The Summer Moon
Chapter 28 -

Tyrese

All day at work I was totally distracted thinking of Malia. I'd known something was wrong all day yesterday, but when I finally saw her today I realized how bad it was. I could feel her energy shifting towards me, and how angry she became the more I tried to push her to open up.

As soon as I was done with work for the day, I headed towards Jesse's house. Truly, I wanted to go to Malia's and beg her to forgive me for whatever I had done to make her angry or upset or whatever the hell she was feeling right now. We had such an amazing night the last time we were together, but after she spoke to Emily, her mood had completely changed. My wolf sensed it then but I pushed him back. I didn't want to push her too far, and then, sure enough, today I did anyway.

"She's totally pissed at me and I have no idea why" I said to Jesse as we stood in his kitchen.

"Dude girls are weird, just buy her flowers or something," I rolled my eyes, that might help, but Malia was totally not the type to be bought. "I actually saw her talking to Rachel right before Emily at the bonfire though, maybe she said something to her?" Jesse suggested and I thought about it for a minute. Rachel was known to start drama, but why would she want to start something between Malia and I?

"Rachel told Malia about your not so great of a track record," Emily said, suddenly walking into the room. I looked over at her and raised my eyebrow.

"Track record? I don't have one? I told Malia that," I explained slowly, not connecting any dots.

"Boys are stupid," Emily scoffed as she stood across the kitchen eating a bowl of ice cream. I looked over and raised my eyebrows at her. She was lucky she was only 17 still, otherwise my wolf probably would've lashed out at a comment like that. Especially now, he was feeling particularly on edge knowing our mate was upset with us.

"Emily," Jesse warned her, but she just rolled her eyes then looked back at me.

"Look, I'm doing this because I like Malia, and I'd like her to stick around," she mumbled, her mouth full as she chewed. I crossed my arms over my chest and watched as she picked up a piece of paper and began drawing something out. She then turned the paper over and pointed at it as she spoke. "Malia equals human, humans equal human relationships, and Malia equals not your girlfriend," Emily said bluntly, and I felt my eyes go wide as things began to make sense. "Malia is annoyed because you've been macking on her for what? 2 weeks now? And taking her on all these cute dates, but you haven't asked her to be your girlfriend. Enter Rachel, who then tells Malia that you don't have girlfriends. So now Malia thinks you're just being a player ass and fooling around with her until she leaves at the end of summer. Girls want commitment boys". Emily dropped the paper and resumed eating her ice cream. My heart pounded in my chest. "But they're mates, isn't that like the ultimate commitment," Jesse asked, and Emily just shook her head. She was absolutely right. Malia was human, she couldn't understand the mate bond right now. How could I have been so stupid? I wanted to smack myself right now. I was so grateful for Emily though, I had been so close to screwing this whole thing up.

"I have to go,” I said quickly as I grabbed my bag off the table and flung it over my back.

"No Ty, you have to do something romantic!" Emily said, but I wasn't listening anymore.

"No time!" I shouted back as I was already out the door. I had to fix this right now, before Malia could get any more upset. I should've asked her on our first date. Hell, I should've asked her at Jesse's party the first time we really hung out. I dashed across the front lawn and jumped on my dirt bike, then sped towards Malia's house. When I came to a stop, I hopped off the bike and knocked on the front door, pacing anxiously for a few minutes with no reply. I ran to the back of her house and knocked on the back door of her bedroom, with still no reply. I groaned, then used my wolf senses to catch her scent. She was close by.

I ran down the road, following her scent, only to see her rounding a corner as she was out for a jog. I ran to catch up to her, then skidded to a stop in front of her, bracing her shoulders as her body crashed into mine.

"Ty!" She shouted, pulling her headphones out of her ears. That same fury I had faced in her eyes earlier remained, but they quickly softened as she looked me over. "Is everything okay?" I felt my insides turn weak, even angry at me, she was still the most caring person I knew.

"I have to ask you something, beg you actually." I dropped to my knees in front of her and took her hands in mine. I wasn't ashamed, I would do anything for this girl. However, I was grateful that there was no one around to see me like this. Malia looked me over again and bit her lip nervously.

"What are you-" she started, but I cut her off.

"I've been a complete and total idiot, and I'm so sorry. Every moment with you is better than the last and I don't even understand how that's freaking possible. You're so fucking beautiful and caring and funny, and I've never felt so comfortable and at peace with someone in my entire life. And I know I should've asked you this the moment I met you, and I know you're pissed at me right now, but I want you, Lia, and I need you. So please, will you be my girlfriend?" I looked up at her desperately and watched as her eyes began to water.

Shit, I'm making her cry. She must really hate me. My wolf was howling and I felt frozen in place. Suddenly, Malia dropped to her knees in front of me, wrapped her arms around my neck and placed small kisses across my face. "Of course I'll be your girlfriend," she gave me the biggest smile and I felt my heart return to it's normal pace, my entire body relaxing. I wrapped my arms around her, then stood and lifted her into a bear hug. I spun her around in the air and listened to her giggle. When I set her down, she smiled at me, "It's about time you asked."

"Sorry, boys are kind of stupid," I winked at her, hearing Emily's words in my head. Malia smacked my chest but I pulled her body against mine forcefully and my lips landed on hers. I was so grateful to have her in my arms again. I pulled back and looked down into her gorgeous eyes, "Seriously, I'm so sorry Malia, I know it's the stupidest excuse in the world, but you've just felt like you were mine from the moment I met you. So I guess I forgot to actually ask." She looked up at me, and it was hard to read her expression. "Rachel said you don't date," she mumbled, then looked back down again.

"I didn't, until now. I told you that though." I looked into her eyes curiously and watched as they lit up when I said, "I told you I was waiting for the right person." She smiled at me and pressed her lips against mine again. "Can I ask you something else?" She said when we broke apart again.

"Anything," I said, running my hand through her hair and cupping the back of her head.

"Why didn't you tell me about your brother?" She asked, looking up into my eyes. I looked down at her surprised, and she continued, "My dad and Savanah were talking about it this morning, they said he died recently." I sighed, I hoped that was all they had been talking about.

"In May, that's when I moved back from the city. I had to take over his spot in our family business. It's just been a lot, I didn't want to burden you with something like that when this is still so new," I pulled her over towards a bench and held her in my lap.

"That's why you don't like talking about work," she mumbled. I looked down at her surprised again. It wasn't that I didn't like talking about what I was doing at work, it was that most of my day I was dealing with werewolves and I couldn't exactly tell her that. But I knew this would give her comfort, so I nodded anyway.

She shifted to straddle me, placing her hands on either side. "Nothing about you is ever a burden to me, if it's important to you, it's important to me now. We're in this together, tell me anything, tell me everything," Malia pressed her lips to mine passionately and I reciprocated quickly. My wolf was howling, working his way to the surface. Our mate was so fucking perfect, and I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to tell her my secret, and so I decided that tomorrow, I would.