Of Sun and Moon

Hey guys! So I know this took me a while but I had to think a lot about Max's answer. It couldn't be a straight-out YES (although God knows I was thinking about it), so yeah…ENJOY! Although, this is kind of a filler chapter. It's super short...

Rating: Mild-T for language

Clearly Ambiguous

Why the hell isn't he worried, Dylan wondered. His sister's been gone for almost a day and he's acting like it's no big deal.

Dylan turned around, a look of disgust on his face, as he watched Ari and Fred eating together. Though everyone else thought it was normal for Ari to be friendly to Fred because they were "siblings", Dylan thought otherwise. He knew that the looks Ari gave Fred were more than brotherly admiration –like the ones he gave Max – but of apparent infatuation. Dylan had known Ari since he was a boy and had even admired him. Before Fred, Ari was known for being cold and callous. And because of his inability to really connect with anyone, he was the most diligent alpha male. No funny games, just straight to business.

"Ari," Fred whispered, "we should go. Dylan's starting to get all jittery again."

The male stroked her cheek. "I told you not to worry, Fred. As long as I'm with you, Dylan can't hurt you."

"That's not what I meant, Ari. By the way he's pacing, Dylan's probably already wondering why you aren't freaking out that Max is gone," Fred explained. "Unlike you and me, he doesn't know that Nick is Fang. We know that Nick won't hurt her, but to Dylan and everyone else she's been taken by a vampire."

He stood up, realizing that Fred had a valid point. "We'll be heading out again in few minutes," Ari announced, immediately receiving the attention of all the pack members. "Get ready."

~:*:~

Crap.

Fang asked me if I still had feelings for him. OF COURSE I STILL HAVE FUCKING FEELINGS FOR YOU! I TOOK A FUCKING STAKE FOR YOU, REMEMBER? That was along the lines of what I wanted to yell in his face. But we both knew that eventually Dylan would find out that Fang was Nick and Nick was Fang – my ex-boyfriend and rival of Dylan. To be honest, I personally didn't think that it would make that much of a difference if Dylan did find out. They both hated each other already anyways.

Only this time…

Dylan had a motive to kill Fang.

And as much as I wanted to just say YES DAMMIT I HAVE FEELINGS FOR YOU and shower his face with wet, sloppy kisses, I knew that if I did… I'd be the most selfish person on the planet. Fang deserved to live. Even though he believed he could take care of himself, I fathomed it wouldn't be the case if he had a whole pack of werewolves hunting him down. Him being a vampire was reason enough for the pack to kill him. How much worse would his punishment be if they found out that he was my ex-boyfriend?

So I did what only I would do in this kind of situation…

"I…umm," I stopped to think a moment, "can I go…uh…get cleaned up?" I tried lessening the blow of rejecting his question by giving him the sweetest smile I could muster. Pathetic. That's what I was. No need to be screaming it in my face now.

Fang looked shocked. Like he didn't know how to answer to my lame response. I didn't blame him. I sure as hell wouldn't know how to either. He asked me if I liked him and I responded by saying that I needed to bath. I'm a smooth cat aren't I?

He scratched his head before saying, "Uh, sure, there's a waterfall around here somewhere."

~:*:~

Max looked about the unfamiliar terrain, wrapping her arms around her still-naked body. She inhaled deeply, breathing in the scent of crisp air and listening to the fresh water gently slapping against rocks alongside the sound of cascading water.

She crouched down, slowly taking handfuls of water, and began cleaning herself, washing away the dried blood on her shoulder. The frigid liquid lessened the pain of her scorching body, but didn't give her the full relief she longed for. Since she became a werewolf, her internal temperature went from being 98.6 degrees to 107.3. A temperature a little above 100 degrees was enough to send a person to a hospital. Werewolves were forced to live with the perpetual burden of feeling feverish with no cure. As if the whole being-bound-to-the-moon thing wasn't bad enough.

Standing up, she combed her fingers through her long, wavy brown hair, sighing as she deliberated on how she was going to answer Fang. He definitely wasn't going to let the question go without an answer. The question she had tried so hard to avoid. If she told him that she thought about him everyday, she was sure he wouldn't let her leave him again. That he would try to be with her, even if his life was in danger each second he spent with her. If she told him she didn't feel anything and that she had somehow forgotten how her heart used to beat a little faster every time he was with her… then she would be lying. Both to Fang and herself.

After she had broken up with him, she had spent a great deal of time moping around in her room. If Fred hadn't been there, Max was almost positive that she would've starved to death. It hadn't been easy for her – breaking up with Fang – but she understood that it needed to be done. For his safety. That was what she kept telling herself… every single day until she finally believed she made the right decision.

But telling him that she didn't love him anymore, she knew that wasn't fair.

At that instant of realization, she felt someone's gaze upon her and turned her head to find herself looking at Fang. She thought that by catching him staring at her, he would look away embarrassed, but his intense gaze remained unrelenting and she actually ended up being the one to look away first. A blush formed on her cheeks, the thought of Fang looking at her without a thread of clothing to protect her from his eyes sending a shiver down her spine. To make matters worse, a gust of wind hit her back and Fang was suddenly behind her.

"You never answered my question," he breathed into her ear whilst his fingers grazed over where her wound had been on her shoulder. "And this time, a bath is out of your Book of Excuses."

She closed her eyes, her knees feeling weak in response to his touch. "Fang, I –"

"Max," Dylan called running to her.

Her eyes widened in fear and she quickly turned around, Fang nowhere in sight. "Turn around," Ari strictly commanded the other pack members, watching with care as Dylan removed his jacket and placed it around his sister.

"Are you hurt?" Dylan asked cupping Max's face in his hands. "Did it hurt you?"

Max cringed at how he used the word 'it ' to refer to Fang. "I love you," she whispered shakily, tears brimming in her eyes.

The declaration of love was meant for Fang. She hadn't meant to say it aloud, but it had been building up and eating her insides out. She needed to hear it out loud so that someone else besides herself would know. And by doing it in this way, Max was also keeping him safe because she knew he was listening somewhere.

"I love you too, Max." Dylan replied, kissing her gently on the lips, trying to reassure her that everything was alright. Fred looked up at Ari with a concerned expression on her face. "Let's go home."

Fang watched them from a distance. Nothing had ever been clearer in his ears than the exchange of love between his lover and his enemy. A single tear silently hit the forest floor before he quickly whirled around and sped away...

*cue the tears*

Anyone know what Max did? If anyone can figure it out, I'll give ya a virtual pat on the back and I'll mention your name in the next chapter if you get it right! :D

Poor Fang :'( I was crying for him in this chapter…

Ok, so about me not posting after the 40th review…I'm really sorry, I really am. I just didn't know that you guys would respond so well. Hmm, well, to be honest with you guys, I'm making a lot of this stuff as I go. I have the basic idea of what I want, but not really a lot of the detail. So, for this story not to go downhill I may need some time to update. Can you give me like 2-5 days?

I'm gonna raise the bar a bit so that I can buy some time. Can we aim for 80 reviews? And I PROMISE that after the 80th review I'll update. That should at least give me 2 days to write.

I know this chapter was short but I thought that this was the perfect place to end the chapter. Remember, their love is forbidden so it has to have that tension and angst.

Have a good day, guys!