Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Luna’s POV

I stood under the shower in the girls‘ locker room, letting the hot water pound against my shoulders and back. Steam rose around me. fogging up the mirror on the opposite wall. My muscles still ached from the sprints, but it was a good ache, the kind that reminded me I’d pushed hard and come out on top.

* constantly try to remind myself that I’d run fast

With the many different emotions I was feeling at the moment, I had enough to make the cut, and I’d earned my spot for the intercollegiate meet. That should have felt like a win, as I reminded myself, but for many reasons, it didn’t.

Because while the water ran down my face and hair, mind kept circling back to the voices I’d heard on the field. Coach Ramirez’s voice was clear as if he’d been standing right

ext to nie. As soon as my mind cleared for a bit after leaving the field. it soon dawned on me that the coach had been talking about me and calling me a liability. He basically said that I was a distraction and threatened to bench me, scholarship or no scholarship.

I tilted my head back and let the spray hit my closed eyes. It wasn’t until the hot water started to sting my skin that the full meaning hit me that he’d really been talking about me in such a condescending manner.

The “she” who couldn’t keep her head straight off the track. The one getting caught up

drama with “those boys.” The one who might cause problems with the higher–ups–that was me. I knew he wasn’t my biggest fan for whatever reason, but to be this big of a hater? What did I ever do wrong?

I turned my face into the water again, trying to wash the thought away, but it stuck.

I just couldn’t understand it. I was a good athlete. I showed up early, I trained hard. I hadn’t missed a single practice since the first day, and I hadn’t let the gossip or the stares or the viral videos stop me from running my best. So why did Coach sound so stressed? Why did a little drama with some football players make him question whether I belonged on the team when I could practically be his best shot at getting a medal if he just gave me a chance?

I knew reputation mattered; I wasn’t stupid. Schools cared about their image, and coaches wanted athletes who looked clean–cut, focused, and drama–free, but this? This felt bigger than just a bit of gossip or a blurry video. He’d said “higher- ups.”

That word kept repeating in my head. Higher–ups, like administrators, like people who could pull strings, like people who could decide whether my scholarship stayed or vanished.

My stomach twisted.

I turned the water colder, hoping the shock would clear my thoughts. Goosebumps raced across my arms and legs. The ache in my muscles sharpened, then dulled again, and I stood under the spray until my teeth started chattering.

I let out a long, frustrated sigh that echoed off the walls.

All I had to do was keep avoiding the football team. No matter what, no matter how many times one of them showed up, no matter how strong that weird pull felt, no matter how my body reacted when their scents hit me. I had to stay away, keep my head down, and focus on running and on my grades. Now more than ever, I had to focus on proving I belonged here because of my legs and my lungs, not because of some strange connection I never asked for.

If I could do that, maybe the gossip would stop, maybe Coach would stop looking at me like I was a risk, and maybe the higher–ups, whoever they were, would forget my name.

I turned the water off and stood there dripping, letting the steam clear

my head.

After a while of standing there. Itwisted the knob of the and stepped out-

Steam clung to my skin as I did, and the mirror was completely fogged over. I grabbed the towel from the hook, dried off quickly. chest

and

wrapped it tight around my

12:16 Sat, May 30 MMM ·

Chapter 24

My wet hair stuck to my shoulders and back in heavy strands, and the locker room felt even colder now without the spray running. I walked barefoot across the tile, leaving small wet footprints behind me.

My locker was halfway down the row, and when I reached it, my entire body froze

73

The door was open, not wide open, just cracked about two inches, but enough to make my stomach drop straight to my feet.

I was sure I’d closed it. I remembered pushing it shut before heading to the shower, and the latch had clicked/I’d even tugged on it once to make sure. I always double–check.

My pulse jumped. I stepped closer and pulled the door all the way open with trembling fingers, and just like I dreaded, it was empty. My bag was gone. Everything, my running clothes, the clean change of clothes I’d packed, my phone, my keys, my wallet, and my earbuds, all gone.

For a second I just stared at the bare metal shelf like it might magically refill itself if I looked hard enough.

Then panic slammed into me.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify