Chapter 27

Tobias's POV

My head pounds and my eyes burn as light slices through the massive windows, the sun trying to pry my lids open. The brightness feels like it is scraping my retinas raw. I groan and roll out of bed. Thor is passed out somewhere at the back of my mind, and the relief of not having him pacing me into a frenzy is almost worth the hangover.

My body is stiff and achy; I have not trained nearly enough lately. Maybe I will drag Daemon into the yard for sparring later, if I can be bothered. I shuffle into the shower and let the hot water do the thinking for me, methodical and dulling. I move through the motions on autopilot and I have no idea what time it is, but I am starving and hoping breakfast is still serving.

I throw on a t-shirt and loose basket shorts, and head for the door of my suite. Halfway across the room my phone buzzes on the bedside table. I divert to check it, because it might be Aiden or a message from the others.

Group chat: Happy campers 🐺

My thumb flicks the screen. I am not interested in the thread, not now. Then a name catches me and I swipe back. Zahra.

Zach: Just arrived at Zahra’s graduation.

Sam: Wish her luck from us.

Brant: How is she graduating already?

Oscar: Henry says he thinks her boyfriend’s hurting her.

The world shrinks to the size of my phone. The word boyfriend catches in my throat like a stone. what the actual fuck?! Zahra has a boyfriend. Of course, she does. She is gorgeous. Of course, some idiot latched on while I wasn't there. My hands go cold. Then the last line hits and the room tilts. Henry suspects he is hurting her. My breathing stutters into short, sharp pants. I read the message again and again as if more scans could change the meaning.

More messages flash up.

Max: She winced when Zach hugged her. She blamed it on training, but Henry says she has not trained for days. He thinks her ribs are broken. And there's a fresh handprint bruise on her upper arm.

I am frozen, nailed to the spot, every cell in my body immobilised with shock. Thor wakes, stumbling around, but my distress has broken through his drunken haze. He reads the words through my eyes and then, his anger explodes, and I’m still too distracted, my horror and grief, preventing me from finding purchase. Thor takes advantage and ceases control. His roar explodes around the room like thunder and my body obeys him the way a puppet obeys a master.

The phone goes sailing. It connects with the wall in a bright, ugly crack and sprays glass across the floor. My fists find the curtains and rip. The room becomes a storm. he trashes the bed, throws the chair, punches the plaster until the walls splinter. Wood pops like old bones. Feathers from the mattress float through the air, and Thor’s sounds fills the space, pained and furious.

I am too stunned, too gutted to even try to claw control back from Thor. My mind is in shock, my chest splitting open like my ribs are being pried apart one by one. The pain is unbearable. Zahra has a boyfriend. That alone is enough to shred me. I wanted her to live a normal life, untouched by the weight of the bond, at least until she was ready. I hated it when it was Sebastian, but I forced myself to accept it because it gave her something close to normal. And then we grew closer, and I thought—goddess, I thought she knew how much she meant to me. I thought she cared too. Her worries about me finding my mate proved that, or so I believed.

'We abandoned her.' Thor’s voice rumbles, raw with grief. 'Mate moved on'.

The fact that her so-called boyfriend is hurting her—that anyone dares to lay a hand on her, on our future queen—sends another blast of fury through Thor. He tears into the room again, shredding what is left of the armchair.