Page 112 of The Alien in the Archive

My heart twists at her words. I’ve lived long enough to know how fleeting joy can be, how tenuous hope is…but with Page, it feels real.

Permanent.

I squeeze her hands, my thumbs tracing slow circles against her knuckles. “So…this is about Ashlan,” I say, arching an eyebrow.

She rolls her eyes. “Of course. You’re just the bonus.”

“And I thought I was the hero in this tragic story.”

Her smile falters, but she doesn’t pull away. “Don’t call it tragic,” she murmurs. “It’s a romance…and I’m told they always have happy endings.”

I pull her closer, cradling the back of her head as I kissher. There’s no hesitation, no space between us anymore. I drop all the barriers in my mind, and she, hers.

And I’m there, in that dream space with her…and here in this reading nook, where the rest of the world doesn’t exist.

Her fingers thread through my hair, tugging me closer as the kiss deepens. Every whispered fear, every ounce of doubt, melts away. When I lower her gently into the cushions, her breath hitches.

She makes me feel alive in such indescribable ways.

“I love you,” she breathes, reaching up to touch my face. I can’t resist leaning in to kiss the curve of her jaw, her temple, the corner of her mouth. “I don’t care what happens next. You’ll always be mine.”

“All yours,” I murmur against her skin. “Fate or not, I’d choose you a thousand times over.”

She takes my face in her hands and kisses me hard, slanting her mouth against mine. My fingers travel down her side, over her hip.

Then she pauses.

“Thorne?”

“Hm?”

She pushes herself up on her elbows, just enough to meet my eyes. “I need you to drink from me again.”

I frown. “Page…”

“I mean it,” she says. “Your life…I need you to survive long enough for us to get to an Elixir Ceremony. If my blood buys you even a little time—just enough to survive this—then I want to do it.”

I shake my head, a dull ache building in my chest. “Not again, Page. I won’t take that from you.”

“It’s not taking,” she insists. “It’s giving. I’m your mate, Thorne. That has to mean something.”

Her conviction makes me falter…because I know she’s right. If the goal is to be together at the end of all this—if for some reason I get caught up in some kind of extended battle for my freedom—I need to survive it.

“You’re sure?” I whisper.

She smiles faintly, brushing her fingers along my jaw. “Yes. Of course.”

“Okay,” I say, voice already lower, throaty. “But…I need you naked.”

She huffs out a surprised laugh. “Your horniness never fails to surprise me.” She sits up straight and tugs her shirt over her head. I’m doing the same, shrugging out of my sweater, then my threadbare shirt.

“It’s not about that, not exactly,” I say. I glance down at her as she unhooks her bra and frees her breasts; no matter how many times I see her naked, I’ll always thrill at the sight of her. “When I drink from you…the connection is so intense that I will have to have you.”

“Maybe youhavebeen reading too much smut,” she chuckles. “Thorne?—”

“That’s not what I mean either, Page,” I growl, tilting her chin up to look at me. “I just don’t want to ruin your clothes trying to tear them off you.”

Her lips part, her breath hitches. “Oh.”

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