It Burns Within Us | Wildfire Series Book 1

F I F T Y - O N E

B R E N

It was the worst possible timing. It wasn't how I'd meant to tell her. I'd wanted to admit that it was half of what made me so scared about getting close to her. I hated the idea of drawing her into his path. But deciding to come here and be with Madie had been a choice between two dangers: Quinton and my father. And I'd needed to protect her from the more eminent one. 

Tonight, I had barely been able to do that. I couldn't make that mistake again.

Madie was dazed, and I didn't blame her. The house was cold, echoing our fears as we walked in. So I led her up the stairs to the bedroom, looking to find warmth. Pulling her into our little sanctuary, I immediately drew Madie into me, needing to simply hold the shit out of my girl. I knew she was softly crying on my shoulder—the good one—but that was fine. I might have been crying, too.

But then she mumbled, "You should leave me, Bren."

I jerked back, searching for her eyes even though the house was dark, and there were more shadows than colors. "Leave you?"

"You shouldn't be with me." She gazed at me beneath eyelids that were puffy and heavy.

"Are you kidding me?"

"I almost just got you killed!" she yelled, flinging her hands up in a sudden storm of emotion. "Oh my god, Bren." She covered her face in her hands, and her next words were a muffled truth that I knew all too well. "You almost died."

I clenched my jaw and reached out to push her hands away, cradling her sweet face between my two palms. Every movement stung, irritating the open wound in my shoulder. But it reminded me that I was alive. For some reason, I was alive.

"I don't fucking care, Madie. Don't you get it?" I gave her a little shake because she wasn't looking at me. Her eyes flicked upward, and it was just the two of us. And we were drowning, but we were breathing. And we were burning, but we were living. A tear trickled down her cheek, and I wiped it away with my thumb. My throat was like gravel, and I tried to clear it. But it was no use. I needed her to hear me, though, so I said what I needed to anyway. "I would die for you. I love you."

"Don't," she cried, striking at my chest, trying to push me away. But I held on.

"Don't love you?" I asked, incredulity leaking into my words. "That's impossible."

"No, you idiot." More tears ran down her face, and I couldn't catch them all. "Don't die for me!" She pushed at my chest again, but it was weaker this time. "I need you to fucking live for me, Bren." Her hand flew up once more, and I caught it, holding her close. "Live for me because I need you," she gasped. "Because I love you."

I didn't know what to say to that—my breath stolen by her confession—so I wrenched her into me and kissed her.

And hell, she'd been ready for me.