Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 53

Luna’s POV

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The silence between Ivy and I didn’t last long, even though I kind of wished it would. I had barely settled back on the bed. trying to make sense of everything I had just shared with her, when I suddenly heard a knock on the door.

It wasn’t loud, but it was enough to pull me out of my thoughts immediately. My body tensed without me meaning to, and for a second, I just sat there, staring at the door like it was about to do something on its own.

I didn’t need to guess who it was. There were only a few people in this house, and all of them made me feel uneasy in one way or another. Still, I pushed myself up from the bed and walked toward the door slowly, my steps careful, like I was trying to delay opening it for as long as possible. My hand hovered over the handle for a brief moment before finally turned a and pulled the door open, and just like I expected, it was one of them.

Orion stood right outside the door, calm as ever, like he hadn’t turned my entire world upside down just by existing. For a second, I froze, actually, not just for a second. It felt longer than that, much longer.

I just stood there and stared at him.

It was like my brain had completely stopped working I could see his lips moving, and I knew he was saying something. probably something normal, something simple, but I couldn’t hear a single word. It was like everything around me had gone quiet all of a sudden, like someone had muted the world and left only him standing in front of me.

And then, without even realizing it, my mind started wandering in the worst possible way.

I noticed things I shouldn’t have been noticing. The shape of his face, the way his hair fell slightly over his forehead, and the calm look in his eyes behind those glasses, and then my gaze dropped slightly, and I noticed his lips, and for some reason, I started thinking about how different he would look without the glasses and not just different. Better.

That thought hit me so suddenly that it made my chest tighten. I found myself wondering what it would feel like to reach out and take them off his face, to see his eyes properly without anything in the way, and to…

No.

I swallowed hard, but even that didn’t help. The thoughts didn’t stop. If anything, they got worse. My body felt warm again, that same strange heat creeping under my skin, making me feel restless and weak at the same time, and the worst part was that I didn’t want to look away from him.

It felt like I couldn’t look away, like something was pulling me toward him, holding me there, forcing me to take him in like I had never seen him before, even though I had.

I didn’t even realize how long I had been standing there like that until I suddenly felt two hands on me at the same time. One on my arm, and the other on my shoulder.

I flinched slightly, blinking hard as the world came rushing back all at once. “What?” I blurted out, my voice a little shaky as I finally snapped out of whatever that was.

I turned my head slightly and saw Ivy standing right behind me, holding a bunch of clothes in her hands. She was staring at me like I had just done something completely insane.

Then I looked back at Orion, and he was staring at me too, but unlike Ivy, he didn’t look completely confused. If anything. he looked… amused, and that only made my embarrassment worse.

“What happened?” I asked quickly, trying to sound normal even though I felt anything but normal.

Ivy let out a short laugh, shaking her head slightly. “We should be asking you that,” she said. “He’s been calling your name for like a whole minute, and you just stood there staring at him like…”

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Chapter 33

She paused, clearly trying to choose her words. “Like what?” I asked, even though I had a feeling I didn’t want to know

“Like

you

wanted to jump him or something,” she finished bluntly.

My eyes widened immediately, and I felt my face heat up so fast it was almost painful.

“I…what?” I said quickly, my voice coming out louder than I intended. “Jump him? That has a different meaning, right? Like… you don’t mean…”

Ivy rolled her eyes before I could even finish, clearly not interested in helping me out of this mess. “You know exactly what mean,” she said, already turning around and walking back into the room like she had seen enough.

I stood there for a second, completely mortified, before slowly turning back to Orion. I couldn’t even look him in the eyes properly now. My gaze dropped slightly, and I found myself focusing on anything but his face.

“Did I… say anything?” I asked quietly, my voice filled with embarrassment.

He shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “No,” he said simply.

That didn’t make me feel any better. He didn’t even bother answering properly, and somehow that made it worse. It made me feel like he had noticed everything, even if I hadn’t said anything out loud.

Before I could say anything else, he spoke again. “I gave Ivy the clothes,” he said, nodding slightly toward the pile she was holding. “We managed to get some from Theo and Ryder. They’re female clothes, so you won’t have to wear oversized stuff again.”

I blinked, finally looking up at him properly. “Female clothes?” I repeated slowly.

That caught me off guard for a completely different reason. For a second, I almost asked how exactly they had female clothes in a house full of guys, but I stopped myself just in time. I really didn’t want to keep talking and risk embarrassing myself even more than I already had.

Instead. I just nodded slightly, “Oh,” I said.

There was a brief pause, and then he added, “Jace is making breakfast. So you and Ivy will have something to eat soon.”

That made my eyes widen slightly. “Jace?” I repeated. “Making breakfast?”

I didn’t say anything else out loud, but my mind immediately filled with questions. How did someone like him even know how to cook? He didn’t look like the type at all, but again, I stopped myself.

I had already embarrassed myself enough for one day. I wasn’t about to stand here and start asking him random questions like we were having a normal conversation.

“You know what, thanks,” I said quickly instead, forcing a small, awkward smile on my face, and before he could say anything else, before I could do anything else embarrassing, I shut the door right in his face.

The second the door clicked shut, I let out a breath and leaned back against it, closing my eyes tightly.

“Oh my God,” I muttered under my breath.

I stayed like that for a few seconds, trying to calm myself down, but it didn’t really help. My heart was still beating too fast. and my face still felt hot, and my mind wouldn’t stop replaying what had just happened.

Why did I just stand there like that? Why couldn’t I hear him, and more importantly… why was I thinking like that? That wasn’t me, and that wasn’t normal.

pushed myself away from the door slowly and walked back toward the bed, my steps slightly uneven. Ivy was already sitting there, watching me with a look that I didn’t like at all. She shook her head slowly as I got closer.

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Chapter 58

“What?” I asked, already annoyed.

She didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she just gave me a small, knowing look before saying, “You’re only human after all.

I stopped walking. “Excuse me?” I said, narrowing my eyes at her.

She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “You saw him,” she said simply. “I saw you seeing him.”

I groaned immediately, dropping on the bed and grabbing a pillow to cover my face. “Please stop talking.” I muttered.

She laughed softly. “I’m just saying,” she continued, clearly not planning to stop anytime soon. “You’ve been acting weird,

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