Chapter 5: The Girl They Shouldn’t Underestimate

Dana’s POV

I blinked. Trying to make sense of what I was seeing. Red. Blue. Grey.

Alex. Kyle. Damian.

Shit.

I stood up too quickly and stumbled back a step, bumping into the dresser behind me. The bottle rolled from my fingers, clinking softly against the wall. My breathing hitched as the realization slammed into me.

This wasn’t my room. I had walked into one of theirs.

And they were all watching me.

Damian moved first, just like a storm barely contained. His jaw clenched muscles flexing under his shirt. “What the hell happened out there?”

“Don’t.” I croaked, hold up a hand. My voice cracked under the weight of everything. “Don’t ask.”

Kyle leaned forward. Elbows on his knees. “You’re obviously hurting badly.” His voice wasn’t mocking this time, just…confused. Almost cautious.

“I said don’t.”

“Dana,” Damian snapped, stepping closer. “What Zade did is not normal.”

My head snapped at the mention of his name. A sob caught in my throat. I hadn’t told the anything. They knew. The whole school knew.

I backed toward the door, heart pounding, head heavy. “Coming here was mistake.”

“Dana—”

But I didn’t give him a chance to finish.

I shoved past Damian, knocking his shoulder hard enough to make him stumble in his step. I ran through the doorway, my chest burning, eyes stinging, pulse thrumming in my ears like war drums.

I slammed the door to my actual room shut behind me, locked it, and slid down the wood until I hit the floor.

Taryn stores faintly. I didn’t say a word.

I just sat there in the dark, clutching my chest like I could keep the broken pieces from spilling out.

—

Alex’s POV

She screamed.

Loud enough that I felt it echo in my spine. And though I wasn’t even at the party anymore I still felt the sensation it sparked in me when it happened. I hadn’t heard such a scream. One that came from a place of pure pain and rage.

The lights were on when I got back and Kyle was already pacing when I walked back into the dorm, red eyes flaring like he wanted to burn holes into the carpet. It must have bothered him too.

“She lost it.” He muttered. “Full on meltdown.”

“Of course she did.” I peeled of my jacket and placed it over the back of the couch. “Zade didn’t just reject her. He shattered her in front of the entire school like she was cheap glass at a wedding.”

Damian didn’t say anything. Just stood in front of the window, staring at the moon like it owed him answers. Typical.

“She’ll retaliate.” Kyle.

“She’ll survive.” I replied. “ Varynns don’t give up that easily.”

He looked at me, confused. “You think she’ll be fine after that?”

“I think,” I start slowly, “she’ll suffer. And then she’ll harden. And then shell stop waiting for other people to care about her.” I met Kyle’s gaze. “That’s when she becomes a threat.”

Damian turned from the window. His expression hasn’t changed but his jaw was tight.

“She already is.” He muttered.

We let that sit for a minute.

The tension in the room was different now. Not the usual friction between egos. This was heavier. Zade screwed up, but not in the usual Zade way. This wasn’t him ditching training or skipping council meetings. This was cosmic.

“I don’t understand why he rejected her.” Kyle said. “They were mates. You could feel it from outside the building.”

Damian stared at the floor for a second too long. “Because of his father.”

I blinked. “You’re sure?”

Damian nodded. “I heard them. Two nights ago. Zade was arguing with him in the council chambers. Something about bloodlines and Dana’s wolf being unstable.”

Unstable.

Now that was interesting.

“I knew her wolf was strong,” but I don’t think it was…” Kyle said quieter now. “corrupted.”

Damian’s hands flexed at his side, his jaw ticked hard. “She’s not corrupted.” He said. “She’s raw. Untamed. There’s a difference.”

I titled my head. He’s never been this defensive over her since she got here. Fuck, he’s never been defensive about her at all. If anything, he wanted her gone more than any of us. “Since when do you give a shit?”

He didn’t answer.

Typical.

But I saw the way his shoulders were tense, how he wouldn’t look at either of us. And that silence? That wasn’t disinterest. That was restraint. The kind you used when you’re trying really hard not to let something eat you alive.

“She’s dangerous.” Kyle said quietly, which is so unlike him. He’s never quiet about anything.

None of us said anything for a while. The fireplace cackled behind us, the only sound in the otherwise cold dorm. The Grandlake quarters was nice—too nice—but it felt more like a bunker than a home. Stone walls, polished floor, thick air. Built for silence and secrets.

“I’m calling it now,” I said “Zade’s going to regret this.”

“He’s already does,” Damian replied. That made me pause

“You saw him?” I ask. Curious on how he felt.

“Yeah. He looked sick afterwards, like something cracked inside him. I could tell what he did affected him as much as it did her—but he knows the reason it happened the way it did. She doesn’t.”

“Why couldn’t he just go against his father? I mean she’s his fucking mate for crying out loud. You don’t just…reject the bond.” Kyle says frustrated about what we all don’t understand.

“He couldn’t. His father owns him.” I said

Kyle huffed. “What about us? Are we owned too?”

I don’t answer. I didn't need to. The silence answered for me. Gradlake wasn’t a school. It was a leash. A gilded cage for powerful heirs and promising legacies. We weren’t students. We were assets. Trained, mapped and controlled.

And Dana Varynn?

She was the variable they didn’t account for. She’s the little crack in their perfect building. The miscalculation in their equation. And they can’t have that now can they?

Some part of me wants to see how all this will play out. Maybe Dana is more important than we all realized. I haven’t had a one on one conversation with her so I don’t know her enough to know what she’s thinking. But what I do know is that she’s like shit inside right now. And I know it has to do with Zade and what happen tonight. A We’re can’t deny those type of feelings.

“She won’t go down easily.” I said, almost to myself.

“No.” Damian said. “And when she rises again. It wouldn’t be to run. It’ll be to fight.”

I glanced at him. There was something different in his voice. Not respect. Not fear. But maybe…interest?

Damian rarely showed his emotions, but when he did it meant that he was already thinking ten stems ahead. Planning. Watching. Waiting.

But now? Now I think he’s planning on initiating. He’s taken a real interest in Dana and I doubt it’ll stop here.

“Should we report this to the council?” Kyle asked.

I laughed once. “You think they don’t already know? They probably orchestrated it. They have their scheming hands everywhere.”

Kyle grimaced. “So what now?”

I stood, stretched, eyeing the moon through the window. Full and bright. The kind of moon that made  blood run fast. That stirred instincts no training can suppress.

“Now?” I said. “We wait. We watch. And we don’t underestimate the girl curled up in our dorm.”

“Sounds cold.” Kyle muttered.

I turn to him, all humor gone from my voice. “It’s called survival.”

Because Zade might’ve rejected Dana Varynn tonight…

But she’s still here. Still angry. Still alive.

And that makes her dangerous.