The Summer Moon
Chapter 94 -

Malia

"I want to be honest with you Lia, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't afraid. We've had plenty of battles on our grounds, but I've never had to lead my own," the words spilled off of Ty's lips as he packed a backpack for his travels. Ty and Liam had decided they were taking a bunch of warriors out to the dark moon pack's border to confront alpha Winston about his plans. Rather than waiting a few days, they wanted to get this over with as soon as possible to prevent any further attacks from happening; which meant they were leaving tonight with minimal time to prepare. I had been sensing Ty's anxiety about it all day, and I wanted to reassure him that everything would be okay but I wasn't sure how. "You're a good alpha Ty, and you're a good warrior, and I'm so lucky that I get to call you my mate because you're pretty amazing at that too. I know you can do this, and I know everything will work out. Now go confront alpha Winston then get your butt back home to me as fast as possible," I smiled up at him, my hands folded over the collar of his white button down shirt and I pulled him down to press my lips to his.

"I love you so much Lia," he whispered as he pulled back to press his forehead to mine. "Be safe okay?" He asked me and I already knew what he meant. I nodded my head quickly in agreement, I didn't want Ty to have to worry about me and be distracted while he was gone. I would stay out of the forest, I would stay near my friends, everything was going to be fine. And with that he slung his bag over his shoulder and headed out the front door towards his mission. My own anxiety built with each step he took away from the house, but I knew that when he came back all this drama would finally be over. No more rogue attacks, no more injuries, it would just be him and I and our family.

The next few hours crawled forwards. I could still sense Ty's thoughts and they were only a couple minutes now from arriving at Winston's pack. They were going by foot since they didn't want to cause any alarm. The goal was to avoid a battle if they could, and at the very least to come by surprise so Winston's pack wouldn't have time to prepare and overpower them. Ty mind-linked me quickly to let me know they were arriving and he would be busy for the next few hours but I asked him to reminded him to keep me updated as he was able to.

In the meantime, I was distracting myself by having dinner with Emily and Alana at Emily's house. Listening to Alana complain about Liam was as good of a distraction as I was going to get. "I just don't get it. He wanted to go on a date with me so bad and now that I'm actually like open to the idea he's just completely shutting me out. I mean he calls me sometimes but all he wants to do is talk and we never actually hang out and this is just all so dumb," she rambled on and I felt sort of bad for her. But I also knew that Liam had been busy dealing with everything going on with his family, and even if he is bonded to Alana he's a little distracted right now. I did my best to comfort her though, hoping she would stay patient until Liam could give her his full attention. I just hoped Liam would smarten up soon.

After dinner was finished the girls and I gathered on the couch to watch a movie. I reached out to Ty to ask how things were going but didn't get a reply so I took a deep breath and tried to remain calm. He was probably still busy talking to Winston, the battle wouldn't have even begun yet. I had to have faith that Ty could sort all this out without actually having a battle.

"Luna somethings wrong!" Derek suddenly came rushing through the front door in a pair of worn out shorts, his chest splattered with blood. His eyes locked on mine, full of panic. I jumped up from my spot at the table, and in the distance I could hear wolves howling in synchrony, getting louder and louder by the second.

'What is it?" I asked, feeling the terror rush through me. I jumped up from my spot on the couch to face him.

"There's an attack on the border, rogues have made it into town and we can't hold them back, we don't have enough warriors here," he rambled on and I felt my heart begin to race. There couldn't be an attack right now, Ty's not here. Liam's not here. What were we supposed to do?

"Did you tell Ty?" I asked running to the window to look out to the forest boundaries. And across the setting skyline I could see rogues running through the trees, some of them heading directly for the house. I quickly jumped back from he window before they saw me, my adrenaline kicking in.

"I've tried, his mind link is closed, he isn't answering." Derek muttered next as Alana and Emily also jumped up from the couch.

"Okay," I stuttered, feeling frozen as a statue. This couldn't be happening, not now. I'm not ready for this, Ty and I had never talked about this. How could I possibly be in charge right now? Wasn't their anyone better they could ask? A thousand thoughts of doubt ran through my head but I quickly snapped out of it and shook them away. Come on Malia you have to make a decision, there's no time for doubt. What would Ty do? And before I even knew what I was saying the words were spilling out. "Tell everyone to stay in their homes, go to the basements and lock all the doors. The warriors that are available should prepare for battle while those who cannot fight take shelter," I commanded and Derek quickly nodded his head then took off back out the front door.

“Emily keep Alana safe, you guys get out of here and replace a safe place to hide," I instructed them next. Alana gripped Emily's wrist with a death squeeze as she clung to her in fear.

"Where are you going?" Emily paused for a moment to ask me I quickly shook my head before she could even ask me to come with them.

"I have to replace Jared, he would have had to do some alpha training if he's Ty's back up. He might have a better idea of what to do. Plus, he might be a target too since Ty isn't here so I need to make sure he's safe," I explained to them and Emily just nodded her head. Taking Alana's hand they raced off together through the front door. I quickly grabbed my bag then headed out the front door, jumping in my own car and heading towards Ty's parents house.

When I arrived the lights were off, but I used my key to get inside and rapidly searched the house for any sign of Jared. "Jared," i called out to him through the mind linked and he answered almost right away. "Malia where are you?" He replied and I quickly told him I was at his house. "I'll be there in 10 minutes, hold on," he said. I walked to the back room of the house, standing in front of the large glass window it gave me a perfect view of the forest. In every direction I saw wolves running so quick they blurred together. I couldn't tell who was on our side and who wasn't as the chaos ensued around me.

"Ty," I called out to him again but still nothing. Then my entire body turned to ice as I heard a loud shatter of glass come from behind me. Spinning so fast the room blurred around me I turned to see a snarling wolf with dark brown fur stepping cautiously towards me.

I turned and ran up the set of stairs towards Ty's room taking them two at a time, hearing the heavy footsteps chase behind me. Once in the room I slammed the door closed then used all my strength to push Ty's desk in front of it. I ran towards the window. This would be my only option for escape now as the pounding on the other side of the door rang louder and I knew it would only be a matter of time before the desk was pushed out of the way.

Then suddenly the room fell quiet, and I turned my attention back to the door, unable to lift my eyes off of it. With such ease a new hand must've found the handle as the desk slid back with ease, and in walked a man with gelled back dark hair. His expression was calm as he looked me over, stepping closer to me slowly and I couldn't tell what it was but something about him seemed so familiar.

"Malia, you're going to be okay," his hand reached out to me and something deep down was telling me not to take it, to run, to scream, to fight. He took another slow step closer, whispering, "you don't have to be afraid of me" and I realized as the smile came across his lips, no matter how it made my stomach turn, it reminded me so much of Ty.