"I gave them a key," Lina said. "Go on, Arthur."
Arthur walked to the table and looked at the file. "Historically, when a tyrant tries to suppress a population, thepopulation organizes. You don't need a resistance cell. You need a Union. A Student Union."
"A union?" Ivy wrinkled her nose. "Like... collective bargaining?"
"Exactly," Amelia stepped forward. "Marrow can expel individuals. He can crush small groups. But he can't expel the entire student body. Not without losing his funding from the Council."
"We make it impossible for him to function," Arthur said. "Mass non-compliance. Malicious compliance. Strikes. And while he's distracted dealing with the bureaucracy of a revolt..."
"We feed Lina," Lucien finished. "We train her to handle the load. So when the time comes, she can short-circuit him for good."
I looked around the room. The Triad. The Harem—no, the Allies. The Ex-Princess and the Librarian.
We were a mess. We were mismatched, chaotic, and terrified.
But we were together.
"Okay," Lina said, standing up. "We form a Union. We protect the targets. And we make Dean Marrow regret the day he ever looked at a list of names."
"What do we call ourselves?" Ivy asked, eyes wide. "The Avengers? The Justice League?"
" The Pack," Rhett said simply.
" The Fated," Kai suggested.
"The Bonded," Amelia said. "Because that's what he hates, isn't it? That we're bound to something other than him."
Lina smiled. "The Bonded. I like it."
She picked up the file and tossed it into the fireplace.
"Let's start a fire," she said.
And as the list of targets burned, turning to ash in the hearth, I knew one thing for certain:
This wasn't just a cozy war anymore.
It was a revolution.
16
"Again," Lucien said, his voice calm, cool, and utterly maddening.
I wiped sweat from my brow. We were in the old gym—the one behind the bleachers that smelled of chalk dust and floor wax. It was Saturday, and the campus was quiet, save for the occasional patrol of Stone's Enforcers.
"I'm tired, Lucien," I panted, my hands resting on my knees. "I've absorbed enough energy to power a small city. If I take in any more, I'm going to glow in the dark."
"You don't need to absorb it," Lucien said, stepping closer. He was wearing black workout gear that highlighted the lean, dangerous lines of his body. "You need to redirect it. You're treating yourself like a storage tank, Lina. You're not a tank. You're a conduit."
Rhett was standing on the other side of the room, holding a heavy punching bag. He grinned, his gold eyes flashing. "Come on, princess. Hit me."
"I don't want to hit you," I argued. "I love you. Hitting you feels counter-productive to the whole 'fated mates' thing."
"I can take it," Rhett promised, slapping the leather of the bag. "Besides, if you don't learn how to push back, Marrow is going to pop you like a balloon next time he grabs you."
That silenced me. I thought about the Dean's office. The feeling of his cold, dry hand on my wrist. The way he had looked at me—like I was a juice box.
"Fine," I said, straightening up. "How do I push?"
