Suddenly furious at his rejection and too wound up to care what she was saying anymore, she pulled her hand free and started yelling at him. "Yeah? Well, fuck you! It's all about what you want, what you need, isn't it. You don't want to mate with me. You don't want to have kids."

"Max. That's not..."

She screamed in frustration, not letting him finish. "Well, what about me, you big jerk? You've never once asked me what I want."

"What?" He shouted at her.

"I want you. Not just as a friend either, you stupid fuck. I love you! I want to mate with you and have your baby. But you don't want that - don't want me - so stay the hell away from me!" She spun around and threw the phone at the wall, imbedding it in the plaster, Alec's shirt landing on the floor beneath it.

She stared at the hole for a moment, stunned out of her pique, her heat dissipating for the moment. Shit! What I have done? Why did I tell him? Now he's gonna feel sorry for me. She started crying again as she collapsed on the couch, pressing her face into her hands.

Alec stared at the phone in his hand, flabbergasted by her impassioned speech. Is she serious? Or is it just her heat talking? He shook his head as he thought about it. No. That can't be heat. She was too pissed off, her words too sincere and heart-felt, too filled with pain. She loves me! Oh God. What the hell have I done? His heart started racing and he picked up his pace, blurring into their building and up the stairs.

Alec flew up the stairs, visions of Max's pain-filled face from a few weeks ago playing over and over in his head, his own words coming back to haunt him:

Finally he reached their door, the heart-wrenching sound of her sobs filtering through to him. An intense ache tightened his chest as the scent of her pheromone-laced sweat, sweet musk and salty tears enveloped him, lodging deep inside and sparking a chain reaction as his own hormone levels started to spike to match hers.

"Max. I'm sorry." Alec tried the handle, found the door locked and then struggled to find the key to the deadbolt he'd installed two weeks ago. "Let me in, baby. I didn't mean any of those things."

She jumped up startled and tried to calm her ragged breathing as she crept toward the door, irresistibly drawn to him despite the anger and despair swamping her and temporarily diffusing her heat. "Get lost!" Sobs pierced her words. "You've already... m-m-ade it clear how you... feel about me, you... p-pig. I'm just a... f-f-friend you don't mind fucking... when it's convenient. Not s-someone you want to... get serious with."

"That's not true. The only reason I've been saying that crap is because I thought it was what you wanted, because I didn't think you were ready to accept me." Finally finding his key, he dropped it in his haste to get it in the lock. Swearing under his breath, he scooped it off the floor and tried again. "I do want to mate with you."

Part of her wanted to believe him, but knew it was impossible. Not after the way I treated him in the past. "Nice try, Al-lec. But you f-f-forget... I know how w-well you can lie."

He growled and banged his forehead against the door; overwhelmingly frustrated by both her words and the sudden hard on he was sporting. Not to mention his apparent inability to unlock a simple door. All of a sudden he realized what was wrong. Shit. Wrong key. This is the one for my old apartment. He started digging in his pockets again. "Why would I lie? Tell me that, Maxie."

"How the... h-hell should I know? Maybe you f-feel sorry for me. Maybe it's my... h-heat affecting you." I have to make him give up before it's too late and I lose the little bit of sanity I have left. "But do you r-really expect me to believe... you want to settle down? With your h-history as... 'Mr. Fuck 'em and... Forget About 'em'?"

He sucked in a breath and forgot about the new key he'd found for a moment. That hurt. But then she probably meant it to; she is trying to get rid of me after all. Not gonna' happen, Maxie. Rapidly losing his patience, he growled, "Then why did I spend six months pretending to be your boyfriend? Huh? Why haven't I slept with anyone else since we moved in together?"

She had no answer for that, but then again, she didn't really feel like giving him the benefit of the doubt right now either. She had to make him leave. Now. His scent was starting to waft through the door and she could feel her body reacting to it.

Casting about desperately for something to get rid of him, she used the only weapon left to her - a lie of her own. "Well, it doesn't m-matter anyway... 'cause it was just the heat talking. I don't... love you... Don't w-want you." It was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, but somehow she managed to choke out the words.

"Bullshit Max. You aren't even making sense you're so upset, and you sure as hell wouldn't be this defensive unless you'd meant every word. If it was just your heat, I wouldn't still be out here arguing with you. You'd have dragged my ass in there and had me naked already. You wouldn't be trying to keep me out." Testosterone radiating from him in waves, he shoved his full weight against the barrier as the second key at long last turned in the lock. "Now stand back, 'cause I'm coming in."

"No!" She hurriedly backed into the alcove behind the door as the heavy bookcase began to slide across the floor and into the kitchen doorway. "I don't want your p-p-pity, Alec. Just... go away!"

"Fuck! It's not pity!" He finally managed to force his way in and slammed the door shut behind him as he stalked toward the living room, kicking off his shoes and ripping his t-shirt off over his head, throwing it away distractedly. His nostrils flared as he scanned the room, searching for his distraught mate. The remains of her torn up t-shirt and panties littered the floor between their bedroom and bathroom, combining with her scent to tell a tale of utter frustration. He finally sensed her presence behind him and whirled around, pinning her with his heated gaze.

She was breathtaking - completely nude; damp hair curling riotously around her face and a becoming glow highlighting her tear-stained cheeks to perfection. She looked almost fragile as she tried to become one with the wall behind her, her whole body visibly trembling. Skin flushed from her heat, her nipples were hard peaks, the curls between her legs moist with her desire, her pheromones charging the air around her with sexual tension.

Dismayed and elated at the same time, Max swiped a shaky hand across her cheeks to wipe away her tears, then stared at the vision before her. Her eyes raking hungrily over his bare chest, following the ripple of muscles down his abdomen to the waistband of his jeans, the material bulging as he stood to attention for her.

Deliberately playing up to the raw need flaring in her shimmering brown eyes, he began taunting her, touching himself slowly, sensually, trying to push her past her reservations.

She swallowed hard, completely enthralled as his fingers trailed leisurely down his chest and began undoing the buttons of his fly, the action somehow managing to pierce the cloud of desire muddling her brain again. "Alec, no!" She pressed herself as far back into the corner as she could, trying to retreat from the temptation he posed. "Get the hell out of here before we do something you'll regret."

"I'm not leaving, Max." He undid his jeans and stepped out of them to reveal his body in all its naked splendour. As if drawn by a magnet, he padded toward her, his gaze roving possessively over every supple curve as he smiled rakishly. "You're mine now."

It was the final nail in her coffin. There was no way she could resist the man she loved. Not in her condition. Her last coherent thought was that her last ditch attempt to save him had been in vain. An exercise in futility. He would hate her when this was over. But suddenly, it didn't matter anymore. Her field of vision narrowed, all senses focussed on him, and only him. The building could have collapsed around them and she wouldn't have noticed... or cared one whit.

She licked her lips as his scent surrounded her, intoxicating her with his potency. He was an alpha male, a perfect mate able to take anything she could dish out and more, unlike all the humans she'd been forced to contend with over the years. Every fibre of her being knew it and responded accordingly. "Mmmm... 'Bout time." She purred. Pushing off from the wall, she stalked forward predatorily to meet him halfway, hands roving over his skin as she rubbed wantonly against him, inciting his own mating instincts.

Alec growled, his hands digging in her hair and dragging her against him as he became swept up in their hormones, the heat from her body nearly melting him with its intensity. He took her mouth forcefully, his tongue hot and wet, delving deep and duelling with hers as his fingertips massaged her scalp and neck.

Max stood up on tiptoes, exulting in his attention, her fingernails digging into his shoulders, her nipples hardening further as the heat inside her exploded, driving her insane with need. She nipped at his tongue, his lips, pushing him back toward the kitchen in an urgent attempt to find a solid, horizontal surface.

Feeling something hard behind him, he reversed their positions quickly, hastily sweeping the countertop bare then grabbing her hips and lifting her up on it, groaning encouragement when her legs wrapped around his hips and pulled him snugly against her. Neither one heard the din as dishes and mugs shattered and pans clattered to the floor behind them. Having discovered very early on that Max's back was one of her most erogenous zones, Alec purposely slid his fingertips lightly up and down the delicate line of her spine in an attempt to please his mate, raising goose bumps in his wake.

Max shivered, the delightful torture of his talented fingers almost too much to bear in her over-sensitized state. And his mouth, tormenting her with endless scintillating kisses, was robbing her of breath, making her head spin. Unable to stand his teasing any longer, she slid her fingers up around his neck and into his hair, dragging his lips down to her breasts as she arched backward to lie down.

Allowing her to lead him for the moment, he captured one taut bud with his teeth, squeezing her other breast in the palm of his hand. He was deliberately rough with her, biting and pinching her nipples, knowing instinctively that anything less would be unappreciated in their current half-feral state. She needed to feel his strength, his stamina, needed to know that he was her equal and more in order to accept him as a suitable mate.

"Enough," she moaned after several minutes, the lone word husky and desperate as it left her lips. Too wound up to put up with further foreplay and frantic to feel his hard length inside her, Max grabbed him in one hand and began stroking him, slathering him with the fluid seeping from his tip. "Now, Alec."

He closed his eyes for a minute, losing himself in her touch, then felt her squeeze him tighter when he didn't respond right away. Glancing up from her breasts and seeing the urgency of her demand in the tense lines of her face, he leaned back and slid one hand down past her waist. Hot, moist folds greeted his fingers warmly, attesting to her readiness for him.

She gasped when two of those fingers quickly found their way inside and began petting her. "Oh God..." She closed her eyes, her head moving restlessly back and forth on the counter. Her hands fell away from him, scratching fruitlessly against the cold Formica beneath her. But while his fingers felt good for a little while, they certainly weren't what her body needed. "Please... Now!"

"Please what, Maxie?" Alec's eyes gleamed wildly as they surveyed the glorious bounty in front of him, savouring the hungry glare his incensed mate was suddenly throwing his way for making her wait.

"You know what!" She almost screamed in frustration, trying to sit up, to pull him down to her, to do anything to ease the ache inside her.

But he easily held her body down with his free hand, some baser part of his animal nature taking over, making him assert his dominance over her and ask again, "Please what?"

Taking in the unyielding stare he was giving her and somehow knowing just how important it was for her to do so, especially after her denial earlier, she submitted to him readily. "I need you inside me. Want you as my mate." She panted, trying desperately to appease him. "Please, Alec... Just fuck me already."

The words inflamed him, his own need to possess her completely, to claim her for his own taking hold of him. Removing his fingers, he plunged himself inside her, entering her body with one hard, fast thrust that cut through to her core, a grunt leaving his lips as he felt how wet and tight she was. Grabbing both of her hands, he meshed his fingers with hers, holding them above her head.

Max threw her head back against the countertop, seeing stars, her back arching up as if drawn by a string when he pulled back and then entered her again, just as forcefully. "Yes!!!"

Alec captured her scream with his mouth, his tongue darting in to stroke hers, matching the feverish pace he was setting below as her ankles locked around him, her body embracing him with all her might until she finally got what she needed.

He lost track of how many times he brought her to a climax, of how long they stayed in a state of absolute bliss, the hours flying by in a haze of sweat and moans, moist passionate kisses and unbelievable fulfillment, his seed flooding her time and time again until they both lost consciousness from sheer exhaustion...

To be continued...