ch 12

After the spasms of pleasure subsided and her last gasps died on her lips, Ororo opened her eyes to find Sabretooth observing her quietly, the subtle signs of insecurity he may have shown earlier having fallen away with the vestiges of her self-control. "So you liked that." The statement was made under his breath, as if a note to himself for future reference. When she didn't answer, he proceeded to withdraw his fingers from her and languidly lick at them before looking back at the quivering area between her legs and casually dragging his claws across it once again. He hummed an appreciative 'mmmm' and she thought that he might continue his previous attentions, but as she looked to him with glazed, watery eyes, her vulva swollen and throbbing, he withdrew completely from her and stood up at the foot of the bed.

Suddenly, she felt weak and unprotected and sat up, gazing at him imploringly. "Victor?" An image of him walking out the door fluttered anxiously in her mind. Is he leaving me like this? Then she saw his eyes, blacker than she ever thought possible, and his fingers, moving to peel off his shirt. His torso was perfect and a little spasm of desire tensed inside of her. He noticed her ogle and paused briefly to give her a good look before slowly unbuttoning his pants. For a moment, she thought she was back in a dream, her head dizzy watching the almost casual way he flipped each button open. Click. A glimpse of his lower abdomen. Click. A little trail of hair. Click. The top of his briefs.

But then her dream was interrupted by a sound, an irritating revving from outside the cabin.

Her head involuntarily turned toward one of the windows as she tried to discern the origin of the noise. "It's nothing," Sabretooth said gruffly, trying to draw her attention back to him, but as the noise grew louder, he walked over to the window to investigate. "Damn it!" he hissed.

"What is it?" Ororo asked.

He didn't answer her question, but buttoned his pants back up and opened the door to the cabin. "Stay here," he commanded, and closed the door behind him.

Ororo drew the single wool blanket that covered the bed up around her shoulders, and contemplated the little room she had been taken so surreptitiously in. The wood stove gave off a cozy heat while misty grey light spilled sleepily onto the rough-hewn floor. It was impossible to ignore how romantic the scene was and she paused to wonder at the man who had coordinated it all. The more she thought of it, the more she realized he must have been tracking her for months, recording her habits with miltary precision, anticipating her reactions, investigating her weaknesses. It was frightening and yet she couldn't help but feel moved. All of this planning, just for the chance to be with me. It made her feel like settling into a warm bed, this bed, with a warm body, his body, surrounding her. She hoped his appearance outside would shoo away the kids or yokels who were illegally riding their four-wheelers through the woods and he would hurry back to bed, with her.

But as she sat waiting for Sabretooth to return, it occurred to her that there was one group of people authorized to take motorized vehicles off the paved roads of the park: the park rangers themselves, and it seemed likely that if the people approaching were rangers, they were coming specifically to use the cabin she and Sabretooth were now occupying. The thought of Sabretooth's reaction to a few unsuspecting park officials got her up out of the bed. I had better make sure he doesn't do something foolish. It was not without regret that she redressed.

A shout from outside interrupted her thoughts. She looked out the window to find a small group of men surrounding him. Three dirt bikes and a three-wheeler were parked off to one side of the clearing, the three-wheeler loaded with a large metal box. A worse thought occurred to her. What if instead of park officials, these men were law enforcement who had somehow tracked Sabretooth down? How on Earth would she explain her presence? She brought a hand to her forehead, trying to forstall a panic and focus her thoughts on a plausible explanation.

She looked out the window again to re-evaluate the men before she walked outside with excuses on her tongue, when suddenly the men were gone. Ororo blinked. For a brief second, she wondered if she had been seeing things when Sabretooth's head snapped violently to the right. He grunted and swung back with his claws fully extended. A spray of blood spattered his side as his claws ripped through something unseen. They're invisible - They're mutants. That unexpected turn of events gave her pause before she decided that it did not change the underlying possibilities. Mutants or not, they seemed to have been sent to apprehend Sabretooth. After all, there was no reason a mutant could not be a police officer or an FBI agent, or an official of any number of organizations and governments in the world who might know about him and want him safely behind reinforced bars.

Sabretooth was too formidable opponent to likely be taken down by these four, invisible or not, but she didn't want him to be unnecessarily hurt, and so she did what she could do help him: she made it rain. It only took a few minutes to gather heavy low-lying clouds above the combatants, but it seemed like forever. In the the intervening time, the group managed to get in a few nasty blows to his back and both of his knees. They also learned that he was amazingly fast for his size, and seemed to be trying to come at him from behind. Once the rain began to fall, however, the tell tale curve of water droplets around their forms was all that Sabretooth needed.

He grabbed one of them, preparing to slice him open, when Ororo stepped out onto the porch. "Victor!" she shouted.

Without turning or modifying his stance in the slightest, he responded, "I told you to stay inside."

"Don't kill him." The Ororo he had seduced into submission had been left inside. This Ororo was was not to be denied.

Sabretooth grunted angrily, but instead of cutting the man open, he pounded the area that was presumably the man's face and suddenly, all four men were fully visible. So only one of them had power over invisibility. That man was hanging by the shoulder, unconscious from Sabretooth's hand. The three other smugglers made a break for the dirt bikes only to be knocked down by a powerful gust of wind. "Not so fast, gentlemen," Ororo intoned as she glided off the porch toward them.

The controlled gust carried her down steps and just over the top of the grass, but before she was close enough to accost them, she felt Sabretooth's hand on her shoulder. Goddess, he moves stealthily. "You know," he said seriously, "if you let them go, we'll only have to kill one of them."

The statement was coldly callous, but also in a twisted way earnest. His eyes, though cold, regarded her expectantly. Does he honestly believe I would appreciate that suggestion? She looked at him pointedly, daring him to go against her. "We're not killing any of them," she said, her own voice low and threatening. "Now tell me. Why did they attack you? Or did you provoke them?" Something in her scolding tone clouded his face and triggered a contemptuous snort. "I told them to go store their smack somewhere else."

It took her a moment to process what he said. Smack? But then it clicked, and she looked with amazement at the container on the back of the three-wheeler. "There's heroin in there? They told you that?"

"I already knew," he said dropping the unconscious man unceremoniously on the ground and crossing his arms. Receiving another pointed stare from Ororo, he continued. "I discovered their little operation when I was scoping out this place. They use this cabin for storage until the drugs can be taken into Canada." He smirked. "I'm not the only one who realized no one comes out here. They must have had a last minute change of plans 'cause they're not supposed to be here today."

Ororo supposed she should be happy about interrupting a drug drop, but she felt a resigned disappointment. Just a short while earlier, she had been at the height of ecstasy, and now she was looking at hours of waiting and giving statements to law enforcement. Sighing, she said, "We have to hold these men until the police can arrive."

"Like hell we do."

In a blink, she was swept up and being carried back to the cabin. "Victor!" she shouted. She could strike him with lightning but she didn't want to hurt him. "Victor, I don't care what you do, but I'm not letting them drive away with a crate of heroin!" When he continued walking, she pounded on his chest a few times. "Victor!" He took a few more steps before slowing to a stop. "I will fight you on this."

For a few moments, he simply glared at her. There was something in the glare, though, that almost made her want to smile; an adolescent frustration that peeked from behind the intimidation. She found it hard to glare back, taken again with a feeling of awe at seeing something besides his brute facade. But she was serious about what she had said, and glare back she did until he reluctantly put her back down.

A growl through gritted teeth, and then a sigh. "For christsakes, hold on." Leaving her by the cabin, he turned back toward the smugglers and in a few giant strides closed the distance between them. The three conscious but terrified men had taken the opportunity jump on the bikes, yet their shaking hands fumbled to start the engines. As Sabretooth reached the three-wheeler, its rider jumped away and stared in shock as a single heave by the blond beast ripped the metal box from its bindings.

Tearing the lid off the box, Sabretooth surveyed the contents. With a low whistle, he said, "What is that? $20-30 million worth?" He shook his head. "Someone in Canada's gonna be real sad about what I'm about to do." Picking up one of the bikes, he punched a hole in the side of the gas tank and poured the contents into the open case. He stepped back and looked over to Ororo standing on the porch.

"A little lightning?"

Ororo smiled at him, happy to oblige. A single thick strand of electricity snaked down from the sky setting the box aflame. Despite himself, he gave her an appreciative nod. And despite herself, she felt a thrill run through her at his subtle acknowledgment. It was unbelievable but for a fleeting moment, she felt like they were a team.

By then, one of the men had managed to get his bike started and a second man had jumped on the back as it tore out of the clearing and into the woods. Sabretooth grabbed the one remaining man whose shaking was so profound, he had dropped his keys on the ground. "Now don't forget your half dead friend, there," Sabretooth warned. "Go ahead. Pick him up and get the hell out of here." He pulled the man's face closer, "And you and your buddies, don't ever come back or I'll find you when the nice lady isn't around to protect you, and then I'll tear your hearts out with my bare hands."

The man made his way quiveringly toward his unconscious partner, and dragged him to the three-wheeler. Sabretooth, apparently not wanting to waste any time getting back to their previous activities, practically bounded back to Ororo and lifted her by the waist so her face met his. "No more interruptions," he breathed, his gaze boring into her so intensely, she couldn't help but feel the swell of her earlier emotions rising to smother her. In a show of dominance, he gave her a little shake, punctuating his command and insisting on assent. Despite his rough grip around her soft sides, though, and the lust in his voice, she could have sworn that there was a lightness to him.

Overcome with a sudden shyness about the desire that was broadcast on her face, she turned her head away. She was about to give him a coy reply when out of the corner of her eye she saw the three-wheeler drive off into the woods...without the unconscious man aboard.