Chapter 173: Dangerous games

Chapter 173: Dangerous games
Ruelle’s POV

“Dammit!” I hear behind me, followed by the sound of rushed footsteps making its way over to me. I push my back off the ground, wincing at the pain spreading through my back and waist. 

Thorne kneels beside me and takes me in his arms, carrying me bridal style and rising to his full height. He starts to walk, his lips set in a thin, tight line that makes me swallow all the theatrics I have left. He looks beyond upset. 

I wrap my arms tighter around him and rest my head against his chest, shutting my eyes to the rhythm of his heart pounding in his chest. It is only a tad tighter, but I feel the movement of his arms to hold me closer. As though my head against his heart has more of an effect on him than he would like in this moment. He doesn’t say another word till he takes me back to the tree stump and places me on my feet. 
I watch him take the cloak that had been resting on the stump and spread it on the grass, motioning to me to come closer. When I do, he gently pushes me down till my ass hits the cloak covered grass, while he stands over me. 

“Turn over, I need to see your back”. He orders and I do. Turning over to lay on my side on the floor with the speed and ease of a dying aged wolf. Once I am settled on my side with my head resting on my arm, I feel him kneel behind me, his breaths so heavy that I feel the warmth on my face. I shut my eyes to the effect that it has on me. 

My dress isn’t corset today, thankfully. So all he needs to do is take out the buttons at the back. I feel his fingers working on my back and soon, the cold breeze tingles my back as he finishes with the buttons. A deep sigh fans the nape of my neck from Thorne and I shiver at the little pricks it leaves on my skin. His fingertip grazes my back and I wince, sighing at the thought that there is probably a bruise there and that is the reason for his sigh.
Thorne pulls his fingers back and after a while of hearing nothing from him, I turn to find him lying on his back with his fingers folded and rested atop his chest. 

His expression is sullen as he stares at the sky, and without thinking too much of it, I mirror his position and fix my eyes on the sky too. Thorne is the first one to break the silence. 

“You have my child in your womb, Ruelle”. He says, his voice low and rough. 

“I am careful.” I swallow and from my peripheral vision I can see him shaking his head. 

“No you are not. There is nothing careful about breaking into sprints in the woods or jumping over trees… and sneaking out without protection and all other things that you do.” He sucks in a breath when he is done. “I NEED you to be more careful. Or else I might go by my word and truly lock you in a cage.”

I sigh, looking up at him. A smile curls on my lips but locking me in a cage is definitely something he can do and that I do not find funny. He turns to look at me as well, his gaze soft. 

“Going to see Garron was a bad idea. You may not have made it back alive.” He tells me and I sit up, holding myself up with my elbow and looking down at him with my brows pulled together. 

“Why do you say so?”

“I know you love him. He probably loves you too but you need to realize that he is doing all these things knowing the effect it has on you and he doesn’t care. Going to speak to him isn’t going to stop him from fueling the brawl. If anything it would give him a tool to draw me into his trap and kill me.”

I suck in a breath at his words. “Never…”

He shakes his head, warm eyes never leaving mine. “No not never. If that were to happen, I would drop every single life for dead in my clan just to save you. Including mine. And Garron knows this so he would use it to his advantage. And that would quite literally mark the end of the war. And the Ironclaw clan. As per their wishes.”

I sigh, shutting my eyes. As tedious and entirely pessimistic as it sounds, I feel remorse over the fact that I didn’t see it in that angle. Whether I like it or not, my father and my husband are at war with each other and talking to him would do more harm than good. 

“I’m sorry.” I tell him, earning a sigh in response. His shoulders and chest visibly deflates, as though he expected me to argue instead of apologize right away. “I didn’t think about it that far and things could’ve gone very badly. And it would all be my fault. I’m sorry.”

He shakes his head, finally turning his body to face me. His fingertips swipe a piece of hair off my forehead and tuck it behind my ear. 

“Sending a guard undercover, huh? I have to admit I had no idea you had it in you”. He jokes and I let out a breathy chuckle.

“Well I desperately needed to know what was happening and how you were doing. No one was telling me anything and that house is already a pain to live in”

He scrunches his brows, genuinely confused. “A pain? I thought you liked it. I tried to make it as cozy as possible for you.”

“It is clearly not the house, silly. It is the absence of you”. I rest my hand against his chest, holding his gaze. “My nights are cold and some days I feel like I might die or lose my mind from how much I miss you.” My vision is getting blurry now, and I aggressively wipe off the tears on my cheeks, taking my hand back to his chest. “That is when I decided I needed to do something. Anything to stay informed.”

His palm comes up to caress my face and his eyes are tender as they sweep over my features. “I already made you a promise, didn’t I?” He asks, his voice a rumble that reverberates in my chest. “I told you I would come back, no matter what.”

I nod my head, sniffing back the snort threatening to spill from my nose. He wipes the moisture from below my eyes and all of a sudden, I feel like a little girl. Thorne’s laugh is a vibration in my chest as he says, 

“Only you, little moon, would make a wolf’s battlefield a place for the game hide and sick.”

I roll my eyes. “Well clearly I got caught so…”

“I didn’t know. Vander told me. Your undercover mission went completely over my head.”