Title: Feral Attractions Part 8

Rating: NC-17....i know...where's the smut?...It's coming...eventually.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters presented in this work of fanfiction with the exception of Heather and Todd, the bartender. I make no money from this simple story and only slightly more from my day job.

Warning: Very tiny reference to drug use, if you blink you'll miss it but just in case you get squiky about it, I thought I'd be a good little gal and let you know ahead of time.

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Feral Attractions

Part 8: The Bottom Line

"Dammit, Toad. This place is a pigsty!" Mystique complained, moments after she entered the huge room that served as the a den of sorts for the remaining members of the Brotherhood. Kicking a discarded coke can she glared at the short green man with open animosity. "I leave for five days and the place looks like it got hit by a firebomb." she griped, placing her laptop case on the only glass top surface that had been spared from Toad's slop.

"Well, good mornin' to you too, lovely." Mort grinned, not bothering taking his glassy looking eyes off the big screen television.

Raven sighed. "How long do you plan on lazing around like this, Mortimer? Victor and I can't run this place alone. Have you even been out this week?"

"What would be the point, Myst?" Toad sighed louder. "It's not like I've been pulling very much in the last few months, anyway."

"So rather than have a few light days, you'd rather not pick up anything?"

Toad glared at her. Damn, he was not in the mood for another of her lectures. " In case you hadn't noticed, the police are out in droves in the city lately. It's not so simple picking a target these days, I nearly got pinched twice last week."

Raven strolled past were he sat, knocking his feet off the coffee table in irritation. Toad frowned as she also knocked his bag of chips off the table as well sliding his own laptop in its place. "If you are not going out on the street, at least see if you can't shuffle around some of our holdings. We can't make money if you keep sitting on all the stocks, Mort "

Mortimer rolled his eyes, muting Road Rules with a flick of the remote. Man, he hated it when she got in full bitch mode. He leaned forward on the sofa and began typing with nimble fingers on the keypad, ducking his head irritably when Raven grabbed the half finished Buda he'd left dangling between his lips. With a familiar beep he brought up the portfolio and tapped the little screen.. "There. We are up nearly 43 percent, Raven. Now bug off." he told her with a smug grin, as she blew a cloud of smoke in his face before sitting down.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" she drawled, her attention drawn to a motion on the stairs. She smiled at the sight of Victor's displeased glare.

"Mort, I told ya to stop smokin' that shit in here." he growled, as he descended the stairs, his large booted feet silent as usual.

"Oh, great...both of you wanna act like Mommy today."

Mystique narrowed her eyes at him, as she addressed the growling giant. "No hello, how was your trip, Raven?" she asked, sarcastically passing the smoke back to Toad.

Momentarily forgetting his irritable housemate, he eyed her carefully. "How did things go? Ya look a little...rough."

"Oh, thanks a lot. You really know how to make a girl feel good, Vic." she said, dryly.

"I try." he shrugged, frowning as he stepped on a shoe. "Mort, clean this shit up and take that stinkin' ass crap outta here."

"What are you, my Dad?" he tossed, in his most annoyingly clipped tone.

"No, but yer gonna be my bitch, if you don't get ya ass up."

Muttering under his breath, Mortimer stood dragging his laptop off the littered coffee table and stood attempting to dust the fallen ash off his baggy cargo pants with his free hand. "Big ugly fucker." mumbled on his way out the door.

"Yeah, same to you, midget." Vic called after him. "So, what happened?" he said lowering his large frame in the spot Toad vacated, since it was the least cluttered space on the couch.

Raven groaned, leaning back into the cushions of the moderately soft chair in which she sat. "Sheez, I don't no where to start."

"That bad, huh?"

"Hmmm, let's see. I spent the past five days prancing around like a bubble headed Barbie. This Senator guy was like, no fun whatsoever, ugly as sin. Not only did I have to fight him off every damn day, but he had the audacity to try to smack me around when I didn't want to put out."

Victor's snarl caused her to jump. "God damn it, Rave...ya gotta do better research on these bums. That's the third one now."

"Don't worry 'bout it, Sabe...I got em' where it hurts."

Victor laughed, feeling only slightly better. "Lemme guess... you hit his pockets."

Raven nodded, her yellow eyes taking on a giddy gleam. "Let's just say this guy'll be so busy trying to recover the passwords to his Swiss accounts, it'll take him years to figure out they're each nearly $100,000 lighter."

Vic let out a low whistle. "Not bad, babe. Not bad."

Raven's grin flashed, widely. "So, what have you been up to?" she asked wriggling her nearly invisible blue brows, teasingly.

"Not much." he said, with noncommittal ease.

Her gaze slid from his relaxed form to pretend feigned interest to the muted TV screen, irked by the tension suddenly seeping into her bones.

"Want me to turn that up?" "You heard from your woman yet?" They asked simultaneously.

She shook her head as Vic pinned her with his narrowed black stare. Judging by how his lips thinned beneath his mustache, she knew she'd hit a still touchy subject. "I guess not." she answered for herself after long moments of thick silence.

She huffed, not intimidated by his suddenly tense posture. "I have to tell you, Victor. She didn't deserve you, anyway. I tried to tell you..."

"Shut up, Raven."

"Look, Vic...she's too square for you. She can't understand a guy like you, willing to break the rules, willing to go...get a little dirty."

"How would you know?" he asked, irritably, scowling as he stared at the Budweiser commercial flickering on the tube.

"C'mon, Victor...get real. Do you really think an X-woman could deal with all the shit you do? I don't."

He snorted.

She continued. "I highly doubt little Miss Perfect would be flattered by that girl you knocked off for me back in Texas just so I'd give you her e-mail addy."

He remained silent, black eyes glittering.

She brushed at a piece of lint on the edge of the chair, keeping her tone light. "If you ask me, I'd say you were better off without her."

"I didn't ask you, did I ?"he snapped, his tone more guttural and harsh than usual.

She winced at the flash of emotion in his eye, swallowing down the familiar ache she felt whenever he looked like that. Almost appearing wounded, though he hid it well.

"Vic.."

"I ain't talkin' about this, Mystique. Leave it alone."

They sat in uncomfortable silence for long moment, both sulking a little.

"Myst...ya need to leave this shit yer doin' alone." he said, breaking the two minute lull.

It was her turn to glare at him. "Don't start." she warned.

'C'mon, Rave...pretty soon these dumb shits are gonna start puttin' two and two together." he said, holding up a silencing hand as she opened her mouth. "I know yer bein' careful, but if they don't get wise to ya then you'd better believe Xavier's little cunts will."

Raven ran a hand though her chin length red hair. "I'm not getting into this again, Victor."

"I don't wanna be the one identifying your damn body, Raven." he said, darkly.

"Will you give it bloody rest? I'm not goin' to get taken down....I know what I'm doing."

"Whatever."

"Whatever? Okay, Victor. I'll tell you what."

He raised a hopeful brow. Maybe she starting to listen to reason.

"I'll tell you what...You give up your obsession with Storm and I'll give up my obsession with finding my new media mouthpiece."

She flinched as half the contents on the coffee table were suddenly being flung wildly across the room as he stood. "I am not obsessed with her." he sneered, nostrils flaring as he gazed at the mess he made....well, added to.

Mystique lifted a brow, folding her arms across her bare chest. "Victor, methinks you protest to much."

"Shut the fuck up." he said, quietly.

"Gladly." she said. "Toss me the remote before you go."

*****

"Jeez, how can you eat that?"

Ororo swallowed the tiny bite of her sprout sandwich and rolled her eyes. "If you are going to do no more than dwell on what I choose to have for lunch, then you should reschedule this little meeting, Scott. I have a mountain of papers to grade before Monday."

"Fine. You certainly are in a snippy mood today." Scott Summers commented, shifting in uncomfortable chair. He'd have to talk to the Professor about a budget allowance for new chairs in her classroom when he got back.

'I am not." she argued. "I just want to go ahead and get this over with so I can get back to work."

"It's Saturday, Ro. Even I'm not working today."

"Hey, if you want to slack off that is your affair."

Scott leaned back into the chair, effecting casualness. "Speaking of affairs..."

Pausing mid-bite in her sandwich, she tossed him a strange look complete with one lifted brow, her mouth full.

He paused, lips pursed. "What is this I've been hearing about you and Logan?"
Ororo made a wheezing sound, choking on her food.

Scott was up in a flash, patting her on the back and handing her the bottle of water perched just beyond her reach.

"Wh...What?"she asked, hoarsely, the moment she could make a sound. She was hoping that he took the flush in her skin as a reaction to the loss of blood flow to her brain.

"Well," he shrugged "I figured it was just some silly rumor the kids cooked up, but I was told that he was coming out of your room late last night."

She felt herself flush further. "It was not that late." she defended, before she remembered to keep her mouth shut.

"Ah....so it is true."

"No! Of course, not." she said ,squirming a bit under his watchful gaze.
His arms crossed as he watched her, lips thinning in tandem with his furrowing brow. "Stay away from him, Roro." He said, leaning towards her his eyes flaring intensely behind his quartz glasses.

"Scott, It is not like.."

"Hey, Cyke...ya pushin' up on my gal."

They both turned to see Logan leaning against the open doorjamb, arms folded across his chest in a deceptively casual pose.

Ororo nearly protested his words, but thought better of it at the last moment. She couldn't think of any logical excuse to use if he asked why he'd been in her room.

Scott leaned back in his chair, eyeing the dark Canadian carefully. His grin was slow but plainly false. "Why would I need to do that, Logan? I have a girl."

Logan shifted his weight, as his gaze flickered to Ororo's effectively brushing off Scott's presence.

"I need ta talk to ya, Ro." he said, stepping into the room.

"I am in the middle of something, Logan." she said tightly, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Too bad." he replied, his gaze flickering to Scott. "Get lost, One Eye."

Scott raised a brow at the other man's defensive stance and couldn't resist a smirk. 'Just who does this jerk think I am?' "In case you didn't hear, Wolverine... Ro, and I were in the middle of something."

"Do I look like I give a fuck?" Logan sneered, eyeing the younger man with a dangerous gleam.

Seeing the familiar wildness creep into Logan's eyes, Ororo intervened quickly. "Scott, would you mind if we continued this another time?" she suggested, sweetly.

Scott's jaw went slack for a brief second as he stared at her. "Oh. Now this is just priceless." he muttered, with a new tension in his shoulders. "This is absolutely priceless."

Ororo mustered a tiny apologetic smile for her friend, despite the slow boil beneath her skin. "I promise we will continue our conversation later, Scott."

Scott released a humorless laugh. "Don't worry about it, Ororo. I see what your problem is now." he tossed, his jaw flexing as he stood.

Ororo could feel Logan's gaze burning into the top of her head as she shifted the unmarked papers on her desk.

"I been lookin' all over for you." he said quietly, the moment the door closed with a loud click.

"Hurry up and say whatever you want to say. I am busy." she bit, pretending to try to decipher John Proudstar's chicken scratch.

Logan's lips lifted in a knowing grin. "Did you sleep well, Darlin'?"

Ororo drew in a sharp breath, dragging steely cold eyes from the papers. They flashed a deep brilliant blue. "Get out."

e ignored her, instead choosing to occupy the chair Summer's vacated. His grin, as he knew, was irritating as hell.

She succeeded in ignoring him all of ten seconds. "I do not want you in here, Logan. Leave me alone."

"Oh, I will, Darlin'...soon as I give you my instructions for tonight."

She didn't have any more sandwich to choke on, but she nearly did. "Excuse me?" she said, her angry sapphire colored gaze staring at him as if he'd sprouted a second head.

He smiled. " You heard me."

"Actually, I do not think I did."

He fished around in the pocket of his well worn denim shirt. "Well, since ya can't hear, let's hope you can read." he said, placing a folded sheet of paper atop of her student's unread paper.'

She looked down at the pale blue paper like she expected it to jump up and bite her, which knowing him it just might, she reasoned.

"What is this?" she asked, with wary quietness.

"I told ya. Yer instructions."

She gave a vacant sounding laugh. "You were actually serious about that nonsense last night."

"Yep."

"Oh...my....What on earth are you trying to do here? Why are you messing with me?"

"I already told ya that too, Darlin'. Cuz I can."

Her voice echoed her disbelief as she stared wide-eyed at his calm looking countenance. "You...actually expect me to be...your...your... I can not believe this. This is low, even for you."

He gave a sardonic smile. "I pretty much spelled out all yer duties right there." he said, disregarding her flustered expression and flashing eyes.

"How can you be this... low?" she asked, shaking her head as she pushed the paper out of sight.

"Looks like we got somethin' in common, Ro. I asked myself the same thing, when I heard you moanin' and groanin' with yer boy toy, babe." he replied.

Her face colored as she looked away, anywhere but at him. By the time she dared look back, he had already gone.

She picked up the paper with trembling fingers, all the time wishing she could just burn the damn thing.

To Be Continued....

Please R&R. Thanks. ~Trilogy