Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 191

9:53 Wed, Aug 12

Marked by the Alpha Team

The ‘Plague’

Luna’s POV

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I left Theo’s room with legs that honestly did not feel steady anymore. Every step I took along the upstairs hallway felt strangely light and heavy at the same time, almost as though my body were moving forward while my mind remained inside his room. No matter how hard I tried to think about something else, I kept hearing his voice asking me to spend an entire weekend with him. It had sounded so simple when he said it, yet the more I thought about it, the more complicated it became.

I still had not given him a proper answer. In fact, if I was being honest with myself, I had practically run away from the conversation before he could corner me into making a decision. That probably would not stop him from asking again, though. If there was one thing I had learned about Theo over the past few weeks, it was that the man was unbelievably persistent whenever he wanted something. I had a feeling that if he truly decided he wanted that weekend with me, he would continue asking until I either accepted or physically hid from him.

The scary part was that I honestly was not sure I could keep telling him no forever. It was an unsettling realization because it made me wonder whether I was slowly becoming too soft whenever it came to my mates. Just a month ago, I would have laughed if someone had suggested that five boys would somehow have me questioning my own decisions every other day. Now, here I was, leaving Theo’s room with my heart beating far faster than it should have been, simply because he wanted to spend more time with me.

Thankfully, I had managed to remind both him and myself that there were still three other people I needed to speak to before I returned to my dorm. Left to Theo, I had no doubt he would have happily continued talking to me for another hour, but I had finally put my foot down and excused myself before he could convince me to stay any longer. As I walked away, I silently prayed that my conversations with the remaining three would be much less complicated because I honestly was not prepared for another request that would leave me completely speechless.

The hallway upstairs was quiet enough that I could hear my own footsteps echo softly under me as I walked. Every now and then I glanced toward one of the large windows overlooking the property, but even the beautiful view outside failed to distract me from my thoughts. My biggest problem now was that I had absolutely no idea where everyone stayed. I had visited this house a handful of times already, yet I still barely knew my way around the place.

I had never actually taken the time to memorize where any of their bedrooms were located. The house was far too large for someone like me to casually remember every hallway and every corner, and after walking for several minutes, I began wondering if I had already passed the same painting twice without realizing it. Then I remembered one small detail that made me stop thinking so hard. One of the boys had a nameplate attached to his bedroom door. I could not even remember whose room it belonged to, but I clearly remembered noticing it because it looked completely different from every other plain door in the hallway.

I decided that instead of wandering aimlessly, I would simply look for that nameplate. Whoever owned that room would become the next person I spoke to. It was hardly a brilliant plan, but after everything that had happened today, my brain deserved something easy for once. Adjusting my bag on my shoulder, I continued walking slowly, my eyes scanning every door I passed until eventually something familiar caught my

attention.

A few moments later, I finally found it. Attached neatly to one of the doors was the exact wooden nameplate I had been searching for. The moment my eyes landed on the carved letters, I immediately stopped walking.

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9:53 Wed, Aug 12

Marked by the Alpha Team

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Ryder. Somehow, I was not even surprised. If there was anyone among the five of them who would actually bother putting his name outside his bedroom, it was probably Ryder.

I stood there quietly for several long seconds while staring at the door, allowing myself one final moment to prepare mentally before knocking. Out of all five of my mates, Ryder was probably the one I knew the least despite the fact that he was the first one I had interacted with. We had raced each other, argued with each other, exchanged sarcastic remarks a few times, and somehow found ourselves tangled together through the mate bond, yet when I really thought about it, we had never actually sat down and talked properly without someone else being in the same space.

Every serious conversation I had shared recently had somehow involved Jace, Theo, Knox, or Orion. Ryder always seemed to be pushed to the side, not because I disliked him, but because circumstances kept dragging me elsewhere or because whenever he happened to catch me at a bad time, I avoided him. Even so, there was something about him that made him surprisingly easy to understand.

Unlike the others, who often hid behind jokes, confidence, or carefully chosen words, Ryder usually wore his feelings plainly across his face. When he was happy, everyone knew. When he was annoyed, everyone knew. When he was jealous, it practically radiated off him. That honesty made him strangely comforting despite his stubborn personality. I honestly hoped this conversation would be one of the easier ones because I did not think my poor heart could survive another conversation like the one I had just finished with Theo.

I took one slow breath before lifting my hand toward the door. I had not even managed to knock once when the handle suddenly turned from the inside. The door swung open so quickly that I nearly jumped backward in surprise. Standing directly in front of me was Ryder himself. His dark blond hair looked slightly messy, almost as though he had spent the last hour running both hands through it repeatedly. Despite that, his expression remained calm, and there was absolutely no surprise on his face when our eyes met.

It was obvious he had known I was standing outside before I even touched the door. Whether it was because of his werewolf hearing, his sense of smell, or because he had simply expected me to show up eventually, I honestly could not tell. Whatever the reason, he looked completely unsurprised to see me standing there.

“Come in,” he said calmly as he stepped aside and held the door open for me. His voice was so gentle that I almost wondered whether someone had secretly replaced him while I had been talking to Theo.

For a brief second, I simply stared at him before stepping inside. If someone had told me on my very first day at Blackridge that Ryder would one day speak to me this softly, I would have laughed so hard that I probably would have embarrassed myself. I could still remember the very first time I met him on the football field. He had looked at me with that ridiculously confident grin, convinced there was no way some random girl could outrun him. I still remembered the satisfaction of beating him in that race and the disbelief that had spread across his face afterward.

Back then, I had completely written him off as another arrogant rich athlete who believed the world revolved around him. Looking at him now, standing quietly beside the open door without even a trace of that old cockiness, it honestly felt like I was looking at an entirely different person. I quietly walked into his room, and once I was fully inside, he gently closed the door behind me before moving farther into the room.

His bedroom still looked the same as I vaguely remembered. It was clean without looking unnaturally perfect, comfortable without trying too hard to impress anyone, and surprisingly warm despite the neutral colors everywhere. Several football trophies occupied one shelf while framed photographs sat neatly on another, and a large window overlooked the back of the property, allowing the fading evening sunlight to spill softly

across the room.

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