The Summer Moon
Chapter 57 -

Malia

I woke up the next morning on the beach, tangled in Ty's arms. The sun was warm on my skin and I could hear the waves crashing onto the shore. My head pounded from the alcohol I had the night before. I definitely had too much, memories of swaying with Ty to the music, sitting by the fire, and swimming together in the ocean flashed through my mind. But I buried my head in his chest as I remembered my terrible karaoke singing at the end of the night.

Ty mumbled something into me, stirring awake. I looked up to him, running my fingers across his jaw. "Go back to sleep," he groaned, more legible this time. I giggled and slid my hand up under his shirt, tracing the outline of his muscles. "Lia," Ty's eyes flashed open that dark colour I was beginning to love.

"What are you doing today?" I asked him, already eager to spend more time with him.

Ty groaned and rolled onto his back, running his hand through his hair. "I have some meetings later today but we can go for breakfast then maybe spend some time at my place this morning?" I nodded my head and kissed his cheek, making him smile. "I can take you home before my meetings, or if you want you can just watch a movie or something and we could hang out after too?" Ty's fingers interlaced with mine as he squeezed my hand. It gave me butterflies thinking about how eager Ty always was to spend as much time with me as possible.

"I can wait, maybe we could go for a run tonight?" I asked him and he looked over at me curiously.

"Yeah sure, we can stop at your house this morning to get your some workout clothes," he said and I narrowed my eyes confused. Why would I need workout clothes? He was going to be doing all fo the work. I suddenly realized we were confused with each other and began to laugh, but quickly shot my hand up to my head to soothe my headache.

Ty looked over to me concerned, his hand coming up to rest over mine. "I'm fine, just hungover. I meant though like I could ride your wolf again," I explained and Ty's eyes lit up. "Absolutely," he said eagerly. "You can ride me anytime you want," he winked at me his eyes darkening once more. I giggled, he never missed an opportunity to flirt.

Ty and I went to Al's for breakfast then spent the rest of the morning cuddling naked in his bed. My hangover was finally starting to ease off and I was grateful for that. Ty jumped up to get ready for his meeting and I followed his naked body with my eyes as he moved to the closet, admiring him. Ty smirked at me when he noticed me staring and I blushed, I just couldn't help myself - he was so hot.

I reached my hand up to my neck again coming back to the moment last night in the forest. Why hadn't Ty marked me? I thought he wanted this. "Could I come to your meeting today?" I abruptly asked him, surprising even myself. If I was supposedly the luna of this pack then I should be at least trying to be involved in these meetings. That was my place now, right? Ty looked over at me curiously then awkwardly shuffled, clearly not knowing what to say.

"No, you can just stay here, I promise it won't take too long. I'll be back before dinner," he said as he buttoned his dress shirt.

"But why can't I come?" I asked again, feeling my voice getting tight. I was his luna now, wasn't I supposed to be there?

"Lia it's only really the pack alpha's gathering to talk about the attacks," he explained, and even though it was a reasonable explanation I felt my insecurity coming forwards.

"Do you regret telling the pack.I was your luna or something?" Ty froze at my comment. He was at my side in an instant, kneeling beside the bed he rest a hand on my knee.

"Of course not, why would you say that?" His blue eyes pierced mine and I felt my train of thought running of course. I turned my gaze away from him, standing from the bed and walking towards the bathroom. I took a deep breath and began running my hairbrush through my hair.

"Well you don't want me to come to your meeting, and now apparently you don't want to mark me anymore even though you made such a big deal about it before," Ty came up behind me, his hand resting on my back. "What? Of course I want to mark you, why would you say that?" His eyebrows ruffled together.

"Well you didn't yesterday, so I'd appreciate it if you just stopped messing around with me," I snapped and immediate regretted it the minute the words left my lips. Ty took a step back from the blow of my words but quickly rebounded. "I'm not messing with you," he took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose, and when his eyelids fluttered open I could tell he was getting wound up. "Malia, two days ago you weren't even sure you wanted to stay with me, please forgive me for taking a couple days to think before marking you. You're so hot and cold on me lately I can barely keep up, and honestly how do I know you're actually taking any of this seriously? How do I know you're actually serious about me, or our pack, or our marking?"

"Well maybe if you hadn't kept this huge secret from me then I could be more serious about it," I spun around and narrowed my eyes at him like a little kid. Once again making another stupid comment I wish I could take back, as Ty took another step back from me. What was wrong with me? Why couldn't I control my emotions from just taking over like they were right now? My blood continued to boil beyond my control.

"So we're back on that?" His voice turned cold and I felt a chill run through me. I opened my mouth to respond but all my words were lost. I wanted to tell him no, that I was sorry, that i was making a big deal out of nothing, that I didn't care about the secret anymore, but instead I stayed frozen.

Ty crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the door frame, blocking my exit. He took a deep breath and stared down to the floor, "If I marked you, I would be taking away your choice Malia. You'd have to stay with me, I couldn't let you leave. My wolf-he wouldn't allow it. It would kill me if you left, I wouldn't be able to be without you," his voice softened and I desperately wanted to meet his eyes. Didn't he already feel like that though? My heart ached in my chest.

"Well you can't just make these decisions for me, I told you I want this," my hands balled into fists at my side. I could feel my sadness shifting to anger once again.

"And I'm telling you this isn't a decision you just make on your own, it changes everything. It isn't something you just do on a whim," Ty took a step closer to me, towering over me and I could feel his alpha side coming forwards. Ty's phone suddenly rang and he slipped it out of his pocket to glance at the screen. "I have to go, wait if you want or just take my car home, I'll come get it later," he turned away from me without another glance and I felt like I was crumbling beneath his words.

I watched as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Tears threatened to spill from my eyes but I held them back. I hurried around the room looking for my phone and grabbed Ty's keys off the dresser. If he wants me to leave then I'll leave. But he didn't say he wants you to leave. But he didn't seem too enthusiastic about me staying either.

I argued with myself and groaned, I needed to get out of here. I ran out the front door and drove to my house, turning my phone back on as soon as I was safe inside my bedroom. I collapsed onto the bed and scrolled through my missed messaged only to see 10 missed calls from my mom. My heart rate doubled in pace, why would she call me so many times? Something had to be wrong. I quickly pressed redial and held the phone to my ear.