Chapter 6: The Storm Inside Her
Damian’s POV
She hasn’t left her room in two days.
That alone should’ve been some relief. I liked silence in the halls. No yelling, not screaming matches, no scent of trials flaring with rage. No Dana Varynn threatening to beat up anyone one of us. Just peace.
But it wasn’t a relief. It was a problem.
Because Dana Varynn seemed to be as the type of girl who moved when she was hurting. Who fought harder when she bled. Who yelled harder when she lost.
Not this stillness.
This silence must mean something was breaking—or waking up. I didn’t know I could hate silence this much. I wasn’t necessarily a silent person out in the world, but when I came back to the inside—silence was essential. It’s the reason why me and Alex always got along so well. We understood each other. Kyle was the same, he don’t show much of himself, but he too, loved the quiet.
But Dana was being a little bit too quiet for my liking.
I stood outside her dorm at midnight. The rest of the wing silent, except for Kyle and whatever new girl he brought back to the dorm probably fucking in his room two doors down. Alex reading whatever ancient script he had buried in his drawer. Zade was gone. Vanished after the party without a trace like the coward he was.
And Dana? No sound. Her scent smelled heavy like melancholy around the door to her room. Just like pressure in the air. Like a storm was holding its breath behind that door.
I lifted my head to knock.
Paused.
I wasn’t good at this. Comfort. Empathy. Words. I could fight beside my brothers, lead wolves into wars, make traitors flinch with just a single glance—but this? This was different.
I didn’t even want to control her anymore. I just wanted to know what she’s thinking. I had never see this happen before. I mean I’ve certainly heard of it, but seeing it happen is jarring. I wanted to understand her.
And that scared me more than anything.
I knocked once.
No answer.
Again—knuckles against the wood. Firmer, harder this time.
Still nothing.
My wolf stirred uneasily.
I shouldn’t care. She wasn’t mine. She wasn’t one of us. She was dropped here by her father like some ticking time bomb—wild, uncontrollable and dangerous. Just like the rest of us they dumped here. Like they didn’t want the responsibility of watching us blow up.
But I had seen the way her hands shook when Zade said those words. I saw the second her eyes stopped shining and her body turned cold. She didn’t fall apart.
She froze.
And now she was quiet. Too quiet.
I pressed my palm against the door. Felt the grain of the wood.
“I’m not here to apologize.” I said, low enough to keep the hall quiet. “But I’m not here to mock you either.”
Nothing.
“I don’t agree with what Zade did.” I added. “But you didn’t ask for my opinion, so I won’t give it.”
Still no reply.
I pulled back, but I didn’t leave. Because the truth was—I didn't come to talk. I came to feel. To scenes whatever it was she was hiding. And when I focused—really focused—I felt it.
Something old. Something powerful.
It pulses faintly from within her room. Not like wolf’s energy flaring. This was deeper. Rooted. Like a tether between realms was stretching through her skin.
My breath caught. That wasn’t normal Alpha energy. That wasn’t even Zade’s leftover bond pulling on her. This was something else.
Ancient.
I didn’t have the words for it, but I felt it in my bones.
Zade might have thought he was doing a noble thing. Sacrifiant his bond to protect her from whatever twisted obligation he was hiding behind. But the truth was simpler than that: He was weak. And Dana was not the type of girl you hurt and expect to walk away from unscathed.
Or worse—unawakened.
The night of the party, she unknowingly shoved passed me when she tried to get outside. I caught a glimpse of something glowing beneath her sleeve. Barely a flicker. But it wasn’t normal. It wasn’t magic, not the kind you learn in the Arclight’s archaic spell classes. It felt…elemental. Ancient.
I should’ve told Alex and Kyle when we discussed the event that night. But instead, I kept it to myself. Part of me didn’t trust them to handle it right.
And part of me didn’t want to share her. I didn’t want to share her.
This idea made my skin crawl, made my blood hum with something primal and selfish. Which was ridiculous because I didn’t even like her. Dana Varynn was loud unpredictable and infuriating. She is everything I spent years trying to avoid. And yet…
I pushed off the wall and down the hallway, boots heavy on the tile. If she didn’t want to come out, fine. I want going to stand there all night like a lovesick idiot. But the unrest didn’t leave me—not when I got back to my room, not when I got in bed staring at the ceiling with my wolf pacing beneath my rib cage.
Something was coming. And whatever it was, it started with Dana.
—
The next day at combat drills her absence was noticeable.
Marcus filled in for her—an unexpected twist. The guy barely spoke to anyone unless he had too. But there he was, helping reset soaring pads stepping in as a partner for one of the lower tier Betas, deflecting questions about Dana with the same flat, unreadable expression he always wore.
“I heard she left campus.” One girl whisperers to her friend in the bleachers.
“Her dad is one of the elder Alphas, no way they’d let her run off.” The other one replied.
“Maybe she snapped.” I heard another one say.
“Maybe Zade rejected her because her knew.”
They both laughed like they weren’t afraid. Or they didn’t notice the air surrounding campus, but I could smell fear in the air. People sensed it even if they didn’t understand it.
Dana wasn’t gone. She’ll be back, stronger and more determined than ever. Annd the thing is… I don’t think Dana realizes the change she is going through.
I don’t think she has even noticed the faint glow on her arm



















































