His Redemption (Complete His Series)

Azalea

I hurried down to the kitchen early before anyone else was awake. We woke up in the exact position as we fell asleep. When my mind un-fogged from slumber, I got off Liam quickly and quietly. After yesterday’s events, I did not want either of us to trigger another flare of heat. I went to work making breakfast for the four of us while I tried to process what I said before falling asleep. I have no clue if he heard me or not either, making this even more stressful. Why did the Moon Goddess choose this for me? Why Liam; why an alpha? Part of me was so happy to have Liam. He made me feel safe and warm. I found myself always smiling when I was with him. It was a nice change of pace from day to day at the Inn. Another part of me felt differently.

Before Liam showed up at the Inn, I was content. Now I know I was not happy; not really. I was getting by. After everything I lived through with the pack, I thought I could live like that. I felt a quiet life alone would suit me. I did not want to face the torment and neglect I had received from pack members for years. I didn’t want to face that I had a mate, that he was one of my tormentors, or that he didn’t want me.

Liam crashed back into my life, and there hasn’t been any time to catch my breath. I can also admit I had not wanted to truly sort through all of this yet. Deep down, I was scared. I was frightened of losing Liam and returning to my quiet, solitary life. I was scared of losing him; I was scared of being with him. I was scared at the thought of being a Luna. I was afraid of Gavin and Liam losing control of him. I was scared of this heat and what was going to happen.

“Um… Azalea?” I heard a voice from behind me. As I turned, I realized tears were streaming down my face, and I was shaking a bit. Lily stood in the doorway to the kitchen. “Sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

I set down the potato I was shredding, dashing the tears from my face. “I-I’m okay,” I said, trying to mask my emotional spiral. I forced a smile on my face.

“You can’t fool me, sweetheart. What’s wrong? Is it Liam?” she said, coming over to me.

“No, no. It’s nothing. I promise,” I said, trying to reassure myself more than her.

“I am not exactly an expert on half rejections and unmarked mates, but I do know when someone is hurting. And darling, you are hurting,” she said, looking into my eyes. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, but I could feel more tears threatening to spill over my eyelashes once more. “Let’s make some breakfast, okay?” she said, clearly trying to provide a distraction.

I nodded my head. She grabbed the bunch of spinach on the counter and began washing it. I went back to shredding the potatoes.

Lily didn’t push anymore. We cooked in comfortable silence, and I tried to forget about everything and focus on the task at hand. About 45 minutes later, we had a large potato, sausage, and spinach frittata, and a pile of brown sugar banana muffins. Lily must have linked Damien and Liam because they appeared right as we were setting the table. Liam had a hesitant look on his face, and it made me wonder if Lily had told him what she walked in on. Damien, on the other hand, looked like a happy, aloof child.

“Good morning, ladies,” he chirped. Walking over to his mate, he kissed her sweetly on the cheek. She blushed as she wrapped her arms around him. Liam walked up behind me, placing his hand in the small of my back as we watched their exchange.

“Good morning,” he whispered in my ear. I gave him a small smile. “Everything okay, baby? I was sad when I woke up, and you were gone.” I nodded.

“Let’s eat!” Lily said, breaking up our borderline awkward conversation. Damien took the lead and pulled out Lily’s chair for her, Liam closely following with mine. Once we were all settled, we passed around the muffins as Lily cut up the frittata and served us all some. The boys dug in immediately. The room was soon filled with m***s of satisfaction.

“Wow, Lil, this is amazing. Since when are you this good at cooking?” Damien said with a mouthful of muffin.

She giggled. “All credit goes to Azalea, honestly. I just helped here and there,” she told him, smiling at me. I could feel my cheeks go red.

“You should try the cake she made for me, man. It was to die for,” Liam said, beaming. Damien gave him a sad puppy face.

“I like cake,” he said, a little sad.

“I can make us some dessert tonight,” I told him. He perked up at that.

“So, what is on the agenda today, you two?” Lily said with a pointed look at Damien and Liam. “And Damien, slow down! You’re going to choke,” she scolded her mate. He mumbled a small sorry while looking down at his plate. Not only was Damien sized like a bear, but he could also eat like one too.

“There are a few things we need to handle this morning if you ladies don’t mind,” Liam piped in finally. He looked at me as if he were asking if it was okay.

“We don’t mind,” Lily answered. “Gives us some time to get to know each other!”

“Sure,” I said. I gave Liam a tight smile. I needed to push everything back down and prepare myself for the next wave of heat to come at some point. I shouldn’t be worrying about any of those things anyway with a hunter after us. Even with all the uncertainty of our relationship, it would probably kill me if a hunter got to Liam.

I felt a hand on my leg under the table, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked up to see the worry on Liam’s face. Lily was talking animatedly to Damien about plans for later when the boys were done with pack business. Neither was paying attention to us.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked me quietly.

“Yea, just nervous,” I said. Maybe if I gave him a small idea of what was going on in my head, he wouldn’t pry much harder.

“Don’t worry, baby. Lily is here to help, and Gavin is under control now. Whatever happens, I am right here for you, okay?” he said, trying to reassure me.

We finished up our meal shortly after that. The boys followed us into the kitchen to help bring in the dishes. I stood at the sink, preparing to wash the dishes. Liam came up behind me. Wrapping his arms around my waist from behind, he nuzzled his face into my neck. “You smell heavenly,” he said into my neck. I smiled. “You look beautiful, by the way. I like you in my clothes.”

“I haven’t even combed my hair today!” I said. I was so eager to get some space this morning, I didn’t even change my clothes before coming down to the kitchen.

“I don’t care. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on,” he said. I could feel him smiling into my neck.

“You should go get your work done. I’ll be okay.”

“Okay,” he said, lifting his head from my neck. He gave me a swift k**s on the cheek. Before breaking away, he quietly added, “Oh, and I love you too.” My cheeks immediately flamed as he departed the kitchen; he did hear me.

Once they were both gone, Lily came over to me. “I am going to need the detailed version of this whole story, you know.” She gave me a pointed look. I sighed in resignation.

“Okay, let’s clean up then. I want to hop in the shower, and I will tell you everything, top to bottom,” I told her.

“Fair enough,” she said. We cleaned up the kitchen quickly between the two of us. I left her downstairs, and I returned to Liam and I’s bedroom to shower and change. Closing the door behind me, I let out a sigh. I wished so hard at that moment that Amy was a werewolf. If she knew about my world, then I could tell her everything. She would let me vent and talk through everything without making me feel silly. But she doesn’t know, and I can’t tell her no matter how much I wish to do so.

I went to the closet to find something to wear for the day. I picked out some jeans, a plain t-shirt, and a sweater. Simple and comfortable. Grabbing some clean underwear and a bra, I went into the bathroom to shower. I placed my things on the counter next to the sink and decided to brush my teeth first. After brushing my teeth, I went to the shower and turned it on, letting the water warm up. I undressed and stepped into the steaming water.

The warm water ran down my body, soothing me. I let the water and steam cascade over me for a few minutes, enjoying the warmth. Knowing I couldn’t just avoid Lily or Liam forever, I started washing my hair. After a thorough shampoo and conditioner, I washed my body, shaved my legs, and got out of the shower. Wrapping myself in a fluffy towel, I went to the countertop to get my hairbrush. I dried the excess water from my hair so I could brush it. After putting it up in two Dutch braids that converged into a bun on the back of my neck, I got dressed.

When I made my way back downstairs, Lily was sitting in the living room flipping through a magazine. As I walked in, she looked up, giving me a small smile. “Feel better?” she asked.

“Yea,” I said with a smile. I did feel better after this morning. I was still worried about things with Liam and me and when this heat would flare up again, but I felt more in control now. I sat down on the couch next to her. She handed me a cup of tea she must have made only minutes before I came down.

“I heard the shower stop and made us some tea. Figured it might help,” she explained. I smiled at her taking a sip. “You know, if you don’t want to tell me, I won’t be mad,” she started.

“No, it’s okay. Honestly, my only friend is a human, and I don’t have anyone to talk to about any of this. When I tell her about Liam, I have to leave so many details out; it almost seems like a creepy situation without wolf context. I’m glad I can talk to someone who can understand more,” I told her honestly.

“I’m glad. I hope we can be good friends even if we got off to an odd start,” she said with a large smile. “So, can you start with the whole wolf thing? I guess I don’t quite understand how you are a werewolf without a wolf?”

“Let me start from the beginning with my parents. I think you’ll get it all once you know,” I said. And I told her everything. I told her about my parents being traitors against Liam’s father, their death, and my orphaning. I told her about growing up in the packhouse and getting my wolf. I tried to keep some details out, but she did want to know everything. By the time we talked about the rejection, she was fuming.

“How dare he? Oh, I have half a mind to go in there and kick his Alpha a*s! How could he do all this? What was he thinking?” she raged.

“It really is okay. To be honest, I don’t think I would have survived, we would have survived, had Liam not rejected me. I guess his timing sort of sucked.”

“So, he came back, and you just let him return with open arms?”

“Haha. Not exactly.” I continued to tell her the events of the past couple of weeks. I told her about how it felt being away from him the past couple of years, the pain and trouble I had. She listened patiently, absorbing everything I said. The more we talked, the more I knew that Lily and I would be best friends. She may be a little in your face, but she was also patient and willing to listen. She tried to understand everything I said even though she had never even come close to the same experiences.

“I still kind of want to kick his a*s,” she said as I wrapped up Liam and I’s saga. We had been talking for over two hours now. We both burst into laughter at this. I laughed until I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen that caused me to yelp a little. “Are you okay?” she said, worried all of a sudden.

“Yea, I think I am,” I told her.

“Damien will be getting a piece of my mind tonight. I didn’t really know any of you growing up because we didn’t live in the packhouse. But I wish I had. I would never have let them treat you like that, Azalea,” she said.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

I smiled at her. “Thanks. I appreciate that, but you don’t have to punish Damien. We have all grown up. He has been really nice and helped Liam a lot with all this.” I pulled my sweater off, feeling a tad hot sitting in the living room. The sun was shining through the front windows, probably making the whole room warmer. Lily’s eyes flashed with concern for just a moment.

“Yea, well, I am his mate and can still make him pay for it,” she said with a smile.

“Pay for what?” I heard a voice say from down the hall. Damien came strutting toward us, unaware of what Lily and I had talked about for the past couple of hours.

But before either of us could answer, another sharp pain shot through my abdomen, pulling a small scream from my lips. In an instant, Liam was in the room, and Damien was holding him back while Lily stood in front of me.

“Here we go again,” Damien said.