More Than the X Can See

Chapter 16

Movement woke Angel from a deep sleep. Pigeons preening, claiming territory and flying about looking for the first crumbs of the day. Cars, trucks and buses moving through the streets below, picking up and delivering their cargos. People waking up and going through their morning rituals as the hotel staff delivered breakfasts and prepared for the day ahead. Dawn, there was no escaping it.

Still groggy from lack of sleep, Angeld ind in bed focusing on her surroundings as she slowly woke up. By his breathing and heart rate, Logan was still sleeping. For once his dynamic form was completely relaxed. Well, not completely, there was one muscle that refused to be quiescent, and a slow smile spread across her face as she opened her eyes.

Her attention was drawn to Cable as he moved abruptly, rising up and touching the clock radio on his nightstand, turning off an alarm she couldn’t hear. He sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his real hand like a little boy. He yawned, stretched his arms and looked around his bedroom before looking, as if he too could see through the walls, towards the room she shared with Logan. She could practically see the wheels turning as he thought of the day ahead. He flipped the covers open and got out, heading for the bathroom.

Cable’s bodily functions reminded her of her own need to relieve herself, remembering Logan’s sensitive hearing, she got out of bed as quietly as possible and tiptoed to the bathroom.

Logan had slept fitfully in the hotel’s foreign surroundings, but he came fully awake at the sound of scratchy linen sheets rustling and bedsprings creaking. His eyes opened in thin slits when he heard bare feet softly padding across the flat carpet. As his eyes easily adjusted to the small amount of light let into the room by the thick multi-layered curtains over the sliding glass doors, he turned his head to look at the clock on the nightstand. Because of the late hour of their arrival, the sex and jet lag, he hadn’t expected Angel to wake up until the alarm went off in an hour at seven-thirty. He stretched and took a deep breath.

The smell of marmalade jam pervaded the air, it hadn’t dissipated in the night, it had grown stronger in the closed room. He took a deep breath and a vision of Angel in the throws of passion beneath him filled his mind. His cock, already thick and heavy from smelling her all night, was hard in seconds. The animal in the back of his mind stirred. He figured out the answer to his puzzle right then, the marmalade smell was pheros. s. Had to be pheromones.

His animal wouldn’t have reacted otherwise. He’d shoved it down deep within himself, caging his feral side for so long, it was a nearly unfamiliar animal. Normally, he could let it out during sessions in the Danger Simulation Room at the Institute, but instead he’d been kept running from mission to mission by Xavier.

The last had been some castle in the British Isles where they’d found Juggernaut and Black Tom. Usually, he could let loose against Juggernaut, but this time the call for help had been his. Juggernaut had called on the X-men to stop his buddy, Black Tom. They’d been shocked the emergency call had been made by Xavier’s half brother against his friend, but Black Tom had finally lost control and he nearly killed half the team. Thank the Powers That Be the Ice Cube had been with them. Bobby Drake a.k.a. Iceman a.k.a. Ice Cube had been able to follow the water in Tom’s roots. They’d eventually dealt with that crisis. That’s when Archangel had manifested his new healing ability and his skin had changed from the blue Apocalypse had forced on him back to his normal Caucasian skin tone. They’d brought Juggernaut, Cain Marko, back to the Institute for … a family reunion of sorts. Xavier and his brother had never really gotten along, but Xavier hadn’t kicked him out and now he was babysitting the nurse’s kid. It said something about the state of affairs if Annie was okay with a known criminal watching her kid.

It had been one crisis after another to solve, his own or others, having to keep his feral side in check the entire time. He knew it was begig tog to wear on him, but he couldn’t let it free. Especially when he was angry. It’s instinct to hunt and kill would overwhelm him and then he’d be no better than what the Friends of Humanity called him, A Cold Blooded Murderer.

Angel moved around in the bathroom, drawing his attention back to her. He figured out why he hadn’t realized she was putting the pheromones out earlier. People didn’t smell like oranges unless they’d ingested the substance and although he remembered the faint smell in the Infirmary the day before, he had assumed it was from Annie eating her meals there to be near her patient. He hadn’t smelled it when he’d taken Angel out of the Infirmary because by then he’d tuned out the smell from being in the room for an hour. It had been there all along, he just hadn’t been paying attention. He’d had other, more important issues occupying his mind. By tim time he would have realized it on the patio near the pool, Cable had called. And then on the plane, just to be safe, they’d placed her in the back so that she wouldn’t wake up from their discussing the mission. The filters had probably scrubbed most of her smell from the cabin before it could reach them.

Now the smell was strong, very strong. She’d probably hit the fertile time of her monthly cycle. That always enhanced the women’s smell, making them more enticing. And when enough women at the Institute started to align cycles he headed for The City and found himself some company. He smiled to himself, at least on this missie wae was the one who got into bed with a woman when the day was through. It was about damn time! He wondered if Cable had noticed the smell. He’d have to ask him about it before he called Hank.

Angel walked out of the bathroom and in the dim light he could see she was nude, her hair, mussed from sleep, hung in long locks scattered down her front and back, her breasts parting the golden streamers. She walked over to him and lifting his bedcovers, she slipped in and moved towards him. Understanding her intent, he raised his arm so she could cuddle, pressing her cool softness against his solid warmth. Her head rested on his right shoulder, she’d flung a leg over his and her arm rested on his chest, her palm over his heart.

His animal raised its head in interest, the femhad had gotten into its nest. Logan mentally slammed the door between his animal and civilized self. He turned his head towards Angel and smiled, “I expected ya t’ sleep ‘til the alarm went off.”

His deep gravelly voice sounded more like a creature of the earth than a man to the ear she had pressed against his chest.

“Can’t sleep after dawn,” she replied softly, “everything starts to wake up and move around.”

“There aren’t that many animals here.”

She lifted her head and looked into his brown eyes, the pupils were enlarged in the dim light, “City or country, movement always picks up at daylight.”

“Ya ever been anywhere it didn’t?”

She laid her head back down on his chest, “No, but my parents tried to find them. There were only two places that came close.”

“Desert,” he said quickly.

“That’s one.”

He thought for a moment, “Polar caps?”

“I don’t know, we never tried there,” she laughed softly, “too expensive I guess.”

“Somewhere local then?”

“Yes. I don’t think I’d want to go to the North Pole, too cold.”

“Southerners,” he scoffed.

She frowned, “California isn’t Southern.”

“I’m from Canada. You’re Southern t’ me.”

“You don’t sound like you’re from Canada.”

“I know,” he sighed, “been in the States too long.”

“How long?”

“Long ‘nough ta lose my accent,” he replied. “I’ve been meanin’ ta head north fer some time, but there’s always somethin’ needin’ my attention.” She felt him tense up.

“X-Corp?”

He didn’t reply for a moment. Then, “Sometimes.”

“Your security firm?”

She felt his eyes narrow and he grunted, “Officially, I’m the President of GuloGulo Security, but the X-Corporation usually decides if and when my services are needed.”

“Usually, but not always,” she said in understanding. “Why is it called GuloGulo?”

“It’s the species name for Wolverine,” he paused and then said, “Ocean.”

“Huh?”

“The other place that’s quiet. It’s the ocean.”

She yawned before answering, “Yeah, deep sea or the Monterey Trench down south. Just as long as I’m far enough away from shore, about three miles or so out. But there’s always something moving, something alive. No matter where you go.”

They both lay quiet for a few minutes and her even breathing and relaxed body led him to believe she was returning to sleep. He thought about how the X-Corporation, actually Xavier, had been keeping him on a leash. He hadn’t been able to go up north to his private cabin since early fall last year and then it’d been for only a few days before the X-jet had arrived to pick him up to help with another X-Corporation crisis. His animal growled behind its mental door.

She lay quietly against his warm strength and remembered times with her parents on weekends and vacations when they’d tried and sometimes succeeded in finding quiet places where she could relax. Trips on privately chartered boats taking them out to sea where she’d feel the whales undulating beneath the waves as they migrated north or the occasional shark. Trips to the various deserts and scrubland in California and Nevada where they’d drive off the path in their rented jeep and literally lose themselves and camp for a few days in the middle of nowhere, relying on her senses to find a road back to civilization.

During their respective quiet introspections, his muscles had begun subtly bunching and clenching, especially around his mouth. He hadn’t relaxed once since she’d mentioned the X-Corporation and when he started gritting his teeth, she decided it was time to do something about it.

She rose up onto her elbow and touched the side of his face, “You’re thinking too much.” She leaned down and tilted her head a fraction before their lips touched.

His animal howled and pressed against his mental barrier.

Her eyes reopened as she pulled away slightly and gazed into his eyes, her senses telling her that his body was beginning to respond to her overture. Her senses also told her that in his current state he probably wouldn’t last long, but the memory of the previous night’s exploration of his body reminded her that it wouldn’t matter, the man was the human equivalent of the energizer bunny.

He reached up with his free arm and entangled his hand in the hair at the back of her head as he pulled her back in for another kiss. His tongue penetrated her lips and honeyed oranges graced his taste buds, the delicious flavor causing a chain reaction in his body. The animal within him reacted suddenly, crashing through his mental barrier and running forward, responding to the thick scent of pheromones and recognizing the taste of a fertile female.

His kiss became more demanding as he rolled over her, his weight pushing her down into the mattress. A voice in his mind yelled at him to slow down, keep his head, reinforce the barriers between man and animal, but the animal knew that the female with him was in heat. It was time to mate.

She pulled away from his bruising kiss and gasped to get air back into her lungs. The hard length of his cock pressing against her hip telling her that he was ready, willing abl able.

He looked up and around the room trying to get a hold of himself, the voice telling him to slow down, calm down. He took in a ragged breath and smelled the remains of her sandwich and juice, the overwhelming pheromones proclaiming her fertility and sex from the previous night. Thimalimal slammed to the fore and looked around to make sure there was no competition to fight off, the distant sound of running water telling it that the nearest competition was otherwise occupied.

Her breathing returning to normal, she watched his eyes dart about the room. She reached up and touched the side of his face, her hand brushing his whiskers. When he looked down at her she smiled and opened her legs.

There was no competition and the female was receptive to his advances. Tan wan was drowned out as the animal took over. The female was in the wrong position for mating so he rose up on his knees and flipped her over. Her squeal didn’t deter him as he grasped her waist and pulled her towards him and into the proper mounting position. Quickly, he mounted her before she could change her mind and fight back or run away. The feel of his cock in her moist tunnel was wonderful.

She was grunting and squealing at him, trying to pull away. He frowned and leaned forward to bite her neck and hold her in place. She squealed even more when she felt his teeth, but then she quieted and submitted. He continued, feeling the building of his release. He moved vigorously, causing the female to grunt with each impact as he approached climax and his eyesight went white as he forced himself as far into his new mate as possible to plant his seed. When he was finished, the lethargy overcame him and he released her as his body went slack. His new mate scurried away and he began to rise to follow, but when she stopped not too far away he relaxed and lay back down in their nest.

Angel stood in the bathroom with her back to the mirror, her hair pulled to the side as she tried to examine Logan’s bite mark. His enhanced incisors had created two small lacerations in the skin that had begun to well up blood. Before her eyes, they healed, the only evidence remaining were the small drops of blood on her skin. She reached down and felt along her waist where he’d held her tightly and the soreness she was sure would become large bruises began to fade. The pain his large member had inflicted on her innards was also disappearing.

What the hell had gotten into the man? she thought, feeling her neck and wiping away the blood. He’d shown a little wildness last night, but … Jesus! He’d flipped her over onto her stomach like she weighed ten pounds. And then he’d grabbed her and pulled her into the dog position without even asking her. It was a good thing she’d been in the mood. It would’ve hurt like hell when he entered her if she hadn’t been getting a little wet down there already. And then he’d just started pounding into her! No kissing, no fondling, no nothing! Just fucking. She’d told him to stop, that she didn’t like the position. She’d called his name, yelled at him and he’d bent over and bit her! She had to admit, that sort of turned her on, but he’d still ignored her and just kept on fucking. She’d gotten a le sle scared, but by then she’d known he’d cum soon. At least he didn’t release those metal claws of his. Energizer Bunny. Ha! More like the rabid Killer Rabbit from Monty Python’s Holy Grail. She wet a washcloth and cleaned herself up and then went back into the bedroom.

Logan lay on his side in a post coital stupor and she grabbed a pillow from her bed and threw it at him. “What the hell was that?” she demanded.

The animal noted that the female had returned and given him more nesting materials. As she squealed at him he considered whether she wanted to mate again. A small voice told him the female was upset. He frowned at her in consternation trying to figure out what she wanted.

“Well?” she asked as she walked between the beds, hands on her hips.

The voice became more assertive, telling him the female wanted him to verbally respond. The animal was confused, it had done everything it was supposed to do. Hunt, eat, sleep, and mate, the basics of life. It understood those concepts, but conversation was beyond its comprehension. It retreated and let the voice assert itself. Let the man assert himself. The man knew how to respond. The man could calm his new mate, make her receptive again.

“Uh,” Logan said, stalling for time as the animal retreated and the man took over, “you taste like marmalade.”

She gave him a quizzical look, “What? Marmalade? What does that have to do with—?”

“You smell and taste like oranges and honey or marmalade,” he continued, gaining more time to figure out how to explain what had happened.

“What do you mean … marmalade?” she asked, her voice trailing away in confusion. “I haven’t had any oranges since,” she thought for a moment, “the day before I arrived at the Institute. Marmalade? You know what I’ve eaten since I woke up. Crackers, chicken soup, hot dogs, salad, Snapple—which was red so it didn’t have much if any orange juice in it, the sandwich and apple juice I had last night. Nothing orange flavored.” She was perplexed.

“I noticed it last night.” He gestured to the room at large, “This place reeks of it. You’re putting out pheromones and I … I reacted to them.”

She looked at him as if he were crazy, “You’ve got to be kidding!” She stepped back and looked away incredulous and latching on to the word ‘reek’, “You fuck me like an animal now now you’re telling me I smell!”

Wrong choice of words he thought, way to go Logan! “No, I didn’t mean that! You don’t smell … bad—just the opposite. You smell good—too good. You smell like pheromones.” He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, “Good smelling pheromones. Marmalade smelling pheromones.”

Cautiously she cocked an eyebrow anokedoked at him from the corner of her eyes, “Good smelling? Like marmalade?”

“Yeah, I had a hard on all night from smelling you.” He remembered her scanning ability, “you could probably tell. I didn’t think the pheromones would affect me so strongly, but once we kissed … I tasted them and I … just … reacted. It’s a long story, but they call me Wolverine for a reason,” He put a hand to the side of his face in remorse as he remembered how his feral side had ignored her cries, “I’m sorry. I realized something was wrong last night, but … I don’t know … I wasn’t sure. Shit. I should’ve called Hank.” He looked up at her, trying to gauge her reaction to his explanation. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

“Well, yeah, you were …,” she’d noticed almost immediately his sexual state of readiness when she’d woken up. She paused. “Pheromones? Are you sure?”

He dropped his hand to his lap, drawing her attention to his swelling member. “Oh, yes,” he said vehemently, “pretty strong ones, too, the smell’s already making me want you again.”

“Oh, wow,” she said softly, trying to assimilate this new information, that somehow she had made a man like Logan totally lose control. “Maybe … we should call Hank.”

“Yeah,” he started to get up, but she put a hand on his shoulder.

“So, it was the pheromones?” Her eyes had drifted down to his thick member.

He nodded.

“That’s what made you go all Discovery Channel on me?”

He frowned, not understanding the reference.

“Animalistic?”

Comprehension, “Yeah.”

“You back to normal?”

He nodded again, “I’ve got it under control now.”

“You sure?”

“Yes,” he looked her in the eyes, “I’m not going to attack you.”

“Wolverine?”

“Yes.”

“You said they call you Wolverine for a reason.”

“Ahhh,” he said understanding she wanted an explanation. Now. He looked down at his hands, “It was a nickname given to me a long time ago. My abies, es, claws, enhanced smell and low light vision are considered Feral mutations. Animalistic mutations. Where Xavier’s telepathic ability is considered an evolution of Homo Sapiens, Feral mutants are considered a de-evolution. Sometimes Ferals act more like animals than humans.” He looked up at her to see if she understood.

She looked confused, “Is Hank a F?”
?”

He nodded, “He’s … complicated, but, yeah, he’s considered a Feral.”

“Is Warren?”

“I think his wings make him a Feral.”

“Are there any Feral women?”

He nodded again, “Yes.”

“Do they make pheromones?”

He was about to say ‘No’ when he stopped and considered, “Everyone makes pheromones, but most people can’t smell ‘em.” She was making him think about scientific aspects while they were both naked. It just didn’t seem right. He shook his head, “Look, Hank can explain all the technical details.”

“I just want to make sure … I mean … I know Biology—normal Biology. I’ve got a Master’s Degree … but not in Mutant Biology,” she sighed and sat down on the bed next to him. “I’m just trying to understand and figure things out.”

He didn’t know what to say.

She smiled and cocked an eyebrow, “You know, I’ve got to hand it to Warren for giving me this healing ability. I feel perfectly fine now. So I guess there’s no harm done.”

He sighed in relief, “I’m glad to hear that.”

“It was sort of my fault, since I’m the one creating? … making?—whatever—these pheromones.”

“It’s not your fault,” a thought struck him, “unless this has happened to you before?”She She shook her head vehemently, “Never.”

“Then it isn’t your fault. It must have somethin’ to do with what happened in White Plains. That’s the only explanation for it.”

“Has Warren ever put out pheromones?” at his frown she said quickly, “Male pheromones that attract women?”

He shook his head, “Not that I’ve ever noticed. He’s always had a way with women, but I don’t think it has anythin’ to do with chemicals. An’ he gets tons o’ fan mail all the time, but I think that has more to do with his image than his personality.”

She smiled, “Rich, good looking and single is fairly rare, but add in the Archangel bit and,” she shrugged, “every girl has a fantasy.”

He snorted.

“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve never fantasized about someone you’d never be able to have!”

He froze. Jean Grey-Summers. “I’m a realist,” he said quietly, “I don’t waste time fantasizin’.”

“Yeah, right!” she replied sarcastically. She’d felt him freeze and one of the things she’d learned early in life her her scanning ability was to read body signals.

His face became a blank mask and he stood up and walked over to the chair in the corner of the room where he’d left his clothes the previous night. “You want me to talk to Hank first?” he asked woodenly, pulling a small cell phone from his pants pocket.

She realized she must have made some sort of faux pas when he became impersonal, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize—,” she got up and walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Sometimes it’s hard for me to not know things. Reading bodies is like a second language to me, but I still don’t know what’s going on inside someone’s mind.”

He stared at her for a moment and then smiled, “Ya know, for years I’ve been dealin’ with people who could get into your mind. Never had to explain nothin’. They’d know you were mad, sad or glad. Most of ‘em have had their abilities for years and they’re pretty arrogant about it. You’re like ‘em in a lot o’ ways, but most o’ them don’t apologize unless ya push the point or they really fuck up.”

She smiled, “I don’t want us to get off on the wrong foot.”

“Neither do I, Darlin’.” He held up the phone, “Who talks first?”

She held her hand out for the phone. When he handed it to her, her gaze drifted from his face to his chest and followed the furred trail down to his semi-erect penis before it returned to his face. She sighed, “ rea really smell like marmalade?”

He’d followed her eyes as she’d looked at him and he felt his cock twitch, “Yes.”

“Do you like marmalade?” she was curious and she hadn’t asked him that earlier.

His smile widened into a grin, “Yes, I do.”

She tossed the phone onto the pile of clothes on the chair and took a step toward him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, “Let’s start over.”

His lips met hers half way and immediately their kiss deepened.

Logan’s animal gave out a victorious howl in the back of his mind, but it was behind a reinforced wall now. It’d had its time out, now he had it back in its cage. It wouldn’t get out again any time soon.

They still had a half hour before the alarm would go off. He’d show her that he really was in control. That she didn’t have anything to worry about.