Third-person POV: Thora lowered her voice, a small smirk touching her lips. "Because I ruined their plan. "If I'm right, the Greywolf mercenaries are trapped inside Astralis College. They're using the students as hostages to buy time to escape. Once the timing's right, they'll kill everyone on campus and disappear." For mercenaries, a job was a contract. The group's interests always come first. So they would see the mission through, no matter what. Which meant Thora had to move before they did—to get Felix out alive. As for everyone else, whether they lived or died wasn't her concern. "So what do we do now?" Harvey Vasil asked quietly. Thora stood and turned to Luke.Luke sighed. "What's the order, Ms. Green?" Thora's lips curved slightly. "One, disable the academy's defense system. Two, take control of the surveillance network. Power's already restored. For you, that should be easy." Breaking the defense system would allow the military to infiltrate, and taking over surveillance would help her plan the rescue. Everyone looked at one another, then their eyes landed on Malcolm. Talking about disabling the school's defenses and hacking its system right in front of the principal—was that really a good idea? Even a few teachers looked uneasy. Luke only raised a brow, unconcerned. "It's doable, but there's a snag. The campus signal is still jammed. Without special tools, I can't access outside systems. I can tap into the local surveillance, but the defense grid will take more work." Thora and Luke both turned their eyes to Malcolm, who sat upright and cold-faced. Thora asked calmly, "What do you think, Mr. Grant?" He met her eyes and stayed quiet for a few seconds before replying, "Astralis College's security system has a hidden access port—but you'll need to break an encryption key first." The teachers exchanged glances. The principal had just revealed a classified secret. Even the Empire's top hackers would struggle with the academy's firewall. And now a student was about to take it on? Luke's hands flew over the keyboard the moment he heard it, typing in a blur. Thora rolled her neck until it cracked, then bent down and unstrapped the weighted sandbags tied around her legs. She tossed them aside. The heavy thud echoed through the room, drawing every student's gaze to Thora. In most of their eyes, beyond the shock, there was something else—genuine admiration.Even the sons of military werewolf families looked impressed. None of them carried that kind of load every day. But Thora had. Now they understood why her combat power kept rising so fast, even without awakening her wolf spirit. Once she removed the weights, her body felt light, as if she'd dropped 50 pounds. "Thora, the surveillance feed's up," Luke called. "Everyone outside this basement is trapped in the library building." He kept typing while talking. "I've got the campus cameras online, but it won't last long. They'll notice soon. You'll need to move fast." He knew exactly what she intended. After several missions together, they worked in perfect sync. He tossed her an earpiece. "Wear this."Thora caught it, surprised. For someone who usually kept his cool, Luke sounded unusually firm. She raised an eyebrow, but his eyes behind the glasses had already gone calm again, focused only on his computer. It was like nothing in the world existed for him except that screen. Thora fitted the earpiece in and strode to the front of the group. "If you're armed," she said, "you have two choices. Stay here and protect everyone, or come with me to rescue the others." She paused, her tone icy. "And I don't want anyone running off to die for nothing." Her meaning was clear. If you weren't strong enough, stay put. If you wanted to go, you'd better be capable. Some of the boys already holding guns bristled. Staying behind meant admitting they were weak—dead weight. And if Thora, a half-blood without an awakened wolf spirit, could fight, why couldn't they? They all stepped forward, eyes blazing with defiance and determination. Shirley gave a teasing whistle. Thora's gaze swept over them, then she pointed at two of them. "You two stay. The rest, with me." "Why?" one of them protested. Thora's voice rang cold and steady. "No why. A soldier's duty is to follow orders."