The Summer Moon
Chapter 53 -

Malia

The next morning Ty woke up with a nervous look on his face, but his mood quickly changed when we did exactly as I had promised the night before. With our hearts and stomachs full Ty and I sat in the backyard hammock and I cuddled into

his side.

"Lia," he whispered down to me. "Are you busy tonight?"

I looked up at him and shook my head, I noticed once more as he bit his lip nervously, what's going on? Why was he so nervous again all of a sudden? "There's this thing tonight, and I'd really love it if you would come," he said.

"What kind of thing?"

"It's actually my alpha induction ceremony, after tonight I'll officially be the alpha of our pack. The whole pack will gather at the pack house, everyone dresses up, we have dinner and dance, there's usually some speeches, then at the end of the night I'll shift into my wolf and go for a run with the pack through the woods," his eyes sparkled as they met mine and I knew how important this must be to him. Officially becoming the alpha was a huge deal, and I couldn't help but smiling at the thought of him wanting me to be there with him.

"Of course I'll come Ty," I squeezed his hand and the biggest grin came across his face. He hugged me tighter into his chest and I could feel his heart beat in tune with mine.

"I guess I should go to the mall again and get another dress," I giggled into him, making him laugh as well.

"I have some work to do before the ceremony tonight, but maybe Emily can go with you?" He suggested and I smiled. I definitely wanted to go with Emily, there was a lot on my mind that would be nice to talk with her about.

After we got dressed Ty dropped me off at the mall where I met up with Emily. She had her usual high-energy personality with her and wouldn't stop asking me questions about Ty. Of course, she mostly wanted to know how we ended up together last night. I dodged most of her questions though, they were getting too personal for me to share especially after everything that had happened last night.

Emily and I shopped for the next few hours, She helped me pick out a floor length black dress that was tight around my abdomen then cascaded down to the floor like Cinderella's dress. I felt like a princess wearing it, and Emily said Ty would love it since the luna traditionally wears black at alpha ceremonies. It felt weird to be stepping into this big role, but beside Ty it felt like anything was possible.

"Hey Emily, do you know if the local university is still taking applications?" I asked her once we got back to her house. I knew she wasn't going there in the fall, but I was hoping maybe she knew someone who was. Emily looked over at me curiously as she ran the flat iron through my hair.

"I doubt it, schools starting in like less than 2 months now," she shrugged her shoulders in the mirror and I felt disappointed. She pulled out her make up box and began to focus on my face.

"Damn," I groaned hanging my head back. I didn't want to have to take a whole year off of school, but I didn't really seem to have a whole lot of options if I decided to stay here after summer. I'd also have to explain all this to my mother- which would be a whole other disaster. Thinking of my mother, I suddenly realized it had been a long time since I had last heard form her and couldn't help but feel a little bit worried. I shook the negative thoughts away and focused back on Emily who looked over at me curiously again when she finally realized what I was asking and her whole face lit up.

"Oh my god!!" She screamed. "You're going to stay here? Have you told Ty yet?" I giggled and covered her mouth, she needed to quiet down. Jesse was likely just downstairs and I hardly wanted Ty to replace out from anyone but me. I wanted to tell him myself, in some big romantic way that I hadn't figured out yet. He was always making big romantic gestures for me, and I was so excited to do the same for him.

I shook my head in response to Emily's question, "Not yet."

"What! Are you crazy! Ty's going to totally flip out he's going to be so happy. I'm so happy!" She threw her arms around me and I hugged her back. This decision felt right, and making it finally seemed so easy. I couldn't imagine a life without Ty, or without our friends.

"I'm waiting for the right time. Ty's always been so certain about me, I want to do something romantic,"I blushed a little.

"Ty wouldn't care if you told him in a text, he just wants to know you're staying!" She began shouting again and I could feel my own excitement building inside.

"I'll tell him soon," I assured her. My mind was flooded with ideas of how to tell him, but I needed to figure out the best one. "But I still have some stuff to figure out. I still want to work and go to school.

"Oh my goddess Malia, talk to Ty! He can help you, seriously he would do anything for you. He'll make sure you get into any damn school you want. Hell he'd probably drive you there himself every morning, or buy you your own expensive car so you can drive yourself," Emily began to ramble and I blushed at the thought. Ty did seem pretty set on me staying here, and his family obviously did have a lot of influence in town, maybe he could help me. But I didn't want him to go too overboard, Ty had already done so much for me in the time I had been here.

"You think so?" I shuffled on my feet.

"I know so, Ty loves you he'd do anything for you," her words surprised me, I'd never thought of it like that.

"You think he loves me?" I looked back towards the mirror in front of us, I could hardly recognize myself. Even though this was the same girl who had grown up in New York, she was different now, happier. My heart suddenly ached to see him. We'd only been dating a short time, but we'd grown so close. Could that even be possible? My mind drifted back to last night and how crazy about him I'd been.

"You've gotta be joking, are you blind? Of course he loves you! Don't you see how he looks at you, how he acts around you?" Emily began to rant and I blushed, this was definitely something I needed to hear from Ty. I took one last glance at the mirror, my hair perfectly straight, my make up looking like it was professionally done, and as I pulled on the black dress I felt like my life was truly turning into a fairytale. Ty was all I could think about, and I could hardly wait to see him tonight. My heart was pounding in my chest, does he really love me?