Original
Cindy turned to Herbal, "Have you ever noticed," she began,
"how
my homegirl goes crazy every month, just 'bout the same time?"
Sketchy opened his mouth just as Cindy pointed her finger at him.
"And don't you even try to lay that tired old PMS bullshit on me!
This ain't about
Max
getting bitchy every 28 days...it's all about my girl going from
borderline
Femi-Nazi to a little freaker, trying to get her groove on!"
Herbal
nodded
sagely, "'Tis something deepah here, but all manners of all tings will
be
well..." Original Cindy rolled her eyes and glanced toward the
bar,
"Does
that look like all things are well?" she asked. The three friends
looked
over at Max, surrounded by the usual riffraff that hung out at the bar.
She
was laughing, flashing her jewel-like eyes around the room, sending out
signals
to every available man in the place. Herbal just shook his
head.
Cindy sat back in her chair, "Exactly," she said, "that's not
the Max I
know."
Max looked across the room at her friends. They all looked so down,
and
she knew why. It was getting harder to explain her actions when she
went
into heat, she couldn't let them know too much, or they might
accidentally
give her away. She hadn't planned on this happening, she had just come
in to hang with her friends from Jam Pony, and the it had hit her from out
of nowhere. Now she was closed in on all sides by willing male flesh,
and it was almost too much to bear. Her body was crying out for
something she had never had, something she had never allowed herself to
follow through. Max had been able to keep control ever since the heat
started a few years back, but she knew she was at the edge tonight.
"Careful, girl," she thought, "or this could end badly."
The animal instinct hidden in her DNA was trying to take over, she wasn't
even attracted to any of these men, but her body told her it was time to
breed. Her convictions wavered....then she picked the Alpha male from
among the crowd of admirers and made her way to the dance floor.
Lying alone in his bed, Logan reflected on the past few months and
how
much everything had changed. His confinement to the wheelchair was at
the top of the list. His ex-wife showing up out of the blue. The
incident at the genetics conference. And Max, of course. He
wasn't sure what there was between them. He knew how he felt, but had
never found the right time
to
broach the subject with Max. Logan heaved a sigh and reached for the
syringe
next to the bed, it was time for another injection. Just last week he
had
come across a paper published on the Internet about how surgery
combined
with gene therapy had cured some paraplegics. After researching the
doctor involved, Logan had decided that he had nothing to lose and made an
appointment to be screened for the surgery. He hadn't told anyone
about his decision, just in case it didn't work. The surgery had gone
well, it was very minor, considering what it promised to accomplish.
That was two days ago, and he felt no pain from the wound on his back, but
the gene therapy / hormone injections were another story. The liquid
itself was thick, syrupy, and it bruised where he injected himself.
But after only two days, he swore he could feel some sensitivity coming back
into his legs. Earlier, he had realized that his feet were cold.
His feet hadn't been cold since he was shot...so that must be a good sign.
Logan slid the needle into his right thigh and slowly depressed the plunger.
He gritted his teeth in
response
to the pain, then gasped as he realized that the shot hurt. It hurt!
He could feel the thick liquid forcing it's way into his tissues....
Max felt like she was slowly being crushed to death. The Alpha male
she had chosen to dance with was huge, and he obviously had never heard of
personal space, because he was pressed tight against her. The hidden
animal
in her was excited by such a show of power, but Max, herself, was
repulsed
by this man. She willed herself to push away from him, to walk away,
to exert her human side and bring herself under control. But Alpha
males don't like being rejected. He reached out his massive hand and
caught her by the upper arm, pulling her back against him. "Where
do you think you're going?" he growled. Surprised by his anger,
Max just stared at him. "You think I'm done with you?" he
asked. "You teased and teased back at the bar and now you aren't
going anywhere until I say you can!" Max felt her rage building
up inside, but she couldn't let it out in front of everyone. If she
dropped this punk, then everyone would know she wasn't just a normal girl.
But what the hell, if she had to put up with him much longer she might slip
back into her subservient role. And who knew what might happen then?
"Let go of me!" Max snarled, pushing him away. As he
stumbled back, caught off guard, Max fled the dance floor. She headed
for the door, slowing only to grab her
helmet
from the rack next to the bar. Throwing open the door, she was
out
in the night, making a beeline for her baby, the Ninja. Behind her,
the
door
crashed open, and big boy was fast on her tail. Max glanced around, no
one in sight, so she slowed a bit, waiting. As he grabbed for her, she
spun
around and tossed him easily over her shoulder. Max leaned down,
savoring
the stunned look in his eyes. She squeezed his throat lightly with one
hand and whispered, "No means no, sooner you learn that...then the
sooner I can stop kicking your ass!" Big boy squirmed a bit,
until Max applied a little more pressure to his windpipe. "Are
you ready to quit now?" she asked sweetly. He gave her a sullen
look, but slowly nodded. "Good," she said, "now don't
ever let me see you hanging out here again. Got it?" He
nodded again and Max released his throat. He scrambled away from her,
coughing, then got to his feet and ran. Max grinned and climbed on her
baby. Revving it up, she thought for a moment about where to go.
The heat was still on her and Kendra had her man back at the apartment
tonight. "Well," Max thought, "I can always go to
Logan's...I know I'll be safe there." She peeled out of the
parking lot and headed uptown.
Logan sat on the edge of his bed, stretching out his legs one at a
time.
He was grinning like a maniac and wanted to just get up and dance, but he
knew that he had lost a bit of muscle over the last two months. His
thigh
muscles felt incredibly tight and his calves were in knots. But he
welcomed
the pain, knowing that the deep ache in his muscles was a miracle, it was a
physical reminder that he was whole again. Logan finally couldn't wait
any longer, he pulled the hated wheelchair over to him. Using it like
a walker, he slowly stood up, balancing his weight between the chair and his
own legs. Shakily, he took his first step in two months. Then
another, making his way across the room. Logan was glad he had kept up
on his physical therapy since the shooting, if he hadn't, well, he might've
been in a heap on the carpet before the first step. He kept going,
crossing the room back and forth, feeling the strength flooding back into
his legs bit by bit. Logan laughed like a child, he couldn't wait to
see Max's face when he showed her that he could walk again.
Max pulled up in front of Logan's building. Shutting down the engine,
she
removed
her helmet and looked up, seeing the lights on in his apartment. She
drifted for a moment, thinking back to the night she and Logan had met.
He
had been so surprised when she went out his window, landing on her feet far
below. She had been equally surprised when Logan had showed up at Jam
Pony, looking for her. Original Cindy loved to tease Max about her
rich 'boyfriend' since Max usually bristled at the word. But, when she
was
alone,
she had to admit that she felt something for Logan. She wasn't sure
what
it was that she felt, but she was sure of one thing, it scared the hell
out
of her. Max dismounted from her baby and headed into the
building, trying hard not to turn her full attention on the doorman.
Poor old guy would probably drop dead if she came onto him. She
entered the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor, hoping she
could ride to the top alone. When the doors opened onto Logan's floor,
Max heard music coming from his apartment. She groaned, hoping that
Logan didn't have company, she just couldn't deal with that right now.
Forcing the door open, she entered without knocking, calling out,
"Logan?
It's Max...where are you?". She heard a noise from the living
room and headed in that direction, hoping that Logan hadn't fallen from his
chair
again. He hated to appear helpless in front of anyone. Max poked
her
head
around the corner and came face to face with Logan, he was sitting in
his
chair just inside the doorway. "Gotcha!" he laughed, rolling
backwards
a
few feet. Max had jumped a little and now she blushed, embarrassed
that he had caught her. Logan spun his chair a few times, "I was
just about to
page
you," he said, "and now here you are! Is it luck? Or
fate?" Max
frowned
at him, he was acting strangely...way too upbeat for the Logan she knew.
"It was neither," she answered, "I just didn't have anywhere
else to go
that
I knew was safe." Logan's eyes darkened, "Are you OK?
You're not in any trouble, are you?" "Yes...I mean no,
I...well, I;m mostly OK and not
in
any trouble that I can't handle." Logan looked puzzled. Max
sighed and
said,
"It's the same trouble I'm in every month when the moon is full....get
it?
I'm in heat and I can't be out there right now. I nearly got into it
at the bar and I have to just lay low until this passes." Now
Logan looked a little more subdued to Max, she thought he was embarrassed by
her being in heat, but
that
wasn't it at all. Logan was down because he realized that he couldn't
surprise
Max with his newly recovered ability to walk. If she realized
that
he was whole again, then she wouldn't feel safe with him. He decided
to
wait until morning, until Max had come out of heat, to tell her his good
news.
They spent the rest of the night sitting in Logan's living room,
talking
about everything under the sun. Logan opened up about his family and
his ex-wife. Max spoke of Manticore in more detail than she ever had
before.
They found out quite a bit about each other that they hadn't known
before.
Max held herself together admirably, with only a few slips. Once, when
the animalistic urges became too strong to hold in check, Max leaned over
and placed her hands on Logan's chest. She unbuttoned the top two
buttons on his shirt and slipped her hands inside. Logan held very
still, and spoke softly to her, trying to call her back from wherever the
rational Max had
gone.
She whimpered as she stroked his skin, "Please Logan, just let me touch
you for a moment...I need to feel flesh against me...I won't hurt you...just
let me work this out of my system." Logan took Max by the wrists
and said,
"That's
enough, Max...this isn't you...just stop." Max squirmed on the
couch,
the
hunger plain on her face. Finally, she withdrew her hands and sat
back,
panting. "Sorry," she said, obviously embarrassed, "I thought
I had it under control." "It's OK," Logan answered,
"I'm going to go make us something to eat...I'll be back."
He rolled out of the living room, tortured by what he had just witnessed.
He would've given anything to have Max approach him like that, but not
during her heat, it would've been nothing but physical, and he wanted more
than that from her. He set about the business of preparing food and
forced himself not to think of what had almost happened in the other room.
If he had been any weaker...well, who knows where it might have led?
Max sat on the couch, overwhelmed with emotions. Embarrassment, lust,
sorrow, and many more all twisted inside her. She thought about how
she felt as she touched Logan's bare skin. How the flame of excitement
had flared inside her body. How much she had wanted him to hold her,
to touch her like she had touched him. Her thoughts were skipping over
all the times she had seen Logan, all the way back to the first time.
She realized that she had felt that flame burn a little brighter each time
she had been close to him. It was slowly growing stronger over time.
Suddenly it all became clear to her...this was what love felt like...she
loved Logan. Max gripped her head in her hands...how was she supposed
to deal with this? Every day was a timebomb to her, she never knew
when someone would show up and try to rip her world apart. And ever
since the incident with Brynn and Lydecker, Max had been worried that she
would develop some horrible disease. That the genome would betray her
like it had Brynn, and several others in the group. Could she bring
Logan even deeper into this than he already was? Would she want him to
be in harm's way just so they could be together? Would Logan even feel
the same about her? Max felt like her head was splitting open.
Logan rolled through the doorway with a tray across the arms of his
wheelchair. He saw Max with her head bowed and stopped just inside the
room. "Max? Are you OK?" he asked. She looked up
and saw such concern on his face, her heart swelled with hope...hope that
this wonderful man just might love her in return. Just as quick as it
had come, the heat suddenly fled. The urgency to breed was gone, but
Max was surprised to find that the flame of love still burned within her
heart. She stood, crossed the room and took the tray of food from
Logan. She knelt in front of his chair, laid her head in his lap and
started to sob like a child. Logan's hands shook as he placed them on
the back of Max's head, stroking her hair. He consoled her as best he
could, running his trembling hands over her hair the whole time.
"Careful, Logan," Max half sobbed, half laughed, "you'll make
me purr." Logan tilted her face to him, "What is going on
with you? I've never seen you cry...is it the heat?"
"No, that's over. I'm done for another month....but I'm crying
because I'm confused...I'm feeling something I never thought I would ever be
lucky enough to feel. And I'm scared...I'm scared this feeling will
kill me...it's so strong...I don't know what to do..." Logan
looked deep into her eyes. He said, "Well, you should do what
feels right to you...do what you want to do...you always have before.
Why should this be any different?" Max realized he was right,
there was no other way to do this except to go right ahead and do it,
consequences be damned. She slipped her hand around the back of
Logan's neck and pulled him down to her. As her lips touched his, Max
felt an electric jolt run through her body, it was like nothing she had ever
felt before. Softly, she kissed Logan, expanding her senses until she
could hear his heart beating faster, smell the confusion and excitement
leaking from his pores. Logan broke the kiss first, looked into her
eyes and asked, "Is this really you? It's not the heat? You
want this?" Max blushed and replied, "I want this more than
you'll ever know." She climbed onto Logan's lap and kissed him,
parting her lips slightly and feeling him respond. They moved slowly,
dreamily, stroking each other's face, lips, hair. Max gasped at the
sensations that rocked through her body. Marveling at the fact that
she was ready to give everything to this man. She dragged her lips
over his ear, whispering, "Logan, I love you. I realize now that
I've been falling in love with you since the minute we met. You mean
everything to me and I want to be with you...only you." Logan
wrapped his arms around Max and buried his face in her hair, "God Max,
I love you, too...you don't know how close I've come to telling you.
But I was afraid you didn't feel the same. It's been killing me to act
normal around you when all I wanted to do was pour out my heart."
Max laughed and hugged him back, so happy that her heart was about to burst.
"Wait," Logan said, "there's something else...stand up for a
second...I've got a surprise for you..." Max stood up and backed
off a few steps, watching Logan curiously. "Now close your
eyes." he commanded, "and no peeking!" She covered her
eyes with both hands, grinning, waiting for her surprise. Logan
carefully raised himself from his chair, pushing it a few feet away, amazed
at how easy it was to stand. "OK," he said, "open your
eyes...". Max peeked from between her fingers, gasped and reached
for Logan. He held up his hand, "No, just watch."
Moving carefully, he took a step toward her, then another, until he was
encircled in her arms. Max was shocked, she kissed him deeply and
cried for joy, "I...I can't believe it! When did this
happen?". Logan smiled down at her, "Last night, just before
you got here. I had experimental surgery a few days ago, paired with
gene therapy...and, well, you can see the results!" Max grew
quiet, "You were...fully functional last night? And you didn't
let me..." she paused, embarrassed, "you know....even though you
could've?" Logan brushed a strand of hair from Max's face,
"No," he answered, "I didn't. It would've been taking
advantage of you...and that's the last thing I wanted to do. I didn't
tell you when you got here because I was afraid you wouldn't feel safe with
me. And now, here we are, standing, holding one another...and we have
something special between us...this is what I wanted. Not just the
physical relationship...but the emotional one also." Max laid her
head against Logan's chest, listening to her heartbeat mesh with his.
"I don't deserve someone like you, Logan. You're too good for
me..." "No, Max," he replied, "I'm not good
enough...but we have the rest of our lives to prove we're good enough for
each other..."
The sun rose over the buildings as they held one another. The world
didn't
seem so bad anymore, now that they had each other...
