Photo courtesy of Supernaturalfan.net

*****

When Alec was inside of her Max felt safe. She knew it was foolish and naive, to equate the primal act of sex ... mating ... with security and love. After all, how many women had Alec slept with in his life? And how many guys had she done the big nasty with? Sex was just ... sex.

However, tonight, safe and warm in the soft hotel bed with a cold winter Seattle storm raging outside, the feel ... the sight ... of her X5 lover as he rhythmically thrust into her deep and hard, eyes closed, breathing fast, and lower lip caught between his teeth to stifle the little sounds of pleasure she knew were rising in his throat, made Max feel just that -- safe.

It was a false notion, of course ... safety. Not with a demon, Lydecker, and probably Ames White after them, plus the whole Pulse and plague that was headed their way. However, just for a few minutes ... while Alec’s dick was the center of the world for both of them ... she could let her mind rest.

It was nice ... while it lasted.

But then she came, and so did Alec (releasing that little moan in spite of himself) and the real world came rushing back in.

“Don’t worry,” Alec said softly awhile later as they lay in each other’s arms in the dark watching the play of raindrops and passing car headlights on the half-curtained window. He was stroking her hair, absently, her head cradled in the crook of his shoulder, the length of their naked bodies touching as the dampness of their fluids dried on the sheets. It was cold in the room, but they’d kicked the covers back, their transgenic bodies not minding the chill. However, now Alec reached down and drew up one of the light blankets, tucking the corner under his arm and covering them both, as if that would somehow keep at bay whatever was out there after them.

“I can’t help it,” Max said after awhile, realizing that a lie wouldn’t get past Alec’s keen senses.

“He doesn’t even know who we are,” Alec said softly, “We’re total strangers.”

“Not if Lydecker passed on his information about us,” Max pointed out, turning to look into Alec’s eyes. A passing headlight’s beam penetrated the window reflecting a flash of emerald deep within his dilated pupil and he blinked. “Logan ... this Logan ... could know, and so could White.”

“Look,” Alec said. “It’s a good plan. We get inside of Cale Enterprises just like we got inside of Manticore. I download information, feed it to Talon, and plant a virus that allows us access. Their technology is good in this universe, but it’s no match for ours.”

“Only this time I’m the one who’s going in,” Max said firmly.

“No way.”

“The temporary job is for a secretary, Alec.”

“Hey, I can type.”

“You know I’m right. Besides. Lydecker has a lot more photos of you, not to mention Dean, than he does of me. You’re far more likely to be recognized. I’ll just be an anonymous addition to the secretarial pool. Once I’m inside, I’ll access a computer, do what needs to be done, and get out.”

“Max, you could never be anonymous,” Alec said with a little grin as his lips chased a small trail across her cheek and down her neck. “You’re too beautiful,” he murmured against her breast. “Logan will notice. So will White, if he sees you. Me ... I can tone down the looks and a guy won’t be ogled like you will be.”

“Wanna bet?” Max teased, guiding his mouth to a nipple as a shiver ran through her body that wasn’t caused by the coolness of the air. “Every female in that building will notice you, as well as the gay guys.”

Alec raised his head so he could look at her. “Max,” he said firmly, pursing his lips. “No.”

“Yes,” she said, her voice taking on a certain tone, the one that she only used when she felt it necessary to remind Alec just who was in charge, at least so long as the two of them remained together. It was part of their unspoken deal ... that he could leave whenever he wanted to but that so long as he stayed with her, in the end she called the shots ... was the commander. And Alec wouldn’t leave ... not over this.

“Can we go in together?” he asked calmly, as always the one to compromise, part of the way he operated ... got his way ... manipulated ...

“Which would mean we’re twice as likely to get caught,” Max pointed out, not falling for his tricks. “No. You wait on the outside, just in case I--”

“--need your ass rescued?”

“Something like that,” Max said smugly as she sensed the win and once again pulled his mouth to her breast. She also invitingly spread her legs and clasped cool fingers around his re-hardening dick, a reward for cooperation her lover accepted. Pressure, entering, a faint grunt, tingling, moist stretching, sliding, and satisfied fullness ...

“I should call you ‘Tom’ as in tomcat,” Max murmured as she worked his body. “You’re insatiable.”

“Then I’d have to call you ‘Kitten,’” Alec said, his voice low and husky in her ear, “or worse, ‘Pussy.’” She could feel his grin against the side of her face even as his breathing increased in tempo along with his thrusts.

When Alec was inside of her Max felt safe ...

*****

Alec didn’t shave every day -- not any more. Of course back in his youth when just out of Manticore he’d shaved every morning and sometimes again in the evening. Soldiers were supposed to be clean shaven -- an ingrained way of life -- and it had felt odd not having a smooth face.

However, little by little, his lifestyle had caught up with the reality of his freedom and X5-494 had begun slacking off just a bit with the shaving, just as he’d slacked off on bed making and clothes folding. Now, although far from a slob, Alec did enjoy being able to feel at home sporting a bit of dark blond stubble, maybe two day’s growth ... three at the most ... before reaching for a disposable razor.

Finishing up the last bit of whisker on his right cheek, the X5 looked into the steamy mirror and tilted his chin, making sure he hadn’t missed a spot. Of course by nightfall he’d have stubble again, his beard growing in thicker and faster at age 28 than it had at 22. But it would do for now.

“Do you think Talon gets lonely?” Max asked from the shower where she was still washing her hair, Alec having finished his ablutions a few minutes ago and stepping out leaving her the rest of the hot water.

“No,” Alec said without hesitation.

“How do you know?”

“Because I’d ... know.”

“How?”

“He’d tell me, or at least let me feel the emotion.”

“You can do that? Feel what Talon feels?”

“If I want to,” Alec replied as he wiped his face with a cool damp washcloth.

“That must be weird sometimes,” Max said, poking her head out from behind the shower curtain. “I’ve never really thought about it, but in a way, Talon lives in your head, doesn’t he?”

“Only when I let him,” Alec replied cheerfully as he reached for the toothpaste.

“That’s kind of creepy,” Max said. “I mean, what if we’re making love and he--”

“Doesn’t happen,” Alec said easily, but not yet putting the toothbrush in his mouth. He glanced up at her in the mirror. “And it’s not creepy,” he added, his voice deepening a little, emphasizing his point. “In fact, I kind of like it ... havin’ a connection with my brother.”

“Talon knows part of him is Ben?” Max said, one dark eyebrow rising as she reached for a towel.

“On a factual level he does,” Alec said easily. “But I don’t think he realizes completely what that means. He knows a piece of him matches a piece in me, and he likes it. He’s not lonely so long as I’m around, and I’m always ... around.”

“But when we make love--”

“Max, I have to really try hard to contact Talon, or else be really scared. It’s not easy, and it doesn’t happen accidentally. It’s telepathy, I suppose ... or at least complicated empathy ... but it’s still damn difficult.”

“How do you know when Talon wants to talk to you?” Max asked, now sounding more curious than freaked out much to Alec’s relief.

He grinned. “Knock knock?” he tried.

“Funny,” she said, stepping out of the shower.

“No, really,” he said. “When Talon is tryin’ to reach me and wants me to ‘phone home’ so to speak I have to stop and concentrate, then I just kind of get the gist of it ... if he needs me to get on the computer or use the micro transmitter. It’s not like he talks in words in my head, and it’s not like he can see through my eyes or me through his.”

“So, when I’m naked Talon can’t ... see me?”

Alec laughed out loud, the thought so absurd he’d never even imagined it before. “No. And he wouldn’t care if he could. So far as Talon’s concerned you’re just family and someone who keeps my ass safe and satisfied.

“Satisfied?” Max said coyly, her hands coming around his bare chest and tugging at the top of the white towel covering his loins.

“Very,” Alec said huskily, taking her hands in his as the towel dropped to the floor. “And I wish we had time, but Cale Enterprises opens at 9 a.m. sharp and it won’t do for their new temporary secretary to be late.”

“Right,” Max agreed with a heavy sigh and one wistful brush of her fingers through pubic hair and across his half-aroused cock before stepping back and reaching for the dark blue dress hanging on a hangar by the bathroom door.

“Just remember, Your Leadership,” Alec said quietly as she wriggled into the dress and he helped her with the buttons on the back (underwear to follow later). “I won’t be far away. Oh, and also remember, you haven’t been in love with ‘Eyes Only’ in years, no matter how young and good lookin’ the guy is in this universe.”

“You’re an idiot sometimes,” Max murmured softly as she turned into Alec’s arms, tangled fingers in his hair, and reassured him with a kiss even as her hand began to roam again, impressing upon her man that he was indeed the only one who was “hers.”

*****

“Headache?” Max asked lightly as Alec squinted into the sun.

He shrugged. “A little.”

“Take your meds?”

His eyes shifted toward her. “Double dose this mornin’ Mom. Satisfied?”

Max scowled as she adjusted the strap of her handbag over one shoulder. “You goin’ into a bad spell? You didn’t say anything earlier.”

“My mind was on other things earlier,” Alec quipped, his eyes traveling over her form fitting dress. “And you know that once in awhile we have ‘em ... rough spells.”

“We can do this another day,” she said seriously.

“I’m all right.”

“You always say that, even when you’re not,” she countered.

Alec made a wry face. “I took six tryptophan tablets an hour ago. I’ll be fine.”

“And if you have a seizure?”

“I won’t.”

“Alec, you don’t know that. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. I get spells too. Remember that time in Tuscon when we were on a job and I got the shakes so bad you had to carry me back to the van? It took me three days to get back to normal. I’m just saying, if we need to go back to the hotel tell me now. Don’t wait until everything is all fucked up like you usually do.”

“You lookin’ for an excuse to avoid Logan?” Alec snapped. “Afraid you’ll see the guy he once was and old sparks might be rekindled? The last was said with a bitterness that surprised her.

Max turned to him, her mouth slightly open. “You’re really and truly jealous! After all this time ... all these years ... you’re still jealous of Logan!”

“Am not,” Alec said, sounding like a petulant little boy.

“Unbelievable,” Max snorted, giving his arm a hard slap as she once again shouldered her purse and headed for the glass and steel front doors of Cale Enterprises.

“Keep in contact,” Alec called after her, touching the micro transmitter behind his ear that was identical to the one Max was wearing. “And holler if you need me.”

“I won’t,” Max said under her breath, still miffed that Alec was being so childish, not to mention truly worried about the way his hands had been shaking.

*****

The building was 30 stories high with Logan’s office and penthouse suite located (of course) on the top floor. Max had checked employee records with Talon’s help and it hadn’t been hard to find out that Logan’s personal secretary -- a Ms. Mandy Ryan -- was due in at 7:30 a.m. A little more detective work had revealed Mandy’s home address, and it hadn’t taken much to swing by the night before, follow her as she went to a local bar, and slip a little something into her drink that assured Ms. Ryan wouldn’t be leaving her apartment (or her bathroom) this morning -- all of this accomplished while Alec had been pool sharking in the back room to get them some operating cash.

“Max Guevera,” Max said, flashing a false temp agency I.D. at the front desk. “Mr. Cale requested a secretary.”

“We usually fill those positions from our own pool,” the guard replied -- a burly young fellow with a crewcut and suspicious eyes who looked to be ex-military. “Don’t use agencies much. Confidentiality and all.”

Max’s mouth had gone dry, but she flashed her brightest smile. “Please,” she said coyly. “I haven’t had many jobs. They sent me over here and if I just go back I might not get any more work this week. I really need the money.”

“I suppose you can go up and talk to the big boss,” the guard said, like most straight men unable to resist the charms of such a beautiful young woman. He handed her a security badge. “Take the service elevator,” he said, indicating a bank of doors at the far end of the mezzanine. “Room 304 is Mr. Cale’s main office.”

“Thank you,” Max said brightly, accepting the badge and turning high heels toward the elevator.

You in? Alec’s voice said softly in her ear.

“Almost,” Max replied as she rode up the elevator.

Let me know when it’s set.

“Roger. Now shut up and let me do my job.”

*****

Alec leaned against the bright blue Ninja motorcycle in the parking garage, his mind for once not on money, pleasure, food, or any other of the myriad abundances this pre-Pulse world had to offer ... things he’d only read about or imagined in his own universe (like grocery stories with shelves actually full, places like Wal-Mart where one could seemingly buy anything, and gasoline only $3 a gallon).

Hazel-green eyes narrowing against the glare of the morning sun shining through the apertures and casting shadows on the floor, he tried to ignore the increasing pain in his head. He couldn’t afford a “spell” right now. No way. Not with Max in the middle of a mission and him as her only backup. In the end, though, he gave up and glanced away at the soothing darkness of a far corner, the ramping up migraine too powerful. His fingers then closed around the bottle of tryptophan in the pocket of his black leather coat. He’d already had six that morning, but he had to do something. With a sigh, he took out the bottle, opened it, and tipped another six pills into his hand that he swallowed dry. Maybe it would help ...

Alec, Max’s voice sounded in his ear. I’m on the top floor.

“And I’m on the bottom, in the garage,” Alec responded. “With the bikes. If you need me, just call.”

The guards won’t let you up here. And Alec -- they’re armed.

The X5 smiled slightly in spite of the pain behind his eyes. “Don’t worry,” he said cheerfully. “Since when did a couple dozen goons ever stop me. I’m a goddamned supersoldier. Remember? If you need me, Max, I’m there.”

I know, Max softly replied, the two words as intimate as an “I love you,” and just as effective at making Alec believe he really could do the impossible if necessary. And once again, he leaned back against the bike to wait.

*****

When the man seated behind the big glass-topped desk raised his head and looked straight at her Max’s heart turned over. She’d told herself that she was prepared ... that he wouldn’t have an effect on her ... but this young version of Logan Cale looked so vibrant, alive, and handsome -- much the way he’d been when she’d first met him in 2019 -- that she wasn’t sure she could handle this. Blue-green eyes sparkled with good humor and enthusiasm from behind gold-rimmed spectacles as a wry smile quirked his lips. “Good morning,” Logan said politely, tipping his head slightly. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

Max blinked, for a second frightened, but then she realized Logan must have meant he’d been waiting for his replacement secretary and she relaxed. However, his next words sent an ice cold chill down her spine.

“It’s good to finally meet you, Max. You truly are beautiful, and don’t think I don’t appreciate that fact. I also understand you’re a good person at heart, so we can work with that. Know that -- even though you’re going to hate what’s going to happen -- in the long run you’re going to be serving a wonderful purpose ... saving worthy lives ... thousands of them in fact.”

Max didn’t even bother responding. Quick as a cat, she whirled and reached for the door, only to find it locked. Twisting the knob viciously did not good. It was steel ... impenetrable. Slowly, she turned back around and eyed the big plate glass window behind Logan’s desk that gave a panoramic view of the Seattle skyline from thirty stories up. That, of course, would be suicide. The fact she was contemplating such a leap frightened Max almost as much as her actual situation. Something really bad’s going to happen, the little premonitory voice in her head whispered. Get out. Now. Any way you can!

“How do you know my name?” she asked tightly. “How do you even know who I am?”

“The tapes from Manticore,” Logan said lightly, nodding at the half-turned screen of his computer where an image of herself stood frozen -- a photo taken during her first foray into Manticore posing as a child welfare agent.

“That still doesn’t explain how you know my name,” Max said.

“You mean because X5-452 really died many years ago in a Manticore lab?” Logan said easily. “Because you really don’t exist in this world? At least not in this timeline?”

“Lydecker told you that we’re from the future?” Max said huskily. “And you believed him?”

“I believed your breeding partner,” Logan said with an incongruously friendly smile. “The boy's quite persuasive. He’s the one who told the entire fantastic story to the Colonel. Lydecker has his doubts, but I don’t. I think the two of you are exactly who you say you are. You’re here to stop ‘The Pulse’ as you call it, and to stop the Breeding Cult ... the Familiars ...”

“How do you know about the Breeding Cult?” Max asked. But of course, she already had the answer. “Ames White?”

“My good friend and business partner,” Logan said cheerily. “He introduced me to the wonders of a superior race long ago.”

“And you’re one of them?” Max breathed, suddenly remembering that Alec was listening to every word ... was probably already on his way to her rescue. All she had to do was buy her “breeding partner” time.

“I wish,” Logan said, his voice tinged with true regret. “However, as a human who is willing to help put forward the greater good I’ll be protected from both the effects of The Pulse as well as the following plague. Which is where you come in, 452.”

Max understood now. “My blood,” she said. “It contains the antigen to fight off the plague. We didn’t need it in my world, but you might need it in this one.”

“We thought we’d lost the antigen when Sandeman’s original 452 died,” Logan said. “It was quite a dilemma for myself and my other human collaborators. However, then -- like a miracle -- you dropped in from out of the sky, or rather the future. You’re a gift to my people, Max ... a precious gift we’re going to take good care of.”

“I won’t help you,” she said levelly. “I’ll die first.”

“No, you won’t,” Logan said easily. “Where’s 494? Not far of course. Alec would never leave you.”

“What do you know about Alec?”

“That he’ll be good leverage over you,” Logan said with yet another obsequious smile. “However, more importantly, X5-494 also has an important role to play in my world. You might be the savior of my kind, but he’s going to be the savior of another.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Max snapped. “Alec will kill you if you try to take me away from him.”

“I have no doubt he’ll try,” Logan said. “In fact, I’m counting on it.” He looked at his watch. “He’ll be here any minute, won’t he? I mean, he was waiting in the parking garage, by the blue Ninja.” A series of security camera photos flashed on the screen showing Alec standing in the garage. Then another series of photos showed him running for the bank of elevators.”

“He’ll know it’s a trap,” Max said desperately, hoping the other X5 was smart enough to not throw his life away in a futile rescue attempt. “He’s heard everything you’re saying.”

“Not everything,” Logan said. “I’ve been jamming your signal for the past five minutes. Alec knows you’re in danger, but he doesn’t know the specifics. He’s just ... on his way.” The door of his office unlocked and popped open. “In fact,” Logan continued, “he’s here.”

“Alec, run!” Max screamed as the door began to open. However, as usual, her bullheaded lover had his own plan. Stepping through into the room, Alec straightened his shoulders and leveled the gun straight at Logan Cale. “Say goodbye to your old boyfriend,” he said calmly to Max. “We’re leavin’.”

“Ah, the lover to the rescue,” Logan said, not at all alarmed by the Glock pistol pointed straight at him. “How sweet. And of course 494 isn’t afraid to use a firearm, unlike the more psychologically damaged 452.”

“Max!” Alec said loudly, his hazel-green eyes on fire and jaw tightening with tension. “Go!”

“But there will be guards,” Max pointed out. “Lots of them. We can’t let him sound an alarm.”

“I know,” Alec said, raising the gun a fraction.

“You’re not going to kill him!”

“Watch me! Max, he’s already confessed everything! Take him out and we might stop The Pulse.”

“No, you won’t,” Logan said, still seemingly not at all alarmed by being held at gunpoint by a rogue X5. “In fact, plans are proceeding exactly as they should thanks to your help.”

“Our help?” Max said.

Logan shrugged. “I’ve got both of you now, which was the idea all along. As I said, Max. You’ve got a specific purpose, and so does Alec. You’re both needed. And I can’t thank you enough for delivering yourselves to me, all the way from the future no less.”

Alec’s finger tightened on the trigger. The sound of the gunshot was incredibly loud in the tightly closed office. The bullet was right on, hitting dead center between his prey’s eyes. However, instead of Logan’s head exploding in a bloody mess the man continued to smile at the two of them.”

“What the--!” Alec exclaimed, not understanding. And then his eyes went to the small ceiling projector and he understood all too well. “Fuck!” he cried out. “It’s a fuckin’ holograph!”

“That’s right,” the image of Logan said cheerfully as the hiss of gas sounded around them and a light vapor poured from tiny nozzles set high in the walls.

Alec reached for the door behind him but of course it was locked again. Kicking as hard as he could, he tried to dislodge it from the hinges, but even X5s can’t break through solid steel.

“Gotcha,” Logan Cale’s gleeful laugh chortled ... the last thing Max heard as she fell against Alec, he clutched her protectively, and the two of them crumpled to the floor.

*****

Alec woke up in a cage -- oddly enough not an uncommon occurrence in his life. Ever since he’d been born humans had been afraid of him ... wanted to control him ... cage him ... kill him ...

“Max,” he said out loud, the word husky from the dryness in his throat. Turning over slowly, he realized he was lying on a metal floor, heading resting on one arm. Dimly lit, the cell was completely bare, not so much as a toilet or a bunk.

“She can’t hear you,” a familiar voice spoke from the other side of the bars. “We removed the transceivers. “It’s just you and me now, Alec.”

Which is when the X5 began to truly feel afraid. How the hell does Logan know my name ... Max’s name ...? And then he realized the truth -- but it didn’t make him feel any better. “You were the one in the Raptor,” he said. “You were the other one of us who came through with the spell.”

Logan Cale, or rather Y-21, grinned and moved his wheel chair closer to the bars of the cage.

“But how?” Alec asked, truly not understanding. “Max and me and Talon jumped back to the past ‘cause of my DNA. But you--” He shook his aching head, even as he pushed himself to a sitting position. “And why the fuck are you in a wheelchair?” he added.

“You’re asking the wrong questions,” Logan said. “You should be asking what the fuck I want with you, Alec. And believe me, you really should be concerned about that. Quite concerned.”

The Y-unit in the chair in front of him still looked vaguely like the far more youthful Logan Alec had been confronting in the office earlier. However, this creature’s face was lined with wrinkles, his hair white, thinning, balding on top and at the temples, his mouth a dry slash of a line, his eyes opaque and squinting behind the lenses of his glasses. The hands, too, were those of an old man ... gnarled ... crooked with arthritis. It was as if Logan had aged not just the 15 or 20 years that separated him from his more youthful self in this universe, but rather his body had leaped forward decades.

“Progeria,” Alec breathed. “You’ve got progeria. The curse of the X5s. But how? I thought the Y-units were a different breed from us X’s.”

“We are,” Logan said. “But the strain of the implant on my human DNA is taking its toll. I wasn’t lucky enough to have my DNA manipulated in the embryonic stage, Alec -- like you. My adult chromosomes are being destroyed by the neurological side effects of the implant and the genetic alterations Manticore tried to make on my body. Unlike you, I don’t have the DNA of a cat to help me out, or the advanced immune system to help with healing that can only come from a lifetime of slow maturing.” He leaned forward in the wheelchair. “I’m not stable like you are, Alec -- unfair as that seems.”

“Doesn’t seem unfair to me,” Alec quipped. “In fact, the words ‘divine retribution’ come to mind. Where’s Max?”

“Max is safe,” Logan said. “And she’ll continue to be safe for the rest of her life. Her blood is vital to the Breeding Cult’s program in this world. Like my younger counterpart said, she’s a God send to us. We’ll even see that she’s impregnated so her progeny can continue producing the antigen we’ll need to live in this world once the plague is unleashed. The special cells can’t be synthesized. We’ll always need an original source.”

“You meaning the collaborating humans?” Alec said, remembering what he’d heard of Max’s earlier conversation before the signal was jammed. “The traitors to their own kind helping the Cult.”

“Yes.”

“Impregnated by whom?” Alec had to ask, already knowing the answer.

“Just part of your usefulness to our program,” Logan replied. “However, although that might be your most pleasant duty, it won’t be your most important. After all, we could always freeze your semen. No, Alec, your main job isn’t to serve as a stud to Max. It’s to serve me.”

Alec was sitting all the way up now, his head pounding so hard he thought he was going to puke. He was shaking too. “How will I serve you?” he said, his teeth showing in a snarl worthy of his feline DNA.

“By giving me a very long and healthy life,” Logan said, leaning forward in the wheelchair. Looking down, he spoke into a small microphone attached to the arm. “He’s awake,” he said. “Take what you need now, before he tries to destroy himself. Remember what I said about his strength. But no drugs. You can’t use drugs. They’ll contaminate his blood.”

Alec was breathing harder, even as he slowly scooted across the cell until his back was against the cement wall. Never in his life had he felt so much like a cornered animal. “I will kill myself,” he said.

“No, you won’t,” Logan replied. “For one thing, I won’t let you. For another, you’ll stay alive so long as you think you have a chance of helping her.”

“What are you gonna do to me?”

“Nothing too painful, at least not this time,” Logan said cheerfully, looking like someone about to open presents on Christmas morning. “You see, Alec, I need something from you in order to survive. The progeria can be reversed by your X5 blood.”

“Why not just take Max’s?” Alec had to ask, although he hated giving the bastard any ideas.

“Max isn’t male,” Logan said simply. “A large part of my degeneration is caused by a loss of testosterone, and your testosterone -- my friend -- is very, very special.” His smile widened. “Or should I say mine. I own you now, Alec ... your skin, your bones, your muscles and nerves ... every strand of your DNA. You’re quite literally my animal and I’ll use anything of yours that I need including blood, bone marrow, and brain tissue if my doctors say it’s necessary.”

“You took from me before, didn’t you?” Alec said, suddenly understanding how Logan had also made it to the past with them. “You were usin’ part of my blood ... my DNA ... to treat yourself even before we came back in time.”

“Ah, and the light bulb finally comes on,” Logan said gleefully. “You never were the sharpest tool in the box, Alec, but eventually you usually did get it, as is the case now. The Committee was always fueling up its Y soldiers on X5 components, one of the best kept secrets at Manticore. And in my case, I made a special request for your specimens, the blood and tissue samples the medics had taken from you over the years.”

Several soldiers and two medics entered the chamber wheeling a cart of medical instruments. Alec felt as if he’d been raped -- and was about to be again.

“Remember our pool game, Alec?” Logan said as the medics pulled on rubber gloves and the soldiers readied electroshock prods. “You were so certain you’d beat me, but it was that very ego of yours that guaranteed your defeat. It’s why I’ve always been completely confident that -- in the end -- I’d get Max back and see you brought to your knees.”

“You’re the one who shot me in the warehouse, aren’t you?” Alec said, the full impact of the truth finally hitting home. “I always thought so, but couldn’t quite remember. You did it to get Max.”

“Good thing you’re so resilient, isn’t it?” Logan said softly. “If you’d died that day, Alec, you wouldn’t be here now for me to feed on. Hell, I wouldn’t be safe in the past at all, but dead back in our own time with all the others on the ship. It was the DNA in your blood, Alec, that brought me along for the ride. Get it?”

“She’ll never be yours again,” Alec said weakly, his head hurting so badly now his eyesight was dimming. “She’ll kill herself first, just like me.”

“Ah, but she’s already mine once more,” Logan said. “At least in theory. And just as soon as your testosterone kicks in and I’m functional in that way again I’ll be consummating our relationship.”

“And your younger self?” Alec asked, talking to delay what he knew was going to happen because he realized he didn’t have the strength to fight back.

“Understands,” Logan said. “He won’t get in the way, even though he does greatly admire Max ... her beauty. Who knows? I may even entertain the idea of a little threesome sometime in the future.”

Alec couldn’t help it. He vomited, spewing the contents of his stomach all over the cell floor as the door opened and the guards entered, electric prods ready.

“Harvest time,” Logan said. “Either hold still, Alec, or I swear I’ll put you in a coma.”

With tears of frustration and pain running down his face, the X5 sniffed, swallowed thickly, and nodded. If they hit him with those prods God knew how long he’d be out, and God knew what Logan would do to Max in the meantime. “I won’t fight,” he said in a low voice, turning around slowly on hands and knees to face his tormentors, hazel-green eyes shining with agony and hatred as he looked up at his new owner. His lip curled. “Do what you want with me.”

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to hear those words from you, Alec,” Logan said softly. “You have no idea ...”

Two of the burly guards pinned Alec to the floor and a large bore I.V. needle was viciously jabbed into his arm. The X5 -- true to his word -- relaxed ... not fighting with his body.

However, Alec’s mind ... his thoughts ... were soaring.