Page 98 of The Alien in the Archive

The pivot is swift and shocking. From playing the long-suffering martyr…to complaining that we’ve had to be apart.

And suddenly, I see it.

“Oh my God,” I murmur. “You werejealous.”

Thorne flinches as though I’ve struck him. His eyes narrow, his mouth pressing into a tight line. “That’s ridiculous.”

I let out an incredulous laugh. “No, no, no…you’re not going to act like you’re not a man right now. We both know you get horny, you get annoyed, and now…you get jealous. You’re not this like…magnanimous, unfeeling god. You’re just a man, and you were jealous.”

He scowls at me. “You are…infuriating.”

I smirk, more than a little victorious. I shouldn’t be smiling—not when I was so furious with him seconds ago—but there’s something about this. About him.

The ancient, cool-headed, infinitely wise Thorne Valtheris, undone by something so…human. He’s jealous. He can’t stand the thought of anyone else being closer to me than he is, because he wants methat badly.

My whole body heats up, pulse soaring.

In no world should I be turned on by this…but I am.

“What are you smiling about?” he demands. “I thought we were fighting.”

He’s infuriating. Reckless.Absolutelymaddening.

And I love him for it.

So I smirk, biting my lip and letting out a short laugh. “You’re jealous,” I say, tilting my head in a challenge. “So do something about it.”

He glares at me. “Like what?”

I keep my mind closed to him, even as he searches for an answer. “Guess.”

He inhales sharply, his eyes graze down my body…

…then he closes the distance between us in one big step and claims me.

I practically launch myself at him, all the pent-up frustration translating into tearing off clothes and nipping at his earlobe, the hinge of his jaw. He’s just as eager, gripping my hips and pulling me against him like he’s been waiting for this moment as much as I have. The tension snaps between us, no holding back; his hands are everywhere—my waist, my back, sliding under my shirt and skimming my lower ribs. I tug off his shirt, desperate to feel him, to close the unbearable distance that made two days feel like a lifetime as he tugs me backward towards his bedroom.

“Fine,” he snarls against my lips. We stumble past the curtain, into our bed. He trips over a pillow and falls on his ass, pulling me down with him—but he doesn’t care, still kissing me. “I was jealous. I see other people with you, and I can’t stand that they’re in your presence and I’m not.”

I straddle him, yanking off my shirt and then scrambling with my bra. I grind against his hard cock, leaning down to kiss him again. “You don’t control me, Thorne.”

“I know,” he growls, “and it drives me crazy.”

I maneuver to take off my jeans, kicking them off in the blankets. Thorne is undoing his pants, snatching kisses from my lips, groaning when I wrap my fingers around his shaft?—

He flips us so I’m facedown to the blankets, his hand tangling in my hair. He broadcasts his thoughts into my head—memories of me teasing and telling him to pull my hair and call me a good girl, a desire to bend me over and…

He wraps his free arm around my waist and pulls me up to my hands and knees.

“You’re mine, Page,” he rumbles, his cock sliding through my wet folds. “You belong tome. No one haseverfucked you like I do. And I know…because I’ve been in your head.”

I’m trembling in anticipation, my fingers curling in the blankets. Thorne keeps teasing, taunting me.

“Well?” I jerk my head back, making him tug even harder on my hair as I look at him. I can just barely see him out of the corner of my eye, muscles tensed as he grips my hair with one hand, my hip with the other. “Are you going to prove it?”

“Depends,” he says, smirking. “Are you going to be a good girl for me?”

I bite my lip, feeling my body heat up and a flush spread across my cheeks. I didn’t come here for this…I came here to tell him he fucked up.

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