Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 126

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Luna’s POV

I was barely able to pay attention throughout my class. No matter how hard tried to focus on what the lecturer was saying. my mind kept drifting back to the same horrible problem over and over again. Ever since Ivy had shown me that picture this morning, it felt like my entire life had become one giant disaster. Somehow, against all odds, I had managed to go viral again, and not only had I gone viral, but thousands of Blackridge students seemed completely convinced that I was now dating Jace Callahan.

The worst part was that there wasn’t even a tiny part of me that could blame thern for reaching that conclusion. If I saw a picture of a football captain hugging a girl late at night on an empty field, I would probably make assumptions too. Unfortunately for me, being reasonable about the situation did absolutely nothing to make me feel better.

Every few minutes during class, I found myself staring blankly at my notebook while trying to come up with some kind of explanation that could make all of this go away. I considered claiming that Jace and I were distant relatives, and then i considered claiming that he had simply comforted me because I was nervous about my upcoming race. At one point, my brain became so desperate that I even started combining multiple excuses together just to see if any of them sounded believable. Unfortunately, every single idea fell apart the moment I thought about it for more than ten seconds. Moon certainly wasn’t helping. The second I had suggested pretending that Jace and I were cousins, she had immediately started acting like I had personally offended her. She had reminded me that Jace was our mate, and not only was he our mate, but he was the mate who had marked us, and not only had he marked us, but we, as in she, had also slept with him. According to Moon, trying to call him a cousin after all of that was ridiculous. Even without Moon’s complaints, I knew perfectly well that the excuse made no sense. There was absolutely no guarantee that some new disaster wouldn’t happen next week, and knowing my luck, someone would probably catch me kissing one of my mates and post it online, not that ! was planning to kiss anyone. At least, I wasn’t planning to right now.

Unfortunately, my life has become so chaotic lately that I have learned not to make bold declarations anymore. Every time I confidently said I would never do something, I somehow ended up doing exactly that. Besides, even if I ignored all of that, there was another major problem with the cousin excuse. I was dirt poor, while Jace was basically royalty. Who in their right mind would believe that a scholarship student who spent half her time worrying about money was secretly related to someone like him? The whole story would fall apart before I even finished explaining it.

The more I thought about it, the more hopeless everything seemed. Every solution created three new problems, every excuse sounded stupid, and every explanation sounded like a terribly thought out lie. Eventually, I was forced to accept a reality that I absolutely hated, which was that there was nothing I could do.

People were going to believe whatever they wanted to believe. They were going to assume I was dating Jace whether I denied it or not, and his fans were going to hate me whether I explained myself or not. The comments online had already proven that much. Some of the things people had written about me were honestly impressive in a horrifying sort of way i hadn’t realized complete strangers could be so creative when insulting someone, and once again, I was back to being an attention seeker. I was once again a gold digger and supposedly a homewrecker despite nobody actually being in a relationship.

I was also a manipulative witch who had somehow seduced the football team, and one comment had even claimed I must have sold my soul to attract so many athletes. Another person had wondered how someone as “ugly and unkempt” as me had managed to trap Jace. Thankfully, ugly was probably the last thing anyone could realistically call me. I had plenty of flaws, but being ugly wasn’t one of them.

Even so, reading those comments still stung. It wasn’t the insults themselves that bothered me most, it was the fact that people had completely decided who I was without knowing a single thing about me. In their minds, I had once again reestablished my status as the desperate girl chasing football players for attention, and no amount of truth was going to change that.

Lost in my misery, I completely forgot that I was sitting in the middle of a lecture hall surrounded by other students. The thought of being permanently labeled as the girl who seduced the football captain was so horrifying that a groan escaped me before I could stop it. The sound wasn’t particularly loud, but it was loud enough, and almost immediately, several students turned toward me.

Some looked annoyed, others looked judgmental. A few looked like they had just discovered a bad smell, and the looks alone were enough to make me want to disappear into the floor. My face heated instantly, and I lowered my head toward my notebook, praying that the lecturer hadn’t heard me. Thankfully, he continued speaking without interruption. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop the embarrassment. For the rest of the lecture, I kept my head down and avoided making eye contact with anyone. At this point, I was genuinely beginning to understand why some people became hermits and moved into forests.

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Can’t be explained……

By the time class finally ended, I was mentally exhausted. The second the lecturer dismissed everyone I showed my notebook into my bay and headed for the door. Nontually would have gone straight to my next clase, but at that moment honestly wasn’t sure I could survive another hour of pretending to be a functioning human being. Part of me wanted to skip everything, lock myself in my dorm, and wait for the world to forget I existed.

Unfortunately, life didn’t work that way. I still had classes, I still had a race coming up, and I still had werewolf problems. I also still had five mates who somehow managed to complicate every aspect of my existence. The list of things I needed to deal with seemed endless.

With my thoughts running in circles, I walked through campus without paying much attention to where I was going Students passed around me in groups, conversations drifted through the air, and people laughed nearby, but none of it fully registered. I was so focused on my own thoughts that completely lost track of my surroundings

That was why I didn’t realize someone had stopped directly in my path until I walked straight into them. The impact startled me so badly that I almost stumbled backward. It felt less like walking into a person and more like walking into a brick wall My first instinct was to apologize, my second instinct was to look up and see who had just crashed into, and the moment I did, every coherent thought vanished from my brain. Standing directly in front of me was Ryder.

For a few seconds, I simply stared at him. Of all the people I could have run into, it had to be Ryder because apparently the universe had decided I wasn’t stressed enough already.

He looked just as surprised as I was for a brief moment, but unlike me, he seemed prepared for this encounter. The look on his face immediately told me one important thing, which was that this wasn’t an accident. He hadn’t randomly appeared here. He must have been looking for me.

That realization nearly made me scream. I was already dealing with rumors involving Jace, so the last thing I needed was to be seen having some deep conversation with Ryder too. At this point, the school probably thought I was conducting football player auditions.

Ryder opened his mouth, clearly about to say something, but I didn’t give him the chance.

“No,” I blurted out immediately. “I can’t deal with this.”

The words came out so quickly that even I was surprised. Ryder blinked, and his entire face was filled with confusion.

“What?” he asked.

I didn’t answer because honestly, I didn’t know where I would even start. How was I supposed to explain that simply seeing him was increasing my stress levels? How was I supposed to explain that currently every and any interaction I had with a football player would somehow become public knowledge? How was I supposed to explain that I was currently one viral photograph away from having a nervous breakdown?

Instead of answering, I did the only thing my overwhelmed brain could think of. I turned around, and then I started running in the opposite direction from him like a mad woman.

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The alternative

third person POV

Ryder was so confused Me hadn’t ever said Brything before Lona said she couldn’t dea with

for like a minute, he wat so hurt and confused that he couldn’t even move. He ydersty fu

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