My whole life, I had always said that I would rather die burning alive than freezing to death. I had always hated the cold, always preferred to be suffocating in humidity and sweating so much my brain hurt than face even the slightest breeze. The cold had never been even remotely tolerable to me. It was my greatest weakness and only fear.
So when the ferocious burning spread from my hand across my whole body I found it easier than I thought to quench the screams my body yearned to release to low groans. The entire sensation was like having a viper of fire slithering through my veins and dividing at every capillary until there were thousands in my bloodstream. But I felt like I had to contain it, so she wouldn't know just how much agonising pain I was in.
I was there to save her, after all.
I was here suffering through the most excruciating pain in my entire life — worse than dislocating my shoulder, splitting the back of my head open and her drifting away from me combined— to save her from the inevitable danger that was her inexplicable need to put others before herself. And I was only happy to do so.
Because Bella Swan was and always would be the most important person in my life.
