," Max promised as she pulled him down on top of her, her lips seeking his. "I promise you won't have to."