The moment Draven was restrained, every unnatural distortion in the room ground to a halt. He blinked, staring at Thora in a daze, still not fully recovered from her threat. Thora seized the opening and forced herself off the ground with a violent surge of strength. But their hands were still bound together by his energy, and the momentum of standing pitched her forward—sending her crashing down on top of Draven instead. Right then, the door slammed open. "Boss! I just got word that..." Luke froze mid-sentence, the rest of it dying in his throat. The eerie, oppressive atmosphere inside the room made his skin crawl. The air was so thick with dread that for a split second, he thought he'd walked into the wrong place—like stumbling into a haunted house.But what truly turned him to stone was the scene on the floor—Thora, pinning Draven beneath her. An awkward flush crept across Luke's face, though internally, a single thought surfaced unbidden. Yep. Boss is still built different... Thora and Draven both went still. The black energy coiled around Thora's hands retracted the instant Draven hit the floor, vanishing without a trace. Thora turned her head toward Luke and spoke a single word. "Talk." Luke stammered for a beat, fully aware he'd walked in on something he shouldn't have. Embarrassment aside, professionalism took over. He straightened up immediately. "Boss, we got a reply to the coded post, and Ryan's team sent intel too... But honestly, it can wait. Whenever you're free. No rush ... we've got time." He pivoted hard, terrified he might be interrupting Thora's business. Thora's response was flat and cold. "Got it. Wait for me downstairs."Luke swallowed, his eyes darting involuntarily to the man pinned beneath Thora. One glance at those icy, venomous eyes staring back at him was all it took—a violent shudder ripped through his body, and he bolted from the room, pulling the door shut behind him. After Luke's interruption, the suffocating tension in the room had mostly dissipated. Thora looked down at Draven beneath her. He was staring up at her, unblinking, his eyes wide with a strange, almost childlike confusion. Thora's gaze hardened. Her fist slammed into his face without warning. Before Draven could even process it, several more blows followed in rapid succession. He was completely dazed but didn't fight back. Not once. For reasons he couldn't explain, the thought of resisting never even crossed his mind. Thora didn't stop. She sat astride him and unloaded—a full 60 seconds of relentless punishment until his face had swollen beyond recognition. Only then did she pull her fist back. "Use that power recklessly again and see what happens." Thora's voice was ice and stone. Draven's head was spinning from the beating, but his eyes never left her. Somewhere deep inside, an emotion he couldn't name began to stir. Thora shot him one last cold look and rose to her feet. Before walking out, she bent down, grabbed him by the collar, and hauled him up to eye level. Her voice was frigid. "Whatever your brother never bothered to teach you, I will." She dropped him back to the floor, straightened her rumpled clothes, and wiped the blood from the bite wound on her lip with the back of her hand. Only then did she turn and walk out without a backward glance. Draven lay motionless on the ground, his eyes locked on Thora's retreating figure until it blurred and faded from sight. His consciousness sank with it, plunging into a bottomless abyss.... In another room, Luke was whispering the hot gossip to Shirley about what he'd just witnessed, making sure to keep his voice well out of Tristan's earshot. Shirley's eyes were the size of dinner plates by the time he finished, practically sparkling. "That's our Thora. Absolute powerhouse. Though I still say Darius got way too lucky..." She let out a soft, wistful sigh laced with indignation. Compared to the pure possessiveness she used to feel, Shirley had mellowed out considerably. Luke shook his head in disbelief. "Boss is even more hardcore than I imagined. They wouldn't even put this on TV." Shirley nodded enthusiastically, regretting that she hadn't been there to see it herself. Just picturing the scene was enough to make her want to scream. "Wouldn't put what on TV?" A cool voice cut in from directly behind them. Shirley snapped to attention, spinning around. Her big doe eyes locked onto Thora, glittering with barely contained excitement. Luke knew Shirley's mouth had no filter, and he was not about to let her blow their cover. He jumped in first. "Nothing. We were just talking about a show." Thora's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What show?" Luke blanked for half a second, then pulled a title out of thin air. "Uh ... I think it was called 'The Domineering Alpha Falls for Me.'" He gave Shirley's arm a subtle tug. She caught on instantly. "Yeah! That's the one! 'The Domineering Alpha Falls for Me.'" Thora could tell the two of them were up to no good, but she didn't care enough to press it. Harmless nonsense. "Focus." Her tone snapped back to business. "What's the situation?"