Spoilers: 'Both Sides Now'

Disclaimer: no one mentioned belongs to me.

Heartbeat

Want was not an alien feeling for Miratrix. She desired many things, mostly power and all associated with it, but it had been a long time since one of the things she desired was not a what, but a whom.

The Black Ranger had a powerful sensuality to him. Grace and power and pride, not to mention a stunning level of confidence. And that smile. He disarmed her, in a way that terrified her.

"Morning, sunshine," drawled the Black Ranger, voice dripping with charm as he came up behind her. Miratrix swore she could feel the pulse of his blood, the same beat as her own. "Didn't start without me, did you?"

Miratrix shot him an icy glare, hoping he wouldn't recognize how hard she had to push to remain cold. "Don't sneak up behind me."

"Who's sneaking?" he grinned, throwing up his hands. "Just coming over to check on my partner." He eyed her. "Partner."

A thrill raced down Miratrix's spine, the side effect of his scrutiny, both of which she tried fiercely to ignore. The air seemed thick. She struggled to grasp a biting response from the recesses of her brain, but couldn't manage. It didn't matter. The Ranger wasn't done speaking.

"So, what'd I miss?"

"I was just reading some of your planet's mythology. Not all of these things are myth. These people are real, these objects truly exist. And your stupid planet passes them off as stories for children."

Miratrix expected him to rise to the bait, to defend his planet and his people, and his stupid little traditions. She expected the Black Ranger to live up to her idea of what humans were really like, but he just beamed. "You know what I like about mythology?" he practically purred. "All those strong, beautiful, powerful women."

She felt the smile curving her lips before she could stop it. "So you like power, do you?"

"Would I be here if I didn't?"

"The Rangers are trying to assemble the Corona Aurora, too," she pointed out.

"Yes, but that's a power that's going to be split a lot of ways. I'd like a bigger slice of pie." Then the Black Ranger's grin grew, his eyes darkening as his gaze followed her. "Besides, my partnering up with you offers a lot of other... benefits."

"I don't think I like what you're implying," Miratrix said. She wondered if she was losing all sense of good judgment where he was concerned, but from the moment he'd swept into her life, all charm bordering slightly on smarm, she was drawn to him.

Even though she knew better.

Even though she didn't trust him.

The Ranger shrugged. "Just saying, working alongside a beautiful woman is never a bad thing." His fingers brushed her arm, and the electric shock that buzzed across her skin and down her spine was the answer, the thing that trumped logic or even gut instinct. It was want, pure and simple.

Miratrix flashed him a smile. "You flatter me."

"I'm trying to." He stepped up to her again. Proximity was his weapon, almost as though he could hear the way it made her heart pound. "Is it working?"

"We have work to do," she said. "Stones to find and Rangers to fight."

"All work and no play makes Miratrix a dull girl," he said. "Have you considered taking a break? Maybe getting some fresh air, not spending all your time plotting in a cave?"

"You're not... asking me out, are you?" said Miratrix, frowning as she remembered her brief non-romance with Dax. It had been quaint, in that Earth sort of way, even if it had ultimately all been for a greater purpose. But she hadn't hated it. She could even conceivably do it again.

"Now Miratrix," he said, and this time he stepped so close that she temporarily forgot that breathing was necessary to survival. Yes, she could very conceivably see herself going anywhere with him, doing anything with him. "Do I strike you as the sort of guy who would mix business and pleasure?" He lowered his mouth to hers, and they both had their answer.