Don't Play Dumb

Chapter 5

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Lina

A low, guttural growl sliced through the silence.

My spine snapped straight. Then the door slammed shut behind me, locking me in with them.

Four shadows stood in the center of the room. No, not shadows–boys. Huge, shirtless, furious boys, bodies coiled with tension. Their eyes glowed red. All of them.

One of them–Azrael, I could recognize him–took a step forward, his hands clenched. His pupils weren’t just red; they were feral.

“What did you do?” Kaiza’s voice was sharp, and somewhere beneath it, a snarl twisted the air.

“I–” I backed away. My heel hit the edge of the stone step behind me. “I didn’t mean to-”

The room suddenly felt chilly and Blake was suddenly in front of me.

He didn’t touch me, he just scanned me. His gaze flicked from my face to my throat to my chest, like he was looking for something invisible. I was extremely tense with how up close he was. Then he cursed under his breath. “She stepped on the line.”

“Uhm, what line?” I snapped. My heart was thudding too fast now. “What is this place?”

None of them answered. And that made me more worried.

Then came the pain.

It hit fast, like claws tearing through me from the inside. My knees buckled and I collapsed to the floor, gasping. My skin burned—no, it seared—as if someone was carving something into it. Shoulders. Collarbone. Wrist. Waist. Four places.

I screamed.

The boys backed away, panic flickering in their eyes, but they couldn’t stop it. Their wolves were awake now–fighting the bond, resisting and failing. I saw a lot of emotions on their faces: confusion, fear… anger.

Then one of them–Blake, I think–moved forward, trying to speak.

And just like that, it stopped.

I was drenched in sweat, chest heaving, palms shaking. The glow faded from their eyes also.

Reality suddenly hit me.

I wasn’t just marked, I was now theirs.

My hands trembled as I stared at them–these strangers who had claimed me without asking. My throat tightened, and for the first time, I was scared. Scared of what they were, and terrified of what I was becoming.

The moment the last mark settled, the air around them shifted.

The burning in my chest stopped, but everything else didn’t. The Alphas were still –too still. Four pairs of eyes bore into me like I’d just done something unforgivable, even though they were the ones who had changed me.

Blake was the first to move. He grabbed a shirt off the floor and tossed it over his shoulder without looking at me. “It’s done.”

Kaiza let out a breath. “What the hell was that?”

“No idea,” Azrael muttered, turning his back on me like I wasn’t even standing there, trembling.

Darien didn’t speak. Just stared. And when his gaze finally dropped, he looked… conflicted.

They all walked away–like it hadn’t just happened. No explanations, no warnings.

What did these guys take me for?

And I stood there looking dumb, marked, shaking, and the sound of their retreating footsteps echoing in my ears.

I ran all the way back, barely registering the path. When I got back to my dorm, I took off my jacket and stared at the marks. Four, faint, but real.

I didn't bat an eye at night. My mind kept on replaying what happened this afternoon.

Janna was already asleep across the room, her back turned. I should’ve asked her something earlier, anything. But a part of me didn’t want to say it out loud. Like speaking it would make it worse.

I slipped into class the next morning like nothing had happened.

Which was ridiculous, considering how my entire body felt different. Heavier and warmer. Like something inside me was humming–louder whenever one of them was near.

And they actually were near. All four of them, scattered across the room. It was obvious they were pretending to focus, but every now and then, I caught them glancing at me. Kaiza didn’t even bother hiding it–he smirked every time I looked away. Blake stayed unreadable, Azrael glared at me while Darien... kept his eyes on his notes, but his leg bounced under the desk.

I sat down and tried to breathe.

Then Brienna turned around in her seat, slow and deliberate.

“You okay?” she asked.

I blinked. “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Deep down, I wanted to smack a book on her head, because she was the cause of this awkwardness, as if things were not already awkward before.

Her eyes narrowed. “Did you perchance hang around after class yesterday?”

My stomach twisted. She was probably the one who turned back yesterday.

“Nope.”

She didn’t look so convinced.

Then she smiled. “Hmm. Thought I smelled something off.”

The class dragged on for hours.

Mr. Hensley rambled on about elemental bloodlines, but none of it stuck to my head. I knew half of the class wasn’t paying attention too. My mind kept circling back to the marks. They throbbed beneath my skin–low, steady pulses I could feel even when I wasn’t thinking about them. Even now, with them across the room, I could sense them.

Kaiza tapped his pen on the desk and winked when I glanced his way. Blake still had an unreadable expression on his face, his fingers clenched tight around his pen. Azrael sat stiffly, his lips pressed into a line, while Darien was watching me through the reflection on the window. It wasn’t obvious but I felt it.

Something had shifted. Something huge and no one wanted to talk about it.

When the bell rang, I grabbed my bag and stood. I needed to get out.

I didn’t even get halfway to the dorms before I saw him leaning against the wall like he was waiting for someone.

“Darien,” I breathed, stopping short.

He didn’t say anything at first. Just stared. And then finally “Why were you there?”

So we were skipping right past pleasantries.

I blinked. “What?”

This was also my first time I heard Darien speak and he was exactly how Brienna described it.

“Don’t play dumb.” His voice was quiet, but it cut straight through me.

I crossed my arms, pretending my legs weren’t shaking. “I saw Brienna walking with her gangs, and all I did was follow her. Thought it was weird, but I didn’t know I was crashing your secret club meeting.”

His eyes narrowed. He stepped forward once, just once, and I felt it in my bones.

“You weren’t supposed to be there.”

“Well, you didn’t exactly post a sign,” I muttered. “Besides, none of you noticed me. That’s on you, right?”

His gaze sharpened, and then his nose suddenly twitched, just slightly. Like a wolf catching a strange scent.

He paused. “No wonder.” His voice dipped lower. “I couldn’t pick up your scent.”

I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He didn't answer, just looked at me like some equation that didn't add up.

Before I could speak again, my vision blurred.

The hallway tilted sideways, my knees buckled, and the floor rushed up to meet me.

Darkness swept in.

And Darien’s voice was the last thing I heard.