12. (JO POV)

(JO POV)

The trauma of what transpired in the dining room lingered with me, a haunting memory I couldn't shake off. Virginia, the girl from the newbie dorm, her cries of pain as she was bitten repeatedly up and down her thigh, echoed in my mind.

Despite Dane's efforts to shield me from the worst of it, I had seen and heard too much. The raw anguish of those moments was indelibly etched into my consciousness.

Dane did everything within his power to protect me amid the chaos and predatory frenzy that engulfed the room. Yet, despite his best efforts, I wasn't completely spared; three others managed to bite me—two of them barely breaking the skin, but one bit me with a force that surpassed anything I had felt from Dane... that is, until he decided to bite into my wrist, apologizing beforehand, insisting it was the only way to stop this.

It was evident that his treatment of me differed from how other vampires treated their humans. I was lucky, acutely aware of the contrast in our situatio