Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Mutant X and am simply borrowing them for a while.

Author's Note: A little less feral-thinking and a little more looking into what makes ferals tick. Hope you enjoy as much as the action sequences.

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Chapter 9

It was a cool evening as she got herself ready in her room. Nearly a week had passed, and all Rhian's searches for the woman she had encountered that night had been in vain. There wasn't even any news on the man who had fought back, making her pray that it meant he was still alive. She was close to giving up, wondering whether she would ever be able to lead a normal life. In the meantime, she had to act as if there was nothing wrong, and these days it was getting harder and harder to do.

She had tried to dissuade Sally and Liz from dragging her out tonight, but they had refused to listen to her barrage of excuses, and now she was dreading the night ahead. She stood in front of the mirror as she brushed her hair. Thankfully, it had turned back to her usual auburn colour. She hated having to find excuses for her silver hair around the time of the full moon. She hated herself and what she had become. It was her curse that she always remembered her actions as a wolf after transforming back. A small part of her remained conscious within the wolf, revolted and sickened at what it was doing, but completely smothered by the animal side, and completely unable to stop it.

She stared at her reflection, hypnotised by the moment of self- loathing, her green eyes boring back into her, one thought prominent in her mind.

* I can't take much more of this. *

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Back at Sanctuary, there was an air of excitement and cheerfulness. Since Brennan had improved so dramatically, Shal and Jesse had suggested a celebratory wild night out for all of them.

Shal and Emma had locked themselves in a bathroom with their cosmetics, and all anyone could hear from inside were giggles and screams of laughter as they experimented with different styles. Brennan and Jesse were conspiring outside their door, Brennan persuading Jesse to phase through the door and surprise the girls, not that Jesse needed much persuading.

Jesse touched the door, melting into it with an evil look. "Here goes!" he grinned. Brennan stood outside, grinning in anticipation, waiting for the screams that were bound to come from the girls inside. Suddenly all went quiet. He cocked his head curiously. No screams? No laughter? What was going on? He knocked on the door in trepidation.

"Emma? Shal?" he called. The door creaked open and Emma's elfin face appeared, wearing an innocent grin.

"Yes?" she asked sweetly. "Were you looking for Jesse?"

"Err, yeah," he answered, a little taken aback at the calmness of the situation. A sudden yell from inside pierced the quiet.

"Shal! What have you done?" yelled Jesse. "Let me out of here!" A stunned and rather colourful Jesse pushed past Emma and came pelting out of the bathroom.

"I put the need to wear makeup in his mind," giggled Emma mischievously as she ducked behind the door, avoiding the evil glares she was getting from the two men.

Brennan turned to look at Jesse's face, studying it like a professional. "You could have gone easy on the mascara," he told him, trying to keep a straight face as Jesse ran off, desperate to get the stuff off his face. He turned back to the door and raised his voice.

"Are you two ready yet? We've been waiting for hours now!"

"You exaggerate," came Shal's voice from inside. "One hour tops." The door swung open and the two girls emerged. "We're ready," Shal told Bren sweetly.

"Yeah, ready for some fun!" finished Emma.

"Can we go now?" Bren asked as he bowed and held out his arms mockingly to the two girls. They each slipped an arm through Brennan's as they went to round up Jesse and Adam.

"Wow," Adam said as he saw Brennan and the two girls walking towards him. "Any chance I can borrow one for tonight, Brennan? Make me look younger and more hip?"

"Not if you use words like hip," Bren retorted.

"Hey, Adam, hands of the blonde. She's mine," came Jesse's voice from down the corridor, finally free from any cosmetic influences. "Not that she deserves me after what she did to me," he muttered jokingly under his breath, ducking as Shal took a playful swipe at him. As Jesse and Shal went ahead together, Emma reached over to Adam, entwining her arm through his as she kept a hold on Bren's arm.

"Lucky me," she joked as they made their way outside. "I get two handsome men on my arm today."

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Adam was experiencing a dilemma that had rarely affected him throughout his many years at Genomex and later as head of Mutant X. He was speechless. He had been overcome by how beautiful she looked in her skirt and top. Nothing glamorous, but they looked stunning on her. He just couldn't believe his luck that she had chosen him over the many other men from which she could have had her pick.

He wouldn't usually have come on a team night out like this one, but Emma had talked him into it, and he was finding it was a tough task, saying no whilst looking into her beautiful eyes. It had been Shalimar's idea to take the night off and go to a club. Not usually his scene, but he knew the others enjoyed it, and they deserved a good time after the week they had experienced. They were incredibly lucky that Brennan had made it through his injuries and had come out of the coma with no lasting effects, and that was as good an excuse as any.

Adam himself had spent the rest of the week dividing his time between searching for Rhian James, and spending time with Emma. He could find no evidence that Rhian was in the vicinity of the murders, apart from the fact that they themselves had seen her. Eventually, he had decided that there was no way he was going to find anything from his console in Sanctuary. They had to get out and about, and that was another reason he had agreed more readily to the night out.

His time spent with Emma had been much more productive. They had managed to slip out from time to time, without the others noticing, and would then go for long moonlit walks, or creep into the cinema. They didn't dare do anything more public in case the other three found them out, and neither of them wanted to risk that just yet. Although they already knew a lot about each other, Adam could feel Emma and himself growing closer in a different way. They talked about everything together, and Emma had been surprised to find that Adam was starting to become more open with his own emotions with her.

His attention was drawn back to the present as Emma nudged him. "We're here Adam," she whispered as they approached the club entrance.

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As soon as the five of them walked into the packed club, they were assaulted by the loud music and hot, sweaty atmosphere of people enjoying themselves. Shal immediately dragged Jesse out into the dance area and proceeded to move to the music. This was where she was at her best, where her sensual, cat-like moves were shown off to the best effect. Although Jesse was a little reluctant to get onto the dance floor so early on in the evening, with no dutch courage numbing his self-consciousness, he went along with her wishes.

Brennan, Emma and Adam made their way towards the bar. Both Bren and Emma knew that if they wanted to get Adam loosened up, they had to get him a couple of drinks first.

Once they were settled, they took up Adam's usual spot, on the rare occasions he frequented the club, next to the bar.

"Perfect," Adam shouted over the pounding music. "The best place for people-watching."

Bren looked at him disbelievingly. "You mean you're gonna take up your usual wallflower pose," he corrected. Emma grinned at Bren's usual joke.

"You go off," she suggested to Bren. "I don't mind keeping Adam company for a while. Besides," she continued as Brennan made to protest. "I can sense quite a lot of female attention aimed at you."

Brennan's eyes lit up momentarily at the psionic's revelations. "Are you sure you two will be all right?" he asked again.

"No problems, Bren," she reassured him as he strode off into the crowd. "I thought he'd never leave," she giggled into Adam's ear.

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"C'mon, Rhian honey. Loosen up," Liz cajoled. Rhian was trying, but she just couldn't relax and enjoy the evening like other normal people.

"I think she needs another drink," Sal whispered conspiratorially to Liz. Liz nodded her assent and went off to buy another round. "Hon, is something the matter?" Sal asked Rhian yet again.

Rhian shook her head. "Maybe I'm coming down with a headache," she replied as Sally led her to a chair. "It's not that I don't want to be out with you guys. It's just that I'm not really comfortable in these situations," she tried to explain for the millionth time.

"Babe, you look fabulous. All you have to do it strut your stuff out there," she gestured towards the dance floor, "and let them come crawling to your feet." Rhian looked around apprehensively. Her over-sensitive nose was being bombarded by far too many smells, and it was beginning to drive her crazy. The music was far too loud too, but there was nothing she could do except pretend she was having a good time. She nodded half-heartedly as she tried to paste a happy smile on her face.

"There you go, honey, that's the spirit!" cried Sal. "Come on, let's dance."

"Too late," Rhian joked gratefully as she saw Liz returning with the drinks.

"I know the barman," Liz explained quickly to Sal's silent question. "Have you seen that absolute beauty over there?" she asked excitedly.

"Where?" asked Sal, her intrigue exuding from every pore. "Oh, my god!" she exclaimed. "Oh, Rhian, you HAVE to see this!"

Rhian looked over in the direction they both were indicating. By the bar, chatting to another woman was a tall, dark, gorgeously square-jawed guy. "Well, he IS rather nice," she admitted reluctantly.

"Nice? NICE?" shrieked Liz. "Honey, when God made man, he made an extra special effort on this guy!"

"Go on, hon, you have to go speak to him," insisted Sally.

"I can't, he's with someone else."

"I beg to differ," Liz interrupted. "I happen to know he's just chatting to her because he's found nothing better so far." Rhian and Sally looked at her questioningly. "Well, I couldn't help but hear," she explained defensively. "They were talking loudly," she continued more self- consciously now.

Rhian thought about it for a couple of seconds. There was nothing to lose. She was going to be away from here again within the next couple of months. Why not get the two women off her back by going and talking to the guy. After all, she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to, and she was long overdue a bit of fun.

"OK," she agreed, smiling genuinely for the first time. She pushed all thoughts of moonlight, blood and strange smells out of her head and moved towards him as the two girls stood behind her, encouragingly.

She made her way across the club to his position, trying to block out the overpowering smells and emotions and smiled as he lifted his eyes to meet hers. * Mission One: accomplished, * she thought. * Eye contact has been made, I repeat, eye contact has been made. *

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Brennan was getting seriously bored. He had just spent the best part of half an hour listening to a dizzy blonde talking about how she chose her eyeshadow colour. He was just beginning to wonder how he was going to get rid of her gently, when he lifted his gaze to scan the club and found himself staring straight into a pair of beautiful, sparkling green eyes.

"Excuse me," he said distractedly as he stood up straight. She was walking straight towards him. Maybe Emma had been right and this was going to be his lucky night. Her long, straight, strawberry blonde hair swayed like a thick curtain along her back as her hips swayed seductively towards him. He felt his mouth drop open as he awaited her arrival, and quickly slammed it shut. He was behaving like a fool.

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As she neared him, she could see that he was absolutely mesmerised by her. * Mission Two: done. He's noticed me and wants to get to know me better. * She giggled inwardly at her silly jokes. This might actually turn out to be fun after all.

When she was a few metres away, she picked up on his scent. Try as she might, she couldn't completely block out personal scents, and the closer she got to him, the more impossible it would be to ignore his. She stumbled as she processed his smell. It was familiar when it shouldn't have been. Her forehead creased as she tried to remember where she had first sensed him.

It got stronger still as he moved towards her to steady her, and it assaulted her senses, blinding her for a moment.

"Are you OK?" he asked her in smooth tones. She held onto his arm as she nodded, smiling to reassure him.

"What's your name?" he asked her. As she looked up at his face to reply, his face changed. A look of recognition combined with horror crossed his features. "Rhian . . . Rhian James," he stuttered softly, not wanting to believe what he saw.

Suddenly, his scent made sense to her. The purple aroma of the strong confident alpha male. She wrenched her arm out of his supporting grasp as everything became horrifically clear. The electric man.

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By the way, thanks for the vote of confidence, Brigitta! The fact that even though you don't like Adam and Emma together, you're still reading and liking what you read means a lot to me.

As for everyone else, go on, please review! That's the only way my brain is kick-started into thinking about continuing the storyline. :o)