Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 167

Chapter 167

Third-person POV

Most of the lights in the house had already been turned off, leaving only a few lamps faintly glowing along the ball while the rest of the house slept peacefully. Unfortunately for Jace, sleep refused to come anywhere near him. He h lying on his bed for what felt like hours with both hands tucked behind his head as he stared blankly at the cefling. the events of the day over and over again. Every time he closed his eyes, his conversation with Luna in the hospital immediately came rushing back.

He could still hear her asking if his offer was still valid, and he could still picture the determined expression on her 1 when she told him she wanted to accept it. The entire conversation had caught him completely off guard because af rejected the idea the first time, he had honestly convinced himself that she would never change her mind. Yet somel had surprised him once again. She had not only accepted his proposal but had done so willingly, and the more he th about it, the harder it became to stop the smile threatening to appear on his face.

It wasn’t even because they were about to start dating in the normal sense. They both knew that wasn’t what this arrangement truly was. To everyone else, especially the human students, it would simply look like Jace Callahan had officially started dating Luna. The truth, however, ran much deeper than that, and every werewolf on campus would] almost immediately.

Unfortunately, Ace wasn’t helping matters in the slightest. Ever since they had left the hospital, his wolf had been prac impossible to deal with. If Jace was excited, Ace was ten times worse. The wolf had spent hours running excited circles his head while imagining every possible way they could officially present Luna to the whole school. In Ace’s mind, the wasn’t even a reason to overthink it. Once Luna agreed, everything else would naturally fall into place. The humans at Blackridge would simply assume that Luna had become Jace’s girlfriend.

They wouldn’t think anything unusual or notice the deeper meaning behind the announcement. The werewolves, how would immediately recognize the truth. Luna already carried Jace’s mark, accidental or not, and once she officially stoo beside him, his scent would settle naturally over her, and every werewolf with functioning senses would realize almost immediately that Luna wasn’t simply dating one of Blackridge’s five Alpha heirs; she was his mate. Once that realization spread across campus, the respect, fear, and caution everyone naturally showed Jace would automatically extend to Lun. well.

Those who had spent weeks talking behind her back, calling her names, or treating her like she didn’t belong would suddenly become much more careful because insulting Luna would no longer be the same as insulting an ordinary stude They would be insulting the publicly acknowledged mate of one of the five Alphas who practically ruled the university. T single change would do more to protect Luna than anything else Jace could think of, and that thought alone made both h and Ace feel strangely hopeful.

Still, under all of that excitement sat another emotion that refused to disappear Every happy thought seemed to be followed immediately by another much darker one. The last time Jace had introduced a woman to the world as someone special to him had been a little over a year ago. In fact, it had also been the last serious relationship he had ever allowed himself to have. At the time, he had genuinely believed Enya would become the woman he spent the rest of his life with She had been everything he thought he wanted Smart, beautiful, condent, and more than capable of handing hie besale someone like hum

Back then, he had truly believed they had a future together Instead everything hast tallen apart so badly that boya hadit merely ended their relationship She had transferred out of Blackridge entirely because she coulhet be ac seeing hum anymore. That memory had followed hum ever since, and despite how much time had passed the gud never sexined to lessen. Now, as excited as he was about Iuna, he couldn’t stop wondering whether history would simply ix pear itself

The thought alone made him let out a frustrated sigh as he threw the blanket ashle and sat up on the edge of the bed Remaining there any longer wasn’t helping and pretending he could some how force homself to sleep was becoming pointless Running one tired hand through his hair he quietly climbed out of bed before leaving his room. The inansJONE remained silent as he made his way downstairs his footsteps echoing only against the floor

Without really thinking abour where he was going he eventually fesund himself standing ourside lay office. He pushed the door open before switching on the light, and the familiar room immediately came into view. Bookshelves lined one walk.

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while his large desk stood near the center of the room exactly as he had left it earlier that day. Closing the door qu behind him, he walked over to the desk before slowly pulling open the top drawer. For several long moments, he s stared inside without moving before finally reaching in and taking out one of the framed photographs he had care fucked in his drawers, photographs he hadn’t looked at in weeks.

The picture he ended up pulling out first showed a younger version of himself standing beside Enya, both of them so naturally that it was almost difficult to believe how badly everything had ended. He gently traced the edge of the with his thumb as memories he had spent months trying to bury slowly resurfaced one after another.

A sad smile gradually appeared on his face as he continued staring at the photograph. There had once been a time honestly believed that the smile on Enya’s face would stay beside him forever. He had imagined graduation togethe imagined introducing her properly to his family, imagined building a future where she would stand proudly beside through everything that came afterward. Instead, he had become the very reason she left, and the realization still hu much as it had the day she walked away.

Before he even realized it, his vision slowly became blurry. He blinked several times, only then noticing the tears be to gather in his eyes. Taking a slow breath, he carefully placed the photograph back inside the drawer before gently ‹ again. Resting both hands on the edge of his desk. he lowered his head for a few seconds before speaking to himself voice barely above a whisper.

“I have to get over this,” he said quietly to himself. “I can’t keep looking backward forever.”

Ace immediately let out a loud scoff inside his head, sounding almost offended that it had taken Jace this long to reac an obvious conclusion.

“We have a mate now,” Ace said firmly. “Our real mate, our destined mate. She is the only woman who should matter t

now.”

Jace slowly rolled his eyes before leaning back against the chair behind his desk, although there wasn’t any real annoya behind the gesture. He had expected Ace to say exactly that.

“And what if I hurt Luna the same way I hurt Enya?” Jace asked quietly as he stared toward the closed drawer. “What if history repeats itself? I never meant to hurt Enya either, but I still did. What if I become the reason Luna walks away to The difference this time is that Luna has four other mates waiting for her. If I make one mistake, she won’t have any rea to stay with me when she has four other choices.”

For several long moments, Ace remained completely silent, something that rarely happened whenever Jace questioned himself. When his wolf finally spoke again, his voice had become much calmer than before.

“Enya was never our mate, Ace responded firmly. “I told you that from the very beginning, but you refused to listen. I warned you over and over again that she wasn’t ours to keep. You were too proud and too infatuated to let her go because you convinced yourself that your feelings alone would be enough

Jace slowly lowered his eyes toward the floor because deep down, he know Ace wasn’t wrong Looking back now, there had been countless moments when his wolf had tried to warn hum, but he had ignored every single one of them because he believed he knew better

I know,” he admitted quietly after several long seconds. I should have listened to you

Ace didn’t waste any time dwelling on the past

But Luna is different his woll said with complete certainly she is ours She isn’t someone you happened to fall for and she isn’t someone you chose because you liked her The Moon Goddess chose her for us whish means she’s our destiny My destiny

Jace remained silent again, allowing Aces words to settle inside his mind He wanted to believe them. More than any thing. he wanted to believe that things could be different this time sull fear had a way of lingering

“What if I still fail? He asked quietly “What it being mates isn’t enough to stop me from hurting her?

09:13 Mon, Jul 20 )})}

Chapter 167

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“Then we deal with it when it happens,” Ace replied confidently. “But I’m not going to let you throw away our chance before we’ve even tried. You’re already preparing yourself to lose her, and we haven’t even begun fighting for her properly.”

Jace couldn’t help letting out a tired laugh as he slowly leaned back in his chair. “You always make everything sound so simple,” he said with a small shake of his head.

“Because some things are simple.” Ace responded without the slightest hint of doubt. “As far as I’m concerned, Luna belongs with us, and unlike you, I have absolutely no intention of playing nice when it comes to our mate.”

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