"Next!" a nurse called out.
The line shuffled forward.
I looked around at the other students. I saw fear in their eyes. A pair of bonded Witches were holding hands so tightly their knuckles were white. A Wolf and a Fae were whispering frantically in the corner.
Marrow wasn't just collecting data. He was harvesting fear.
"Rhett Blackmoor. Kai Thorne. Lucien Vale. Lina Arden."
The nurse—a stern woman with spectacles—read our names from a tablet. She looked up, her eyes widening slightly as she took in the four of us.
"The Triad," she noted. "Dean Marrow requested to oversee your processing personally. Room 1."
Rhett let out a low snarl.
"Easy," Kai murmured, placing a hand on Rhett's shoulder. A pulse of golden, empathic calm flowed from him. Rhett shuddered, exhaling slowly, but the murderous glint remained in his eyes.
"Let's go," I said, taking Rhett's hand. "Get it over with."
We walked into Room 1.
It was a large, sterile examination room. In the center stood Dean Marrow.
He wasn't wearing a lab coat. He was in another immaculate grey suit, looking entirely out of place amidst the syringes and vials.
"Ah," he smiled, turning as we entered. "The guests of honor. Please, come in. Or should I say... come in,Pack?"
"Dean," Lucien greeted coolly. "We were told this was a standard medical check."
"It is," Marrow assured him. "Standard. But given your unique... configuration... I wanted to ensure everything went smoothly. Triad bonds are notoriously volatile."
He gestured to four examination chairs arranged in a circle. "Sit, please."
We sat. I was wedged between Rhett and Kai, with Lucien directly across from me.
"The procedure is simple," Marrow said, walking around the circle. "A magical resonance scan to map your bond channels. And a blood sample to establish a baseline for your health records."
He stopped behind my chair.
The air in the room instantly grew cold. The vacuum. The void.
I felt the hairs on my arms stand up. Beside me, Rhett went rigid.
"Ms. Arden," Marrow said softly. "The center of the web. The... Pivot Point."
He placed a hand on my shoulder.
It wasn't a heavy touch. But it felt... wrong. Like he was siphoning the warmth right out of my skin. My wolf recoiled, hiding deep in the back of my mind, whimpering.
"Don't touch her," Rhett said.
It wasn't a shout. It was a promise of violence so deep and primal that the glass jars on the counter rattled.
Marrow didn't flinch. He just smiled, lifting his hand. "Protective. Good. That speaks to a strong bond integrity."
He nodded to the nurse. " proceed with the scan."
The nurse stepped forward with a device that looked like a complicated Geiger counter. She waved it over Rhett first. The machine beeped steadily.Beep. Beep. Beep.
