Diagnosed with a rare terminal illness, I’ve spent over half my life in the Strand Corporation’s state-of-the-art treatment facility. I keep my chin up and do everything the doctors order, praying one day I’ll walk out of here in perfect health. But when that day finally arrives, it’s nothing like I hoped it would be. Instead, it comes in a hail of gunfire, along with four distractingly handsome men who say they’re here to rescue me. 

Sage is just done - done with the abuse that her mother puts her through daily, done with always being so alone and done with being one of the youngest humans to get an Imprint Tattoo. Only a small percentage of the human population over the age of 18 ever receive one, and they only appear when a soul-changing event happens in that person's life. Sage's first one showed up when she was nine, yay for being weird! 

Unfortunately, not all people from magical bloodlines have powers, and at 22, I’m several years past the age they usually appear. So I’ve resigned myself to a boring, magic-less life. Then something strange happens. I get stuck in the middle of a bar fight, and instead of just punching the guy back, I blow a hole in the wall. So...I guess I do have powers. But they’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. This shit is definitely not normal. And it seems the magical authorities agree. I can go to school, learn to control my magic. Or they’ll take it away. Permanently.

When I receive a scholarship to Bradford Hills Institute, I'm determined to make a fresh start. The exclusive school is world-renowned for educating and training Variants—the 18 percent of the population fortunate enough to have superhuman abilities. As a human, I'm lucky to be admitted. I am so done with fake identities, running, and lying, but once again I find myself surrounded by secrets. Some I've been keeping my whole life. Some have been kept from me. Some I find myself dragged into....

The Collapse changed everything. Good men became killers. Strong women became property. And I’ve been captured by the most ruthless men of them all....