Forbidden Heat novel Chapter 176

This storm is no joke. It’s raining so hard that I can’t see well around me anymore and I am completely soaked. I still don’t feel like going back inside the mansion though. I don’t want to run into Reiner and I guess, I just wanted time alone to wallow in my sadness.

I don’t know how many times I’ve cried in this rain. I’ve cried so much that I couldn’t cry anymore. Sadly, feeling the rain beat down on me from above is starting to feel comforting. Luckily, there were next to no thunder and lighting, otherwise, I would probably be too scared to stay out for this long.

I wonder if Reiner has already left for the main house to report back to the Elders. I couldn’t stop thinking about him and yet I’m the one that is sending him away. I’m also the one crying my eyes out because of it…this is so stupid.

Suddenly, the rain stopped. The endless rain that had been falling down on my head had come to a complete stop.

“How much longer are you going to sit out in this storm?” the voice I had wanted least…or the most…to hear right now cut through the sound of the storm.

Looking up, I saw a completely soaked Rainer holding an umbrella over my head. His red hair was now a dark maroon from being wet by the rain. Many emotions whirled within me; however, the clearest one was probably fear. The look on Reiner’s face was intimidating and scary. I knew he was mad for many reasons without needing to ask.

“Why are you here?” I asked in shock.

“To stop you from killing yourself by catching pneumonia,” Reiner replied, half in truth and half in sarcasm.

“Shouldn’t you be on your way back to the main house to see the Elders?” I asked what was on my mind.

I felt Reiner stiffen at my words and before I knew it, my body was being lifted off the tree branch by his powerful arms. In one swift movement, Reiner had lifted me into his arms and was carrying me princess-style.

“Stop! What do you think you’re doing?! Where are you taking me?!” I screamed as I began to struggle in his arms.

Reiner just held me tighter as he started walking without bothering to answer to my screams of protests. My struggles were meaningless against a man of his size and strength. I wish he would just put me down so that we could just go our separate ways.

The rain has not let up one bit and it was getting colder. I shouted for Reiner to put me down many times as I beat my fists against his rock-hard chest to no avail. Within a few minutes, we seemed to have arrived at our destination. I looked around to see through the rain that we had arrived at the green house.

Without pausing, Reiner pushed opened the large doors to the green house. The warmth of the greenhouse greeted us the moment Reiner opened the doors before striding in with me still in his arms.

“It’s dry and warm here…and closer than going back to the mansion,” Reiner said as he slowly put me down on a wooden bench.

The smell of roses and other flowers and herbs mixed to fill my nostrils as I sat down on the bench. The greenhouse was pretty much dark. Where are the light switches again? It’s been a while since I’ve been in here and definitely not at night like this.

Looking around, I suddenly realized that I was alone, and Reiner was no longer in sight. Where did he disappear to? Did he leave? I sense of loneliness immediately filled the void his presence had left behind.

“The lights are not working…I wonder what the head gardener has been doing not to fix this,” Reiner grumbled as he returned to my side holding a candle lit lantern in one hand.