Unchained Instinct ( Complete)

Chapter 85


“Minimum thirty minute wait, elf,” Logan said. “Ya wanna go back ta the room?”

A grimace screwed up on Kurt’s face. “My stomach’s growling now.”

“It’s always growling,” Logan shot back. “Go get a candy bar or somethin’ ta hold ya over.”

Kurt offered a shrug. “I’ll manage until dinner. There’s a gift shop over there. I could pick up some nice gifts for the girls.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “I doubt they’d be interested in a ‘my friend went to the Blue Ridge Mountains and all I got was this lousy tee shirt’.”

Kurt slapped Logan’s arm. “Nothing like that. Something pretty. Never hurts to stay in the good graces of your female friends. You want to come?”

Logan shot up an eyebrow. “Don’t think so, elf. I’m gonna hit the bar and have a beer. Meet me at the dining room entrance when they call our name. Got it?”

“Got it!” Kurt executed a dramatic salute, turned crisply and headed to the gift shop.

Logan let the corner of his mouth pull up into a half a grin and watched Kurt meld into the flow of shoppers. He let out a sigh. “You are one lucky bastard, bub,” Logan muttered to himself and headed for the bar.

He slid up onto a bar stool, the only one left in the crowded room and ordered a draft. Glancing around, Logan noted the rustic decor; just enough sophistication to satisfy a decerning clientele...one of which he was not. But he knew what the management was going for and they had succeeded with warm elegance.

No wonder the place was packed. It was just the kind of place mountain tourists loved. But he also glanced around to note entrances and exits, his instincts always looking for trouble spots. None appeared, the patrons totally into their own self interests.

And that was a good thing.

Logan took another gulp of his beer and let himself relax into the ambiance of the place.


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

“They’re here,” Pietro said. “Room 242. I zipped by there, though and nobody was around.”
“Good job, Mr Maximoff. Your abilities are as ever, useful,” Mystique replied with only a hint of sarcasm. “Now, we need to know where they are. Check the grounds and the lobby. I’ll look around the dining room and bar.”

“You got it, boss.” Pietro disappeared as quickly as he had appeared and Mystique strolled into the lobby, long flowing black hair swirled up into a stylish twist. She glanced around, getting the lay of the building then caught a glimpse of black hair on a young man.

Kurt. There in the gift shop, glancing through tee shirts and ball caps and trinkety jewelry no doubt thinking of taking some tawdry gifts back to the girls at the Institute.

Where is your taste, my dear son? If I had raised you, you wouldn’t have been caught dead in a place like that. She sighed to herself, pushing away that useless thought. Of course, all she had to do was acknowledge Kurt’s terrible taste in men.

Yet, didn’t she want Logan just as much as her son did? No! That was different. She wanted revenge. She wanted to punish. She wanted to severe Kurt from Logan forever.

She wanted Logan not for love...then what? Control. Desire. Lust. She had gotten a taste for that hard muscled body and that wild black hair. And the fire in Logan’s eyes drew her in even when that fire was nothing but hatred for her.

Too bad, Logan. Nobody said you had a choice. And neither does Kurt. It ends tonight. Kurt will see you for what you are, Logan. A beast, an animal...a traitor to your love.

A secret smile escaped onto her lips.

Right before your eyes you’ll see him betray you, my son.

Tonight, this affair will end and I will have Logan one more time.

Mystique turned away from the gift shop and headed towards the restaurant bar, the most likely place to find Logan.

Eyes followed her graceful stroll, women envying her beauty while men’s mouth’s all but dropped at the sight of her. Perhaps she had pushed the beauty button just a little too hard this time. Logan might get suspicious. But this was the persona she’d walked in with and she’d play the dark haired beauty to the hilt.

She wandered the length of the bar until she spotted her quarry. Logan sat with elbows on the bar, sipping...no, gulping from a beer mug. He looked delicious tonight. Clean shaven, tight jeans and black leather jacket over a black tee shirt. Logan was far too much man for Kurt to handle.

Continuing her stroll without obvious hesitation, Mystique stopped and slid in between Logan and the man to his right. The bartender took instant notice of her, smile beaming.

“What can I get for you, Miss?”

“Vodka Martini, dry with an olive,” she purred and gave him a seductive smile.

“Absolutely,” the bartender replied. “One dry Vodka Martini with an olive coming up for the beautiful lady.”

The man to her right turned and looked her up and down. Not a bad looking fellow, blond and average in a boring sort of way. “The bartender’s right, Sweetheart. You are a beauty.”

She offered a raised eyebrow and a tight smile then turned back to wait for her Martini.

“Hey, I gave you a compliment. Aren’t you going to say thanks or something?”

Should she play this one a bit? Perhaps if he was offensive enough, Logan would intervene. Could she count of that? No. But it was a promising strategy.

With a deep breath as though the man annoyed her, she said, “thank you.”

Mystique felt Logan’s gaze on them, not overt but enough to watch the interchange. If nothing else, Logan’s instincts were good. He sensed potential trouble.

“Your Martini, Miss,” the bartender said. “Would you like to run a tab on your room?”

The man beside her rose and slid an arm around her waist. “The drink’s on me and here, pretty lady, have a seat,” he said, tugging her and pushing her down onto the stool.

“No thank you, really. I can pay for my own drink. And take your hands off of me.” She pushed at the man ineffectually and tried to rise, making a show of struggling when she could have easily thrown the man across the room without much trouble.

“Hey, bub!” Logan growled. “Let go of the lady. She don’t want you messin’ with her.”

“Who asked you?” the man snarled. “Nobody, that’s who, so keep your nose out of my business. The lady’s just playing hard to get.”

“We don’t need any trouble here,” the bartender stated. “You want to fight, head on down the mountain to the tavern in town.”

“Get your hands off of me!” Mystique let her voice rise in a quavering panic.

Logan slid off his stool with obvious annoyance and though the offending man was six inches taller, Logan’s broad chest and muscular physique gave the man pause.

“Get your own girl, buddy,” the man said bristling against he own hesitation. “There must be some biker babe down at that tavern the bartender’s talking about that’s more your speed. This one’s way to good for you.”

Surprisingly, Logan ignored the insult, but his eyes narrowed and he blew a breath out of his nose like a bull ready to charge. “She said, get your hands off a her, bub. Now do what the lady says and we can all drink our drinks in peace.”

Wonderful restraint, my darling Logan. Is it Kurt that keeps the beast at bay or do you have more control than I thought? I thought I broke you of that. Obviously, we need to work on that little issue some more.

“I’m going to call security if you all don’t stop!” the bartender said, reaching for the phone.

Others in the room had picked up on the boiling confrontation, some rising and backing away from the tables closest to this end of the bar.

The man’s hand tightened on Mystique’s arm, alcohol making the man too brave for his own good. She feigned pain with a whimpering cry of distress.

Logan reacted instantly, hand gripping the man’s wrist, twisting until his arm was behind his back. Logan’s left hand reached up and gripped the man’s hair at the back of his head. “Now, yer gonna leave the lady alone, aren’t you, bub?” he growled.

“Oaky! Okay,” the man yelled. Two guys arrived in security uniforms, trying to assess the situation.

Logan shoved the man towards security. “Ya might wanna watch what kinda riffraff ya let inta a nice place like this.”

Mystique saw the bartender nod at the security guys and they dragged the blond man out of the bar.

“It was probably just too much to drink,” Mystique offered in a meek voice, rubbing her arm for effect.

“Yer given the guy too much credit, in my opinion, darlin’.”

She smiled at him thankfully. “I’m Monique. Thank you for coming to my assistance. I’m not used to such brutish behavior in an establishment of this sort.”

“Yeah, ya’d think, but scumbags show up everywhere, even classy joints.”

Taking a long sip of her drink, Mystique let out a sigh.

“Ya okay?” Logan asked.

“I’m fine...really.”

“If ya say so.” Logan went back to his beer, then glanced at his watch then towards the entry way. “Give me another beer.”

The bartender obliged. “Sorry about the wait for dinner. We’re really busy on weekends.”

Logan nodded and turned his attention to his beer.

“Is there some way I can thank you for intervening....”

“Name’s Logan.”

“Logan. Would you join me for dinner? My treat?”

“Sorry, my date’s in the gift shop. He wouldn’t care much for me dining with a pretty lady.”

“He.” Her eyebrows rose in fake surprise. “Oh, I see. Well may I buy your next drink then...as a thank you?”

“I expect this’ll be the last one before dinner. Or, at least, it better be.” He threw the bartender a dark look. “Thanks anyway. Woulda done it for anybody.”

“Really? It wasn’t my looks that led you to help me?”

A half a smile tugged up one corner of Logan’s mouth. “Look, you’re a pretty enough woman, but your not my type, sister. Let’s leave it at that.”

Annoyance rose inside of Mystique. Logan was not being very helpful. She thought he’d rise to the bait even without drugs, but his loyalty seemed intact at the moment. So be it then.

Opening her purse, Mystique made a show of looking for something, pulling out the vial of amber liquid without any notice from Logan. With a deft maneuver, the purse tumbled from the bar as if by accident.

“Oh!” she exclaimed without making a move to retrieve it.

Logan glanced sideways at her and let out a sigh when she offered him a smile.

Sliding off his stool, Logan knelt and swept up the fallen articles, putting them back into the purse.

Mystique leaned subtly over him, expressing her dismay at her less than graceful behavior. With the bartender’s back to her and no patrons watching, she reached over and poured the contents of the vial into Logan’s beer. The colors matched nearly perfectly, blending and odorless.

“I am sorry. I must be starting to annoy you.”

Logan took a deep breath and let it out. “Nope. Takes more than that to annoy me.” Turning back to his beer, Logan took a big swig not noticing the satisfied smile on the black haired beauty beside him.