Heat Insatiable

But this was a dream, and while a tiny part of her consciousness recognised that fact; she just went with the flow and enjoyed it. Logan’s arms tightened around her, and she rested her head on his chest, slowly moving to the haunting strains of Sibelius’ Valse Triste. She was content to stay like that forever… for a while anyway. As his unique scent filled her, she realised she wanted more. Much more. Tilting her head back she met his lips in a forceful kiss.

Logan’s hands slid down her sides to rest at her hips, and he pulled her to him, trapping her hand between them. “That depends. You wanna see how aggressive I can get?”

Far from disliking the pain, Max relished it, gripping Logan’s shoulders and letting out a throaty moan. “Oh Logan.”

“No, I’m way better looking than he is.”

Max’s eyes snapped open at the unexpected sound of Alec’s voice. It was not a welcome intrusion. “What are you doing here?”

Alec smirked, his hazel eyes dancing. “What am I doing here? I live here. You should ask yourself that question.”

Confused, she sat up slowly to look around, a little dizzy. Sure enough, she was indeed in his apartment, the one he took over when Brain died, lying on the couch. She had no idea as to why; she had no memory of getting there.

“Logan brought you here,” Alec answered her unspoken question. “Apparently you were seizing pretty badly and fell asleep in his car.”

“I remember that!” Max snapped irritably, waving her hands in front of her face as if hot. “What am I doing here?”

“He didn’t want to wake you, figured you needed the sleep. Naturally he couldn’t carry you up to your crib, so he brought you here. I had to bring you up, as he still thinks you’re my girlfriend.”

Max had to concede the point; she didn’t like it, but she was the one who put Alec in that position in the first place. It seemed like a good idea at the time, a way of convincing Logan that it was over between them. There was no way they could be together like in her dream; not with the virus between them. Her cheeks flushed as she remembered the vivid dream. She did not often have dreams like that, usually only when in heat.

“No need to ask what you were dreaming about,” Alec commented, cutting into her thoughts again. There was an annoyingly cheeky grin on his face.

She didn’t bother with a reply to that. “I haven’t had any seizures since before I was back at Manticore.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that?” he gave her a glass of milk. “Manticore fixed the seizure problem years ago. I would have thought that was the first thing they’d fix after they caught you; after the heart transplant, that is.”

Max gave him a glare over the glass, one hand massaging the back of her neck. “I thought the problem had been fixed too, especially as I haven’t had one in so long. But I think I know why I started seizing again.” At Alec’s curious look she told him the story about the South African Red soldiers and the implant that she inserted into her head. “But I thought they would have taken the implant out when I was dead.”

Alec shrugged. “Maybe they did. Maybe they put it back in again.”

She gave him an arch look. “Why would they do that when it nearly killed me the first time? Especially as it’s been fried; I mean, why put it in when it’s broken? There’s nothing to be gained from an imperfect soldier.”

“They probably wanted to study the effect on you. You know what they were like. It’s no skin off their nose if you died. They would just prep you for organ harvest.

Max flinched, both at the callous way Alec made his comment and at the memory of Renfro showing her the machine that was keeping Zack’s body alive as they harvested his organs. Alec seemed to realise that he’d gone too far, busying himself with taking her empty glass back into the kitchen. This gave her time to gather her wits, taking stock of how she was feeling.

“Don’t you think it’s hot in here?” she asked Alec when he came back, waving her hands in front of her face. Alec gave her a strange look, and she shook her head as if shaking the feeling off, ignoring his look. “I’d better get going. I need to get my bike and get to work before Normal fires my ass.”

“Where’d you leave it? I can give you a lift, it’ll save time. Though I don’t think Normal would really fire your ass.”

“Yeah he would. Especially if I’m late for work again.”

“But it’s such a cute ass,” Alec grinned.

His statement gave her a thrill, but she ignored it. “We’d better get going. I need to get back to my place and change as well, and my bike’s at Logan’s… Joshua’s.”

“We’ll swing by your place first then,” Alec held up his hands in surrender when she gave him a look. “Hey, it’ll be quicker, it’s on the way. I thought you didn’t want to be late.”

Max had misgivings about the plan, but had no argument to the logic of it. She didn’t realise why she had misgivings until she was behind Alec on his motorcycle. Pressed against his back, her arms around his waist, Max felt something stir within her and she recognised what it was: desire, lust. Pure unadulterated lust for the young man she was holding onto. As she did not even like Alec, this could only mean one thing… she was in heat again.

When they pulled up at the apartment block on Waverly, Max hopped off the bike almost before Alec turned the motor off. “Wait down here,” she called over her shoulder as she dashed inside. The last thing she needed was Alec being right there in her apartment providing a distraction—or a temptation—while she tried to fight the urges. Sweating profusely (and almost sidetracked by a couple of men on her way up) Max burst into her apartment so fast that she spun Original Cindy around as the latter was about to open the door.

“Whoa, girl,” Cindy turned away from the door to face her distracted roommate. “Who’s on your ass?”

“Running late,” Max answered shortly. “Need a shower.”

“Need a shower?” That didn’t make sense. “Your late and you need a shower? You know Normal’s about to fire your ass.”

“I know, and I’ll deal with Normal. But right now I need a shower. A cold one.”

“A cold shower? Granted, you’re lucky to get a warm one around here, but since when do you need a cold shower?”

Max sighed, poking her head around the bedroom door frame. “Since I spent the ride over here clinging to Alec’s back and wanting to jump his bones.”

That shut Original Cindy up… for about five seconds. “Girl, that is just seriously whack.”

“Don’t I know it!” Max disappeared back into her bedroom then reappeared again with some clothes. “It’s happening again.”

“What’s happenin’… oh,” Cindy’s eyes widened as she took in Max’s frazzled appearance. “That heat thing again? Go have your shower, I’ll think of something to tell Normal.”

Max came out of the shower ten minutes later, not all that surprised to find her roommate still there. “You’re gonna be late, OC.”

“You let me worry about that. You know I’ve got your back on this, and by going in to work with you, I can stop you from doin’ somethin’ stupid.”

Max smiled wanly. “You’re a good friend, boo. But I’m not going straight to Jam Pony.”

Original Cindy frowned. “Why not?”

“My bike’s at Joshua’s. Alec’s waiting for me downstairs…”

“No I’m not,” Alec spoke up from the front door. “I’m here waiting for you.”

“What I want to know is why you’re waitin’ here, period.” Original Cindy had no patience for Normal’s Golden Boy.

“Alec’s gonna give me a ride…” Max paused, eying him up and down, “… to Joshua’s to pick up my bike.”

Watching Max all but preparing to jump Alec’s bones was too much for Original Cindy. She pulled her friend deep into the apartment. “Are you sure this is a good idea, boo?”

Max shrugged off her friend’s concern. “I’ll be fine. You think I really wanna bang him?” The last was said almost too soft for Cindy to hear, and it lacked real conviction.

Alec smirked, having heard Max’s comment and having a good idea what was going on with her. “We’re really gonna be late, Max.”

“Let me get my pack.”

Original Cindy just shook her head, muttering under her breath. “After watchin’ you jump Normal, I ain’t so sure you gonna be fine.”

“Max tried to jump Normal?” Alec found that amusing.

Cindy just gave him a withering look. “You don’t even know what’s goin’ on with her right now, so don’ even try to understand. And don’t let me hear you talkin’ like that about Max again.”

The smirk remained fixed on Alec’s face. “Oh, but I have a very good idea of what’s going on with Max right now. I saw it back at Manticore all the time. She’s not the only X5 to go into heat, you know.”

Cindy was saved from answering by Max reappearing in the living area. The X5 stopped in her tracks, eyed Alec up and down again, then visibly pulled herself together. “Let’s go,” she said in an overly bright tone.

“Right behind you.” Alec was about to follow her out when Original Cindy grabbed his arm.

“If I even hear about you takin’ advantage of her like this, I’ll put the smackdown on your genetically engineered ass. You got that?”

He gave her a mock salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

On the ride to Joshua’s, Max realised that she may have been hasty in her assessment to Original Cindy that she wouldn’t want to jump Alec. Perched behind him on his bike, holding him close, she was once again assaulted by the overwhelming lust for him. She was that close to running her hands down his chest and below his belt to force him to pull over.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how one looks at it), Alec seemed to realise what was going on. “Having fun back there, Max?” he called over his shoulder. Her reply of a half-growl/half-purr only served to amuse him more. “Hey, if you wanna stop and take care of some urges, just let me know. I’ll be glad to oblige.”

It was on the tip of Max’s tongue to take him up on that, as it was everything her heat-crazed self was craving for. But even as this urge came up, so did a streak of sanity. Max regained enough control to snap at Alec for his presumption. Despite the urges that her hormones were giving her, she had no desire to ever sleep with Alec. Keeping that thought in mind helped her to focus on the task at hand… mostly.

Their arrival at Joshua’s almost proved to be her undoing. It was one thing to be able to resist coming on to Alec, after all there was no attraction between them normally; but it was different with Logan. She loved him so much that it scared her, and the fact that she had not actually done the deed with him only served to make her crave it more. The mere sight of the man was enough to set her heart racing and her desires rise to fever pitch. She slid off the back of Alec’s motorcycle with every intention of throwing her arms around Logan, inhaling his cologne and thoroughly tasting his mouth… totally forgetting the fact that her touch was lethal to him.

Alec had not forgotten. After turning the motor off, he lunged for Max, sliding one arm around her stomach, half-embracing her from behind. He could feel her struggle, knowing he had earned her ire; but it was better to deal with her anger now, than her guilt if she killed the love of her life. He doggedly held her close, bringing his head to hers and pretending to nuzzle her ear.

“Play along,” he hissed, too low for Logan, who had appeared on the porch, to hear. “You don’t want him to suspect anything. And I don’t think you really want to infect him again.”

Hearing the truth in Alec’s words, Max stopped her struggles, but did not pull away from him. Against her better judgement, she relished Alec’s closeness; and she pressed against him, purring almost inaudibly as she felt his response to her closeness.

Logan was more than a little tired and a little grumpy at being awoken so early, having stayed up half the night working on getting Eyes Only up and running again. Finding Max and Alec practically pawing on his doorstep was the last thing he needed. It was hard enough having to accept she was with the X5 in the first place. “What are you doing here?”

The sound of Logan’s voice snapped Max back to herself. “Just came to pick up my bike,” she replied, pulling away from Alec. Taking a few deep breaths to centre herself, she continued. “I need it for work.”

“Are you sure you should be working?” Logan asked, concerned by her frazzled appearance. “You know Sam will cover for you with Normal.”

“I’m fine, just running late.” Agitation at having to control her hormones and needing to keep Logan at bay made Max’s tone short, and she abruptly walked around the house to retrieve her motorbike.

Logan wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure she’s all right?” he asked Alec, a touch accusingly.

“Logan, I swear she was fine when she woke up this morning. But you know Max, she’ll never admit to weakness.” Alec would have said something further, but Max was emerging with the bike.

“Let’s go, before Normal fires my ass,” she said tersely.

Max really hated it when she went in heat. It made her do things that she would normally never ever do. Like come onto Alec, or completely forget about the virus in her urgency to taste Logan. It was completely mortifying that Alec, of all people, knew she was in heat, but it did make sense that he was acquainted with the condition, given that it must occur to all X5 females. Luckily Original Cindy had her back, stopping her from making a fool of herself coming onto Normal or Sketchy.

Which was more helpful than Alec’s suggestion. “Why don’t you just give in to it?”

“What?!” So incredulous was she that Max forgot her agitation. “That is just seriously whack!”

“Why?” he argued. “You’re far more distracted when you try to fight it. It’s a natural urge, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Though Alec’s words were different, Max was instantly reminded of what Logan said when she first told him about the heat cycles. ‘You have nothing to be sorry for or ashamed of. I know who you are.’ She was touched when Logan said that; coming from Alec, the sentiment seemed cheapened.

She didn’t have to worry about replying, though. Original Cindy had that covered. “Hey, my homegirl is better than that!” That was the end of the discussion.

Through Original Cindy and Alec’s (reluctant) help, Max made it though the first couple of days of her cycle. But it is the last few hours that are the most intense, especially when the urges have not been fulfilled. Believing that she had a handle on the situation, Max reported for duty at Jam Pony. She was edgier than usual, but Original Cindy only began to worry when she began eying Sketchy off.

“I’ll be fine,” Max spoke overly brightly, her feet dancing a jig. “I just need to keep busy.” Even as she said this, she grabbed the next ‘hot run’ Normal had… into the heart of the ganglands of Sector 6.

Alec was not so optimistic when he heard where Max was. “You let her go alone? Are you nuts?”

“What are you goin’ on about?” Cindy looked at him as if he had grown two heads. “You know she can take care of herself, fool.” She didn’t bother pointing out the obvious, an inability to keep up with Max’s motorcycle while on her pushbike.

“Normally, yes. But in her current state, what do you think she’s gonna do when she sees those guys?”

“You seriously think she’d come onto one of those guys?”

“You were the one who said she tried to come onto Normal once,” Alec countered. “At this point Max’d come onto anyone who was male and breathing given half the chance.”

Alec shook his head as he rode to Sector 6. Max always whaled on him for getting into trouble with one of his schemes or another; but if she came onto the wrong guy in the middle of a gang war she would get into worse trouble than he ever did, even when he tried to make a deal with White. They could easily kill her for coming onto and sleeping with one of them, then trying to leave, ashamed. And that would be a good outcome. She could risk exposure or worse.

Luckily, Max only seemed to be in the early stages of her flirtation when he found her. She was surrounded by five or six well built guys, all wearing gang colours; and it looked as though she couldn’t choose who to go for first. The gang members were less than impressed by her antics; one roughly grabbed her from behind, swiftly holding a semi-automatic pistol to her neck.

Alec was quick to intercede. “Whoa guys, easy,” he cut into the circle of gang members, taking hold of Max’s hand. “She doesn’t mean you any harm. She just has a chemical imbalance, that’s all.”

The appearance of Alec and the touch of his hand snapped Max out of it, enough to make her realise where she was. “Yeah, sorry. I just got a little out of control.”

She tried to step away from her assailant and closer to Alec, but the gang member refused to let go. “We don’t like it when people mess with us. Even when they’re pretty little girls.”

“Hey, no one’s messing with anyone,” Alec spoke quickly, trying no to let his voice betray his nervousness. He knew they would pick up on that in an instant. “We’re just bike messengers; we’ve no quarrel with you. She’s not normally like this. She’s as sweet as anything.”

Max made a mental note to kick Alec’s ass when all this was over. Sweet my ass! She tried to gather her wits enough to portray a ‘sweet’ bubbly airhead. “Yeah, I just got distracted by all you fine specimens of manhood.” She saw Alec wince at her words, and she almost wished she’d said something else; but hey, it was the truth!

Alec saw that no one was impressed by Max’s entreaty, and bit back a curse. He knew they could fight their way free, but that risked exposure for both of them, and even they couldn’t necessarily dodge a flurry of bullets. He tried one last appeal. “Hey, you don’t wanna hurt Jam Pony messengers. You’ll never get anyone to deliver to you again. Normal won’t send anyone on a run here if their gonna get hurt.” That wasn’t strictly true, for Normal tended to be more concerned about the business than his riders, but it sounded good.

Whether it was Alec’s final entreaty, or that they were feeling generous that day the two transgenics never knew. Whatever happened, the gang member holding Max let her go with a warning, and Alec slowly led her back to their bikes. Alec didn’t want to push it; they were lucky to get out of there unscathed.

“I guess I should thank you for getting me outta there,” Max said when they got back to their motorcycles.

“You can thank me by gettin’ on your bike and following me to Terminal City,” Alec hissed, suddenly uncharacteristically angry. He saw her open her mouth to speak, and cut her off. “Don’t worry about Normal. Original Cindy’s covering for us. You need to get this sorted out before you do something really stupid.”

“You’re not my keeper, Alec.”

“Maybe I should be,” Alec revved his engine. “You coming?”

“Tell me why I should,” Max was having trouble containing her urges again. She wanted to follow him all right… to his bedroom. She wasn’t about to give in though. “I’m not gettin’ it on with you.”

“I wasn’t offering that,” he countered, almost regretfully. “Although it would solve your problem.”

“Forget it, Alec,” Max turned her bike to leave.

“Hey Max, wait. That wasn’t my intention. I was thinkin’ more of fightin’ it out. You know, a repeat of our bout in the ring.”

She had to admit the idea had merit. “Why Terminal City?”

“Privacy, so we don’t tip anyone what we really are. Come on Maxie, the physical activity’s just what you need.”

“Let’s do it.”

Alec’s idea of fighting it out in Terminal City was a good one. However the type of area needed was in short supply. Max was antsy, needing to do something but was stuck waiting while Alec, Dix, Luke, and Mole tried to find a good sparring spot. She had the uncomfortable feeling they knew what was wrong with her.

Finally a suitable room was found, and as Max was led from the media centre by Alec, she was aware of a smirking Mole, who obviously thought they were going to make out rather than fight it out. She would’ve called him on it, but Alec had her out of there too quickly. A good thing too—she felt like she was about to crawl out of her skin.

The room they found looked as though it had been a meeting room back in the day. Most of the furniture was broken, what remained made good obstacles. Once there, the two X5s stared at each other uncertainly. “Now what?” Max asked. “I kick your ass to pass the time?”

Alec shrugged congenially. “Pretty much. I still think you’re making too big a deal out of this. So you go into heat three times a year, so what? It’s a part of your DNA; you should just go with it.”

The implication of Alec’s suggestion spurred Max into fighting mode. She had spent so long trying to contain the impulses that it felt like he was putting her down, that he was implying she was only good for that. Moving almost too fast for even Alec to see, she kicked him in the centre of his chest, throwing him into the back wall.

The fight was brutal. Max used all the pent up aggression her condition gave her in a fury on Alec; and for his part he held nothing back. What few items of furniture that were unbroken in that room did not remain so. She hit, she kicked, she scratched… and not all her blows were clean. Alec may have as the advantage of extra years of Manticore training, but as she pointed out to her ‘twin’ Sam, her years out of Manticore taught her to fight dirty.

Alec was finally able to hook his leg behind Max’s knees and flip her onto her back; quickly straddling her hips to pin her to the floor. Not one to give in, Max just as quickly reversed their positions so that she was on to pinning him to the floor. It only took a split second for her to realise that this position, with her straddling his hips, was much more intimate. All at once her aggression left her and was replaced by lust. Before she could control the urge, she fixed her lips to his neck and started nibbling her way down.

This close, with his heightened senses, Alec could smell her pheromones, and they were overpowering. Coupled with the sensation of her lips on his neck a wave of desire hit him, making him respond instantly to her advances. Max could feel it too; he could tell by the way she rocked her hips against his erection. But even as his body was telling him to go for it, Alec knew he must curtail the urge and stop Max. This wasn’t like back at Manticore, when a random X5 female went in heat and needed release; they were taught it was normal for them to go through it, and no consequences ever came from a liaison. Max, on the other hand, grew up outside Manticore. She viewed her heat cycles as something shameful; and she hated it when she gave into the urges. If she gave in now, she would hate herself for it… and hate him. And for some reason, he couldn’t let that happen.

Alec pushed Max off him and got to his feet. “You don’t want to be doin’ this, Max.”

Max slowly stood, a predatory grin on her face. “How do you know what I want?” she sidled right up to him, standing so close that their breaths mingled. “Maybe this is exactly what I want.”

“I don’t think so, Maxie,” Alec took a step back. “You know you normally wouldn’t want to sleep with me. You’ll hate yourself if you give into it now.”

“I think I can live with that.” She closed the distance between them to kiss him hungrily.

“Max,” Alec broke the kiss with difficulty, his body wildly protesting. “I’m warning you now, I will give in. You know my views on the subject—I think you should go with the urge. I know you don’t really wanna do this, but if you keep it up, I won’t resist. I won’t be able to.”

His statement was almost a dare, but Alec did not mean it as such. He was hoping that by saying it aloud he would get through her heat-crazed senses, and she would stop. It didn’t work; his words were like a red rag to a bull. She resumed the kiss, one hand worming under his shirt, the other drifting below his belt to cup him. Alec hesitated only a moment before responding to the kiss with an equal amount of passion and hunger, dragging his hand to her breast. There was only so much he could take.

The first thing Max was aware of when she came to was that she had a splitting headache. Looking around she saw that she was still in the room Alec had led her to, noticing that the furniture was in worse shape now than before. Me and Alec really did a number on this place, she thought wryly.

Remembering the other X5, she sat up to look for him, puzzled. She couldn’t remember exactly what happened between them, and that unsettled her. She knew what she was capable of while in heat and the fact that she was feeling all right now (or at least back to normal) meant that her cycle was over… or that it had been sated. The fact that amnesia was not usually a by-product of heat was a secondary concern to the fact that she wanted… needed… to know what happened. And Alec was the only one who had the answers.

She finally located him sitting in the far corner, uncharacteristically subdued. “What are you doing over there?”

“Watching over you,” was his laconic reply.

“I don’t need watching over,” she frowned as she gingerly got up, wincing at her stiff muscles. “What happened, anyway?”

“We fought, I knocked you out,” Alec shrugged. “That pretty much covers it.”

Max had the feeling that there was something Alec wasn’t saying, but she never got the chance to ask him. Mumbling something about her being okay now, he took off; leaving her to wonder what had gotten into him. But no answers would be forthcoming by waiting in the dingy, destroyed room. She needed to go home, have a shower… no a bath, get something to eat, and then think about kicking Alec’s ass if he was still reticent.

Alec watched from the shadows as Max made her way out of Terminal City. He knew she was suspicious about what happened between them, and he knew she had a right to be. More happened that what he told her, much more; and she would be livid when she found out.

The X5 barely flinched as another transgenic suddenly appeared beside him. “She’s gonna figure out the truth, you know.”

“Isn’t that what I got you to fix, Dukker? So she wouldn’t remember what happened?”

“Oh, she won’t remember,” Dukker replied with the touch of smugness that psy-ops transgenics were known to have. “I said she would figure it out. Hickeys aren’t the usual by-product of a knockout fight, you know.”

Alec rubbed at the spot on his neck where Max left him a doozy. “Yeah, I know,” the thought had occurred to him. “I’ll take care of it.”

Dukker snickered. “Max’s gonna kick your ass.”

“What again?” Alec pulled his cell phone from his pocket and walked away from the other transgenic. He made out that he was looking for good reception on his phone, but the truth was he didn’t know how to fix it. Dukker was right, Max was going to kick his ass, and he deserved it.

He had been walking aimlessly for a while before coming to a decision. Pulling the phone out from where he pocketed it again, he dialled a number, “Original Cindy?”

“You rang my number.”

“Is Max back at your crib yet?”

“No, why?” Cindy’s tome turned somewhat accusing as she obviously recognised his voice. “I thought she was with you.”

“She was. We fought, she left,” his answers were still laconic. “It’s over; she’ll be fine for the next four months.”

“Uh huh. If she’s so fine, then why are you callin’ me?” Original Cindy was nothing if not astute. “You didn’t do anythin’ to my girl, right? Am I gonna have to put the smackdown on your ass?”

“Probably,” Alec replied honestly. As much as he wanted to lie to Cindy, he needed her on side to get to Max.

“You took advantage of her.”

“Yeah, sort of. More like I couldn’t stop her.”

“Yeah right you couldn’t stop her. You men...” Original Cindy bit back a retort, and Alec could faintly hear activity on her end of the line. When he heard her say “It’s just Golden Boy checkin’ up on you, makin’ sure you got home aiight,” he figured correctly that Max had just gotten home.

“OC, if that’s Max tell her I’ll be at the Space Needle.” With that Alec disconnected the call, forestalling any further arguments from Original Cindy. He had to get to the Space Needle fast. It would not be long before Max sought him out.

“You men…” Original Cindy broke off as Max walked into the apartment, battered, bruised, and subdued. “Hey boo.”

“Who’s on the line?”

“It’s just Golden Boy checkin’ up on you, makin’ sure you got home aiight.”

“What else did he say?” Max asked a moment later when she hung up.

“Just to tell you he’d be at the Space Needle.” Original Cindy shook her head. “That boy is seriously whack. What happened between the two of you anyway?”

“We just fought,” Max frowned. “I think. I can’t really remember, it’s all pretty hazy.”

“Are you aiight?” Cindy looked at her friend with concern.

Max smiled wanly. “I’ll be fine. I just need a long hot bath.”

“Well you get yourself ready, and I’ll start boilin’ the water.”

In her room, Max winced as the act of peeling her shirt off stretched sore muscles. Alec really must’ve done a number on me, she thought idly, looking down to check out the damage left. He did more than that… she stared at her reflection dumbly. There were marks on her body that could by no stretch of the imagination have come from a simple sparring match, no matter how violent it got. The scratches on her back alone told a different story. But more damning were the bruises on her neck and shoulders, dark and hideous looking. Hickeys telling of a passion she couldn’t remember but must have happened. I’m gonna kill him!

Original Cindy looked up from the stove as Max practically flew through the apartment and out the door. “Hey, I thought you wanted a bath.” Her statement was met with silence, Max was gone.

Alec had not been sitting on the Space Needle for long before he heard Max come up behind him. “You want to know what happened,” he stated without preamble.

“Why I can’t remember would be a good place to start,” she shot back. “That doesn’t usually happen when I go in heat.”

“I had Dukker mess with your memories a little.”

“Wanna tell me why before I throw you off the edge?”

“Is that the question you really wanna be askin’ me?” There was almost no inflection in Alec’s tone.

“What happened?” she asked despite herself, already guessing the answer.

“Oh I think you can guess, Maxie,” he gave a hollow laugh. “You gave into your urges and we ‘banged the gong’ as Original Cindy would say.”

Max felt sick. It was one thing to figure it out in her head, quite another to hear him say it aloud. “How could I let this happen?”

Alec sighed; the conversation had an air of déjà vu for him. “You couldn’t help it.”

“Why didn’t you stop me?”

“Hey, I tried!” Alec practically snarled, the first spark of life Max had seen in him since she got there. “You were comin’ on to me pretty strong; I tried getting you to stop, but there was only so much I could take. What was I supposed to do?”

“Resist?” she shot back. “Stop me from acting like a slut, even if you did enjoy it.”

The last part was spat out, and he knew she was disgusted with him. He also figured that telling her ‘of course I enjoyed it, who wouldn’t?’ would not go down well. He settled for trying to reassure her. “Max, you couldn’t help it. Going in heat is part of your DNA, and there’s nothing you can do about it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Logan had said the same thing a year ago; and the thing was, she’d had trouble believing it then. Coming from Alec it incensed her. “Just ‘cos you were taught to just ‘give in to it’ back at Manticore doesn’t mean I’m ever gonna accept that. I can never accept that! I don’t want to be considered a slut!”

“You see, this is why I got Dukker to alter your memory. I don’t think you’re a slut for giving into something that’s part of your DNA. And I don’t think Logan would either.”

“Logan.” At the mention of her love’s name the fight seemed to go out of Max. She sat down, not next to Alec, but somewhat behind. “I betrayed him.”

“No you didn’t. You were the one who ended things between you. He can’t say anything about how you live your life, especially if it was something you couldn’t help.”

“You’re not helping.”

Alec fell silent for a moment after her admonition. Then he asked a question that had been rattling around in his head for the last few days. “Does Logan know about it, you going in heat, I mean?”

Max didn’t answer for a long time, so long that her companion turned to look at her. Finally she nodded. “I told him last year when I blew him off on our anniversary ‘cos I didn’t want him to see me like that.”

“He might have been able to help you.”

“He wouldn’t have taken advantage of me like that.”

Alec flinched at her accusatory tone, but didn’t bite. “What did he say when you told him.”

It was her turn to let out a hollow laugh. “Much the same as you.”

“Why don’t you believe it then? I know you think I’m talking out of my ass, but you think the sun shines outta his.”

“‘Cos it’s easy for you guys to talk. You don’t have to go through it. I don’t like usin’ someone ‘cos I can’t control myself. And I don’t like that I’m not choosy about who I’m with.”

“Better that it was me and not one of those gang guys in Sector 6.” There was no response, and he sighed again. “Max, I’m sorry you feel that way about it, but I’m not sorry I did it. I gave you something you needed and saved you from a bad situation. Do you know what those guys could have done to you?”

“I guess I should thank you for that,” she said grudgingly. “But I don’t get why you had to make me forget.”

“ ‘Cos you were beatin’ yourself up over something you had no control over. I couldn’t stand to see that. I couldn’t stand to see you hating yourself, feeling as though you’re worthless when you’re not.”

“And you didn’t think the scratches and hickeys were a dead giveaway?”

He chuckled. “Dukker pointed that out, actually. That’s why I told Original Cindy where I’d be and came up here. I knew you’d be after my hide.” He turned fully to look her in the eye. “Max, we can argue this thing all night, but we’d just be going around in circles. I helped you ‘cos you needed it, and I don’t think any less of you ‘cos of it. It’s time you accepted that it’s part of who you are. You’ll save yourself a lot of grief.” He stood to go.

Max waited until he was a few steps past her before speaking. “Did you get Dukker to wipe your memories too?”

Alec stopped, but didn’t turn around. “No.”

“Why? You wanted x-rated fantasies of us?”