Page 104 of The Vixen

Thorne’s lips move to my neck while he grinds his hips against me, his breaths labored, his hand on my breast too firm.

Too intense. It isn’t like him.

“Hey.” I massage my hand up the back of his neck into his brown hair. It isn’t shaggy like Sawyer’s, just long enough for me to tug it between my fingers.

“Let’s slow down a second.” I try to crane my neck away from him, but he doesn’t seem to understand. “My love…”

He breaks away from my neck to look me in the eyes. As soon as I see the turmoil swirling in the warm caramel, my body tenses. My fingers clamping his hair release.

“Iloveyou,” he says, his voice thick with emotion. “You’re my life.” He removes his hand from my sweater so he can cradle my cheek. “I havealwaysloved you.”

My lungs shrink.

“Thorne,” I whisper while searching his eyes.

He kisses me again until I turn my face away. “Thorne.”

“I love you.” He forces my lips back to his while he lets his weight settle on top of me—suffocating. Suddenly, the room feels smaller. Thorne’s embrace becomes a cage.

I try to pull my mouth away, but he’s relentless, his lips pinned to me with so much force, they’re two slices of steel. I try again, and again, until I finally succeed with a fierce whip of my head. I suck in a panicked gasp. “Thorne,stop.”

“Tell me you love me,” he demands. “Younevertell me you love me.”

What?

“I call you ‘my love’ every single day.”

“That’s not the same thing.”

“Isn’t it, though?” I huff, as thoughnowis an appropriate time to be defensive.

It isn’t.

I blow a breath against his lips and run my nails along his temple. “You know I love you… Tell me what’s wrong. Did something happen?”

Sawyer.

A million things could trouble my bleeding heart mate, but that is the only word that pops into my mind. I hold my breath while lazily trailing Thorne’s hairline.

He shakes his head. His eyes shine with a gleam that hits me right in the gut.

“I need to know that I matter more than your projects. I need you to say it.”

My heart skips as I meet Thorne’s eyes, lungs crushed under his weight. I give my head a small shake. “Why?”

Sawyer.

He just stares at me. Like a coward, he can’t bring himself to answer.

“What happened?” My voice grows bolder. “Whatthingsdid my father have you do?”

He shakes his head. “I disagreed with him. Itriedto convince him otherwise, I swear to you. But he’s the Chief Elder, Luna. Someone has to fulfill his wishes, and I knew if it wasn’t me, it’d be you. Please understand I was only trying to protect you.”

Oh God.

My stomach bottoms out as pressure builds behind my eyes, and it takes more effort than necessary to glare. Showanger, not…

“Protect me fromwhat?”