I could not believe what I was seeing. No, actually I could, because God forbid that my life could be simple and easy for any period of time longer than a few seconds. It was early morning and I was on watch. Even though the sun was up, everyone else was still asleep. We were still recovering from our latest escapades, which had been about as easy as, well, flying in a hurricane.

"Max?" Fang asked so quietly I wouldn't have known if he'd spoken or not, if I hadn't just seen his mouth move.

He just had to wake up now, of course.

"I thought you might be missing darling Brigid," I whispered snidely. "But she was busy, so this was the best I could do at the moment." I motioned towards the clearing below our tree. Long red hair glinted in the sun filtering through the trees. The Red-Haired Wonder had returned.

Fang's eyes narrowed. "Why would she be here?" he asked.

"Funny. You don't know? I thought maybe you invited her."

"Yeah, because I just go around giving out our whereabouts to random people," he said, giving me an I-can't-believe-her-sometimes look.

I didn't answer. Instead, I glanced around at the rest of the flock. They were all still asleep—even Iggy hadn't heard the whispered conversation. I had half a mind to accidentally-on-purpose wake Angel up. It would be nice to know what Fang was thinking right now. Of course, that would mean I'd have to admit that I wanted to know. And Angel knew enough about my scrambled feelings already.

I turned back to Fang, who looked like he knew exactly what had just gone through my mind. Which, of course made me even more mad. "So what are you going to do about her?" I asked as calmly as I could manage. "I mean, you kissed her and all, and then took off without so much as a 'nice to meet you.' That's gotta sting."

"I guess I can relate," he said, his dark eyes holding mine. For a second I forgot how to breathe. "Sting doesn't even begin to cover it."

I turned bright red and looked away. Why did every conversation we had have to circle back to that? "Whatever. Just do something soon. The rest of the flock will be up soon."

"Sure you're going to trust me?" Fang asked, and for a second I thought I saw a hint of a smile on his face. No way could he be teasing me now.

I glared at him. "It's you or me, and I haven't decked anyone in three days. That's might be too long of a stretch for me to handle," I said, fake concern in my voice.

He gave a low chuckle, and dropped to the ground, landing almost silently a good ten yards behind the Red-Haired Wonder.

"Yo," he said.

She spun around. "Nick?" she asked and tossed her hair, a really pretty smile on her face. Maybe decking her wouldn't be such a bad idea…

"What are you doing here?" the Red-Haired Wonder asked. "Is the rest of your family here? Are your parents doing mission work?" The entire time she'd been walking closer, until she was about five feet away now.

"We're all here," I heard Fang reply.

"Where is everyone else?" she asked, tossing her hair again. What was it with her?

"Asleep, mostly."

She stepped closer and reached up to put a hand on his chest. Which, I remembered, was exactly the way it had happened last time.

Except…

This time Fang stepped back, shaking his head.

"Nick, what's wrong?"

"I can't, Lissa," he said quietly. I'd forgotten that was her actual name.

She looked taken aback. "Why?"

"There's someone else that it would hurt if I did this." Wow, Fang was feeling chatty this morning. Wait. What did he just say?

Lissa pouted. "She'd never know."

Fang laughed. "Trust me, she knows everything."

The Red-Haired Wonder stepped back, looking like she'd just been slapped. Hmm… Not a bad idea, really. "So why did you come over here?"

Fang shrugged. "Good question. I guess I was wondering why you were here. Are you waiting for someone?"

Thanks to my super raptor-vision, I could see the Red-Haired Wonder blush and look away.

"Interesting," Fang said, taking another step back. "Well, see ya. Oh, and there's going to be a lot of kids up and about in this clearing pretty soon. If you're meeting someone, you might want a bit more private place." That was the longest thing I'd heard him say in a long time. Like, ever.

She nodded reluctantly, still red in the face. Fang waited until she had disappeared into the trees before he did a flying leap and flew silently back up to land beside me.

"Better?" Fang asked, watching my face too close for comfort.

I gave a brief nod and turned away, leaning back into the tree.

"Yo," he said, reaching out and touching my shoulder.

I glanced at him sideways. "Hmm?"

He was a lot closer than I'd thought. "Don't I get a reward for dealing with that so efficiently?"

Fang didn't wait for me to answer. He slid his arm around me and his lips met mine.

I felt myself stiffen, tense, and Fang pulled away.

"Please don't run away again," he whispered. "It only makes it harder for both of us. Please, Max?"

Then—get this. He made Bambi eyes at me.

Really, what else could I do? Now I had no choice but to stay.