Consuming Fire

Chapter 61

Hunter didn't feel like being around a big group of people, so she walked upstairs to her room after the funeral, showered for the second time that day, changed and climbed into the bed, listening to the humming of the pipes and the clank of footsteps on the metal outside. It was lonely and she missed the sounds of the forest at the cabin. It was almost like being in a cell again.

There, she was alone with her thoughts. And suddenly, without warning, she was sobbing for Fearne. She didn't hide it or try to toughen herself up. She didn't have to be a hero for anyone when she was by herself. Alone she was Hunter – a girl with too much responsibility and a power greater than her comprehension who lost a sister and a friend and was about to face the greatest battle of her life. It was all so much that she felt as if her head would explode.

A while later, after she'd washed her face in the bathroom and curled up in her bed again, there was a knock on her door.

Perfect timing, she thought as she opened the door to Will. He stood there in sweatpants and a white T-shirt, clean again, his hair damp and his eyes bagged with purple rings just like hers. He looked at her through furrowed brows.

"Hi," he said.

"Hey." She gave him a small smile.

"I wanted to uh ... apologize for the way I acted today. And I brought a peace offering." From behind him, he pulled a box of matches and some old candles. "If it's not too weird, I just thought it would take us back to the good old days."

She smiled. "This is probably the most normal thing in our lives at the moment. Come in."

Hunter stepped aside and Will walked into her room. She took the candles and placed them on the shelf beside her bed, where she lit them. He sat down on the edge of the bed, his hands gripping his knees. Hunter placed herself next to him, bending one leg.

"I shouldn't have put you through that, and I shouldn't have shouted either."

"You were upset," she said. "I would've done the same thing. In fact, I probably would have set the room on fire."

Will's smile tipped to the side, but it only lasted a fraction of a second. They sat for a moment in dead silence. Hunter wanted to comfort him or make another joke or change the subject – and she wanted to do it all at once. It was strange how simpler things used to be in the guard's quarters of ICE, not just in their circumstances but in their relationship too.

A second longer and she couldn't take it.

"Will, I don't know if you remember, but earlier you-"

"Hunter." Her name on his lips silenced her immediately. He turned his gaze to hers and she was not only lost for words but lost for breath. "Whatever I said and whatever I say from now on, I need you to know something."

She waited, her heart pounding, feeling the heat of the fire coursing through her body. The candles flickered in response to her anticipation.

"I spent my entire life thinking that I would die alone and never experience these ... feelings. And after everything that's happened since I met you, my life has transformed. You brought comfort. You brought joy. You brought chaos too, but let's not get into that."

Hunter sniffed a laugh and tucked her hair behind her ears.

"But more importantly, you opened my eyes to the world again. I started to have faith that I was going to live past twenty-one. That I wouldn't be alone until the day I took my last breath. Fearne-" He swallowed a sob and a tear rolled down Hunter's cheek. She quickly brushed it away, not wanting him to see her tears. "She brought me out of the darkness and showed me the light but you ... you showed me a fire. I'd never have had the courage to face a raging dinosaur if I didn't have faith that you'd save me. I'd never have followed anyone else back to the Death Caves, even though I knew it was a suicide mission. And I'd never have run toward your scream in the bathroom, knowing what I was getting myself into, if I didn't feel anything for you."

Her throat was suddenly dry, her heart thumping with emotions.

"Will ..."

"If there is anything I have learnt in my abysmal life, it's that I can't be afraid anymore. I can't take anything for granted or hide my feelings or wait to be healed. Life is too short and too precious for regret."

Hunter bit her lip. She couldn't describe the warmth inside her and if he had said anything more, she would have been overcome by love. Perhaps it was the gloom of the day that made her so desperate for his affection or to feel close to him in every way. And among the many things she learned in life, it was that no human love was perfect, but it could never be wasted.

"And Fearne wouldn't have wanted us to wait another minute." Will's eyes filled with tears at that, and he wiped them away. She could see frustration forming in his eyes – the kind of anger that only grief controlled.

"Will, it's okay, you can –"

He didn't listen to her and got to his feet, stormed over to the wall and threw his fist into it, the same way he had last night. He punched the wall three more times before Hunter ran to him and squeezed his shoulders.

"Will, stop! It won't bring her back, okay? Just stop it!"

"When?" he yelled. "When does it get easier? When will this pain go away?" He shrugged her off and sat on the edge of the bed again with his hands clenching his hair. She stood in front of him, holding back her own tears. "I don't know how to deal with this, Hunter. Knives and drills and bullets I can handle, but death ..."

"Death is the worst kind of pain," she murmured. She slowly dropped to her knees in front of him, taking his hands and pulling them away from his face. "But you are not alone, Will. I'm here for you. I know what it's like to lose your other half. It hurts, and it doesn't get better, not until you stand up to your grief and move on."

His eyes bore into hers, sweeping back and forth with such intensity that her heart wanted to leap from her chest.

"What was it you said before?" she murmured and placed her hands on his cheeks. "That life is too short and too precious for regret."

Something burst to life in Will's soul. He placed his hands around her waist and hoisted her onto the bed with a force so strong and powerful, it lit the fire inside her with a potent fuel. When he had her lying beneath him on the bed, he brushed a stray lock of hair away from her lips and then he claimed her mouth with his.