The Summer Moon
Chapter 84 -

Liam

"This pack is run by a bunch of rambunctious teenagers," Alpha Winston muttered under his breath. His arms gripped the chair on either side as he looked around the room. I could tell her was nervous now, but doing his best to hide it. "Where is William Blackwood? Surely there's an adult around here somewhere who can help me," was his next utterance.

I set my phone down on the desk in front of me then propped my feet up on it, leaning back in the chair. Watching Winston squirm was bringing me some pleasure and definitely exactly what I needed today.

"I think you'll replace that William doesn't have much say in this pack any more. The alpha title has officially been passed to Tyrese after all," I said, and thank god for that. No offence to Ty's dad, he was a good alpha in his prime but in recent years he was just getting old. He spent most days locked up in his office and was getting a little ancient in his beliefs, which meant he was super strict about following pack rules.

Ty on the other hand had been bending rules his whole life, which was probably because he was never raised to be an alpha. Thank god for that. Jordan was raised as an alpha and he was annoying as fuck. Besides, in mine and a lot of others pack members opinions, Ty was showing up for the pack in ways that the past alphas hadn't and it was exactly what we needed. He was always around, easy to talk to, and he never backed down from a rogue attack. He stood beside his pack in battle always, seriously I don't think he's missed a single fight since he got his wolf. Which was exactly the kind of leader the pack needed, someone who actually has our backs rather than hides on the sidelines like Jordan always did. Jordan probably got killed in that attack earlier this year simply because he was way out of practice since he literally never participated in anything.

I continued to piss off Alpha Winston for the next hour. Honestly I was surprised he actually gave me that much of his time as I continued to give him vague responses that totally didn't answer any of his questions. Every time he asked where Ty was, when he was coming back, or why he wasn't here I continued to mutter phrases like don't know, don't care, and not here until finally Alpha Winston stood in anger again. "Do you know anything or are you just an imbecile?" He yelled and I had to stifle my laughter.

"I prefer unaware and unintelligent," I said giving him my biggest smile to which he just stormed off. Ty was definitely in for a hand full of a conversation when he got back, but I didn't care in the slightest. This was totally payback for all those times he got me in trouble over the years. Besides, by the sounds of the last time I talked to him Ty didn't care about his alliance with them anymore anyways so who cares if I put a couple more nails in the coffin. I'd call him later to give him a heads up anyways.

Once Winston had finally had enough and left with the quiet Chloe in tow, I went back to responding to the few emails Ty had received today then let Jesse know that everything had already been done for the day, not that he would have volunteered to help with anything anyways. I tried to waste some more time around the pack house but really no one was around, which was understandable considering its a weekend in the middle of summer and everyone is out doing stuff with their friends and family. I, on the other hand was desperate to avoid my friends right now because the last thing I wanted was any questions about Alana, or worse to risk seeing her and making a total idiot of myself again. So I headed over to Ty's house next, checking to see if he had any interesting mail come or any paperwork that needed done sitting on his desk. Really I was just wasting time, trying to pass this day. Of course, I ran into Ty's parents who immediately started driving me crazy. The only people more annoying than my parents, were his who from the second I stepped out of Ty's room were hounding me with questions about pack defences and border management. I know everyone was stressed out about the rogue attacks, but these people need to relax. We have it under control. Plus, William had endless lists of things he wanted done for the pack, most of which were just dumb and a waste of time. I could only imagine the length of the lists he gave to Ty.

"Well excuse me for lacking trust in the rambunctious teenagers running my pack," William growled at me, quoting Winston's exact words and I knew i was definitely in trouble now.

"He called you?" I said back surprised. That happened a lot faster than I had expected, I was hoping to at least give Ty the heads up first. But by the anger in William's voice I'm sure Ty already knew, and his inbox was probably filled with 10 minutes of angry voicemails from his dad. How lame of Winston to tattle on me so quickly.

"Of course he called me, my son and his idiot friends are running my pack into the ground," He growled again, but this time I couldn't respond. I was sick of this, Ty may not be willing to tell his father off, but I surely wasn't going to stand here and listen to it. So I just turned around and walked out of the house, doing my best to ignore the slew of angry utterances that came with my back turned.

Sure I had definitely just been stirring the pot with Winston today, but Ty didn't want the alliance with them anymore. It's not like I was ruining something that would actually hurt the back. It was starting to seem like whatever we did, William would never approve, because Jordan wasn't the alpha.

Finally as the afternoon was drawing to an end I decided to head home, just in time to receive a text from my mom asking her to stop at Al's and pick up something for dinner. Passing a few of the guys I had training with every week as I walked inside, I gave them a nod and walked up to the counter, grateful I hadn't seen anyone else I'd known. There was always someone I knew around, but seeing random warriors was no big deal.

Just as the waitress was passing my food across the counter, that intoxicating floral scent hit me. Like fresh roses blooming, I spun my head quickly and noticed Alana walking in, her arm wrapped around Emily's as they giggled together. I could see Alana's red bikini coming through her white t shirt and groaned, this was the last thing I needed today. Sure enough though, Emily laid eyes on me and they were coming this way.

"Liam," Emily nodded her head at me, stopping just a few feet away from me. She raised her hand up, waiving the hostess over, but I couldn't take my eyes off of Alana. Her eyes had this hazel tone to them, seeming to change as the light hit them in different ways. Her eyes wandered around the restaurant until they came to rest on mine and my heart sped up. Say something you idiot, you're staring.

"Uh can I help you?" She narrowed her eyes at me, her lips pursed. Damn, already off to a great start. You haven't even said Hello and she's already annoyed.

"Why? Do you work here?" I smirked at her, trying to make light of the awkward moment. I pushed my hands into the pockets of my jeans, trying my best to look casual, but it was so hard with her so close to me, her scent coming over me in

waves.

"What?" She shook her head slightly, giving me a confused look.

"Well you asked how you can help me? Actually i could use some sugar" I flirted with her, feeling my body lean instinctively closer to hers. I watched her carefully, noticing how her eyes took on the slightest playful sparkle, obviously amused by what I had said. Then my heart ached as she stepped back when Emily came back to the conversation.

"Ew gross," Emily interrupted us giving me a disgusted look.

"For my coffee Emily, duh," I raised the cup of coffee I had on the counter towards her and rolled my eyes but Emily didn't look amused. Then my heart fluttered in my chest as Alana let out the smallest laugh and shook her head. "Come on Alana, Liam's just being an ass," Emily spat and I groaned. My wolf began growling again, he was getting so sick of Emily. We never got along, but now she was actually causing real problems for me. Just when I thought I was actually making some positive progress with Alana she totally ruined the moment. And who knows what awful stuff she's saying to Alana about me now. Surely her list of reasons why Alana shouldn't mate with me would be endless, I'd definitely done a lot of things to be ashamed of but couldn't we just leave all that in the past and move forwards?

"Jeez Emily can't you help me out a little here?" I mind linked her and watched as the two of them sat down together in a booth. Emily shook her head then picked up the menu to cover her face. "Come on, you helped Ty with Malia," I reminded her. I could feel my wolf practically begging her. If I could get Emily on my side then maybe I'd actually stand a chance here.

"Ty didn't sleep with every girl in town," She responded and I groaned again, this was going to get me nowhere. So I grabbed my bag of food off the counter and headed out the front door. Climbing in the car and getting on my way home, my wolf was begging me to turn back and take Alana with me. But I couldn't, I can't force her to be with me. That's not the way the mate bond works, I want her to choose to be with me but I was starting to worry she never would, especially after all the awful things she's probably hearing from Emily.

After dinner with my parents I went back to hiding in my room, dodging my mothers questions about searching for a mate and what I had done today at the pack house. She seemed to be more and more interested each day with my duties as Ty's beta which was kind of weirding me out but I did my best to ignore her. She'd always been kind of strange, always asking a thousand questions about everything.

Thankfully my phone rang and took my mind off the awkward dinner. I grabbed and answered quickly, relieved to see it was just Ty obviously wanting an update. "Hey, how are things?" He asked and I just groaned in response. "That bad?"

"You need to move man, your parents suck," I whined into the phone, still feeling riled up about the conversation with his dad. And of all the awful things that had happened today, this was the easiest to talk about. Ty laughed back at me. "I know I need to move, I'm waiting for Malia to be ready to take that step though. I want to pick a place together, when she's ready," he said, and I already found myself excited for their housewarming party. Ty threw the best parties, or at least he did before he had to be the serious alpha, and Alana would be there.

"Did you give her her birthday present yet?" I decided to change the topic.

"Not yet, she's sleeping right now. Maybe in the morning," he yawned as he spoke and I could only imagine how busy they'd been today.

"She's totally going to flip out," I laughed at him. Ty had gone totally overboard for Malia's birthday, but she was going to love it. "You know I think she might even compare to how your dad flipped out on me today," I said, feeling the need to come clean about my conversation with Winston today.

"Oh trust me, I've heard it all. Feeling rambunctious today Liam?" Ty laughed and I settled, he definitely knew what had happened and didn't seem to upset about it.

"I'm feeling pissed off," I muttered back.

"Alana?" Ty asked, obviously knowing what I was going through. Of anyone he was the only one I could actually talk to about her, he knew exactly what I was going through. Although Malia and him had a much better start to their relationship than Alana and I did, the rogue attacks threw a huge wedge in. Ty knew what it was like to have a mate that didn't want to be with him, even if it was just for a short period of time.

"Alana hates me and Emily is not helping. I thought I was having a break through today and Emily totally ruined it," I whined back.

"Keep pushing through. Things got bad between Malia and I for a while so I get what you're going through, but Alana will come around. Maybe Malia can convince Alana to go on a double date or something. She's meant for you, trust in that,"

"Thanks Ty," I replied and I really meant it. A double date actually might help, not only would it help convince Alana to spend some more time with me, but it would take some of the pressure off of that first date awkwardness. I'd never really taken a girl on a date before without the expectation of a hookup later that night, truly I don't think I've ever spent longer than a day with a single girl, and I know that must be totally repulsive to Alana. But here was Ty, trying his best to comfort me anyways.

It was hard to imagine there was ever a time when Ty wasn't going to be the alpha. He'd always naturally seemed like the leader of our friend group. Jordan had been a lot more aggressive and obsessive about building the perfect pack, sort of like Ty's dad. Whereas Ty just wanted his pack to be happy, nothing ever seemed about rank for him. And Ty becoming alpha was sort of a plus for me anyways since if Ty hadn't become alpha I never would have become a beta and probably would have just been a warrior for the rest of my life.

Ty and I spent a little longer on the phone, mocking his dad and alpha Winston, and I was realized that even though Ty was my alpha now, he was still a pretty great friend. Becoming alpha or replaceing his mate really hadn't changed that much about him, he always showed up when you needed him, just as he always had.