Disclaimer: I own nothing. James Patterson is the ruler of all things Maximum Ride. I just rule this Fanfic. ;)

Chapter 2

Eureka! Turns out the piece of crap couches weren't piece of crap couches after all! They were piece of crap couches that folded out into flimsy piece of crap beds! This discovery was made compliments of Gazzy and Angel, who thought that bringing toads in from the lake to keep as pets was a good idea.

"But they were cold, and hungry! We couldn't just leave them to suffer like that!" Angel objected after I scolded her for letting the nine toads loose in the cabin. She was checking the bathroom, in the tub, under the sink. God I prayed none of them slipped down the drains. Not that I cared. It wasn't like this was our cabin, but still. Have some decency for the people who do own it will ya?

"Yeah, what Angel said." Gazzy said as he scoured the cupboards.

I rolled my eyes at Gazzy. "Honey, we barely have enough food to feed ourselves. What on Earth gave you the impression we could feed nine frogs?" I forced myself to keep my temper. Truthfully I could care less if they turned into frog popsicles outside. But if I said that to Angel, she would most likely get very upset. I had to be very gentle in situations like this. And usually that took every ounce of energy I had.

"Toads" I heard Iggy correct from behind the screen. "They're toads. Frogs are a lot smaller." He pulled the screen open "None in there." He called. I shot him a glare as I reached under the recliner searching with my hand for anything slimy, squishy, and alive.

"I'm glaring at you Iggy." I said. He smiled at me in return.

"Nothing in the bedroom." Fang said climbing from the bed out to join us. I sighed. Where the hell could nine toads possible hide in this tiny little space?

"You know Nudge, we would probably find these things a lot faster if you helped us search for them" I called to her through the sliding screen door. She was outside on the deck. She refused to come inside until the toads were found and removed from the cabin.

"No way! Eww! They're all gross and slimy and Yuk! I wouldn't go near one if you paid me in salad dressing!" she said stomping her foot and crossing her arms.

"You know there a one hundred times more of them outside." I informed her.

"Yeah but I don't have to live with them outside. I live inside. Frogs don't belong inside."

"Toads" Iggy corrected again. I shot him another glare that he of course didn't catch, due to him being blind and all.

"We've only been living here for two and a half days Nudge; it's not going to be the end of the world if a toad were to hide in the bathroom or something."

"There's nothing in the bathroom." Angel called.

"And nothing in the cupboards or the fridge either." Gazzy added.

I groaned in frustration. "Total would come in handy right about now." I muttered a little too loudly, because the next thing I heard was a quiet sob from Angel. I stood up and turned to her realizing my mistake. Total was a touchy subject right now. He had come down with something and was on strict bed rest back at home in Arizona. Doctor Martinez, a veterinarian I happened to meet while roaming the desert canyons of the copper state, who also happened to turn out to be my long lost biological mother, was treating him for some kind of doggy flu there. Angel was worried sick about him and had originally refused to come with us on this vacation. Until Total told her he would be much happier sitting this little adventure out. It was a complete lie of course, but it had convinced Angel that it would be ok to come with us.

"I'm sure Total's just fine." I reassured her. Angel sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, nodding. What a mess this whole thing was turning out to be. I needed a vacation from my vacation.

I was on my last thread of patients when I finally had the intuition to remove the cushions from the couch. And there they were. All nine toads having a toad party on a folded up cot that was hidden beneath the cushions. I was, get this, actually startled. I wasn't really expecting to find them, and I let out a pathetic little squeak as I dropped the couch cushion.

"Hey!" Iggy exclaimed. "Sounds like Max found them." Everyone came rushing over to me. "What's the matter Max, afraid of a couple frogs?" Iggy taunted, purposefully using the word frog. I let out a loud angry growl as I picked up two of the toads with my bare hands and shoved them into Iggy's.

"Just get them out of here before you get hit, you little jerk." I ordered pushing him for the door. He cackled all the way outside. Angel, Fang, and Gazzy, each took two more and released them outside, and Nudge snuck past me back inside as I freed the last one.

Once we were all back inside with the toads in their rightful place in the wild, I turned to Gazzy and Angel. "Alright," I started calmly. "Have we learned our lesson? No more slimy little critters inside the cabin. Got it?" I pressed. Angel and Gazzy nodded with conviction. "Good." I said pleased.

"Hey, what's this?" Nudge asked examining the folded cot in the couch. I came over and tugged on the handle bar. Without much effort the bed unfolded, mattress, sheets, and all. It was a thin mattress and the sheets didn't appear to be very clean. But it was a bed none the less, and it looked like it could hold two people.

"Awesome!" Gazzy exclaimed.

"Hey Igs, check the other couch." I ordered folding the bed back up. And sure enough, there was another two person cot hidden inside.

"Double awesome!" Gazzy exclaimed again pumping his fist. "Does this mean I don't have to sleep on the recliner anymore?"

"Yes Gaz, you and Iggy can share a bed." I said

"And I can share with Nudge, right?" Angel asked.

"Of course sweetie." I replied. Angel smiled broadly. It wasn't very comfortable for her cramped up on the little booth. So that solved our sleeping arrangement problem. Well, almost. That still left me and Fang in the same bed, which had turned out to be very awkward. And things only got worse that night.

After I made sure all of the kids were asleep and Iggy was on watch I crawled into the bed feeling like I had fought a major battle today. I was exhausted. Fang shifted in the bed so he was lying facing me, propping his head up on his hand. I opened my eyes wearily when I felt him staring at me.

"What?" I asked irritated, not really in the mood to deal with him tonight.

He shook his head. "Nothing," He replied.

I rolled my eyes then turned so my back was to him. "Go to sleep, Fang." I whispered closing my eyes again. There was movement in the bed as I suspected Fang was getting comfortable for sleep, when suddenly I realized he was wrapping his arm around me and pulling me into him. I froze. Every muscle in my body stiffened. But I didn't move.

"You need to relax." He whispered in my ear. "It's not good for you to be so uptight."

"Since when have you cared?" I snapped back. But Fang didn't reply. He simply held me there, ever so softly. And just as I was starting to let myself be ok with that, I felt his lips on the back of my neck. And just like that, every synapse in my brain fired and I lost all control. I gasped, half shocked, half pleasured by Fang's romantic gesture. And I felt him smile against my skin.

Then he kissed me more, moving his mouth from the back of my neck to my shoulder and paused there to suckle gently. By now my eyes were wide and my heart was racing a million miles an hour. When I felt him suck on the flesh just before the strap of my spaghetti string tank top, I involuntarily closed my eyes and let out a very small and quiet moan. Quickly my hand flew to my mouth and my eyes snapped open again. Where did that come from? I thought. Horrified by how weak it made me sound. Fang pulled away from me and chuckled, knowing exactly what was going through my head right now. I turned over so I was facing him and looked into his eyes. He was actually amused by my reaction! The little pervert was enjoying this! He enjoyed watching me squirm and making me so feel so helpless. What's wrong with you Fang? I hadn't realized that I was scowling at him until I saw the smirk that appeared on his face. What did he find so funny about this situation!? Then he said something that made my heart do a double back flip.

"You are so beautiful." He whispered. My eyes widened and I stared at him completely shocked. What did he just say? The next thing I knew he had pulled me close, pressing our bodies together hard and our lips even harder. Having my emotional wall already mutilated by him once that night, it didn't take long for my arms to wrap around him and for my hands to find their way into his hair. This only encouraged more passionate kisses from both of us. My mind was foggy and I couldn't put any two strands of thought together properly. All I knew was I could lie there with Fang and do this forever. I was on cloud nine. We hadn't kissed in a quite a long time and I had somehow forgotten how amazing it was.

Fang's hands moved down my sides to my hips. On some unspoken level of understanding we both moved together so that I was on top of him. Our kissing didn't slow down at all like it had back in the desert. Instead of doing it for comfort, suddenly we were becoming hungrier and hungrier, almost lustful. No not almost, definitely, full of lust. Our mouths moved together and I angled my head to the side so I could kiss him better. Then I felt his tongue tease my lips and without even thinking I opened my mouth to him.

Just roll with the flow Max. No it was not the voice speaking, thank god. I was literally, mentally coaching myself. I had no idea what I was doing, and I was pretty certain Fang didn't have a clue what he was doing either. It was all I could do to keep myself from totally freaking out and running away. As soon as our tongues met something inside me exploded and sent tiny sparks and tingling sensations all the way down my spine and beyond. I wrestled with his tongue fighting for dominance. But soon just kissing him wasn't enough. Something inside me needed, longed for more.

I slid down Fang's body to kiss his neck, when I felt something hard press against my lower half. Curious, I pressed back. My eyes went wide and head shot up to look at him, startled by the sound that Fang made next. He actually groaned. And it wasn't a groan like I've heard him give before, when he was in pain and barely able to speak, or groggily being forced to wake up. Those groans he could utter without as much as a hint of emotion. But this noise? This was something totally different. At first it scared me. Did I hurt him? Was it too much? But then he looked into my eyes and I saw something I had never seen before in any man. Lust… and pleasure. We were both painfully out of breath and it took a while for our hearts to slow down enough to speak. But I didn't want to speak. I wanted more of what ever drug was shooting through my veins and making me feel so alive. Before Fang could open his mouth to speak I lowered myself back down and kissed him again, silencing anything he was about to say. He closed his eyes and I closed mine as we fell back into each other.

This time I pressed against him purposefully and didn't stop when he moaned into our kiss. Now I knew why Fang was having so much fun making me squirm. I couldn't help that my eyes lit up at the sight of him completely at my mercy. Not only was it hilarious, but it was exhilarating to know that I had the power to do this kind of thing to a man. And a man who never expressed more than a smirk when he was happy or a flicker in his eyes and a knot in his jaw when he was angry or hurt. It turned me on. So I pressed harder, fitting one leg between his and rubbing against him.

"M-Max-" Fang groaned and I was surprised at the amount of passion that came from that one word. More passion than I've heard in anything he's ever said to me. Passion, longing, love, pleasure, ecstasy, all in one word, and it was my name. This made my heart soar. I wanted to hear it again. So I pressed my leg against him again, harder this time. Then Fang did something completely unexpected. With one swift movement he flipped us over and pinned me by my wrists to the bed. When I turned my startled face up to him I saw that his expression had changed. He was angry.

"Stop it!" he growled. I stared at him my mouth gaping, shocked and confused. Both of our chests were heaving as we panted hard. Fang closed his eyes and gulped to catch his breath before looking back at me with the same determined anger as before. No, it wasn't anger, it was fear!

"Stop it Max" He repeated. "Stop it! I don't want to do something that I'll end up regretting." I stared at him, speechless for what seemed like an eternity. Was he joking!? Had he lost his flippin mind!? Did he just say he would regret me? Isn't this what he wanted? Isn't this what he was aiming for when he kissed me, held me, when he touched me? When his lust filled eyes looked into mine and pleaded for more? What was his problem!? Make up your freaking mind, Fang!

Now I was seriously pissed off. I shook my head and glared at him. "So then what were you trying to accomplish by starting this whole thing?" I spat venom.

Fang sighed and shook his head letting it hang helplessly. "I- I don't know" That was it. That was the last straw. I couldn't take this anymore. First he pushes me into feeling a certain way about him now he was pushing me away? What was it he really wanted from me!? I wasn't about ready to ask and find out. I was outta here!

"Get off of me." I hissed pushing him forcefully off and throwing him from the bed. He made a lot of noise clambering to the tiny isle of floor like that, which I was pretty sure, woke all of the kids and alerted Iggy. But I didn't care. All I could see was red. I tore the door open, not even stopping to acknowledge Gazzy, Nudge, or Angel who were all sitting up in bed looking about ready to fight off an army of baddies. Had it been any other situation I would have been proud that they hadn't lost their survival instinct. But I was mad as hell and all I could think about was getting the hell out of there and flying. Flying, flying, flying as fast as I could go, and possibly never stopping.

"Max, wait!" I heard Fang call as I pushed through the heavy door closest to the bedroom, took a running leap off the deck and snapped out my wings.

"Max?" Iggy called hearing me take off. "Fang, what's going on?" He asked as Fang came bolting out after me. I heard the sound of Fang opening his wings to take flight and before I could think twice about letting him catch up to me, I kicked it into hyper gear and zoomed away at about two hundred miles per hour. There would be no way Fang could catch me now.

I decided against flying forever, or for very long for that matter. Being able to go so fast I didn't want to get too far away and not have the energy to make it back. Though, maybe if I flew fast enough I could make it full circle around the Earth by morning. Eh, I didn't feel like finding out tonight. I was already spent, and I realized that the little boost of energy the adrenaline rush from being with Fang gave me was quickly used up. Stupid Fang. I hissed in my mind. Stupid, stupid jerk. Unable to think of much else, I kept up the cursing. That's when I had to force myself to land in a nearby city. Welcome to Minneapolis, the sign read. Man, I had flown farther then I thought.

I didn't want to risk being seen, so I touched down in what looked like a more abandoned part of town. It was a big city so no place looked perfectly safe, but an ally would have to do. It wasn't that I was afraid of being caught, just about everyone in the entire world knew who and what I was. So I didn't have to worry about being 'discovered'. But that's also the reason I didn't want to be seen. The last thing I needed was an ambush from crazed blog fans, or overzealous environmental activists. I just needed some peace and quiet.

So I walked, hands jammed into my jeans pockets, oblivious to the searing cold against my exposed skin in this skimpy tank top. Because I wasn't thinking about the cold, or what I was wearing, no I was spazing out over Fang. Guh! I was so angry at him! Who did he think he was? That stupid idiotic ass hole! Excuse my French. But I was seriously ticked off.

I was like this, wandering aimlessly, uncharacteristically unaware of my surroundings, ignoring my warning system blaring code red, for about ten minutes, maybe twenty, it was hard to tell. But after a while it was hard not to slow down and think about what had just happened between Fang and me. What had I wanted? Did I really want to have sex with Fang? No, no Fang had been right. We weren't ready for something like that. And he had had the will power I lacked to stop us from really doing something we would regret. God, how could I be such an idiot?!

I whipped around running back the way I had come. If I went back now, apologized to Fang, maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't hate me. I turned the corner down a dark ally and was about to take off when I ran smack into a wall. I was knocked backwards and I fell to the ground hard. My hands flew out behind me to catch my fall and I landed on my right hand wrong. I heard a sickening cracking sound and knew my wrist was broken. Shit. I gasped as the pain shot up through my arm. I had forgotten how badly broken bones could hurt.

"Awe what's the matter? Did you hurt yourself? I'm sorry," a menacing voice cooed. What? Had the wall just talked to me? I looked up to find that the wall I had run into was not a wall at all. A big man, six foot two and a half I was guessing, a neck as thick as an ox, and as muscular too, stood above me. Ha, as if his size could scare me. I had fought off monsters twice as strong as him, and with worse injuries too. So I got to my feet and glared at him defiantly.

"No, I'm fine." I growled back at him. "But thanks for your charming concern. Now get out of my way." I ordered. Had I known then what was going to happen, had I been on full alert like I should have been, I would have snapped out my wings and gotten out of there as fast as I could. But I didn't. I was alone, no Flock to back me up, exhausted beyond reason, and feeling a little too confident.

"There, there now, let me have a look at your wrist." I didn't miss the malice in his eyes or his threatening posture. I wasn't a complete idiot. So there was no way I was going to trust him. I shifted my feet into a fighter's stance and clenched both my fists despite the almost unbearable pain in my wrist.

"Wrong answer." The man growled, and I knew then the mistake I had made. But I didn't have time to correct it.

Max behind you! Too little too late voice. Just as I was about to whip this guy's ass the sting of a needle buried itself deep in my neck. It felt then as if ice was searing through my veins and it sent shivers down my spine. I gasped wide eyed as my body fell limp and I landed in the arms of another man behind me. I tried my hardest to struggle, willed my wings to move, and strained my muscles against the powerful drug that was shutting down all of my systems. But I was fading fast. I stared up horrified at the faces of my captors. My vision blurred and their distorted images drifted further and further from my view. I was slowly losing consciousness. No, no, no! I thought franticly as the world around me dimmed. This can't be happening! Do something Max! Save yourself! But there was nothing I could do. The last thing I heard before completely blacking out was their disgusting voices.

"Sleep tight, girly, you're in for a life of hell." One of them, I wasn't sure who, cackled. Then they began to talk to each other, one was ordering the other around. Their voices were loud, blaring in my ears, but I couldn't make any of it out. I was scared, helpless, I was weak! And all I could think about as I slipped into total darkness was my family. The Flock, who would protect them? I had to get out of this somehow. I had to live. I had to get back to them. Because I still have to apologize. I had to see Fang. Fang, Fang, and the last thing I remember, was wishing Fang was there now as I fell unconscious. I'm sorry Fang.

Mwahahahaha! Please leave a review if you feel the urge, it would be much appreciated if you did. :) Either way thanks for reading! I'll probably have the next chapter posted next week. And I will see if I can get the next chapter of The Arctic Price (Jelsa Fanfic) finished and posted tomorrow (No promises though) Love ya all!

Blessings

Shiro