Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 195

Making It Look Real

Luna’s POV

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After Jace had basically told me to expect the worst when it came to his fan club, I decided that there was no point in sitting inside his SUV and frightening myself with every possible thing that could happen. If I was going to do this, then I needed to actually do it. I finally turned toward Jace and told him to drive me all the way to my dorm instead of dropping me somewhere far away from the school entrance. If even one person saw me getting out of his car, that would be enough to start the rumor properly. Once the rumor began, Jace and I could slowly build on it by walking around campus together, sitting together during lunch, and eventually holding hands in public until nobody questioned whether we were actually together.

It sounded simple when I thought about it like that, but my stomach still felt like it was twisting itself into knots. I kept staring out the window as Jace drove, watching the familiar buildings pass by while I tried to convince myself that I was not about to make a huge mistake.

The closer we got to the dorms, the more nervous I became. I could already imagine someone standing outside the building with their phone in their hand, taking a picture of me stepping out of Jace’s SUV. I could imagine the picture being sent to a group chat before I had even reached the entrance. I could imagine the gossip beginning before dinner, the questions the next morning, and the looks I would probably get from girls who had spent the last few weeks making it very clear that they did not like seeing me anywhere near Jace and the others.

Yet, beneath all that nervousness, there was also a strange sense of excitement. This was the first real step toward changing the way people saw me. I had spent weeks being treated like some poor scholarship student who had somehow managed to get herself mixed up with the rich and popular football players. Now, I was going to give everyone something else to talk about. I was not going to deny the rumors anymore, I was going to use them.

By the time Jace finally pulled into the area in front of my dorm, I had already taken several deep breaths. He stopped the car, shifted it into park, and looked over at me. I knew the moment had arrived. I reached for the door handle, but before I could open it, Jace turned toward me with a questioning look.

“Do you want me to come down with you?” he asked.

My eyes widened immediately, and I turned toward him with a look of disbelief because I honestly could not tell if he was trying to help me or make things ten times worse. The entire point of getting out of his car was to create a believable rumor without making a huge scene, and somehow, Jace had managed to suggest the exact opposite. I shook my head quickly and looked toward the entrance before looking back at him.

“Are you trying to make things worse for me?” I asked.

Jace gave me a small smile, but he did not look convinced that I had a point. He leaned back against his seat and looked at me as if he had already thought several steps ahead of me.

“It’s going to get worse sooner or later,” he responded. “I already intend to come to the dorm tomorrow to pick you up, and if we’re going to pretend to date, me dropping you off and picking you up is the bare minimum,”

I sighed because I could not really argue with that. He was right. If we were going to convince the entire school that we were together, we could not suddenly become shy about being seen together. That would only make the whole thing look suspicious. A real boyfriend would probably pick his girlfriend up from her dorm.

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12:22 Thu, Aug 13

Marked by the Alpha Team

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A real boyfriend would probably drop her off after spending time together. A real boyfriend would probably walk her to the entrance and make sure she got inside safely. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that Jace was not actually asking for anything unreasonable. He was simply taking the fake relationship seriously enough to make it believable. I let out another sigh and finally nodded.

“Fine,” I said. “You can come down with me.”

I reached for the door again, but Jace suddenly lifted a hand.

“Wait a second,” he said.

I stopped and looked at him with a confused frown. For a moment, I had no idea what he was doing. He unfastened his seat belt and stepped out without explaining himself. I watched him walk around the front of the vehicle, and it took me only a few seconds to realize exactly what he was planning. He was going to open my door for me. I immediately shook my head and reached for the handle from inside, but he was already there. The passenger door opened, and Jace stood beside it with a light frown on his face, almost as though he had expected me to try doing exactly what I had just attempted. I stared at him for a second before rolling my eyes and stepping out.

“I don’t need the ceremony,” I told him.

Jace closed the door behind me and gave me a look that was somewhere between amusement and disbelief.

“If we’re going to sell a relationship, we might as well do it right,” he responded.

I opened my mouth to answer, but he continued before I could.

“You’ve never been in a relationship before, have you?” he asked.

I immediately narrowed my eyes at him because there was something about his tone that made it obvious he was throwing a subtle jab at me. I crossed my arms and gave him a flat look.

“That is completely irrelevant,” I said.

Jace chuckled, clearly amused by my reaction, but thankfully, he did not push the subject any further. Instead, he turned toward the dorm entrance, and after taking a few steps, he reached back and took my hand. The moment his fingers slipped between mine, my entire body went tense. It was such a simple thing, something couples did without even thinking about it, but for me, it suddenly felt like the entire school had become aware of where I was standing.

My heart began beating so quickly that I could hear it in my ears. I wanted to look around immediately to see if anyone had noticed us. I wanted to know whether students were staring, whether someone had already taken a picture, whether the girls who hated me were somewhere nearby, and whether the rumors had already started. My eyes moved slightly toward the side, but before I could turn my head properly, Jace squeezed my hand gently.

“Focus on me,” he said.

I looked at him.

“Don’t worry about who is watching,” he added calmly. “Just focus on me and nothing else.”

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12:22 Thu, Aug 13

Marked by the Alpha Team

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I swallowed and nodded. It was easier said than done, but I tried. I forced myself to look at him instead of the people around us, even though every instinct in me wanted to check what was happening. Jace walked at a normal pace, his hand holding mine firmly but gently, and somehow his calmness made it easier for me to stay calm too. I had expected him to be nervous as well, but he looked completely comfortable. He simply walked beside me as though holding my hand was the most normal thing in the world. I wondered how many times he had done something like this before and figured that unlike me, he must have had plenty of relationships.

Meanwhile, I was struggling not to look like I was about to faint.

We eventually reached the area directly in front of the dorm, and I expected Jace to let go of my hand. I thought that was where the performance would end. He had driven me there, walked me to the entrance, and held my hand the entire way. Surely that was enough to convince anyone watching that something was going on between us. I was already preparing to pull my hand away when Jace suddenly stopped.

Before I could ask him what he was doing, he turned toward me and pulled me into a hug. My body stiffened in surprise, and my hands instinctively rested against his chest. I looked up at him, completely confused, because there was absolutely no reason for him to hug me right there. The next thing I knew, he leaned down and placed a light kiss on my lips. It was brief and soft, nothing like the intense kisses I had experienced with some of my other mates, but somehow, that made it even more shocking.

There was no warning, no time to prepare. One second I was standing there trying to figure out why he had pulled me into a hug, and the next, his lips had touched mine.

Every word I had been preparing to say disappeared.

My mind went completely blank. I could not even decide whether I should be angry, embarrassed, shocked, or simply confused. I just stood there staring at him after he pulled away, my mouth slightly open as I tried to understand what had just happened. Jace seemed completely calm, almost annoyingly so. He looked at me for a moment, and there was a small smile on his face that made me suspect he knew exactly how stunned I was. I wanted to say something, anything, but my thoughts were moving too slowly.

I had agreed to pretend to be his girlfriend, but I had not expected him to make the performance feel quite so real so soon. More importantly, I had not expected that one simple kiss to leave me this speechless.

“Get some rest,” he said softly.

I blinked at him.

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