Unchained Instinct ( Complete)

Chapter 46


Mystique pushed away from Logan and gazed on her handiwork. He hung limp in unconsciousness for the third time that night, his body drenched in his own blood from her Wolverine claws.

She’d driven the claws in low into his gut this time, twisting and pulling out and Logan had given a strangled roar, choking on his own blood and collapsed in his shackles.

He was taking longer to heal now, after only a few nights of torture. Perhaps it wouldn’t take as long to break him down to his most bestial form as she’d expected. Perhaps she’d finish with him sooner than she’d thought.

Mystique morphed back into herself with a sigh of regret. She’d wanted this to last for weeks. Of course, even reduced to a beast, Logan would continue to be fine entertainment for as long as she wished. She smiled and crossed the room to the table, opening a bottle of water and drinking half the content before quenching her thirst. She washed her hands in a basin, the water turning bright with Logan’s blood.

Turning back, she watched Logan, waiting impatiently for him to wake. Mystique knew her own faults and one of them was a lack of patience.

Stalking over to her prisoner, she gripped a handful of hair and yanked his head up. “Wake up!”

No sign of complying from Logan.

She released her hold, drew back her hand and slammed the back across his face. “I said, wake up!”

Nothing. In the morning she’d go into town and get some smelling salts then Logan would wake when she demanded it of him.

Another hard blow wasn’t enough to draw Logan back up out of unconsciousness. It seemed only time would do the trick.

A beeping sound startled Mystique and she whirled to see a light flickering, pulsing on and off.

“So, what sort of company has come to call?” she murmured, her brows furrowing together in irritation.

Perhaps only an animal had crossed her invisible beam and Mystique now wished she’d taken the time to put up cameras and lay a few traps. But she’d been in a hurry to catch her quarry and begin the punishment. Now she’d have to deal with whatever or whoever had crossed into her territory.

Well, she was game, her adrenalin spiking at the thought of a fight, egged on by her blood lust still unsated even after hours of torturing her prisoner.

Slipping from the room, Mystique threw the bolt behind her and listened for the sound of the intruders. The scuttling of mice was common and she filtered out the sound.

Silently stalking forward, Mystique wrapped herself in darkness and went hunting for a much bigger quarry.

*********************

“This makin’ Gambit uncomfortable, chere,” Gambit said, his voice low to keep from echoing down the dark corridor. “We shoulda found somethin’ by now. Hard ta imagine Mystique not settin’ up some traps to catch a few X-Men in.”

“Maybe she just got in a hurry ta hurt Logan,” Rogue replied. “Or maybe in her creepy, sick mind, she underestimated us. She’s always under estimatin’ us, ya know?”

“You be right there.” Gambit trained his flashlight beam up around the ceiling and along the walls ahead. “Ah’m not sure how far we’ve come, but it look like there still be a ways ta go.”

A huge open double doorway loomed up to their right and the light disappeared into darkness, the room beyond, vast in size.

“Look like some sorta smeltin’ facility. Look at the size a that bucket up there,” Gambit said, almost to himself.

“Yeah, that’s what this was once,” Rogue said, her gaze taking in the metal molds and conveyer belts long silent and unmoving.

Gambit gave a grunt and moved on, obviously unimpressed with the possibility that Mystique had Logan in there.

“Why aren’t we lookin’ in there?”

Gambit turned back to her, scarlet eyes glowing in the darkness, catching the light from the flashlight like cat’s eyes and reflecting back at her. “The room too big, chere. Mystique need someplace she can contain Logan, a room not so big her equipment won’t reach the perimeters.”

“Oh.” Rogue followed Gambit’s lead, irked at herself for letting him take control from her. Yet Rogue felt inadequate, her experience and knowledge not up to par with Gambit’s.

They moved on and Rogue watched Gambit move before her, graceful as a cat and just as quiet.
She imagined his touch on her skin, his warm body close to hers.

Shaking off the distracting thoughts, Rogue wrapped her hand tighter around her flashlight. A breath of dread touched her neck and a shiver ran down her spine. Something was watching them and Rogue flicked her light around the ceiling almost frantically, that tingle of anticipation niggling at her neck hairs and standing them on end.

A rustle echoed down the hallway, black wings catching in Rogue’s flashlight beam. A bat with the wingspan of an eagle flew towards them, diving at them then swooping back the way it came. The thing came at them again, but this time, it stopped fifteen feet away, hovering. Then it began to descend, the creature morphing even before it touched ground. Mystique stood before them, dressed in black, her brilliant red hair and yellow eyes all that defined her.

“Mystique,” Rogue hissed.

“Excellent work, my dear Gambit,” Mystique said in a low sultry tone. “You’ve lured my rebellious daughter here to my lair just as I’d hoped.”

Rogue flung a shocked glance over to Gambit. But the look on Gambit’s face was stone cold, eyes slitting, his gaze on Mystique.

“Gambit!” Rogue snarled.

“Don’t listen ta this voodoo witch, Rogue,” Gambit replied, whirling towards her. “She’s tryin’ to make ya doubt me.”

“Doubt?” Mystique repeated with purring incredulity. “You can drop the act, Gambit, darling. You’ve done your job perfectly...lover.”

“Lover?!” Recoiling, Rogue sidled away from Gambit, trying to keep both him and Mystique in her sight. “You lowlife, lyin’ thief.”

“Rogue, don’t do this,” Gambit said, reaching out to her, his expression desperate. “She’s doin’ just what I told ya she’d do.”

Rogue yanked off a glove. “You come near me and Ah’ll put ya in a coma for good!”

“Chere, listen ta Gambit. Why would Ah let ya call the others if Ah was lurin’ ya inta a trap? She and me can’t fight all a ya X-Men at once. Ah wouldn’t have let ya, would Ah?”

A wave of new doubt rushed over Rogue, warring with Mystique’s words.

Mystique launched herself like a missile, whirling and kicking high catching Gambit a solid blow in the back. He rolled with the fall, gasping for the breath that Mystique had knocked from his lungs. Going for his pocket, Gambit pulled out a card, ready to light it up with his pulsing power.

But Mystique had turned her interest towards Rogue, coming at her like a whirlwind with a high flying kick. Rogue flung herself sideways, Mystique’s heel connecting with her shoulder instead of her chest. A round house blow caught Rogue in the stomach, sending her stumbling backwards to land on her butt, gasping for her own breath.

Rogue looked up to see Mystique morphing, a black panther standing where Mystique once stood. Long sharp teeth glistened in the light of the fallen flashlight. A low growl rumbled in the cat’s throat, the panther ready to pounce.

“Hey! Ya mangy alley cat,” Gambit taunted. Mystique turned her big panther head Gambit’s way, her growl growing louder and more menacing “Come on and get some a Gambit.”

The panther stalked forward, Gambit backing away and Rogue recognized what Gambit was doing, drawing Mystique away from her.

The panther leapt and the card in Gambit’s hand lit up, glowing with power, but with another step back, Gambit stumbled, a deep crack in the floor catching his heel and throwing him off balance.

Mystique hit Gambit square in the chest, long sharp teeth going for his throat. The card flew up out of his hand and when it hit the corridor wall, an explosion shattered the concrete, debris flying.

Rogue landed hard on her side from the concussion, her head slamming into the wall. Grey fog tried to take over her mind, but she shook off the darkness only to see the panther lunging at her, its teeth getting a hold of her arm just above her wrist and bare hand. Its claws raked across her stomach, its weight pressing her into the floor. She drove a fist into its side and the animal let out a snarling yelp and bounded away down the dark corridor.

Blood ran down into Rogue’s eyes from her encounter with the wall and her uniform lay in tatters across her abdomen. She pushed up and crawled over to Gambit.

“Gambit!” she cried, touching his face with her gloved hand. The fabric had been torn away from his neck and blood dripped from fang marks. But blood wasn’t gushing out and it seemed Mystique hadn’t ripped out his jugular as Rogue had feared. “Remy, please,” she said, angry with herself for doubting him.

A cut across his temple must have been the reason for his unconsciousness and Rogue tore off a piece of her uniform and pressed it to the wound, soaking up blood.

“Please, Remy, Ah’m sorry. Please wake up and forgive me.”

A little smile twitched at Gambit’s mouth. “All right,” he drawled. “Ah forgive you, mon ami.” He opened his eyes and wiggled his eyebrows. “Maybe next time, ya trust Gambit, eh?”

She shoved away from him and got to her feet, moving to retrieve her glove. “Get up, Cajun. We’ve gotta find Logan before Mystique does something else to him. She’ll be mad we crashed her party and she’s liable to take it out on Logan.”

Gambit pushed up to sit, hand going to his head. He gave a grunt of pain and got to his knees. “Ya gonna help me up, chere? Gambit still a bit woozie. Ah think ma little explosion backfired on me that time.”

Rogue came and hauled Gambit to his feet. He leaned on her for a moment.

“Ya gonna be okay?” she asked.

“With Rogue’s help, Ah’ll heal in no time.”

Rogue shook her head and stalked away. “Come on. Time’s a wastin’”

“Gambit would follow Rogue anywhere...even inta hell itself,” he murmured and Rogue couldn’t suppress a wave of pleasure rushing straight through to her groin and back up to her heart.