Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 181

Chapter 181

Chapter 181

Luna’s POV

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The upstairs living room somehow felt much larger now that I was the only person in it. The housekeeper, an older woman with kind eyes and a warm smile, had escorted me upstairs only a few minutes earlier after Jace told me the others were going to freshen up before joining us. She had politely introduced herself before showing me into the elegant living room, telling me to make myself comfortable while I waited.

Everything about the room looked expensive, from the large cream-colored sofas to the wooden floors and the tall windows that overlooked the grounds outside. It was a part of the house I had never seen before, and under normal circumstances, I probably would have admired how beautiful it was. Unfortunately, I was far too distracted to appreciate any of it. The moment the housekeeper asked whether she could bring me something to drink, I had politely declined, thinking I would only be waiting a few minutes.

Now, as I slowly paced back and forth across the room with my hands clasped tightly together, I was beginning to regret that decision. A glass of water probably would have given me something to do besides thinking about the conversation waiting for me. Instead, the silence only made my nerves louder, and with every passing second, I could feel myself becoming more restless.

Jace had confidently told me that the others would join me in fifteen minutes, and when he had said those words downstairs, fifteen minutes had sounded incredibly short. Standing here alone, however, it felt as though time had completely stopped moving. I glanced toward the grandfather clock standing against one wall for what had to be the tenth time in only a few minutes, only to discover that barely five minutes had passed. Five minutes, that was all, and somehow, it felt closer to half an hour.

I tried sitting down once, but I lasted less than twenty seconds before standing up again. My legs refused to stay still, and my mind refused to settle. The more I thought about what I was about to tell my mates, the more I became convinced that this conversation was going to end with at least one of them losing his temper terribly, the same way Orion had gone berserk the morning after Jace had marked me. Maybe Jace really could keep everyone under control like he claimed, but that didn’t stop me from imagining every possible disaster that could happen.

The more scenarios my brain created, the more anxious I became, until I eventually gave up pretending I could simply wait quietly.

I stopped pacing near the middle of the room before taking a deep breath and deciding to rehearse what I wanted to say. If I could say it confidently now while I was alone, maybe it wouldn’t feel quite so impossible once everyone arrived. Looking around to make absolutely sure nobody was there to hear me talking to myself, I folded my arms before quietly repeating the speech I had been mentally practicing ever since leaving the football field.

“All I have to do,” I whispered to myself as calmly as I could, “is explain that Jace and I are going to pretend to be in a relationship. The whole school will believe we’re dating, while the werewolves will know that I’m Jace’s mate and believe that I’m marked to become his Luna.”

Saying the words aloud actually sounded much simpler than they had inside my head. The explanation was straightforward, and the plan itself made sense. Yet even as I finished speaking, I couldn’t stop myself from letting out another slow breath. Talking to an empty room was one thing. Saying those exact same words while staring at four jealous boys was something completely different. Somehow, I had a feeling the calm confidence I was managing right now would disappear the second they were all looking at me. Worse still, I

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Chapter 181

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already knew their reactions were probably going to be much bigger than they needed to be. If there was one thing my mates were consistently good at, it was overreacting whenever the word “mate” became involved.

I let out a long groan before dragging both hands down my face. “Why are they taking so long?” I muttered quietly to myself as I resumed pacing across the room. Every few seconds, my eyes drifted toward the doorway, expecting someone to finally appear, only to find it empty again.

My patience was wearing thinner with every lap I made around the living room, and I was becoming dangerously close to screaming into a pillow simply to release some of the nervous energy building inside me. If they took much longer, I was convinced I was going to wear a path into the floor just from pacing back and forth. I had just opened my mouth to let out an internal scream of frustration when movement finally caught my attention from the corner of my eye.

Theo stepped into the living room so quietly that I almost hadn’t noticed him until he was already standing there. The moment our eyes met, a small, almost effortless smile appeared on his face. My heart immediately threatened to betray me, and I reacted exactly the way I had promised myself I would. I looked at him for barely two seconds before deliberately shifting my attention somewhere else. I was still very much determined to avoid looking at him for too long because I was terrified someone would notice there was something different between us, and I wasn’t about to give them two reasons to crash out. Keeping my eyes away from Theo was proving much harder than I wanted to admit, but it was still the safest option.

A soft chuckle reached my ears from Theo’s direction before he leaned casually against the doorway. “How long are you planning to keep doing that?” he asked with obvious amusement, and I didn’t even need to look at him to know he was smiling.

Pretending I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, I slowly turned back toward him with what I hoped was a convincingly confused expression. I had every intention of asking him exactly what he meant, but before I could get a single word out, several more sets of footsteps echoed along the hallway leading toward the living room. A second later, Orion, Ryder, and Jace walked into the room together, immediately pulling everyone’s attention away from the brief exchange between Theo and me.

I instinctively glanced around the room, quickly realizing that only Knox was missing now. Somehow, seeing almost all of them gathered in one place made the anxiety I had been keeping under control come rushing back all at once. My hands unconsciously clasped together again, and I could actually feel my pulse speeding up inside my chest.

Just as I wondered whether my nervousness was becoming obvious, a familiar voice suddenly echoed inside my mind.

“Relax.”

I froze for the briefest moment before recognizing the voice immediately.

It was Jace.

The single word was calm, steady, and reassuring, carrying exactly the same confidence he always seemed to have. I immediately guessed he had felt my emotions through our mate bond and realized just how nervous I had become. Oddly enough, hearing his voice inside my head actually helped. My breathing slowed ever so slightly, and although I still felt anxious, the overwhelming panic eased enough for me to think clearly again.

Orion looked at me with a small frown before tilting his head slightly. “Why are you still standing?” he asked curiously as he studied my face. After a brief pause, he added, “And why do you look so nervous?”

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Chapter 181

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For a split second, I almost admitted the truth. I almost told him that I was terrified of what was about to happen, but instead, I mentally scolded myself.

‘Snap out of it, Luna.

If I acted uncertain before I even started speaking, they would immediately assume I didn’t believe in my own decision or, even worse, jump to the conclusion that Jace had somehow forced me to make this choice, and that was the last impression I wanted to give. Straightening my shoulders, I forced myself to look far more confident than I actually felt before finally walking toward one of the large sofas.

“I’m not nervous,” I responded as confidently as I could while taking a seat. “I’ve just been waiting by myself for a while.”

Almost immediately after I sat down, Ryder walked over and settled on the sofa beside me, while Orion chose a chair opposite us. Theo casually sat on the arm of another couch, and Jace remained nearby, looking far calmer than everyone else. The room gradually became quiet again, but this time the silence felt different. It wasn’t uncomfortable, it was expectant. Every single one of them knew I had asked to speak with them for an important reason, and judging by the curious expressions on their faces, they were all trying to guess what that reason might be. The only person still missing was Knox, and although nobody complained about waiting for him, I could tell everyone was silently holding the conversation until he arrived.

Roughly five minutes later, measured footsteps echoed through the hallway before Knox finally appeared in the doorway. As always, he looked completely unbothered by the fact that everyone else had already been waiting. His expression remained calm and unreadable, and instead of taking one of the empty seats, he simply walked over to the nearest wall and leaned comfortably against it with his arms folded across his chest. Looking around the room once, he gave a small nod that somehow served as both a greeting and an apology at the same time.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said evenly before shifting his attention to me. Without changing his relaxed expression, he asked, “What was it that you wanted to tell us, Luna?”

The room became completely silent. Five pairs of eyes settled on me at exactly the same moment, and my heartbeat became so loud that I was almost certain everyone could hear it.

For several long seconds, nobody spoke. I took one slow breath, and then another, reminding myself that this was exactly why I had come here. No more delaying, and no more overthinking. Keeping my voice as calm and steady as I possibly could, I finally looked at all five of my mates before speaking the words that I already knew were about to change the atmosphere inside the room.

“After giving it a lot of careful thought,” I said as evenly as I could manage, “I’ve decided to go public with my relationship with Jace.”

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9:54 Thu, Jul 30

Chapter 182