Sorry! Sorry! for not updating sooner, I hope you guys aren't that mad at me!! I am sick, which sucks and school has been such a drag!! I have been so busy!! but I promised myself that today I would update and ta-da!! here it is the next chapter!! ellabella89, I loved your suggestion and i am going to incorporate it later on in the story, but I don't want anything mayor to happen yet so...

I hope you guys are still reading my story and I promise to update sooner next time so don't stop reading. Lots of love..angie xoxo

I curled myself into a tight ball from where I was, making sure I made no noise what so ever. My breath was coming in small pants and I tried to muffle them by biting my lip. I could still feel the tension in the atmosphere, making me feel edgy. What now Max? I had been asking myself over and over.

I didn't know how to leave unnoticed. By now I was sure Fang was home and safe, which made some of the tension I felt, ease away. I couldn't think clearly to what had happened 'cause I still wasn't sure if I was dreaming this whole thing. But if so, why did those things seem so real, impossible to imagine?

I shook my head and concentrated in what those men were saying. I didn't move a muscle in fear they acknowledged my presence. Instead I turned my head slightly and strained my eyes, to look at what they were doing.

"What do we do now, Ari?"

One of the guys I didn't recognize, stepped forward and roughly shook Ari's shoulder, making me cringe at what was coming.

Ari's feet were rooted to the ground, his lip was curled in a snarl and his clenched hands were by his sides. I guess Fang's warning had him mad, a bit. Well maybe more than a bit, but Fang tended to do that sometimes.

Ari slowly turned around and looked, more like glared, at the person who spoke. His mouth stretched into a tight line making his features look slightly older. Will it kill him to smile once in a while?

He forcefully grabbed the guy by his collar and looked at him in the eyes, not bothering to stop himself from giving into the anger he felt.

"We wait", Ari spat, "If Fang isn't cooperative we step in."Ari grinned suddenly and added, "I have a feeling we will take matters into our own hands, and soon."

My gut wrenched at this information and I sucked in a breath. Were they going to hurt Fang? What did these people want anyway?

None of my questions seemed to have had an answer. I could tell these people weren't going to give up whatever they wanted and I knew for a fact Fang wasn't either. Still I felt nervous for him. All of them, against Fang?

Fang was strong, not that I stared at his muscles or anything, but these guys together were stronger and bulkier, not to mention taller than him. I started thinking of Fang's odds on winning against them, and shuddered, pushing the thought out of my mind.

I heard the sound of feet shuffling and moving closer to where I was hiding. My breathing hitched for like the fourth time today and I closed my eyes, focusing on becoming invisible. The footsteps came closer and stopped right in front of me.

I had no choice but to look up and when I did, my breath caught in my throat. Staring at me was the most beautiful face I've seen, it wasn't possible to imagine what the person behind the face could do to you.

My eyes landed on his and his tight lips formed a taunting grin that took over his face. He didn't give me time to react. In one swift movement Ari had grabbed my wrist in his hand and had forcefully pulled me up. My heart practically hammered my chest and when I looked at him, he sneered at me.

What now? What now? Think Max, think!

I didn't have time to come up with an answer because Ari shoved me so hard that I landed with a hard thump on the floor, three feet away from the rest of them. I looked up at their faces, and glared at them, making it clear how much I disliked every single one of them.

When my gaze met Ari's hard one, I snarled at him, letting him know how strong my hate toward him was. I clenched my fist against sides waiting for them to spring at me. If I went down, I was going to take some with me.

Ari kneeled in front of me and took my chin, forcing me to stare at him. I reacted strongly to that, I bit into his calloused hand with as much force as I could muster, until I could taste the strong flavor of his blood.

Ari let out a strong yelp and struggled with his hand, which I refused to let go of. His other hand blurred, and the next thing I knew he slapped me so hard, the force of it threw me several feet back. I held a hand to my stinging cheek and spit some of his blood out.

I knew my cheek was going to get a nasty bruise but I didn't care. I raised my head to see an angry Ari, cradling his hand and making his way toward me. His hand came down and grabbed a fistful of my hair, making me wince, but I made sure no sound escaped my lips.

I struggled to get free of him, but his hands grabbed my neck and shoved me against a tree, making my breath leave in a whoosh. His hands gripped my neck, choking me, leaving me breathless and struggling to get some air.

"Enough Ari" Sam said. I had completely forgotten about the rest of the men and when I looked at them they all looked wary, unsure of what to do. Ari stared at Sam, his eyes narrowing and with a murderous expression plastered on his face.

Reluctantly he released me, making me drop like a rock, gasping and coughing. Ari kneeled before me, and grabbed my face again, challenging me to do something against him. I was stubborn not stupid, so I didn't do anything, to his satisfaction.

"You see how it works around here, don't underestimate me again, or you will end up regretting it" his voice was steel and it made the hair on my back stand up. I felt like jelly, but I ignored my aching muscles and glared at Ari with such loathing, the other guys took a step back.

"Don't. Ever. Touch. Me. Again."My voice dripped venom, and I didn't remove my gaze from his, making it clear I wasn't afraid of him.

"Well then if that's the way you want to play it, then so be it."

His long nail sliced my jaw in such a quick motion; I sucked in a breath at the sharp pain it brought and when I touched my jaw, I felt the warm liquid oozing from my cut.

"Have that as a warning my dear Max, and tell Fang that time is running out."

Without another word he disappeared into the shadows, with the others following behind leaving no evidence they were ever here.

I was so shocked I didn't move from where I was for several minutes. My gut churned and something told me my name wasn't the only thing that they knew. Look at the positives Max, the positives. At least I made it out of here in one piece, more or less.

My cheek stung and my neck felt on fire, but other than that I was okay. I stood up and started limping in the direction I thought was home. I wondered if Fang was still there or if he had already left. Part of me didn't want to see him and part of me did.

For the first time I asked myself if I trusted him completely. I had gotten so close to Fang in the past week that I wasn't sure how I was going to deal without him. I couldn't let myself think he was one of them, I just couldn't. What I felt for him was more than a school crush, I relayed on Fang, I needed him. As corny as it sounded, it was the truth.

It was so dark I thought I was running in circles for a while. I couldn't see a darn thing in this forsaken forest. I didn't want to run into Ari again, I felt exhausted as it was. All I wanted was to curl up in a ball and forget all my worries, forget all I saw today.

I stopped and looked at the familiar surroundings, in the distance I thought I could make out the familiar shape of my house and without thinking about it, I raced toward it. I searched for my bedroom window to find it open and I climbed through it, making sure not to make any noise what so ever.

When I stepped inside my room I eyed everything warily but to my surprise no one was here. My hopes of seeing Fang crashed and burned right then. It shouldn't have bothered me after all I saw today, but it did.

I thought about the way I had wanted answer to my questions and laughed at the irony of having even more questions than answers. I really didn't want to think about any of it, I felt miserable enough already. I kicked of my shoes and got ready to sleep everything off.

I got the feeling I was being watched and when I looked up I saw Fang from across the room and my heart thumped unevenly inside my chest. After everything I told myself I still couldn't understand how he managed to get this reaction out of me.

He was truly gorgeous and even with the glare he threw my way I could see it. I could see his eyes narrowed at me and from the way his lips formed a tight line I could tell he was mad. He stood in the dark shadow next to my window, with his arms crossed over his chest.

I stood there where I was and regarded him calmly. He had the actual decency to be mad at me! Wasn't that something? Instead of me being mad at him, he was mad at me. Fabulous, just amazing!

With everything going on, me feeling like crap, my patience ran thin and him pushing it was really not so good. I copied him and crossed my arms over my chest, raising an eyebrow at him. From here I could see the scratch Ari gave him, and blinked twice since it looked almost healed.

Instinctively I touched my own cut and winced when I still felt blood ooze out of it. Fang sighed and walked over to me, I could still see the way his jaw was clenched but when he placed his hands on my face, I forgot I was mad at him.

"Let me see it" he said. His quiet voice was controlled, not revealing anything. He guided me toward the bed and sat next to me in it. I turned my face so he could get a better look at it and he wiped some of the blood with his shirt.

"It's nothing, the branches got in my way" I lied. He clearly heard the lie in my voice 'cause the next thing I knew he had stood up and his hands had clenched at their sides.

"What the hell were you doing out there?" He was way mad I could tell, but he needed to know the truth and maybe then he would tell me what was up with Ari and his clan.

"I wanted some answers to my questions" I replied stubbornly. "And since you didn't want to share, I decided to follow you."

"Don't you know how dangerous it is outside Max?" His voice had risen slightly and his control slipped. "Don't I keep telling you that you shouldn't go to the forest alone?"

"Fang, I had to." I said quietly, the last thing I wanted was to fight with him, but here he was making it harder by the second.

"Why?" he asked through clenched teeth. "Those men you saw out there, they aren't good Max, they aren't what you think they are-"He cut himself off. I could tell he wanted to say more but something was stopping him. And I hated that, I wanted him to trust me.

"What exactly are they?" I looked at him, begging him to tell me. I was sick of this charade; he could at least tell me what they were.

He pursed his lips, and didn't speak. He looked like he was struggling with himself and in the end he gave up and sighed.

"If I promise to tell you, will you stop going to the forest alone?" He didn't look at me, instead he looked at the forest through my window and shook his head, his brow furrowing.

I stood up and walked up to him, grabbing one of his hands and making him look at me. His eyes held so many emotions that I had trouble breathing. I could tell I had worried him and that made me feel very guilty, and I have never felt guilt before.

I did trust him. I trusted him with everything I had. His eyes told me so many things that I wondered how I ever doubted him. Can I trust Fang? Yes, I will always trust him.

Not the best chapter I know but still necessary, I promise to put more Fax in the next chapter, I'm just VERY loopy with my meds, I laugh at everything and I fell off my bed this morning Ugh! I hate getting sick..anywho please review!! REVIEW!!! if you have any suggestions or questions don't hesitate to ask or share!!!!! ooo REVIEW!!