Not Quite Dead – Chapter Six

Taya Guevera

As soon as the door closed, Mischa let go of Alec. She had to admit, the temptation to keep the story going even when Andreas couldn't see them was extremely strong, but the last thing she wanted was to start something with Alec. For all she knew, he had someone back in Seattle. Walking back over to the bed and getting back in it, she watched as Alec took his shirt off and put it over the same chair that had his jacket on it. Seeing his smooth,muscular chest, she swallowed hard and closed her eyes, pulling the covers over her head

Alright, maybe there's more than one girl waiting for him back in Seattle.

Alec watched with a grin as Mischa hid her head under the covers of the bed. He wasn't stupid, he knew what effect he had on women, he'd been created that way. They all had been. But it appealed to his masculine ego to see it all the same.

He took his jeans off, folding them neatly before putting them with his shirt and jacket and, left only in his boxer shorts, walked over to the bed and got in beside Mischa. Feeling the bed move, a sign that Alec was in the bed with her, she uncovered her head and turned to face him. Alec was laying on his back, his hands behind his head, but feeling her move towards him, he glanced at her and grinned – something that Mischa knew could get very irritating in different circumstances.

"So, who's going to tell the bedtime story first?"

Alec raised an eyebrow.

"You sure you want to hear a bedtime story? I can think of something to do that's a lot more fun."

"God, you must think about sex 24/7."

"Pretty much. What can I say? I am male"

"I'm being serious here. You want to tell me your story first?"

"Okay."

Alec rolled onto his side, facing Mischa, and rested his head on his hand.

"Logan is a guy that works with us in Terminal City. He's like our IT guy. He's got contacts everywhere and helps us with determining risks, situations that we need to help out in—"

"Finding others like you who are out in the world and protecting them from danger—"

"Yeah, that sort of thing."

"But he's an Ordinary?"

"Yeah. It's kinda complicated."

"Break it down for me."

"A year or more ago now, Logan met one of us. An X5. Because of the work that he did, he knew about the talk of genetically engineered soldiers. But instead of turning her into Lydecker or even worse, exposing her to everyone, he helped her find her family. It was like a work agreement. She would help out with his work, and he would touch base with his contacts and find her family."

"Who was it?"

Mischa knew that it was only her unit who had referred to each other as family, so it must have been one of them – one of the 09 escapees.

"Max – 452."

Mischa felt like crying. She had wanted to believe all the time that Maxie had made it, but with her seizures being as bad as they had been when Zack gave the signal to go, she wasn't sure if she had made it at all on the outside.

"Thank God. I didn't know if she'd made it."

Alec nodded in understanding but continued.

"He was the one responsible for the destruction of Manticore which resulted in the release of all of Manticore's creations into the World – care of Max."

"What do you mean care of Max?"

"Logan had done an Eyes Only Broadcast which revealed the location of the secret facility which was 30 miles east of Seattle. Max was the one who sent it to air, and when Renfro and the Committee decided to lock down everyone in the barracks and burn it to the ground, she got everyone out."

"That's Maxie alright. I suppose Manticore wouldn't have appreciated her maternal instincts had we all stayed behind back in the day."

"No, can't say that they would have. But that's pretty much it."

Mischa was silent, but she watched Alec for a few minutes.

"That's not it. There's something else isn't there?"

"What do you mean?"

"Max. You're in love with Max. But she's involved with this Logan right?

"In love? I wouldn't say that. I mean, I wouldn't mind a roll in the sack with her, hell, what guy wouldn't, but love is a little strong. I admire her a lot, and although she's hot as hell, there will never be anything between us."

"Is there a story behind that?"

"When Max was recaptured a year ago, we were assigned to be breeding partners. She didn't quite take to the idea and it was the beginning of our hate/hate relationship."

"Breeding partners? What about the DNA lab?"

"Max was recaptured when she and 3 of her brothers and sisters decided to destroy the DNA lab. So good ol' Manticore decided we should take care of it the old fashioned way. The remaining X5's were paired off into breeding partners with orders to 'copulate every night' until the females fell pregnant."

"That is sick."

"That's Manticore."

"True."

Mischa felt that by Alec's admission of his attraction to Max and his description of the goings on that lead to where they were today, she knew him a little better. She had correctly guessed somewhere along the way that the annoying, arrogant-as-hell Alec was a façade to protect himself from others.

"So, now I've told my story, what about yours? What's the deal between you and Andreas? Don't leave anything out!"

Laughing lightly, Mischa shifted a little closer to Alec and could feel the heat of his leg near hers under the covers. Licking her lips, she closed her eyes and thought back. How far to go?

"Well, Andreas and I met at an interesting stage of my life. I was about 15 when it first happened—"

"Heat."

"Yeah. It was embarrassing as hell, but from what I can tell, there's not a lot you can do about it."

"Not a lot, no."

"So, I was out, on the prowl, but not really knowing it, just acting on instinct, and Andreas ended up being the guy that I jumped."

"So, what happened after that?"

"He's about 3 years older than me, and we never had a 'proper' relationship, but when it's that time, we hook up. It's like a baser need that both of us need to fulfill. Not on a regular basis, but every now and then."

"But you seem really close. He's always watching you."

Mischa laughed and put her head down on the mattress, trying not to laugh too hard.

"Actually, he's looking at you. Yeah, we close, yes, we screw once or twice every 3 or 4 months, but that boy's as camp as a tent peg. That's what I meant about fulfilling a baser need. He doesn't sleep with women, and I don't want to hook up with some different guy every 3 or 4 months. It works out this way. He doesn't know that I can't control my urges at the time, but it's his way of trying the whole heterosexual thing. If that makes sense."

"So, he's gay, but you guys have sex when you're in heat."

"Yeah."

"Sure, that makes a lot of sense."

"Alec. It's difficult to explain anyway, but it does actually work out for us. It's his way of proving that he's supposed to be what he is. And hell, if I can't change his mind, especially when I'm in heat, then I guess he's gay to the core."

"Guess so."

They both stopped talking, lost in their own thoughts until Alec remembered what she said earlier.

"You said downstairs that you thought you would come and get me before things got weird. What did you mean?"

"When we got here, I took a look at you and thought, 'Andreas is going to think it's Christmas time, and you're his present.' Which is why I got you to play this charade with me. But, even though we're acting like a couple, and very convincingly I might add, Andreas' theory is that you never know how someone may swing until you give them the option. When I heard him invite you for a drink, I knew that he was going to make a move. It's his game plan – drinks, talking, moving closer then moving on."

"I think I owe you a massive favor for that one."

"It's nothing. Besides, I think he wasn't too sure that you would turn against me for him."

Giving her his charming smirk, he gave her the once over. Looking into her green eyes he felt himself relax – much like the time he and Max had their heart to heart talk that night she busted him out of jail. Still looking her in the eyes, he moved forward a little more until they were breathing each other's breath. Still grinning and feeling both of their body temperatures rise just a little, he said,

"If we were together, it would take a lot more than a few drinks to get me away from you."

Mischa reminded herself of her earlier decision to keep herself away from Alec, but when she saw him like this, her mind tried to talk her out of it. Licking her bottom lip, she looked into his eyes and saw that he meant it. They were still close together when she took a deep breath and smiled.

"Goodnight Alec."

"Night Mischa."

Rolling onto her other side, she put her arm underneath her pillow so her hand was dangling over the side of the bed and rested her other hand lightly over her hip. Now, if she had met someone like Alec earlier, she wouldn't have had any of the boyfriend problems that she'd had over the years, and she wouldn't have her sex-buddy relationship with Andreas either. Reflecting over the events of that day, Mischa felt sleep creep up on her, and with a light sigh, fell into the soft arms of fatigue.

When she rolled away from him, Alec felt cold. It wasn't a move of anger or shutting herself off from him, just a move to get comfortable and to break away from the tension between them. The tension was there, and it was strong. He had the same tension between Max and himself, but it was never this strong. He'd felt it as soon as he'd gotten on the swing next to her at the park the day before. Rolling over so his back was facing hers, he sighed and closed his eyes. A lot had happened in the time he'd been here in Australia. Finding Mischa, finding out that White was hanging around, meeting Mischa, having to move Mischa and get her to come to Seattle with him and then Andreas. He guessed that on some level he'd known all was not right with Andreas, but he hadn't taken much notice.

Maybe it was the energy that ran between him and Mischa. Which is just a result of her heat cycles. Whatever it is, I don't like it.

With that surprising thought, he sighed again and felt his body completely relax as sleep over took him.

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