The Summer Moon
Chapter 46 -

Tyrese

It had officially been nearly 48 hours since I'd seen Malia. I was completely miserable, and it didn't help that the full moon was tonight. I didn't know how I was going to survive tonight without her. I was totally on edge and it kept getting worse. I could already feel my emotions building and losing control. I need to be close to her tonight or I was totally going to lose it. I'd have to get my dad to chain me up or something, but then I'd have to admit to him that I couldn't control my mate, which would only make things worse.

I know she's a human and this is a lot for her, so I was trying my best to give her space, but goddess, it was killing me. I had expected my wolf to be giving me a headache, begging me to go see her, begging me to mark her so she couldn't leave. But he had been completely silent, even he knew how bad this was and didn't have any answers.

"Ughh" I groaned, practically shouting. I hit my fist against the wall, leaving another hole, but I didn't care, I just wanted her back. Things had been so good between us these past couple of weeks, but then those stupid rogues had to attack and everything was ruined. And I kept getting little glimpses of hope. Every time I saw her, we just fit together so naturally, and she always seemed so happy with me, but then the next day she'd be totally freaking out again. She has to stay, she has to, I kept telling myself, desperate to believe it. I couldn't let myself think about her rejecting me, I needed her too badly for that.

I finished tucking in my button-down shirt and threw on a suit jacket. I looked in the mirror, making sure I looked good enough to meet my dad's standards, then headed downstairs. I jumped in the Audi and rested my head against the steering wheel. Come on Ty, pull it together. I willed myself to start the car and head towards my meeting even though it was the last thing I wanted to do right now. I was meeting with Alpha Winston today from the Dark Moon pack, and as my dad reminded me 100 times, it was really important that my pack formed an alliance with him. Being just to the West of us, they could help us protect the Western border and hopefully stop these rogue attacks.

I pulled into the parking lot of the Sunset Bakery and Malia's scent hit me instantly as I opened the car door. My heart pounded in my chest. What was she doing here? I could feel myself getting emotional but quickly composed myself. I had to focus, this meeting had to go well. I walked inside to see Malia standing behind the front counter stocking some shelves. I groaned to myself. Savanah owned this place. She must've given Malia a job.

When Malia stopped stocking, her eyes met mine and went wide. She set the tray she had been holding down on the counter slowly. Mate, my wolf was whimpering and I felt like falling to my knees in front of her and begging her to stay with me. Her face had twisted to sadness as I walked up to her. She crossed her arms across her chest, clearly starting to feel upset.

"What are you doing here?" she kept her eyes on the ground, refusing to meet mine. My wolf continued to whimper, he knew we were in big trouble.

"I actually have a meeting here," I stretched my arm up and scratched the back of my head uncomfortably. She probably thought I was such a jerk right now. I had told her I would give her space and I meant it. She had to believe that this was just a mistake. "Uh it's for work, I didn't know you were working here," I continued, pleading with her.

"Oh," Malia finally looked up to meet my eyes and I nearly stopped breathing. But then I saw the anger in her eyes as she narrowed them at me. "Can't you go somewhere else?" And just as I was about to reply, I heard the bells on the door as it opened and watched Alpha Winston stroll in with his eldest daughter Chloe close behind him. This was the last thing I needed right now. Malia couldn't be here. If Alpha Winston knew that my mate was thinking about leaving me or, worse, that she was human, he would see our pack as weak and probably refuse to help us. He'd already been doubting our pack since Jordan's disappearance. I couldn't give him another reason to doubt us.

“Look, we can argue all you want later, but I really can't do this right now. I have to go, I'm so sorry Lia," I leaned in quickly and kissed her cheek. She didn't pull away, but I could still see that unhappy glare on her face. "Good luck with your meeting," she said quietly, then turned back to walk behind the counter.

I walked over to where Alpha Winston and his daughter had taken a seat to join them. "Alpha Winston, Chloe," I greeted them and extended my hand towards them. Chloe took it and shook with a flirtatious smile on her face, but Alpha Winston just looked at me and waved for me to take my seat.

"Is that your luna, Tyrese?" He asked, his eyes cold and stern. Oh goddess, he saw me with Malia. I groaned internally, this was bad.

"Uh yeah actually," I replied.

"Why is she working? You can't take care of her?" Winston's voice was harsh. I tried to lighten the mood and chuckled a little.

"She's an independent woman, sir. If I had it my way she would spend every day relaxing and doing whatever she wants, but she wants to work and I won't stop her from doing that." I imagined Malia's reaction if I told her she couldn't work and it made me want to laugh. I could already see her fists balling up and her lips scowling at me.

"Interesting," Winston said, looking down at the menu. "Are you two not getting along?" His question puzzled me but he continued, "she keeps looking over her, doesn't look too happy to me." My heart skipped knowing Malia was looking at me. That had to be a good sign, right? Ty focus. I pulled myself back to the conversation.

"No she's happy," or at least she was. "She's just had a long morning," I lied.

"Well, I can't help but notice that neither of you are marked. Perhaps one of you is unsure about the bond?" Winston raised his eyebrow at me. Why was he asking this? Our marking was none of his business.

"She's 17 and I don't want to mark her before her wolf comes," I gritted my teeth, he needed to drop this. I was starting to feel the urge to rip his head off.

"Interesting. I'll be honest, Alpha, I was coming here in hopes that you would accept my daughter Chloe as a mate." I felt Chloe's hand come to my thigh and the hairs on the back of the neck stood up. How dare she touch me?

Suddenly, I heard a glass shatter behind me and Chloe's hand jumped back. I jerked my head around and saw Malia scrambling to the floor to clean up the glass. Did she just break that glass? Was she jealous? I found myself staring too long when her eyes looked up to meet mine. She raised her hand, shoeing my attention away, so I turned back to Winston and Chloe.

"I'm sorry Alpha Winston, no. I'm very happy with my Luna. Now if we could discuss the terms of our alliance," I said confidently, folding my hands on the table.

"You know I would love to meet your luna. Why don't you come visit our pack for dinner tonight? We are having a gala to celebrate the full moon." My mind began to race. I couldn't say no, the pack needed this alliance. But how could I get Malia to come with me? There was no way I could go without her. As my Luna, it was expected that she would put the pack above all else. And even if I thought of a really good excuse, Winston knew that I couldn't be separated from her during the full moon because of our mate bond.

"Of course, we'll be there. Can't wait," I found myself blurting out. I took a sip of my coffee nervously, my heart was pounding in my chest. I was so totally screwed.

"Great," Alpha Winston stood and headed for the exit, his daughter Chloe following close behind him. She winked at me as she headed out the door and I rolled my eyes. This is a nightmare.

I stood from the table and headed straight to Malia. She stood next to a garbage can dumping the glass she had collected in it. I grabbed her elbow and pulled her out towards an empty set of tables where we could have some more privacy. "Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?," she spat at me as we stopped. Her eyes were burning with anger.

I grabbed her hands to check if the glass had cut her and was surprised to replace her skin perfectly in tact. She was lucky. I was lucky. If Winston saw her hands cut tonight he would definitely question why she wasn't healing. And if I saw her hands bleeding, my wolf might totally lose it on someone.

"Stop, you can't just drag me around like this," she pulled her hands away from me and balled them up into fists at her side. Man, she was feisty today.

"Malia, please please please, I need your help," I dropped down to my knees, begging her. I felt pathetic, but I was desperate. I couldn't let the pack take another hit like this. I'd start losing pack members soon. Malia's eyes softened a little but she kept her lips pursed.

"What?" She said, her voice more calm now.

"That meeting was with another alpha, our pack needs an alliance with him. He invited you and me to an event at his house tonight and I really desperately need you to come. Please, my pack needs this alliance so badly." I pleaded with her. "Can't you just say I'm busy?" She said, annoyed again, as she leaned back and placed her hands on her hips.

I groaned, I so didn't want to get into this. "It's a full moon Malia, an Alpha would never be without his Luna on a full moon."

"Who was that girl?" She changed topics. Clearly, she had been watching us earlier.

"His daughter Chloe, he wanted me to mate with her but I already have a mate. That's why he wants to meet you," I said slowly. Malia bit her lip and shifted her eyes off to the distance as if she were thinking over something in her head. "Please Lia, I'm desperate".

"Is she going to be there tonight?" Her question surprised me.

"Yes. Are you jealous?" I raised an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes and looked away from me again. I felt a small smile cross my lips, she was. Then she turned back to me, her arms crossed over her chest. "Fine, what time are you picking me up?"

I jumped to my feet and wrapped my arms around her, picking her up off the ground. "Thank you thank you thank you," I mumbled as I buried my head into her hair and inhaled her scent. When I pulled back, Malia's beautiful eyes were softer, but as I set her down she took a slow step back. "Can I pick you up at 6?" It's about an hour drive from here, and I have some things I'll need to go over with you in the car beforehand. We should try to be there by 7," I pushed my hands into my pockets.

"Pick me up at 5:30, in case there's traffic. If this is really that important, we can't be late." I loved how she planned everything out and grinned stupidly at her. "What do I wear?"

"It'll be formal," I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet, then quickly wrote my credit card pin on a piece of paper and handed it to her along with the card.

"I brought dresses with me," she mumbled, but I ignored her.

"Take my card, I'll drop you off at the mall. You can buy whatever you want; dress, shoes, purse. Seriously, whatever," I placed the card in her hand. Malia looked at me shocked but quickly composed herself.

"I have to let them know I'm leaving then," Malia headed towards the door. "I already mind linked Savanah, she said you can go." I grabbed her hand to stop her. She rolled her eyes again, then headed towards my car.

We drove over to the mall in silence and it was killing me. I wanted to ask her how she was doing, what she'd been doing over the past couple of days. I wondered if she was still angry at her dad. I wanted to know everything, but I didn't want her to push her anymore, I was already asking a lot of her tonight. But my wolf was ecstatic, we would be spending the full moon with our mate and I could already feel myself calming down.

I pulled the car over to the curb and stopped in front of the mall entrance. She opened the door to get out, but I grabbed her hand to stop her. She turned to face me, her gorgeous green eyes shining.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Malia, you have no idea how much this means to me," I whispered. She gave me a small smile then got out of the car. As she walked away, she turned and gave me a small wave, making me wolf howl. Even when she was mad at me for breaking my promise to give her space, she was still doing what was right for the pack. We were going to get past this, we had to, and she was going to make an amazing Luna.