Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 107

Chapter 107-

Chapter 107

Luna’s POV

10

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By the time Theo’s car finally reached the area just outside campus, the sky had already turned dark. The streetlights glowed softly against the pavement while students moved around in small groups, some laughing loudly while others walked quietly with headphones on. The atmosphere should have felt normal and relaxing, but the moment Theo slowed down near the side of the road, my nerves immediately returned again.

“Drop me here,” I told him quickly before he could even think about driving any closer to campus.

Theo glanced at me briefly before raising an eyebrow. “You do realize your dorm is still pretty far from here, right?”

“I know,” I replied immediately. “I’ll walk.”

Theo looked entirely unconvinced by my answer, and honestly, I could already tell he wanted to argue with me about it. Unfortunately for him, I had already spent enough time around one football player today. The last thing I needed was for Theo Vale himself to drive me directly into campus where half the student population would see us together.

The rumors surrounding me were already bad enough as they were.

I still remembered the whispering that happened every time I walked past certain groups on campus. Some people thought I was secretly sleeping around with the football team, while others believed I was purposely throwing myself at every attractive athlete in school when I’ve only been here for a little less than a month. There were even girls who acted like I had committed some terrible crime simply by existing around the guys. If Theo drove me straight to my dorm now, I was pretty sure the gossip blog would explode before morning.

“No offense,” I muttered while reaching for the door handle, “but I’d rather not wake up tomorrow and see an article on the school blog titled Luna Merrick Spotted on Secret Night Date With Football Player Theo Vale.”

Theo burst out laughing at my words while parking the car properly. “You really think people are that obsessed with you?” he asked teasingly.

I slowly turned to stare at him with disbelief. “Theo,” I deadpanned, “some of your cheerleaders literally look at me like they want to bury me alive.”

“That’s because they’re jealous. You should wear their jealousy like a badge of honor instead of caving to them,” he responded shamelessly.

I immediately made a face. “You’re even more foolish than you look.”

Theo only grinned proudly like I had complimented him instead of insulting hum

The

I pushed the car door open quickly before he could say anything else and stepped outside into the cool evening moment my feet touched the ground, I immediately looked around carefully just in case someone recognizable was nearthy Thankfully, nobody seemed to be paying attention to us at the moment.

I was just about to close the door when Theo leaned slightly toward the open window

“Take care, Luna,” he said casually, though his green eyes stayed fixed on me in a way that made my again. “I’ll see you later.”

Before I could even respond, he lifted his fingers to his lips and blew me an exaggerated kiss

I immediately stared at him in disgust. “Eew,” I muttered while making a face at hum

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Chapter 107

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The laughed loudly clearly very pleased with himself, while I quickly shut the car door and started walking away from him before anyone noticed us together. Even as I walked off, I could still hear him chuckling behind me.

I kept my head lowered while walking further toward campus, trying very hard not to draw attention to myself. Maybe I was being overly dramatic, but as far as I was concerned, it was always better to be safe than sorry. I had worked way too hard to get into Blackridge on scholarship just to lose everything because people decided I was more interested in football players than athletics.

The deeper I walked into campus, the more students I started seeing around me. Some were hanging around outside dorm buildings while others walked through the pathways chatting loudly. A few people glanced in my direction, but thankfully nobody seemed to recognize me enough to stop me or whisper openly.

After a few minutes, I slowed down slightly while trying to decide whether I really wanted to walk all the way back to my dorm From where Theo dropped me off, it would probably take me at least twenty or thirty minutes to get back to the girls’ dormitory, and after today, my feet were already beginning to hurt slightly.

For a brief second, I considered getting a cab to drive me the rest of the way.

Then reality immediately slapped me in the face. With a sigh, I pulled my phone out of my bag and checked my account balance again even though I already knew what I was going to see. The tiny amount staring back at me almost made me laugh bitterly.

“Yep, I muttered quietly to myself. “Definitely walking.”

I shoved my phone back into my bag and kept moving while trying not to think too hard about money because thinking about it always stressed me out. Unfortunately, it was hard not to think about it lately. Between school expenses, training needs, food, and trying to help my mother whenever I could, my money practically disappeared the second it entered my

account.

The worst part was that because of my athletic scholarship, I technically was not supposed to have a part-time job during the semester. The school believed athletes needed complete focus on training and academics, and honestly, maybe they were right because I genuinely did not know where I would even find the time for a job anymore. Between early morning runs. practice sessions, classes, assignments, and trying not to completely lose my mind after finding out I was a werewolf. I was already barely surviving as it was.

Still, bills did not magically disappear just because I was stressed.

I let out a tired sigh while continuing to walk through campus. My thoughts drifted unwillingly toward my mother agast and how hard she had worked for most of my life just to keep us afloat. Growing up, I promised myself that once I got ito a good school and became successful in athletics, things would finally get easier for her.

Now though, my life somehow felt even more complicated than before. I was so distracted by my chlights that I almost che not notice the black car slowly pulling up beside me.

At first, I assumed it had nothing to do with me Cars passed through this area all the time, especially at night so I kept walking without paying much attention to it

Then suddenly, I heard a familiar voice call my name “Luna”

I froze immediately. Slowly. I turned my head toward the driver’s side window and the moment I saw Ryder siting there smiling at me casually like this was completely normal behavior, my stomach dropped straight to hell

“Oh my God,” I whispered under my breath.

Ryder Graves was literally waving at ine in the middle of campus, and somehow, the universe hated me enough that there were students nearby to witness it. I immediately looked around in panic and spotted at least three girls stating openly in our direction already. One of them even nudged her friend excitedly while whispering something

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Chapter 107

Fantástic, absolutely fantastic.

I quickly glared at Ryder and motioned aggressively for him to keep driving.

‘Go away, I mouthed desperately while making frantic hand gestures.

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