The Summer Moon
Chapter 45 -

Tyrese

"Liam focus!" I raised my voice at him and threw a piece of toast at his head.

"Dude!" He jerked back, finally taking his eyes off the girl in the short skirt who had just walked by our table. "Has he been like this all day?" He turned to ask Jesse, then looked back to me. "Your mood fucking sucks man, you're killing my vibe," he groaned.

I rolled my eyes, Liam's "vibe" was the last thing I cared about. I had invited Jesse, Connor, and Liam to breakfast because I needed a distraction to make these four days without Malia pass faster. It had only been one day and it already felt like I was dying.

But mostly I wanted to talk to Liam today about Malia's protection. As annoying as he was, he was one of the pack's best fighters, and if Malia wanted me to give her some space, I could hardly do it myself. She would be pissed if she looked outside and saw me hovering around her house. Plus, since I hadn't introduced Malia to the pack as my luna yet, I couldn't ask just anyone to do this. It had to be Liam, which meant I needed him to focus on me right now and not some girl. "It's because he's still fighting with Malia," Jesse said, picking away at his food.

"And the full moon is coming," Connor added, and I glared at him. I had been trying to ignore the fact that the full moon was coming. Why did Malia have to pick now to need space?

I groaned and rubbed my hands over my face. "Why don't you just do all that romantic shit that girls like and she'll be putty in your hands?" I rolled my eyes at Connor's comment. Yeah, like that was so easy, Malia wasn't exactly the type of girl who was easy to win over.

"Oh, buy her some shoes! Girls love shoes," Liam butted in.

"Or a purse!" Connor added.

"Or just a whole shopping spree!" Liam blurted out next. The two of them obviously didn't know Malia at all. I felt like banging my head against the table. This was useless.

"Or just go simple, flowers and chocolate?" Jesse suggested, making the only reasonable comment. But I'd already tried flowers after the carnival and she still pushed me away. She just needed space. I had to trust that in time, she would come back to me. She had to, right? We're meant to be together.

"I got it!" Liam suddenly slammed his hands on the table and many of the tables near us turned to look. I waved my hand for them to turn away, then looked back to Liam, this oughta be good. "Mind blowing sex," he stated, and Connor burst out laughing. I just shook my head at the two of them and even Jesse looked disappointed in them. I dropped my head into my hand, resting my elbow on the table. "What? It's a win-win!" Liam tuned in again.

"Okay tell you what, I'll listen to you guys whenever one of you actually has a successful serious relationship. For now, can we just talk about something else?" I leaned back against the booth and pushed my plate away from me. A rare occurrence for me, but my appetite was totally gone.

"Well, last night I hooked up with this hot girl and now she won't stop texting me, so I'm having the opposite problem as you, Ty, wanna trade?" This time I actually did hit my head off the table. If I didn't kill Liam today it was going to be an absolute miracle. I just had to get straight to the point and get this over with.

"Liam, I need you on patrols at the border near Malia's house tonight," I said, sitting up and folding my hands on the table in front of us. "Ooookay why?" He said slowly.

"Because we're getting attacked by rogues every few days and I swear if anything happens to her a lot of people are going to die," I growled at him. I didn't mean to be so aggressive, but I couldn't help myself.

"Ty chill, I think that alpha gene is really starting to show its colours," Connor laughed, and I turned to scowl at him next, which quickly shut him up. I have been feeling a lot more on edge lately but there were a lot of things contributing to that; Malia, the moon, my official transition into an alpha. Nothing in life seemed to be going as planned right now.

Malia

The longer I spent without Ty, the harder this decision seemed to be getting. I missed him like crazy, but the same scary thoughts kept running through my head. Finding out Ty had been the little boy I remember spending so much time with right before I left was unbelievable. If Ty and I were really fated to be together, why would we have been separated all those years ago? It just didn't make sense.

I'd spent 2 days apart from him now, and being home alone was still totally freaking me out. But I found comfort knowing Ty wasn't too far away and if I did decide to call him I knew he would come over in a heartbeat. Sometimes that only made me feel worse though, he would drop anything for me. I knew that. And here I was unable to make up my mind and hurting him. He deserved better than this. He deserves someone who's as certain about him as he is about me, someone who can understand the world he lives in.

I stepped out the back door onto my patio and breathed in the fresh air. It was dark outside but I really just needed to get out of the house. I'd hardly left my room all day. I stood on the porch and looked out towards the road when I suddenly heard a branch crack behind me. I jumped backwards towards the door when I saw a figure jumping behind the fallen tree.

I took a deep breath and stepped closer towards him, trying to make out a face. I swear if this was Ty I was going to totally flip out, it was dark and I was already freaked out enough around this town. I didn't need people creeping around my house at night, but I also knew I would be kind of happy to see him. Yet, as I took a step closer, I recognized the face and it wasn't Ty.

"Liam! You scared the crap out of me! What are you doing here?" I screamed at him and he froze, the sandwich he had been biting dropped out of his mouth and onto the ground.

"uhhhhh nothing" he said, standing up from his crouched position behind the tree and I glared at him. I stomped over to him and he just stared at me with wide eyes. Finally, as I came to a stop in front of him, he moved again. He picked up his sandwich from the ground and blew on it, looking it over. Just as he was about to take a bite, I smacked it out of his hand.

"That's disgusting. You can't eat that!" I shouted at him and he looked at the ground pouting.

"Dude, I'm hungry here!" Liam sat down on the log and threw his hands up in the air dramatically.

"Why are you stalking me?" I asked him, folding my arms over my chest.

"I'm not stalking you," he shrugged, but I could tell he was lying.

"Then what are you doing outside my house in the middle of the night?" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Well, I was trying to enjoy my sandwich," he said, pointing at the ground again. I groaned, this wasn't getting me anywhere.

"Come on, I'll replace you something to eat that's not covered in dirt," I turned and headed back towards my house, assuming he would follow me. But as I stepped inside I noticed that he stopped at the door.

"You can come in," I nodded to him.

"I'm debating whether Ty will kill me or not for coming inside. Is anyone else home?" He held the doorframe and looked around my room, not daring to take a step inside. "No."

"Yep, definitely going to kill me," Liam said to himself. I wondered if he was right. Ty did seem a little jealous when it came to me, but Liam and him are friends, right?

"Do you want something to eat or not?" I asked, starting to get frustrated. I was getting tired of all this drama.

"Listen here, Malia, I don't know if you know this or not, but your boyfriend has been a fucking psychopath lately. Seriously, can you two just make up already because I'd like to resume my normal life," Liam waved his hand at me and I laughed. He was definitely being super dramatic right now, but it made me laugh thinking of him getting into it with Ty.

"Are you coming in or not?" I asked as my laughter started to calm down.

"Fine, but if he kills me, this is on you," and finally he took a slow step inside. He looked around the room once more, then followed me towards the kitchen.

"Relax, he's not going to kill you. He knows I wouldn't go near you with a 10 foot pole," I pulled some bread out of the cupboard and began making a new sandwich for Liam.

"Harsh," he mumbled as he took a seat at the table.

“Liam, I have yet to see you with any girl for longer than an hour. Seriously, is there any STD you don't have?" I laughed at myself.

"Hey now, be nice! I was out there trying to protect you!" Liam started getting upset and I spun around quickly. "Protect me? From what?"

"Nothing," he mumbled, looking down at the floor, and I just glared at him. It was too late for him to dodge this though and we both knew it. His slip up was exactly what I needed to hear. "Fine, but if you tell Ty that I told you-" he began, but I cut him off.

"Yeah yeah he'll kill you, get on with it," I turned back to the sandwich, cutting it in half and sliding it onto a plate.

"Ty's been worried because your house is so close to the borders and with all the attacks recently, and I guess since he's giving you space or whatever, he can't be here himself, so I'm the back up," Liam rambled on and I blushed, Ty was that worried about me?

"Sorry for making you come here," I said as I set the sandwich down in front of him. Liam's eyes immediately lit up and he took a huge bite.

"It's fine, I'm trying to avoid this girl I hooked up with last night anyway," I started laughing again. I wasn't even surprised, that was so typical of him.

Liam ended up staying with me for a few hours and we watched a couple of movies. I made him watch a couple of Disney movies and, surprisingly, he actually got pretty into them. He also told me stories about his many conquests and I felt pretty disturbed at the end of the night, but it was actually nice to have some company. And finally, Liam and I talked a little bit about Ty.

"Do you think I should text him?" I asked Liam, pulling out my phone and scrolling to Ty's contact.

"Absolutely," Liam nodded his head, now eating popcorn. I bit my lip, Liam obviously wanted me to text Ty because he was his best friend, and because he wanted him in a better mood, which he already admitted earlier on. But was I ready to talk to him? Had I made my decision yet?

"You're thinking way too hard about this," Liam interrupted my train of thought. "If he makes you feel good you text him, if he doesn't, then you don't. It's as simple as that."

"But it's not as simple as that, there's so many other things to think about," I argued back.

"Forget the other things, you deal with them as you go. You can't just fix everything in a second. But you can always choose to do what makes you happy," Liam explained, and as I let it settle in, I started to think it was actually good advice. I was happy when I was with Ty, so why was I so worried about everything else? But then Liam ruined the moment by adding, "that's what I do, girl makes me happy, I text her, and we hook up, duh," and I burst out laughing.