the blood had started pounding in her ears at �Clean up the mess,
Scarlet Witch,� blocking out most of the noise in the room.
�Clean up the mess,� casually tossing the bloody pacemaker to her as if
it should be her privilege, sir, to get down on the floor next to her
leader�s latest show of ruthless excess and get gore all over her
costume.
She decided it was more likely that one of the lower-ranking mutants
should appear and offer to do the grisly work for her. And sure enough,
some little man she barely knew appeared through the door, unbidden, and
asked her if ma�am would like some help with that beastly business.
With a wan smile of gratitude for the nature of her power, she accepted
the man�s offer and, with a last sneer of disgust, handed him the bit of
machinery in her hand.
Which left her free to catch the end of Magneto�s orders to her
brother: �Tell Wolverine he has another assignment.�
She felt her pulse quicken for a moment at that, and an image of Logan
sprang instantly into her mind. Dark, brooding, fairly pulsating with
that aura of personal power, vitality, passion�
Not that Magneto wasn�t captivating in his own right, she acknowledged,
looking over at the man as he paced regally out of the room. More
classically handsome, and certainly, to take the easy pun, magnetic.
And possibly attracted to her, she thought, although he had yet to act
on it. She suspected it to be the reason that she was the only woman in
the top echelon of power, headed by such an otherwise old-world
sensibility.
In the top echelon of power, so that she could �clean up messes.� And
be frequently seen.
She wasn�t sure she could return the interest in kind, given his
prehistoric treatment of her, as if she were not also a powerful mutant,
and much more sensible than her brother or, please, Toad. So she had
been finding it unlikely that Magnus would get around to making the
overture. It was working so far, but she was sure that he would
eventually notice her hand in all the distracting coincidences that were
eating up his free time.
He did not seem the sort of man who would like the idea of being handled
in such a way.
Best, perhaps, to be out of the Savage Land before it came to that.
And, her cohorts quickly came to remind her, there were other reasons to
be away.
�Hey, Wanda!� Toad leered, almost slobbering�not, she thought, so
different from usual. �Got yourself out of cleanup detail, huh? Maybe
you should get out of that outfit anyway...I can see a bit of
monkey-skin on ya right there....� He reached up a hand toward her
breast, which she slapped away.
Her brother came to her defense, as always. At least he was good for
that. �Back off, Toad!� he roared, skulking across the room toward
them. �Haven�t I told you to keep your hands off her? Next time I�m
going to��
�Never mind, Pietro,� she sighed, with a light touch to his shoulder
that rendered him instantly still. �Let�s just go. I want to talk to
you privately anyway.�
�I�m all yours, Wanda,� he said, taking her arm with a last glower down
at Toad, who scampered back off into the shadows, where he belonged.
She shook her head, making her auburn curls dance around her shoulders.
There were definitely problems with being the only woman in the
neighborhood.
She turned her attention to her brother. He would be handsomer, she
thought, if his temper and white hair didn�t make him seem so severe.
Well, never mind that. �I heard the order,� she murmured in a
confidential tone. �It�s really come down to sending an assassin after
Xavier?�
�It looks like.�
�I was thinking,� she said carefully, �that maybe I should be the one to
go and give the order.�
�I�m quicker than you,� Pietro countered. �I think Magneto wants this
underway quickly. I can get to Wolverine in a blink�and anyway,� he
added with a frown, �he�s kind of a freak, Wanda. I don�t like the idea
of you getting too close to him.�
Or anyone but you, for that matter, Wanda thought. As protective as a
jealous boyfriend.
Not the first time that comparison had come to mind, in fact�but as
always, she shuddered it off. That would be ridiculous...it was only
her generalizing, after too much worry about Magneto and Toad.
She curled playfully against his arm. �C�mon, Pietro! I�ve been locked
up in here for too long. I need something to do that�s more interesting
than lounging around the compound. Please?�
�I love it when you beg,� he grinned, another of those strange frissons
that always made her nervous. �But no. He�s dangerous, and I�m faster
anyway.�
She shrugged her shoulders. �Not with that wrenched ankle, you�re not.�
�My wr�ow! Shit!� he cried, as he suddenly tumbled to the ground,
tripped by an unevenly laid floor tile. He shifted into a sitting
position and wrapped his hands around his left ankle, then glared
daggers up at her. �Dammit, Wanda!�
She tried to look ingenuous. �Pietro! Are you hurt?� She made a show
of looking over his injury with loving concern. �You poor thing, you
should go and rest that for a while. Of course, it�s out of the
question your going away. Don�t worry, I�ll make sure Wolverine gets
the message.�
�I�m sure you will,� Pietro growled. �You win, Wanda. You always do.
But be careful of him.�
�Deal,� she smiled, kissing him lightly on the forehead before she rose.
***
Logan lived alone, with Magneto�s blessing, in a cabin on the outskirts
of the compound, away from the gaggle of young mutants who had flocked
to the old man�s banner, hoping for revolution. Logan, himself, didn�t
have much room in his heart for that kind of idealism, for causes. He
was just happy not to be in Weapon X anymore, and to get paid.
And Magneto paid well.
Didn�t ever order enough beer from the mainland, though. Logan casually
poked one claw through the top of the last can and raised it to his
lips, in salute to the whatever-the-hell-it-was he had killed for trying
to knock over his house. Weird place, the Savage Land.
He caught a whiff of something strange, like perfume. He sniffed the
air for it. Yes, perfume, and not cheap stuff, either. Somebody was
coming. A woman, hopefully.
He leaned back against the outer wall of the cabin and waited for the
visitor to appear. After a few minutes, she did. A woman most
decidedly, in one of those silly skin-tight outfits Magneto had his
favorites wear. Red, hers was, hugging her body close in a way that
tempted him to forgive the idea of costumes. She was sweaty from the
long walk, glistening and just slightly out of breath. He smiled but
hid it behind the beer can.
�Logan?� she asked.
�That would be me.�
�I have a message for you from Magneto.� Her voice was low and
throaty. Better and better.
�Huh. Usually he sends that cabin boy of his. Quicksilver.�
She crossed her arms in front of her, but looked like she was trying not
to laugh. �My brother.�
�Oops.� He snickered, took another drink.
She stepped up onto the porch and stood next to him. �Don�t worry about
it,� she grinned.
She hadn�t overdone it with the perfume, and it was a subtle brand�a
good thing, too, or standing this close to her would be choking him.
The joys of unusually sharp senses. �The message?� he prompted her.
�He wants a hit on Charles Xavier. You�re to come by the compound for
debriefing and transportation.�
�Xavier.� Logan scanned his memory. �That telepath who used to be
Magneto�s partner?� She nodded, and he growled. �Not an easy hit, a
telepath. It�ll cost him extra.�
�He�ll pay it.� She leaned in toward him, and he watched her full mouth
whisper, �And I�ll pay the same, if you�ll take an extra job after this
one�s done. Get me off this island, and help me disappear.�
He shook his head. �I�m not a smuggler.�
�You�re the closest I�ve got. Please?� She raised her pretty brows
expectantly, as if she was used to that word being the end of the
conversation.
�Hmph.� He swigged the last of his beer. �What did you say your name
was?�
�I didn�t. I�m the Scarlet Witch. Wanda.�
Logan laughed. �Then you�d have to pay me double, darlin�. Not even
the peons get back off this rock without permission, let alone one of
Magneto�s favorites.�
�A little more favorite than I�d like,� she confided, pressing in even
closer to him. �Please.�
Why did she think that piece of information was helpful? It made it
worse. �You don�t last long in my business,� he said at last, �by
throwing over your employer for a pretty piece of tail.�
A frown darkened her lovely face, and a hopeless look. Disappointment,
too, and he realized from the subtle change in her scent that money
wasn�t all she�d planned to offer him in exchange for his help. Oh,
for�why couldn�t he learn to say no to women in trouble?
�All right,� he growled, taking one of her soft hands in one of his
rough ones. �I�ll see what I can do. No promises.�
Her face lit up at that, and she jumped him, throwing her slender arms
around his neck.
He breathed her in, felt every inch of her pressed up against him, and
he knew he would have to take her up on the offer she had yet to
verbalize. He grabbed her by the cheeks�such a thin layer of fabric
between him and the skin�and pulled her closer against his swelling
member. Sank his teeth, gently this time, into the base of her throat.
Yes, she was willing to do it his way, she approved. She clawed at his
back, lifted her head to expose more of her neck to him, with a deep
sigh. He grabbed the long hair at the nape of her neck with one hand,
pulling her head down to meet his for a hard kiss. The other hand
roughly explored the contours of her body for a minute, until that layer
of fabric became too much of a nuisance, and he pushed her back just a
couple of inches, looking for...buttons?
No. Zippers? How the hell�no, he was out of patience for this. He
grabbed her again, and with a quick spinning motion that made her yelp
in surprise he threw her back against the wall and pinned her there with
his left hand. His right he drew back, closing his fingers into a fist,
and one shining claw emerged from the skin.
She gasped, and he could feel her heart beating faster. With all due
care, he slipped the length of adamantium into the fabric, edge side up,
and with a single slicing motion upward, made an easy cut through the
flimsy material up to the throat. He held the point of his claw just
beneath her chin for a second, since she seemed to like that�oh yes,
look at that tiny smile play across her face�before retracting it so
that he could use both hands to open up the costume.
The rug didn�t quite match the drapes�brown hair, not auburn. He
reached into it and beneath, holding her in place again with his left
hand as he explored her with the right. She rolled her hips forward for
him, panting, staring eagerly into his eyes. He half-kissed, half-bit
her mouth, then carried that down the side of her neck and onto her
right breast�lingering here, pulling harder with tongue and teeth at the
light brown nipple�and then back up again. All the while pumping his
two middle fingers inside her, stroking outside with the thumb, until
her legs threatened to go weak under all her writhing. She was
extraordinarily wet, a perk for him; he would keep smelling her on him
for days, carry her scent with him like a memento.
He grabbed her again and turned her to face the wall. As she raised her
hands to brace herself, his quickly released him from his now too-tight
jeans, then grabbed her hips and pulled her back onto him. She cried
out, a bit too loudly this time�it wouldn�t do to call some freak of
nature down on them just now. He reached up one hand to cover her
mouth, and again this seemed to please her. Her eyes rolled back, then
closed, and she licked and kissed at his confining fingers. He pumped
into her hard and then harder, wild with sensation, his free hand
clenching into her soft skin, harder, faster, harder�
Stop. His senses exploded, sent a tremor through his body that he felt
echoed in hers. She gave a last, soft moan as he released her mouth and
slowly stroked both hands, one last time, down the length of her body
before he withdrew.
She turned slowly, and propped her back against the wall as if afraid
she would collapse. Her skin was glowing with exertion and pleasure,
and as far as scent was concerned the two of them were still one, the
musks mingling on their skins. He took in a deep breath of it and
smiled.
She smiled back. �We ought to head for the compound soon,� she sighed.
�He doesn�t like to be kept waiting.�
He nodded. �Sorry about yer costume,� he grinned. �Will there be
trouble if you show up wearing something of mine?�
�Probably!� Then she said, with a strange twinkle in her eye, �But I�m
sure you must have something like a sewing repair kit, in your cabin
somewhere.�
And it turned out, in fact, that he did, much to his own surprise.