PHASE SIX: CLIMAX

Fear and anger accelerated her pulse while Max stared at Alec's gorgeous face, feeling sick in her gut. She shook her head as if she could easily shake off the realization just formulated.

''Stop, stop, stop!'' She seethed, waving her hands in air. He was a continuous frustration with every single thing he did.

''For last time, don't call me Maxie and stop opening your mouth just to expose how empty your head is!''

Although he sneered mockingly, his eyes acquired the cold hardness of a blade and it was the only sign she had that her point had achieved the result she wanted; he had taken her seriously.

It was complicated seeing Alec's expression change. Even if Max wouldn't ever admit it, his eyes sometimes chilled her with their coldness. They could appear so distant, calculating and far too aware. Looking in them could be like looking in the frigid waters of a lifeless lake.

It reminded her how dangerous he truly was.

''I wouldn't do that to you, my sweet Queen. I could never deprive you of the right to vex my every breathing moment. No more than I can ignore that nothing would deter you in criticizing every thing I do!''

Alec got up swiftly from his seat as if he had been burned.

''If you won't piss me off, you can be the Alderman, but I'm still the boss, and I'm NOT letting you ridicule us with your freaking egocentrism and your uncontained libido!''

Irritatingly, her anger stirred in Alec a venomous, albeit musical, laughter that set her nerves on edge and morphed his face into a mask of malicious hilarity. Beneath her resentment, a violent surge of lust rebelliously reached the surface and made her skin feel tighter.

Damn, damn, damn him!

''Please, I'm not the one who gleefully handed me all the responsibilities to dance 'the ballad of the whipped ones' with her boyfriend in the bright sunshine."

His voice was cool and cutting. Max fought back the rise of equal doses of attraction and irritation, both inappropriate at this point.

In the past, she refused to block the components of this strange pull to him because she did not understand them. They could be similar in certain aspects because of what Manticore had made them into, but for everything else he was the opposite of all that she was and stood for many things she could not comprehend.

She hated finding him attractive .She was the first to be surprised about the friendship they had been able to develop.

''It was temporary, at least before you left me without any effective decisional power while seducing people around with your†yourâ€. ''

''My what? My acceptance of what we are? ''

He knew that she was leaving them whether she was aware of it or not. Her heart was set on a happy life with the man she loved and screw all the rest! This was what he couldn't understand or forgive, even if he did have it coming for a long time. It felt like betrayal.

''I don't need to sleep around with another X to demonstrate where I stand. Screwing Lia doesn't make you better!''

''Oh, wait, we are finally there! Alec isn't entitled to possess real feelings. He can't date a girl without it being nothing more than a dirty sex session or†''

What happened after would probably have been easier to control if they had been more lucid, less infuriated. Perhaps it wouldn't have happened at all if the two opponents hadn't been advancing toward each other somewhere in that hazed excuse for a discussion.

But it happened.

For some reason, Max gripped his head, pulled it down and started to kiss him rather aggressively, turning a battle of insults into a battle of tongues, lips and limbs.

Afterwards she was aware of her hands reaching for the collar of his shirt, of her chest flush against his, of his forceful fingers in her hair, on her shoulders, on the small of her back and his lips over hers.

Everywhere inside herself she felt him like he felt her, and she knew it and he knew it.

What followed was a blur of scattered belongings and torn clothes and had nothing to do with their being of the same species.

It was a challenge, a competition of resistance, a game of conquest.

There was no gentleness or sweetness but there was respect and relief. Over all, there was a fire, which they fed joyously with impatience.

She touched him like his body was an unknown territory full of traps and threats. He touched her like she could either kill him or save him.

They discovered each other and themselves, fought and surrendered.

The whole time their eyes were wide open, boring into each other even while the world around them dissolved and desire bent and twisted them.

Against and around him she felt like a wet hot glove. The only smell permeating their senses was the one of their mingled sweat and sex. The only sound was their mingled breaths, shaky and rough.

He had been alone so long but now she was close. He tried pulling out of her body, but when she squeezed him between her thighs, locking him inside, he stopped trying to escape. He had been alone too long.

She tightened her arms around his back, feeling as if Alec was a part of her body, of her very flesh, of her bones, of her mind. Briefly, for the first time the face of another man flashed before Max's eyes, giving her an acute pang of guilt for the betrayal she had just committed. She felt Alec's hands touching her dark hair softly as he talked her, almost whispering.

''I'm sick of this game, Max.''

She shut her eyes and pressed her face into his shoulder. Her heart beat fast, not just for the pain of her treason, but because she could not ignore and did feel the dark emotion of being there now with Alec.

It felt right and natural and she understood that for once she wouldn't, couldn't blame this on him.

"I know.''

They stayed in that position, the hard floor under their tangled bodies, for what felt like an eternity.