Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 27

Chapter 27

Third–person POV

Orion walked away from Luna slowly, his hands resting in the pockets of his jacket as he made his way across the campus. He didn’t look back once after he walked away since he had already said goodnight, and he knew Luna didn’t want to be seen with him. The last thing he wanted was to make things harder for her when she had already gone through enough embarrassment for one day.

At first, his plan was simple. He would return to the sports administration building, grab his car, and head home for the night. It had been a long day already, and he had no real reason to stay any longer. His mind, however, refused to cooperate with that plan. As he walked, the image of Luna standing in that cold locker room in nothing but a towel kept replaying in his head.

Something about the whole situation bothered him more than he wanted to admit. Someone had stolen her bag, taken her clothes, and then locked the locker room door from the outside so she couldn’t leave. That wasn’t the kind of thing someone did as a harmless prank, and whoever did it had thought about it. They had wanted her stuck in there, and they had wanted her humiliated.

Orion frowned slightly as he reached the path that led toward the sports buildings. Luna had clearly asked him not to get involved, and she had been very clear about that. She didn’t want him or the others causing problems or drawing more attention to her situation. Orion understood that, and he respected her wishes, but at the same time, he couldn’t ignore the small protective feeling growing in his chest.

He wasn’t planning to confront anyone or cause a scene if he found the person responsible. Luna had made it clear she didn’t want that. Still, there was nothing wrong with finding out what happened to her bag. If he could recover it quietly and return it to her, then maybe she wouldn’t have to deal with even more trouble.

With that thought in mind, he changed direction slightly and headed back toward the sports administration building instead of the parking lot.

The building was mostly quiet when he arrived. Only a few lights were still on inside, and the main hallway echoed faintly with the sound of his footsteps as he pushed the glass door open and stepped inside. The place smelled faintly of cleaning products, which meant the janitors had fully started their evening rounds. Orion walked down the long corridor calmly, passing closed office doors and bulletin boards filled with schedules and announcements for different sports teams.

When he reached the section that led toward the locker rooms, he slowed his steps and glanced around carefully. The girls” track locker room sat near the back hallway, not far from the indoor training area. He had already been inside earlier when he helped Luna, so he knew the layout well enough.

He stopped a few feet away from the locker room entrance and looked up at the ceiling, and just like he expected, a small security camera sat mounted in the corner where the hallway met the ceiling. It was one of several cameras placed around that area. While there were no cameras inside the locker rooms for obvious reasons, the school had installed cameras in the hallways outside to monitor who entered and exited.

He leaned against the wall for a moment and thought through the timing Luna had mentioned earlier. Practice had ended around six, and she had gone into the shower shortly after that, so if someone had taken her bag while she was inside the shower stalls, then the theft most likely happened sometime between six and six–thirty in the evening.

That meant the camera footage from that time frame should show whoever entered or left the locker room with her belongings, and thankfully, he had asked her right before offering to get her his clothes from his office, and she had given him a description of how her bag looked.

He pushed himself off the wall and began walking again, his mind already piecing together the steps he needed to take. The security office was located on the first floor near the building’s main entrance. That was where the campus guards monitored the cameras and kept recordings of the footage.

When Orion reached the security office door, he knocked lightly before stepping inside.

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Chapter 27

The room was filled with the light from several monitors arranged across the wall, and each screen showed a different part of the campus: parking lots, hallways, entrances, and walkways. A few security guards sat at desks in front of the monitors, watching the feeds or chatting quietly among themselves.

The moment Orion walked in, several of them looked up and smiled.

“Evening, Orion,” one of the guards said with a friendly nod.

Another man sitting in a chair near the center of the room leaned back slightly and raised his eyebrows in surprise. His name was Dave, and he had worked in campus security for years. He had seen Orion around many times, especially during late–night practices or after big sports events.

“Well, look who it is.” Dave said with a small chuckle. “Didn’t expect to see you back here tonight.”

Orion returned the greeting with a calm nod. “Hey, Dave.”

Dave glanced at the clock hanging on the wall behind him before turning back toward Orion. “It’s getting pretty late. What brings you here?”

Orion stepped farther into the room, keeping his voice casual. “A friend of mine had something stolen earlier today.”

Dave’s expression changed slightly. “Stolen?”

“Yeah.” Orion replied. “Her bag. She’s on the girls‘ track team, and someone took her bag from the locker room while she was in the shower.”

The guards exchanged quick looks with one another.

Dave rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Did she report it yet?”

“Not yet,” Orion said. “She didn’t have her phone anymore, and she just wanted to get back to her dorm.”

Dave leaned forward a little, resting his arms on the desk. “So you came here to check the cameras.”

Orion nodded once, and for a brief moment, Dave didn’t respond. Normally, if any other student walked into the security office asking to review camera footage, the answer would be simple: no. The school had procedures for that sort of thing. Students had to file official complaints, and then the administration would decide whether security was allowed to review the recordings, but Orion wasn’t just any student.

Everyone on campus knew the name Dusk. Orion rarely used his family’s influence, but it still carried a lot of weight whether he liked it or not. Dave clearly understood that as he let out a small sigh and leaned back in his chair.

“Well,” Dave said after a moment, “let’s see what we can find.”

Orion gave a quiet nod. “Thanks.”

Dave turned his chair toward the large wall of monitors and began typing on the keyboard in front of him. Several screens shifted as the system pulled up recordings from different cameras around the building.

“Which locker room are we talking about?” Dave asked.

“Girls‘ track.” Orion answered. “Back hallway.”

Dave clicked through a few menus until the correct camera appeared on one of the monitors. The screen now showed the hallway outside the girls‘ locker room.

“Any idea what time this happened?” Dave asked.

“Between six and six–thirty.” Orion replied.

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Chapter 97

Dave adjusted the timeline and began scrolling through the footage from earlier that evening. The video showed students passing through the hallway, some carrying gym bags, others walking in groups and chatting. Every so often someone entered or exited the locker room, and Orion watched the screen closely without saying anything. Several minutes passed as Dave moved the footage forward slowly.

Then Orion suddenly spoke. “Stop.”

Dave paused the video, and on the screen, a girl was walking down the hallway toward the locker room door. She was wearing a track jacket and had her hair tied into a high ponytail.

Orion leaned slightly closer to the monitor. “Can you zoom in?” he asked.

Dave clicked a button, enlarging the image. The girl pushed open the locker room door and disappeared/inside.

“Recognize her?” Dave asked.

Orion didn’t answer immediately. He just kept watching the screen, and Dave, seeing how concentrated he was, resumed the footage.

A few minutes passed, then the locker room door opened again, and the same girl stepped out, but this time she wasn’t alone. She was carrying two bags, one that Orion guessed was her own, and the other was black with a faded white stripe across the side.

Orion’s eyes narrowed slightly. He stared at the bag for a while, trying to match the mental image he had of Luna’s bag to the image in front of him.

It fit the description that Luna had given him, which also included that the bag looked old and tacky, a description he had brushed off earlier when she said it but couldn’t help but agree with now that he was looking at something that could possibly be it.

“I believe that’s Luna’s bag,” he said quietly.

Dave leaned forward in his chair. “Well,” he muttered. “That answers one question

The girl glanced down the hallway quickly before walking toward the stairwell, and Dave switched to another camera showing the stairwell entrance. A few seconds later, the girl appeared again, still carrying both bags.

“Let’s see where she goes,” Dave said.

He continued switching between cameras as the footage followed her path through the building. The girl walked down another hallway before eventually heading toward the exit that led to the side parking lot.

Dave paused the footage once she stepped outside under the light above the door.

“Hold on,” he said before zooming in on the frame.

Now the girl’s face was clearly visible on the screen, and Orion stared at it in silence. He had been hoping that he was wrong, but seeing a zoomed picture of her face, he recognized her immediately, and the moment he did, his expression hardened slightly

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