ARCHIVE: No
By Valjean
This Can't Be Happening
Alec hated taking the last boat from Chimera's harbor, essentially leaving everyone else stranded, but with Max and Logan in the Sea Ray and Joshua apparently having absconded with the other mid-sized power boat, he didn't have much choice.
Truth be told, he'd originally purchased the small, sleek black speedboat as a toy, something to have fun with, rather than for practical reasons. At first, Max had scowled, but she'd soon come to love racing across the ocean at over ninety knots, her face lighting up as if she were out cruising the coastal highway on her Ninja. Now, that "toy" was going to come in handy.
Alec's strength was returning fast, the food and Dr. Makari's dose of tryptophan (that could now actually work in his system) kicking in. Steering into the rising tide, he noted a new moon was shining above. With luck, he'd make Wellington in an hour and a half, find Max, and together they'd go after Joshua. He rather imagined his big, conspicuous friend would be hanging around the airport. Zeb was there with the DC9 in the hangar they rented. If they were really lucky, Joshua would go to him and the ex-Marine would talk some sense into the dogboy.
At the moment though, all Alec could do was breath in the fresh ocean air and salt spray as the sleek craft cut toward the mainland nearly a hundred miles away.
*****
A weight half again her own pinning her down, her muscles frozen by the drug, through a blurred haze Max felt herself being violated -- another man, an "ordinary," touching her with himself, caressing, fondling.
The smell of Logan's arousal nauseated her, or maybe it was the drug. Her rapist's body was sleek with sweat, the sound of his grunts hideous as he abused her.
Tearing her mouth from Logan's, Max mustered all of her remaining strength and tried to scream -- but all that came out was a whimpering moan.
*****
Alec didn't even bother going to the front desk at the Wellington Arms. He and Max always took the same room, a small retainer fee slipped to the head clerk assuring its permanent availability. Logan's would most likely be on the same floor.
The dining room was closed, so he assumed Max and Logan had turned in for the night. Not bothering with the slow elevator, he bounded up the steps to the third floor suite with its king size bed and windows that fronted on the harbor.
His hand, however, hesitated at the doorknob. Should he knock? The last thing Alec wanted to do was startle Max on the off chance she really was asleep. He'd done that once, inadvertently sneaked up on her while she dozed. The bruise on his cheek had taken nearly a week to fade.
And then suddenly, as if an icy chill had caressed his skin, the hair on the back of his neck rose. His preternatural feline hearing was picking up faint sounds -- the sounds of sex -- even as his nose twitched at Max's intimate smell.
*****
She tasted so good, just like he'd always imagined, her skin flavored with vanilla and spice. Casting his glasses aside, Logan let his tongue linger in her sweet private places, inhaling the scent that was Max.
This was how it should have been long ago, Logan thought, how it always should be. Max belonged to him -- had from the first moment he'd laid eyes on her over three years ago -- his own personal X5-Unit ... the love of his life.
"I love you, Max," Logan whispered in her ear, ignoring the way she rolled her eyes and telling himself her wild panting was from ecstacy, not panic. The feel of her breasts heaving beneath him fueled the fire in his loins and he positioned himself between her legs.
Once this was done, once their relationship was consumated, Max would feel differently about him, Logan told himself. Alec would be gone soon, out of their lives forever, and then she and Brac would be his family, her next child sired by him, not that X5 bastard who had stood in the way of their love for so long.
"Shhh," Logan soothed, stroking Max's hair with trembling fingers and planting little kisses along the side of her neck. "Don't think about him," he implored. "Please, don't think about him. Think about me ... about us. I can give you pleasure too, Max."
He closed his eyes, thrust into her -- and the hotel room door burst off its hinges.
*****
Alec stood in the doorway, breathing hard, eyes wide, his whole body ready for combat. But what he saw made his knees go weak -- a very naked Logan mounting an equally naked Max in the middle of that big king-sized bed.
Max wasn't fighting, wasn't protesting, wasn't even moving. Instead, she seemed to be totally compliant, her head lolling back on the pillow, her eyes fluttering as if in the throes of passion.
No. No way. This can't be happening.
But the evidence was undeniable -- Max and Logan were making love.
And in that instant Alec's whole world came crashing down -- along with his sanity.
*****
Logan had never actually seen Ben, never witnessed his cold, calculated, demented rage. If he had, he'd have recognized the look in Alec's eyes. But he did recognize the fact that Max's mate was about to kill him.
"Alec," Logan breathed. Hopping off of the bed (and Max's limp body), making no attempt to hide his nudity, he began to move toward the window, limping slightly now that his X5 blood transfusions were wearing off. "She wanted it. She wanted me. I swear. I know it's hard to accept but--"
And then he realized that "Alec" wasn't there any more. Logan gulped, and swallowed hard. "Easy," he said softly, gently, knowing he was speaking now to a wild animal. "Remember, you're not a killer any more. Max would never forgive you if you hurt me. You don't want to--"
He'd seen X5's blur before, but the act still caught him completely by surprise. One moment 494 was in the doorway, the next Logan was clawing frantically at fingers around his throat. Green-gold eyes inches from his seemed to glow with a light of their own as a deep voice grated, "She ... Was ... Mine."
No!
494 jumped, his attention distracted from crushing Logan Cale's trachea by the voice inside his head.
Alec, no!
Max. Max was pleading for her lover's life. Well, it wasn't going to do any good. She could fucking well watch her precious Logan die. His lip curling in a silent snarl, 494 squeezed.
"Alec," Max panted out loud, barely able to speak as she tried to draw herself up on the bed. "Please! Stop! You're not a killer! Don't let Logan win this way! Don't let him turn you into a monster!" She swung her legs off the bed, tried to stand and failed, crumpling to the floor. Unwilling to accept defeat, she began to crawl.
"Don't worry, bitch" 494 growled. "You're next."
Logan was trying to say something, a fact the X5 found amusing. Fear was potent on the telepathic plain, or so they'd told him in psi-ops, and Cale's terror was like a tonic to 494's heightened psionic senses. In fact, wanting to feel his enemy's fear was the reason he hadn't simply snapped the piece of shit's neck in the first place and been done with it. No. He wanted this death to be long and drawn out ... painful ... He wanted Logan to hurt as much as he did right now, to feel the agony in his heart.
"What?" 494 hissed. "You gonna tell me this is all a mistake?
Something touched his ankle, and 494 jumped. Looking down he saw Max at his feet, her face turned upwards, brown eyes imploring, her small hand clasped tightly around his leg as if she could somehow pull him away from Logan.
Please don't!
Her words were soundless, but he heard her loud and clear in his mind, so intimate was their connection.
Don't kill him!
Out loud, "We can still fix this, Alec," she gasped. "We can fix it."
"We can't fix it, Max!" he yelled, hurling Logan across the room with superhuman strength, smashing his enemy's body into the wall.
Gasping for breath, Logan managed to climb to his feet and eyed the broken door.
"Logan, run!" Max screamed, at the same time tightening her grip on Alec's leg.
Undeterred by his lack of clothes, Logan dashed into the hall. 494 lunged forward, dragging Max with him. Not letting go, she pulled hard and he fell.
And then -- he turned on her.
"I love you," Max gasped, struggling to mouth the words as his hands tightened around her small throat.
"Bitch!" 494 sobbed as tears ran down his face. "Bitch!"
"Drug ..." she got out as her eyes began to bulge. "Logan drugged ... me ..."
Logan drugged ... me.
And , by the grace of God, Alec heard her.
To be continued ...