🔹THORNE
But it was different on her.
Our eyes met.
Grey, wide and startled. And just like that—
The pain vanished. It did not dull nor eas
Gone.
The bond sang, a resonance so pure and overwhelming it stole the breath from my lungs. Warmth flooded through my chest, spreading outward, chasing away the throbbing agony in my shoulder, the pounding in my skull, the exhaustion weighing down my limbs.
I stared at her.
At the way her lips parted slightly in surprise. At the way her hands stilled, towel forgotten. At the way her gaze traced over me—taking in the blood, the torn fabric, the way I was standing too rigidly, favoring my injured side.
Then I winced.
The movement jarred my shoulder, and Umbra howled—not in rage, but in pain, a sound that reverberated through my bones.
Althea's eyes went wide.
"What happened?" she breathed, and then she was moving—rushing forward, closing the distance between us in three quick steps.
It shocked me.
Her concern. Her immediacy.
