First of all, thank you so much to all 100+ of my followers! I never thought that so many people would appreciate my writing. I read all of your feedback on whether you'd like to see Iggy with Nudge or Ella, and it was pretty much obvious that the majority of you were pro-Niggy. For right now, I'm going to keep you on edge, but the build up for whoever I chose to go with will eventually sprout into a lemony part of chapter 20-something. And don't worry, I'm sticking with Max and Fang, but Iggy's relationship will play a minor, but important, role in the epilogue.
Also, to whoever Ali'sBiggestFan is, you completely made my week. And all of you reviewers have been so amazing I am actually incredibly touched, so I'm extending this story for you guys! Thanks so much for being so amazing!
Clearly someone has got their panties in a bunch over Nudge and Iggy! I promise I'll make you happy, VERY happy, so just wait!
The last two weeks could easily be defined as hell. Well, at least Nudge's version of hell. I've been suckered into so much crap that I can smell the reek of it from a mile away. Tomorrow is the wedding, my wedding, and Nudge has held herself personally responsible for every single minuscule detail there is. That girl is one hell of a fourteen-year-old.
But of course, what's a wedding without a little drama? Iggy and Ella are fighting over god knows what, and the fact that both of them have to stand on the altar together might spark some tension. Total and Akila arrived yesterday, baring news that Akila was in fact pregnant. Angel bug-eyed me for me to let her keep one, so naturally I told her to nag Fang about it. Which was probably a dumb idea because Fang goes soft after two minutes of the pouty lip. What a pussy.
Gazzy built some confetti "canon", or in better terms "bomb" for the party following the ceremony, performed by none other than Mr. Certified-on-the-internet Iggy, who also happens to be Fang's best man. The dresses came in the mail this morning, and Ella is freaking out because her's is too big. Nudge has been using her bird-kid level of tailoring to tighten it up, but after the yelps of pain cause by getting poked and prodded by sewing needles, Ella declared it a lost cause and set out to find a beloved safety pin.
Nudge weaseled the boys into wearing tuxes, who knows, maybe she's developed the power of hypnotism or something, and I've been sitting on the sofa amusingly sipping my diet pop smirking at the action of them watching various internet tutorials on how to tie a bow tie. All three of them sat there like dumb-struck monkeys scratching their heads. Idiots.
My attention was sidetracked by the chime of the doorbell.
"Door!" I hollered, too lazy to get up off my ass to answer it. Whoever it was clearly wasn't that important.
"DOOR!" I hollered once again, loud enough that even our neighbors that lived a mile down the road could hear it. Still not a response.
I let out a loud, aggravated sigh and dragged myself to the door, opening it as loudly and obnoxiously as possible.
I took account of the two men on the doorstep and dropped my soda. Literally dropped it out of my hands. Like onto the floor.
"Hello, Maximum." Said the shorter man sternly in a voice that I grew up with. In a voice that found its way into my head many years ago. In the same voice that told me my mission was to save the world, that I had killed my own brother that horrendous day in the subway tunnels of New York, that Dr. Martinez was my mother, and that Fang was supposed to be the first to die.
Yeah, telling a girl that the love of her life was to be murdered kind of puts some thickness in the air. That is if you can get past the betrayal of him deserting us, or the various times he's lied to our faces. Or maybe it was that time when he tried to get me to reproduce with that ass-kissing clone who I can't even come to address by name.
And speak of the devil himself, there he stood, an inch taller and a hell of a lot grumpier. He looked to want to be here as much as I did. Maybe even a little less.
I was rather glad to see his perfectionism fade. He had definitely fallen out of shape in the past year or so, his sculpted stomach had clearly gone to the rocks. His face had broken out around the forehead, with dark circles under his eyes from sleepless nights and gruesome days. His cheeks were tear-stained, clearly indicating that he was still brooding over me rejecting him all those countless times.
His hair was ratted, his clothing disheveled, and he looked like the walking dead. To put it in the nicely, he looked like shit. And to be honest, he kind of smelled like it too.
"What the hell do you want?" I growled, with an alarming amount of venom in my tone.
"We're here to crash the wedding." Dylan snarled back, with hatred in his eyes that were pointed at Fang in the background.
"You weren't invited." I responded harshly, slamming the door in their faces.
Unfortunately I was a few seconds too late. Dylan caught the door with his foot and kicked it back open, the wood slamming into the wall with such force that the hinges broke loose. The crash alarmed the boys, and within the second the three amigos were by my side. Gazzy spit on Jeb's shoe, a notion that I would usually scold him for but this time accepted it gracefully. Fang crossed his arms over his chest, competing silently in the glare-off of the century between him and Dylan. Iggy lurked behind me, holding onto his hands as if he didn't trust himself to punch a hole through the wall. Or even Jeb's head.
Nudge and Angel stared at us from the staircase, whispering back and forth about the situation. Angel's face quickly folded into a scowl, obviously picking something up in someone's head that I didn't dare to find out.
"Leave." Fang barked, taking an intruding step towards Jeb and Dylan.
"Max is making a huge mistake." Dylan claimed, loudly cracking the knuckles of his left hand.
"The only mistake was you!" Fang shouted, slapping Dylan square in the jaw. Dylan sprang loose, pouncing on Fang like a panther.
"She belongs with me!" Dylan hollered, rolling on top of Fang and punching him in the chest.
"She's mine!" Fang growled protectively.
"I was made for her!" Dylan shouted, knocking the wind out of Fang with a sturdy punch to his chest.
"I grew up with her! She's known me her entire life!" Fang shrieked, flipping himself on top of Dylan and sending his head backwards with a hard blow to the jaw.
"You left her behind like bear shit!" Dylan wheezed, being rewarded with a punch to his nose. Blood started to trickle down his face, and enough was enough.
"That's it!" I screamed, loud enough to shake the house. Fang and Dylan stood up and dusted themselves off, glaring at each other in dead solitude.
"Max–" Jeb started, holding up his hands to calm me down.
"How dare you! Don't ever 'Max' me again! Don't ever talk to me again! I never want to see your betraying untrustworthy face ever again! Can't you see how much you've hurt me? How much you've hurt my Flock? I'm in love with Fang, and tomorrow I'm marrying him. Nothing than you can say or do will change that." I snapped, with my eyes glowing crimson with anger and hot boodlust boiling in my veins.
"I left you for good reason. Everything I've ever done for you I've done from the bottom of my heart." Jeb defended.
"Bullshit! Everything you've ever done for me has come from the bottom of your bank account! You're a liar and a traitor, and nothing more." I accused.
"I'm sorry." Jeb whimpered, tears swelling up in his eyes. Let him cry. Let him fucking mourn over the faith I had lost in him long ago.
"Leave." I threatened in a low, bellowing tone. Two assholes turned and exited the house, their head drooped in shame and disappointment. The car engine revved and Jeb pulled his sorry ass out of the driveway and onto whatever the hell they were going to do next. I can only hope that its to burn in hell.
"Max?" Fang called, placing a hand gently on my shoulder. The rest of the Flock had cleared out, leaving me frozen in front of the door.
"You ok?" Fang asked softly, stepping closer to me so that he was now leaning over my shoulder.
"I'm fine." I answered in a rattled, unconvincing tone. But was I really fine? No. I was completely shaken up, not that I would let anyone in on it. Unfortunately, Fang knew me practically better than I knew myself, and trying to lie to him was like trying to convince a fish that it can fly. Seeing Dylan and Jeb brought back painful memories, memories that I would be nothing but pleased to have cremated from my brain.
"Shh, Max. It's ok. They can't hurt us. They can't do anything. I love you, you love me, we're one happy family–" he started, getting cut off by my palm.
"Stop singing Barney or Dylan and Jeb will be the least of your problems." I threatened.
"Ooh, Feisty." Fang teased. I kicked him lightly in the shin, and he let out a faked cry of pain. I rolled my eyes at him and pecked him on the lips, retreating to go check on the kids and see if they were ok.
"Nudge? Angel? You guys ok?" I asked, rapping lightly on their door.
I heard a sniffle and footsteps and Nudge opened the door.
"Nudge? What's wrong?" I questioned, bending down to her height, which these days wasn't that short.
"Angel... she was really worked up over something... and... and..." She quivered, falling into my arms.
"What about Angel?" I snapped, trying to keep calm.
Nudge raised a shaky finger and pointed to the open window, clearly indicating that Angel had flown off.
Well shit.
"I tried to stop her." Nudge sobbed, leaving a puddle of tears on my shirt.
"Shh, it's ok. We'll go find her. All of us. Get yourself together and meet me at the door in a minute. We'll get her, it'll be ok." I comforted, not entirely sure if I was trying to convince her or myself.
I rounded up the Flock, all devastated at the news, and ran off the front steps full speed. She couldn't have gotten that far.
"Angel! Angel! Angel!" I called, waiting impatiently with no reply. In the distance I heard the batting of wings, wings that sounded exactly like Angel's. With no other hope, I flew as fast as my wings could carry me to her, seeing her tiny little body come into view.
"Angel!" I screamed, colliding with her mid-air and gathering her safely into my arms.
"Max-" She sniffled, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.
"They're gone now, sweetie. They will never come back. I promise they can't hurt us." I spoke, stroking her golden hair as she looped her fragile little arms around my neck.
"No, its not that. I- I heard something. And I didn't want to." She sobbed.
"What did you hear?" I asked curiously.
"I- I- I can't t-t-tell you." She stuttered.
"Honey, you can tell me anything. I won't kill anyone, at least not today." I assured.
"It will hurt people." She said, tears spilling down her rosy cheeks.
"Who will it hurt?" I questioned.
"Y-y-you, Iggy, Fang, Ella, the wedding, everyone." She responded.
"I promise you I can handle it." I replied, fully expecting her to recite something she heard about an evil plan that involves mass genocide, or that they are planning on killing us, again, or even something ridiculous about Jeb planning on capturing one of us.
But what I heard couldn't even compare to what I was expecting. No, this was much, much, worse. But maybe I'm under exaggerating.
"They are going to kidnap Ella. And she is going to mate with Dylan." she recited, breaking out into a full blown sob.
"No." I whispered in disbelief.
"Sweetie, don't say anything to anybody else, ok? I need to find Ella and make sure she is safe, ok?" I said, trying to remain strong for the sake of Ella and Angel.
But inside I was screaming. I was ripping things in half and throwing the temper tantrum of the century. Ella... with Dylan? So just because he can't impregnate me means that he has some entitlement to rape my sister? That fucking bastard deserves a kick to the face... from an iron boot with spikes.
I realized that Angel was still in my arms and I needed to cool the fuck down, she could read everything that I was thinking. She probably thinks I'm a toddler who was denied a lollipop. A really, really, pissy toddler with some anger issues.
"Ok." Angel sniffled, snapping me back into focus. She released her arms from their grip around my neck and hovered next to me, drying her puffy face off with her palm.
I flew back at full speed, sending Angel to gather the rest of the Flock. I barged into the house and knocked rapidly on Ella's door, fiddling with the lock until it broke open.
"Ella!" I exclaimed, running over to her seated figure scrolling through pages on her laptop.
"Max?." She asked, clearly confused with my desperation.
"Oh thank god, you're still here." I sighed, hugging her limber frame.
"Why wouldn't I be?" she chuckled.
"Ella, I need to tell you something very important. Stay with me, ok? And don't be scared." I said calmly.
"What is it? Is someone hurt?" She panicked.
"No, Jeb and the School are after you. They want you for whatever sick purposes they have planned out. But I swear to you, I would never let that happen. Ever. I'll talk to Mom, after the wedding tomorrow you and her are going to need to go somewhere safe where they can never find you. We'll stay here to keep them distracted." I explained, leaving Dylan out of the picture for both of our sakes.
"No! What if they come after you? Why do they want me? I'm nothing special!" Ella cried.
"Ella, I don't have the answer to that. But I do know that you'd rather be dead than at the School. So please, go with Mom and stay safe." I pleaded.
"But what if I never see you again?" She croaked, tear drops leaving splotches on her pink comforter.
"You will. I promise." I said, kissing her forehead.
"Please, Max. Don't make promises that you might not be able to keep." She sobbed.
"Max? What's going on?" Nudge demanded, barging into the room.
"Honey, get the Flock in here." I ordered. She called for them, and within the minute they were all gathered around the bed with a raised eyebrow and confusion written all over their faces.
"The School is after Ella," I started, taking in the worried glances plastered on the faces of my family. "She and Mom are going to go away for a while. At least until it's safe."
"What!?" Nudge shrieked, racing over to Ella and hugging her tightly.
"She'll be here tomorrow for the wedding. But after that–" I sniffled.
I don't know how long I was sitting there, how long Iggy had his jaw dropped to the floor, how long Nudge glued herself to Ella, how long Angel sobbed into Fang's chest, or how long I was wishing that this weren't happening, but however long it was it was horrendous.
In better words, it was dreadful. I don't think that I want to go into details. Letting her and Mom go tomorrow might be the worst thing that will happen since Fang left. But we never should've gotten attached, that was our fault. We never should've put them in danger for our selfish needs of a home, of a life. It should've stayed the six of us, at least that way nobody else's life is being put on the line. If Ella gets hurt, I could never forgive myself. I will make all those sick fuckholes pay for ripping apart my family. I will make them pay for endangering the life of an innocent girl. I swear to it.
Tomorrow should be the best day of my life. A day that I will always remember, in a good way. But after all my luck with weddings is shitty, I always lose someone I love. Last time it was Fang, now Mom and Ella.
But seriously, what's a wedding without a little drama?
I know this chapter was totally un-lemony, but it was essential to the plot. The next chapter will have a HUGE lemon, HUGE plot details, and it will be incredibly long. So stay tuned please! You guys are amazing.
And yeah, should Max and Fang's wedding night be sweet and down-to-earth, or rough and sexy?
Or how about both ;)
Please review! Also any suggestions are 100% welcome.