Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Luna’s POV

I walked away from Katie before I did something that would get me arrested, expelled or both. Honestly, I wasn’t entirely sure which outcome was more likely at that point. Every step I took away from her should have made me feel better but it didn’t. If anything. I felt worse.

The words she had spoken continued to repeat themselves inside my head like a broken recording that refused to stop playing. No matter how hard I tried to focus on something else, my thoughts always circled back to the same thing. Theo Theo had told her to do it. Theo had ordered her to lock me in the locker room. Theo had told her to take my things and hrow them away.

The accusation was so ridiculous that I wanted to dismiss it immediately, but the problein was that I couldn’t. If it had been inybody else making the claim, maybe I would have laughed and ignored it. Unfortunately, Katie had sounded so certain. Norse, she had admitted to being the one responsible for what happened. She wasn’t denying her involvement, and she vasn’t pretending to be innocent. She had openly confessed, and that alone made it harder to completely dismiss verything else she said.

hated it. I hated every second of it, and more than anything. I hated how much the possibility hurt. I didn’t want to believe Thee was capable of something like that. I really didn’t. As far as I knew, I had never done anything to him before that ncident happened. I had never done anything that could hurt him, and in fact, I had been determined to avoid him and his riends. I had never given him any reason to target me, so why would he do something so cruel? Why would anyone do omething like that?

The more I thought about it, the tighter my chest felt. The worst part was realizing how much it would actually hurt if it urned out to be true. I didn’t want to admit that, I didn’t want to acknowledge it, yet the fact remained that somewhere long the way, Theo had become important enough that discovering he had deliberately humiliated me would genuinely reak my heart.

The realization alone irritated me. I hated feeling vulnerable, hated caring this much, and I hated that the thought of Theo eing responsible made my eyes sting slightly. It was ridiculous, completely ridiculous. Yet there I was, walking across ampus feeling like someone had dropped a weight directly onto my chest.

ven Moon had gone strangely quiet. Normally she had an opinion about everything. She usually jumped at anv pportunity to defend one of our mates and criticize me, but this time, however, she seemed just as uncertain as I was. That incertainty only made everything worse. I wanted somebody to tell me Katie was lying. I wanted somebody to tell me hers vas no chance Theo would do something like that, but unfortunately, nobody was around to give me that reassurance

All I had were my own thoughts, and at the moment, my thoughts were doing a terrible job. By the time I served back he field, I already knew there was no chance I could participate in practice properly. My emotions are too unstable s ny wolf strength was already acting strangely, and my speed was becoming harder to control the last thing Encoded was hrow myself into a full training session while feeling like my entire world had been flipped upside down

L

Thankfully, I still had the bandage Orion had put on my knee yesterday The jury itself barely hurt anymore he fact and was being honest, it probably would have healed completely by now. Still, the bandage provided the perfect excuse We Coach Ramirez asked why I wasn’t participating fully, I simply pointed toward my knee and claimed was sitt botherme me. He didn’t look impressed, if anything, he looked annoyed

The man gave me such a powerful stink eye that I almost laughed despite everything going on inside my head this iton will never like me, and whatever the reason was. I had long accepted that he and I would probably never become friends Fortunately, he didn’t push the issue. After giving me one last disappointed look he told me ny stay off the track of I was 19 to run. Normally I would have felt guilty, but right now. I felt rehoved the idea of trying to focus or running wtih Kate accusation echoed through my head sounded impossible

The longer I sat there pretending to observe practice the more obvious the truth bee me there was norway Ewas going to

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1:59 am P

Chapter 132-

56 youn

and peace until I spoke directly to Theo. It didn’t matter how many times I told myself Katie was probably lying. It didn’t matter how ridiculous the story sounded. As long as there was even the smallest possibility that it could be true, my brain was going to torture me with it. I knew myself well enough to understand that. I would spend the entire day thinking abou it, then I would spend the entire night thinking about it, and then I would probably wake up tomorrow and continue thinking about it.

So yes, I needed answers now, real answers, answers directly from the person involved. If Theo had truly done what Katie claimed, then I wanted to hear it from his mouth, and if he hadn’t, then I wanted to know why Katie was trying so desperately to convince me otherwise. Either way, I wasn’t going to get anywhere by sitting around imagining different scenarios. My hand tightened around my phone as I case to a decision. Whatever happened next, I would deal with it.

I stood up from the bench and walked away from the field before anybody could stop me. Once I was far enough away tha nobody would overhear my conversation, I pulled out my phone and stared at Theo’s contact information. For several seconds I simply looked at it. Part of me wanted to put the phone away and forget about the entire thing. Another part of me wanted to call him immediately and demand answers. In the end, the second part won, and before I could change my mind, I pressed the call button and lifted the phone to my ear. The ringing barely lasted a moment before Theo answered. The speed alone caught me off guard. It was almost like he had been staring at his phone waiting for me to call.

“Luna?” he asked immediately.

His voice sounded surprised. “Is everything okay?” he asked. “Did something happen?”

For a moment I nearly forgot why I had called. Hearing genuine concern in his voice made the entire situation feel even more confusing. Still, I forced myself to stay focused. The last thing I wanted was for him to hear how upset I actually was.

“I’m fine,” I responded carefully.

Even to my own ears, my voice sounded strained. Thankfully, Theo didn’t point it out. Instead, he remained quiet for a second before asking another question.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because you don’t usually call me.”

The statement was unfortunately true, but I ignored it.

“Are you still in school?” I asked.

There was a brief pause, then Theo answered. “Yeah,” he responded. “I’m at the football field right now for practice

The moment he said it, my mind was made up, and with where he was, that actually made things easier. At least I wouldn’t have to waste time searching for him.

“I understand,” I replied.

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