Author- Northernmoon
Rating – PG-13 for now (note more orange-loving this chapter) ;-)
Pairings- M/A
Disclaimer- none of these characters belong to me, don't sue!
Summary- Alec sees a new side of Max
A/N- This is really AU and my first story so be kind if you can, but I'd like any feedback your willing to give. Assume that this is after A and M have a heart to heart about Ben but doesn't include any of the other drama after that.
Part 2 of the longest chapter I've ever written!
Chapter 4B – Primal IIAlec tried to suck in deep breaths as his skin cooled in the damp air. He didn't know what was wrong, but any thoughts of Max and that damn orange at that moment felt like fire in his blood. He willed the analytical side of his mind to take over and changed his focus as he had been trained to do. His thoughts slammed back over the earlier half of the day.
'Sketchy set this up…gave Max the orange…she was worried about Sketchy…Sketchy was into something with Rafer…Max hates Rafer…'
'Wait a minute, Max hates Rafer? Where did that come from?'
'Max hates everyone!' he argued back at himself.
'Not like Rafer,' and in his burning gut, the place that was all twisted in knots, he knew it was true. Instinct.
He didn't know why, but he knew that at no point in his history with Max, no matter what he had done, had she ever felt the loathing for him that she felt towards Rafer.
'Makes you wonder,' he thought to himself again 'what exactly could Rafer have done to inspire more of Max's hatred than me almost killing Logan, her and Joshua?'
It seemed that Max had been holding out on him in more than one way. Something was very wrong and Alec began to feel an unfamiliar rage burn through him, replacing the desire that had been there seconds before.
Not wanting to leave Max in there any longer, he controlled his breathing and pushed himself to get back in the room where none of those men should be looking at her. Seeing Max soft and vulnerable brought out all of his protective instincts.
Thinking of her as she had been a few minutes ago, he tried to convince himself, 'She's like a kitten.' The other voice in his head laughed alarmingly loud, 'Kitten my ass, she's more like a freaking panther.'
He ignored the voices, steeled himself, and walked back in.
Biggs watched him re-enter and almost stiffened in salute. '494,' he thought in wonder.
From the corner of his eye he noticed Dar, Axel and Cece had had the same response. They moved in quietly behind Alec as he walked over towards him.
He tried to read Alec's expression but it was totally blank, except for the burning that was still in his eyes.
A small deep sound from Max, registering below standard human hearing, distracted them both and they looked over to her in amazement as she ran an orange slice along her lower lip.
'Purring, Max was purring…'
Alec's face and body softened and he moved forward to go to her.
Rafer shot out a hand and grabbed his arm, trying to stop him as he walked past. The transgenics behind Biggs moved as one to respond, but he stopped them from passing with his arm. They looked at him sheepishly and shook their heads as if coming out of a dream state. Biggs looked from them back to Alec and thought 'What the hell is going on?' He looked around the room and wondered if anyone who wasn't transgenic could feel the tension in the air.
Alec faced Rafer and looked from the sweaty hand on his arm slowly up to Rafer's face. He watched as Rafer met his eyes and flinched in response. Alec raised an eyebrow at the continued presence of the hand on his arm. Rafer dropped his hand away, avoided Alec's gaze and absently rubbed his hand against his thigh as though it had been burned.
Alec single-mindedly resumed his path back towards Max.
He processed the scene before him quickly to formulate a plan of action. Everything in him was screaming to just pick her up and carry her out of there. This was Max though, kitten or not, he knew that wouldn't work.
'Okay,' he thought, 'Plan B then.'
He moved to a position in front of her and to the side that would shield her from most of the room, then cautiously crouched, ready to spring back in an instant. He ignored the groans and cursing from his co-workers as he took in the heady, sticky smell of Max and the orange.
With a deep breath, he softly called her name.
"Max. Max?"
Nothing.
Her eyes were still closed and the sweet sound of her purring was beginning to drive him to distraction.
Very carefully, and away from where she held the remainder of the fruit, he softly touched her leg and repeated, "Maxie?"
Her whole body jumped at his touch and his adrenaline kicked into overdrive. Her eyes flew open and she backed away from him along the wall, clutching the orange to her chest.
Alec barely suppressed a groan as he watched the juice drip down her front again.
He slowly moved his hand away and calmly met her dazed eyes and said her name again, this time as a statement.
"Max."
With some confusion she stared back at him and said softly, "Alec?"
He smiled at her as though she had said something incredibly profound.
She came back to herself and took in her surroundings. She had juice all over her, Alec was crouched in concern and everyone else was looking at them.
He breathed a small sigh of relief as he watched her awareness return. He shifted his position and went down on his knees in front of her, still blocking out the rest of the room.
"So Max, what cha' doin?" he asked lightly.
She brought the orange up and smiled at it, the dazed look returning.
"Eating lunch," she said dreamily.
Alec felt distinctly jealous of that orange.
"You know, " he leaned in with a twinkle in his eye, "I've never tried an orange before."
Instantly suspicious, her posture stiffened and she clutched the orange close to her again.
"Really? That's too bad, they're pretty good." She tried for her coolest tone and failed.
Alec laughed out loud at her blatant understatement.
Instead of punching him, she looked at him curiously, startled by his laughter.
Encouraged, he leaned in again. "So, what exactly does it taste like?"
She looked at him searchingly, as though trying to determine if he was serious and worthy of the answer.
He smiled softly at her, urging her to continue.
"It tastes like…sunshine," she looked down shyly.
Alec was stunned when she blushed and looked up at him through her long lashes and finished, "and happiness." To his horror her big brown eyes began to pool with tears.
Much as she had done to him earlier that morning, he leaned in towards her, touching her ear with his lips, and whispered, "Can I have a piece?"
After the initial shock of his closeness wore off, she firmly pushed him away with her free hand and said, "Go away!"
"Please"
"No"
"Come on Max, you had the whole thing almost!"
"Forget it Alec!"
He smiled as her usual fire chased the tears out of her eyes.
"Just a bite?"
"Screw off!"
Max took a piece in defiance and ate it in front of him. Alec was shocked as she innocently began licking the juice off herself once again.
Lust gave way once more to the protective feelings from earlier. He wasn't sure which feeling disturbed him most.
"She really has no idea, " he thought amazed, "she thinks she's actually just sitting here eating an orange."
As she unself-consciously began to chase the juice down her chest, Alec started to feel desperate again.
'I have got to stop this right now,' he thought, unable to bear watching her eat another piece.
"Let's make a deal Maxie."
His smile widened at the suspicion in her eyes.
"No!" she pouted as she eyed her last piece in sadness.
"Just hear me out. If you give me that last piece, I promise to get you a whole other orange."
The suspicion in her eyes deepened and his eyes sparkled in response.
"Come on Max. Trust me. A whole new orange for one little piece, I promise."
"What's the catch?" she asked darkly.
He started to say 'nothing' when his famous sense of self-preservation kicked in. "All you have to do is give me one piece of that one too."
She eyed him speculatively.
"So, I give you this, and you'll get me a new orange and all I have to do is give you one piece of that one too?"
He nodded knowing that he had her.
"Promise?" she asked, still not trusting him.
He leaned in with a serious look on his face and said sincerely "I swear to Ben."
His answer was surprising but she knew that he knew what Ben meant to her and would keep the promise.
She furrowed her brow and bit her lower lip in capitulation handing him the slice.
Originally, he had been worried that someone had drugged the orange. Being this close to Max though had ruled out that possibility. The orange scent was overpowering his senses and there was no 'wrongness' in the smell.
He felt a primal surge of triumph greater than any victory he had ever achieved. Max had given in to him and he trusted the instinct that told him she wouldn't have shared this with anyone else. She would deny it, but she wanted him to have this with her.
His hand moved towards her offering but instead of taking it from her, he gently grabbed her wrist and raised it up to his lips. He breathed her scent in deeply then darted his tongue out lightly over her pulse points. He stared straight into her entranced eyes and swirled his tongue from her wrist over her thumb and the palm of her hand. He lightly blew on her hand and lifted his eyes to see hers darken.
A knowing smile graced his lips as his teeth lightly nibbled her fingers around the orange slice. His tongue went back and gently washed over all of the places his teeth had just been. Teasing her, he nibbled and licked the slice in her hand then scooped it up with his tongue and slowly chewed it, never breaking eye contact with her. His smile returned as he watched her swallow deeply in time with him.
A soft flush rose to her cheeks as he grasped her wrist more firmly and went back to her hand with his tongue and teeth knowingly mimicking her previous attentions to the same hand when she had eaten the slice in front of him. A small gasp escaped her lips as the realization of what he was doing sunk in. He wanted her to know what watching her had done to him, wanted her to be fully aware of the sensuality that her actions held. He wanted her to feel the same wave of desire and never eat an orange with that same innocence in front of others again.
He closed his eyes as the combined taste of her and the orange rolled over him.
'It does taste like sunshine,' he thought.
A bruising punch to the stomach broke him out of his reverie causing him to drop her hand.
Through the pain, he noted with satisfaction that she had punched him without even attempting to pull her other hand away first.
Her eyes blazed with fear and fury and she hissed, "Alec, what the hell," before punching him hard in the shoulder.
He sat back on his heels and leapt back as she rose to hit him again. He grabbed her hand and said, "You better go wash up, you're all sticky." He wrinkled his nose at her and then stared significantly at her chest.
Max threw him an angry glare, covered her chest with her hand and stormed towards the washrooms.
Alec watched her appreciatively as he rubbed the soon to be bruise on his stomach.
'Kitten my ass,' he smirked.
As she disappeared the smile left his face and he spun back around to the astonished faces of his co-workers. Some of them wisely decided it was time to head back out to work.
He quickly motioned for Cece to follow Max to the washroom then turned towards Rafer and Sketchy with fury in his eyes.
Alec pinned Rafer in place with flashing eyes and stalked over to him with his full predatory grace.
He put both arms on the table in front of his prey and leaned towards him menacingly.
"This," he waved a hand encompassing the room and people looking on, "is never going to happen again. Right?" His hand clenched in a fist and pounded the table in front of Rafer.
Rafer winced and shrunk into himself but foolishly didn't answer Alec's question.
Biggs moved to Alec's side quickly as he saw the muscle in his jaw jump. He put a restraining hand on his friend's shoulder and smiled at Rafer.
"If I were you, I'd give him the answer he's looking for. Right now actually."
Rafer looked from Biggs back to Alec scared shitless. "Listen, I'm sorry, I didn't know you two were…"
Alec cut him off, "Answer the question. This is not going to happen again. Right?" He repeated coldly.
Rafer gulped "Right," he agreed quietly.
Rafer felt like he had taken bad drugs. He had just seen his life flash before eyes and then, when he looked back up at Alec, he was now standing with his usual easy going posture back in place, as though he hadn't just been looming over him like the angel of death. He shook his head confused and slunk out of his seat and out to his bike trying to convince himself about what he didn't just see.
Alec turned back to take in a very pale Sketchy. He looked at him thoughtfully then said quietly," Max said something earlier about you needing to talk to me. Does now seem like a good time to you?"
Sketchy nodded shakily and followed Alec outside.
A/N- 1 orange scene down!. Thanks so much for the feedback I was so worried that it would come lame!!! Hope you liked Alec's taste this time too!
For cbags – Thanks so much…I was totally trying for hotness…glad you liked it. Alec will find out Sketchy's deal with Rafer next…Max won't find out till a bit later.
For Alaize- Thanks for the encouragement, hope you like Alec grooming Max too!
For silsecri – Thanks also for the encouragement, here's a little taste of Alec action with more to come later. Hopefully you'll hate Rafer more as this progresses.
For casey – No punch for Rafer yet…all in good time. Thanks !
For SmilinStar, willow98002 and Lynn-50670 thanks for reviewing…hope you like Part B!