Marked by the Alpha Team (Luna Merrick) novel Chapter 63

12:47 Sat, May 30 MMM.

Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Luna’s POV

The moment Jace told me that no matter what I did, I would always be tied to all five of them, something inside my chest tightened in a way that felt almost painful. It wasn’t just fear, and it wasn’t just confusion either. It felt like my body was reacting to something I didn’t understand, like it already knew the truth of what he was saying even when my mind refused to accept it. I swallowed slowly, trying to calm the sudden rush of panic that rose inside me, and in a low voice that didn’t sound as steady as I wanted it to, I asked him, “Is there really no way for me to get out of it?”

Jace didn’t answer immediately, and the silence that followed made my heart beat faster than it already was. He looked at me for a long second, like he was thinking about how to answer, or maybe whether he even wanted to answer at all.

Then he let out a quiet sigh, one that made my stomach drop before he even spoke, because I could already tell that whatever he was about to say was not going to make me feel any better. “There is a way,” he finally said, his voice calm, bu there was something heavy in it that made me tense up. “But in your case, it would kill you if you tried it.”

My brows pulled together immediately, and I leaned forward a little without even realizing it. “What do you mean it would kill me?” I asked, my voice rising slightly with both confusion and fear. I didn’t like how easily he had said that, like it was just another fact and not something as serious as death.

He didn’t react to my tone at all. “You can go through a rejection ceremony,” he explained, his eyes still fixed on me like he was watching my reaction carefully. “It’s rare, but it happens. Mates can reject each other and break the bond.”

For a second. I just stared at him, trying to understand what he was saying. A rejection ceremony. The words sounded strange. like something out of a story, and for a moment, I almost wanted to laugh because of how ridiculous it sounded, but the look on his face told me that he was being completely serious, and that made it harder to brush it off.

“So I can reject you,” I said slowly, testing the words out like they didn’t quite feel real. “And that’s it? I’m free?”

Jace shook his head slightly, and that small movement alone made my chest tighten again. “It’s not that simple,” he said. “For a rejection to work, both mates have to want it. It has to be mutual, and even then, it’s not easy.”

I frowned at him, my confusion only growing. “What do you mean it’s not easy?” I asked. “How bad can it be?”

For the first time since we started talking, something in his expression shifted, just slightly, but enough for me to notice. “For

a wolf.” he said slowly, “a mate is not just someone you’re connected to. It’s more than that. It’s like… they are a part of you, the part that completes you.”

I stayed quiet, listening, even though I didn’t like where this was going.

“So when that bond is broken,” he continued, “it doesn’t just hurt. It feels like something is being ripped out of you, not physically, but… deeper than that. Like your soul is being torn apart.”

I felt a chill run through me, even though the room wasn’t cold. “That bad?” I asked quietly.

“Yes,” he said simply. “That bad.”

I swallowed again, trying to push down the uneasiness growing inside me, but I couldn’t. “And that’s just for one?” I asked. even though I already had a feeling what his answer was going to be.

He nodded once. “That’s just for one.”

I let out a small breath, but it didn’t calm me at all. “And I have five,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper now.

“Yes.” he replied.

The room suddenly felt smaller, like the walls were closing in on me, and I leaned back slightly, trying to create some space

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Chapter 63

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between me and everything he was saying. “So you’re telling me,” I said slowly, trying to make sure I understood him clearly, “that if I wanted to reject all of you, I would have to go through that pain five times?”

Jace didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

I stared at him, my mind struggling to keep up with everything. “And you think I would survive that?”

“No,” he said, his voice calm but firm. “I don’t.”

The honesty in his answer hit me harder than anything else he had said so far. He didn’t try to soften it, didn’t try to make sound less serious than it was. He just told me the truth, and for some

Cason, that made it worse.

I let out a small, breathless laugh, but there was no humor in it at all. “So basically,” I said, shaking my head slightly, “my options are either I die trying to reject all of you, or I stay like this… tied to all of you and completely out of control?”

Jace didn’t answer right away, and that silence felt like said after a moment, his voice steady.

answer on

own. “You’re doing fine right now, aren’t you?” he

I blinked at him, caught off guard by the question. “Does this look fine to you?” I asked, gesturing slightly to myself. “I have a voice in my head. I lose control of my own body, and I almost…” I stopped myself, my face heating slightly as I remembered what had just happened with Theo. “And you think this is fine?”

He didn’t react to my outburst. “The only reason you don’t have control right now,” he said calmly, “is because you and your wolf are not connected yet.”

I frowned at him again. “Not connected?”

“Yes,” he said. “Your wolf is slowly awakening, but you haven’t accepted it. You haven’t allowed yourself to understand it, so it acts on its own instincts without you.”

I looked down at my hands, trying to process that. “So what am I supposed to do?” I asked quietly. “Just let it take over?”

“No,” he said. “You’re supposed to accept it.”

I looked back up at him immediately. “Accept it?” I repeated, disbelief clear in my voice. “You want me to just accept that I’m a werewolf, that I have five mates, and that there’s another voice in my head that can take control of me whenever it wants?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

I stared at him, completely taken aback by how easily he said it, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“If you accept it,” he continued, “you can start to understand it, and once you understand it, you can control it.”

I shook my head slowly, still struggling to believe what I was hearing. “And that’s supposed to fix everything?”

“It will help,” he said. “You won’t lose control the way you are now.”

I hesitated for a moment before asking the question that had been sitting at the back of my mind since he started talking that what you do?” I asked. “Control it?”

The words came out before I could stop them, and for a second, I wished I could take them back, but it was too late.

Jace didn’t seem bothered by the question at all. “Yes,” he said. “That’s what I do.”

I stared at him, studying his face trying to see if there was anything that would tell me he was lying, but there was nothing. He looked as calm and controlled as he always did. like nothing ever got to him.

“So you feel it too?” I asked quietly. All of this whatever this is?”

“IS

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Chapter 63

“Yes,” he said again.

“And you just… ignore it?”

“I don’t ignore it,” he replied. “I control it.”

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I looked away again, not sure how to feel about that. Part of me felt frustrated because it sounded so simple when he said it. but I knew it wasn’t. I had already felt what it was like to lose control, and it was terrifying.

Then he spoke again, and this time, his words caught me off guard. “I hate this situation almost as much as you do,” he said

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