Chapter 2:

"…Fang's hand was making slow, warm circles between my wings, and that plus the hypnotic fire and the stress of the day all combined to make me tired and unable to think strait…

Now Fang was rubbing my neck. I was both exhausted and hyperaware, and just as he leaned in - to kiss me again? - I jumped to my feet.

He looked up at me.

'I - I'm not sure about this,' I muttered. How's that for silver-tongued rapier wit, eh? Overreacting

impressively, I raced to the front of the cave and launched myself out into the night, unfurling my wings…"

Suddenly, something wet connected with my face and my eyes flew wide open. "Total!" I yelled, realizing he was licking my face, disrupting me from my not-so-good dream. Fang's eyes blinked open slowly and Total drew away and jumped off of Fang. "Max! You've got to come to the kitchen!" I started breathing heavily; worried that something had happened to my flock. "Your mom made cookies!" I scoffed. Gosh that dog had a way of presenting himself. I looked at Fang and he shrugged. "Alright dog, we'll be out in a second. Now skedat!" I said, making Total scurry out of the room.

I jumped out of bed, closing the door and rushing to the bathroom to brush my teeth. "Bathroom's yours." I said to Fang, throwing him the toothpaste and going to the corner of the room where I kept my small dresser. I quickly yanked on jeans and a T-shirt and opened the top drawer to look for some sort of sweater. Suddenly I felt hands on my waist. "Good morning sweetheart." I smiled. "Morning, Fang." I twisted around to face him, immediately getting caught in a kiss. I made a surprised noise but didn't pull away from him, wrapping my arms around his neck. We kissed for what felt like forever until someone knocked on our door. Nudge's voice came through to us, though we kept kissing. "Hey are you guys gonna come out for cookies and milk?" I pulled away from Fang reluctantly, still holding him. "Um, yeah, we'll be out in a second." I turned back my head back to Fang, and we put our foreheads against each other. I smiled. "We should get out there."

"I know." He said, leaning forward and kissing me quickly, then releasing me.

I stepped back and we headed towards the door, holding hands. We came out and walked the short ways into the kitchen, and I took in the scene in front of me. My mom was cooking something the stove, and Gazzy, Nudge and Total sat at the table, playing cards and eating cookies. By the looks of things, Angel, Iggy, and Ella were all still asleep. I looked at the oven timer and realized it was only seven o' clock. "Wait, what are we doing up so early?"

My mom turned around to face me. "Morning you two! Max, we are going shopping today." I practically chocked on my own spit. "Shopping? Mom, since when have I agreed to go shopping?"

"Since I'm forcing you to. Come on, it'll be fun! Just you, me, and the girls." Now I did choke on my own spit. "Okay, you expect me to trust the boys to be alone in my house? I don't think they'd last ten minutes without something catching on fire or exploding. You don't leave Gaz and Iggy alone in a house without someone to keep them sane. Period."

"Well sweetie, Fang will be here." Both Fang and I busted up laughing. "Are you kidding me? They're not scared of Fang at all." She sighed. "Fine, how about I leave Ella here? I don't think she'd be real enthused with the idea of shopping anyway." I thought about it. Though they weren't afraid of Ella, Ig was in love with her, meaning he would probably do anything she says… hmm… "Deal."

As soon as Iggy and Ella woke up, we were going to leave. So, as I saw them come out into the kitchen, I was both relieved to get away for a while, and scared to leave Fang. As crazy as it sounds, In the six months Fang and I had been married, we hadn't been more than fifty feet apart from each other. Ever. Wherever he went, I followed, and the same goes to him. We loved each other too much to be separated, having had that experience more than once in the past.

"Wait," I said to my mom, my mouth full of cookie. "Where's Angel?" She looked confused and looked around the room. "Huh. That's strange. She was in here for breakfast." Fang and I exchanged a quick look of panic, and then headed towards the back door. "Angel?!" I yelled, looking at the sky while shading my eyes from the sun. With my raptor vision, I could barely make out white wings and blond curls, but they were there. I shot Fang a look that said up and away, and then shot my wings out and took off.

She was about 2,000 feet up, with her eyes closed and body parallel with the sun. "What the heck are you doing up here?" Her eyes shot open as she looked at me and smiled. "I just wanted to talk to the birds." Fang, who was now beside me, groaned. "Ange, there are no birds up here. Besides, you know how dangerous it is to be flying around here." She gave us an angry look and, folding her wings and angling her body down, dropped to the ground. I rolled my eyes as she walked back inside, clearly angry with us.

Looking at the ground, I suddenly saw ocean waves and dolphins, and the kids riding them and having fun. My eyes filled with tears as the memory of that day came back to me. The day we decided for the first time to officially be together. "Are you okay?" asked Fang, concern flooding his voice. I laughed and looked him in the eye. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. This just… it reminded me of that day at the beach. When we decided to be together." He smiled and flew as close to me as he could. "This is a lot like that, isn't it?" He paused for a second, then leaned forward and kissed me. "I love you." It amazed me how even this little memory made me cry. There had to be something wrong with me. "I love you too."

We stayed there for a minute, just hovering and looking at each other, until my mom came out and called up to us. Glad that she couldn't see us, I tucked in my wings and plunged downward, feeling the wind on my face as the ground rushed up to meet me. I landed roughly, having not had much practice in the past few years, and Fang was there moments later. "You ready to go?" my mom asked, smiling. I looked at Fang and bit my lip. "Yeah."