Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Chapter 44

Luna’s POV

I didn’t calm down right away, but after a few minutes of standing there and trying to breathe properly, my heart slowly stopped racing like it was about to burst out of my chest. My hands were still shaking a little, and I still had the duvet wrapped tightly around my body like I needed it to feel safe, but at least I wasn’t yelling anymore.

Everything still felt strange, and I still didn’t fully trust anything Ryder had told me, but I wasn’t as panicked as I had been when I first woke up.

I stayed where I was for a moment, watching him carefully like I was trying to figure him out, before finally asking the one thing that had been bothering me since he mentioned it earlier. “Where’s Ivy?” I asked, my voice quieter now but still tease. Saying her name made me feel a little more grounded, like I wasn’t completely alone in whatever this situation was.

Ryder didn’t hesitate before answering. “She’s in my room,” he said simply, like it wasn’t a big deal at all. “I told her to sleep there.”

I blinked at him, completely thrown off by that answer, and I just stared at him for a second like I had heard him wrong. “Your room?” I repeated, my voice rising a little without me meaning it to. “You sent Ivy to your room to sleep?”

A mix of confusion and something close to embarrassment hit me all at once, and my mind immediately started jumping to conclusions I didn’t like. Why would he do that? Why would he send her away instead of letting her stay here with me? It didn’t make sense, and the more I thought about it, the worse it sounded in my head.

Ryder must have seen the look on my face because he let out a sigh and shook his head slightly. “Don’t start,” he said, his tone calm but a little tired. “Whatever you’re thinking right now, just stop. It’s not that.”

I frowned, tightening my hold on the duvet again as I stared at him. “Then what is it?” I asked, not even trying to hide how suspicious I felt.

He ran a hand through his hair before answering, like he was already tired of explaining things to me. “I was supposed to leave after I put you in bed,” he said. “That was the plan, but you wouldn’t let go of me.” He paused for a second, looking at me like he expected me to react to that, but I didn’t say anything, so he continued. “You held on to me like your life depended on it. Every time I tried to move, you pulled me back, and that’s why I stayed.”

I stared at him in disbelief, my brows pulling together as I tried to process what he had just said. “That’s not true,” I said almost immediately, shaking my head. “I don’t do that. I’m not… clingy like that.”

It sounded wrong even as I said it, because no matter how I looked at it, I just couldn’t imagine myself holding on to him like that, not even if I was sick, or even if I felt like I was dying. It just wasn’t something I would do.

Ryder gave me a look that clearly said he didn’t care whether I believed him or not. “Believe whatever you want,” he said with a small shrug. “I’m just telling you what happened.”

I crossed my arms under the duvet, still staring at him like I was trying to catch him in a lie, but there was nothing in his face that made it obvious. If he was lying, he was really good at it, and that only made me more frustrated.

“I want to see Ivy,” I said finally, my voice firm now. “I’m not believing any of this until I talk to her.”

Ryder let out another sigh, like he had expected that response. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll go get her.”

For a second, I thought that was it, but then he paused and looked at me more seriously. “But only on one condition.”

I narrowed my eyes at him immediately. “You’re really not in a position to be giving me conditions right now,” I said, my tone sharp again.”

He ignored that completely, like I hadn’t even spoken. “You stay here,” he said simply. “Don’t leave this room, don’t make

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Chapter 14

noise, and don’t go wandering around the house. Just stay here until I come back with her.”

I stared at him, annoyed and confused at the same time. “Why?” I asked. “What’s the big deal about me being here? Why are you being so secretive?”

He didn’t answer right away, but the look on his face told me that whatever the reason was, he wasn’t going to explain it properly. “Just trust me on this,” he said instead. “Can you do that much?”

I didn’t like it. I didn’t like being told what to do, and I definitely didn’t like being told to stay in a room in a house that wasn’t mine, especially after waking up like this, but at the same time, I wanted to see Ivy, and if this was the only way to do that, then I didn’t really have a choice.

I let out a slow breath before nodding slightly. “Fine,” I said. “I’ll try.”

He gave a small nod, like that was enough for him, and turned slightly like he was about to leave, but then I remembered something and quickly spoke again. “Wait,” I said. “Where are my clothes?”

Ryder glanced around the room for a second before shrugging. “Somewhere in here,” he said. “You should be able to find them if you look.”

I frowned at that answer, but before I could say anything else, he added, “And just so we’re clear again, I wasn’t the one who took them off. So you can stop with the wild thoughts.”

I rolled my eyes slightly, even though a small part of me was still uneasy about everything. “That doesn’t make it any less weird,” I muttered. “And I don’t completely believe you either. You don’t exactly look like someone who’s been told no a lot in his life.”

He didn’t react to that at all. If anything, he just ignored it completely, like my words didn’t matter enough for him to respond. Instead, he stood up from the bed, moving to the foot of it where his shirt was lying. He picked it up and shook it out slightly before pulling it over his head.

I watched him for a second before speaking again, my curiosity getting the better of me. “Why were you even shirtless?” I asked. “There was no reason for that when I was already… like this.”

He glanced at me briefly as he adjusted his shirt. “It was wet,” he said simply. “I wasn’t going to sleep in something uncomfortable.”

That answer didn’t fully satisfy me, but I didn’t push it further. Everything about this situation was already too much, and I felt like if I kept digging, I was just going to end up more confused than I already was.

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