Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 152

Chapter 152
Chapter 152
Luna’s POV
65 vounak
My brows furrowed almost immediately after Knox asked whether I planned on telling his friends about what had happened between us. The question genuinely caught me off guard because, truthfully, I hadn’t even thought that far ahead. My mind had been occupied with much simpler things like getting my phone charged, letting Ivy know that I hadn’t disappeared off the face of the earth, and figuring out how we were going to get back to Blackridge without making the whole situation feel awkward. The thought of sitting down with the other four and announcing what Knox and I had done had never crossed my mind, not even for a second.
I stared at him for a moment before asking, “Am I obligated to?” My voice wasn’t defensive, only confused. I honestly wanted to know if there was some strange werewolf rule that required mates to report every little thing to one another because f there was, nobody had been kind enough to give me that handbook.
Besides, Knox and I weren’t dating. We hadn’t promised each other anything, and we hadn’t suddenly become boyfriend and girlfriend overnight. Last night had happened because both of us had wanted it, and although I knew I would probably never forget it for the rest of my life, I also knew that it didn’t automatically mean we were in some serious relationship. If I was being completely honest with myself, it had been like scratching an itch I hadn’t even realized was driving me crazy. A embarrassing as it was to admit, it had been far better than I had imagined it would be, and that alone made me highly doubt it would be the last time if the opportunity ever presented itself again.
Knox rested one hand against the kitchen counter before looking back at me with the same calm expression he always seemed to wear. “No,” he answered. “You’re not obligated to tell anyone. I was just wondering if you planned to say anything in case it ever came up somehow.”
His answer made a lot more sense than I had expected. He wasn’t demanding silence from me, nor was he asking me to lie. He simply wanted to know where I stood. I leaned lightly against the wall and thought about it for a few moments. There wasn’t really anything to hide because I hadn’t done anything wrong. Every person involved was an adult, and everything that had happened had been completely mutual. At the same time, I also didn’t see any reason to announce my private life to people who hadn’t been there.
“Honestly,” I finally said, “I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business. Just because we had sex doesn’t suddenly mean we’re together or anything.” I paused for a second before another thought crossed my mind. “Since you didn’t mark me… the others won’t know, right?”
Knox gave a single nod without hesitation. “They won’t,” he replied. “Not unless one of us tells them.”
I felt myself relax slightly after hearing that. Somehow that answer made everything feel much simpler. Then I don’t really see the point,” I said. “Why would I go around telling your friends who I’m sleeping with just because they’re also my mates? That sounds strange to me.”
The more I thought about it, the stranger it sounded. I had only recently found out werewolves even existed, and somehow ! was already expected to navigate a situation involving five mates. If there was one thing I wanted to keep for myself, it was the little bit of privacy I still had left. The school already seemed obsessed with turning every interaction I had with one of the boys into front-page gossip, and the last thing I wanted was to hand them more material.
For the first time since he’d asked the question, I noticed something subtle change in Knox’s expression. He looked. relieved. It was only for a brief moment before his usual calm face returned, but I’d definitely seen it.
Tilting my head curiously, I couldn’t help asking. “You don’t want them to know, do you?”
He remained quiet for several seconds before letting out a slow breath, almost like he had expected that question eventually. “It’s not that I want to keep it some huge secret,” he admitted. “Like I told you yesterday. I’m not like my friends. I don’t want to mark you, and I don’t want to claim you as mine.”
Before I could misunderstand him, he quickly continued. “And before you start thinking that’s because there’s something wrong with you, that’s not what I mean.” I watched him carefully as he spoke. “I just don’t want the chaos that comes with having a mate and making her my Luna. That would’ve been complicated even without my friends involved. Now imagine
all five of us sharing the same mate. I’d rather not deal with that.”
I couldn’t help laughing quietly, and the sound seemed to surprise even me. “You’re explaining yourself an awful lot.” I said with a smile. “You don’t have to worry so much.”
He looked at me questioningly, so I continued before he could interrupt. “I don’t want you competing over me either. Honestly, I don’t even want to deal with having to choose between any of you.”
That was probably the truest thing I’d said all morning. Every single day seemed to introduce a brand-new complication involving one of my mates, and somewhere in the middle of all that I was still expected to pass classes, train for races, keep my scholarship, and somehow not lose my mind. Romance felt like the very last thing I had time for.
Knox folded his arms thoughtfully before saying something that made me pause. “Eventually, you’ll have to choose one
The words came so naturally from him that they almost sounded like a simple fact of life, but they immediately made something inside me resist.
“Why?” I asked without even thinking. “Why do I have to?”
He looked slightly surprised by how quickly I challenged the statement, but I kept going before I lost my nerve. “If fate decided to give me five mates instead of one, then who exactly made the rule that I can only choose one of them?”
The question surprised even me after I said it out loud. I blinked several times while thinking about my own words, and the more I considered them, the more they actually made sense. Everyone kept talking as though choosing one person was the only possible ending, but nobody had ever explained why. If the Moon Goddess, or whoever had decided to throw my life completely off balance, had connected me to five different men, why was everyone acting like I was only supposed to acknowledge one? It suddenly felt like someone had made up a rule simply because it was convenient.
Knox stared at me for several long moments before finally speaking again. “You’re serious?”
I shrugged casually even though my own thoughts were still catching up with what I’d just said. “Of course I am,” I answered. “Think about it. If I choose one, the other four are still going to be my mates whether I like it or not. That doesn’t suddenly disappear, does it?”
I folded my arms while continuing to think out loud. “Then I’d spend the rest of my life wondering whether I made the right choice. I’d keep thinking about the others, wondering what would’ve happened if I’d chosen differently, and that sounds exhausting.”
I shook my head. “Honestly, if my only choices are picking one and hurting the others or refusing to choose altogether, then I’d rather just choose none of you. At least that way nobody can say I played favorites.”
Knox didn’t answer immediately. In fact, he looked almost completely speechless, which was saying something because he wasn’t exactly a man who talked much in the first place. He rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly before looking away toward the window. It genuinely seemed like my answer had never occurred to him before. Maybe it hadn’t occurred to any of them before that they could all just have me and live with it.
All of them had been acting as though the ending was already written, but I had spent my whole life making impossible decisions just to survive. I wasn’t particularly interested in accepting rules simply because somebody else said that was how things had always been done.
Realizing my words might have sounded far more serious than it intended, I quickly held up one hand before Knox misunderstood me. “Don’t get the wrong idea,” I said. “I’m not saying I plan to build some huge future with all five of you or anything ridiculous like that.”
I let out a small laugh at the absurdity of the image that popped into my head before continuing. “The truth is, I have much bigger things to worry about right now. I still have to keep my scholarship, figure out how to control my wolf, survive my race, pass my classes, and somehow stop the entire university from making me the main character of their gossip every single week.”
08:09 Fri, Jul 3
Chapter 152
55 your hard
I smiled tiredly before meeting his eyes again. “So as far as I’m concerned, you, your friends, and this whole mate situation are all secondary. Right now, making something of my life comes first, and everything else can wait until I actually have the luxury of worrying about romance.”
Knox looked at me quietly for a long moment before something that almost resembled admiration flickered across his face. It disappeared so quickly that I might have imagined it, but I had a feeling I hadn’t. He didn’t argue with me or try to convince me otherwise. Instead, he simply gave one slow nod, and somehow that single gesture told me he understood exactly what I meant.
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