His Redemption (Complete His Series)

Liam

“Are you ready to go?” Damien linked me.

“Yea, give me just one more minute,” I linked back. I wanted to tell Azalea that I would be okay one more time before we left; I didn’t want her worrying about me. I opened up my phone and started a text message to her:

ME

| Hey beautiful

| I can’t wait to see you tomorrow

| Sleep well tonight

I waited a moment to see if she would start typing something back. When the telltale three dots didn’t show up on the screen, I put my phone on my nightstand and got ready to leave. I wanted to get this over with, stop this damn hunter, and get to my girl.

Before I left the room, my phone dinged, informing me I had a text message. A smile stretched across my face. I raced back over to my phone to read her message:

AZALEA

| Hi Liam. Please be safe. I will try but I am worried about you. Good Luck.

I knew I didn’t have long to message her, but I couldn’t let her be worried. Her concern was stirring me up inside.

ME

| Don’t worry, kitten. Just a few rogues. Nothing Damien and I can’t take care of. Need to stretch my legs sometimes too. Will it make you feel better if I tell you when I am back?

I waited a moment, and luckily her reply came quickly.

AZALEA

| Yes, it would.

I smiled. The mate bond has to be strengthening.

ME

| It will be very late but I promise I will. Sweet dreams, beautiful. I really cannot wait to

see you for dinner tomorrow

With that, I set my phone down and left the room. I needed to get this hunter situation handled.

I met Damien at the front door. “You ready?” he asked.

“Yea, is everyone else?”

“Yea. We should head out. Langston will be meeting us along the border of the territories. We’ll start where the attack last night happened and work our way through the other spots. All the extra patrols are in place and on high alert as well,” he explained.

“Good, I don’t want any more wolves caught by this bastard.”

We made our way out to the front lawn, where the other members of the hunting party were waiting. As we approached, they all looked up. I nodded at them, and we made our way to the tree line. About 100 yards in, we paused to strip down, tieing our clothes in bags on our legs so we would have clothes for the shift back. Taking the lead, we all shifted one by one. Once everyone was ready, I linked, “Let’s move,” and we set off toward the site of last night’s hunter attack.

Damien and I split off ahead of everyone else. Being an Alpha and Beta, we were much larger, faster, and stronger than the rest of the warriors. Damien was as large as me in wolf form, probably because of his immense human size. I swear I still expect him to shift into a bear instead of a wolf one day. We were evenly matched in strength while I remained slightly faster. My Gamma stayed back with the rest of the warriors as we made our way to meet Alpha Langston. Once we neared the territory border, we slowed down and began to see if we could hear or smell Langston or his warriors. We got a whiff coming from the south, so we turned in that direction. After another couple of minutes of running, we found them. Damien linked our Gamma to our location to bring the rest of our warriors.

Langston and I both shifted to be able to speak with each other.

“Good evening, Langston,” I greeted him.

“Liam,” he said, nodding.

“Preliminary reports show no activity in the area so far,” I inform him.

He nodded. “We should begin moving. We should also mix our groups so we can communicate with each other.”

“Good idea,” I said. I looked at Damien, and he nodded his head at me. He got to work linking our warriors, dividing them into two groups. I assumed he was also designating one to be responsible for shifting back and forth if necessary. “We will be set in a moment. I will take my group back into our territory. You should head through yours; we both know the land better that way.”

“Fine. Let’s get moving,” he said. I nodded my head and turned back to my warriors.

“Second group follow Alpha Langston,” I commanded before shifting back. Half of our warriors began moving towards the other pack’s group while half of their warriors made their way to me.

Once we were all in formation, Damien gave me the signal and I howled to the sky. The rest of the group followed my lead as we set off back into our pack’s territory.

After a few minutes of running, I linked Damien that we should split the group between us and approach from different sides. He agreed, linking the others to split. Langston’s warriors caught on quickly, we didn’t even need to waste time shifting. We set off in different directions, taking roundabout ways to the area where the other attacks were.

After an hour of running our territory, I stopped my group for a break. I linked Damien while everyone got water and caught their breath.

“Find anything?” I asked.

“Caught some faint traces that could be him. But we’re bordering on the human side, and I can’t imagine he would be this far out if he is after us. Although he could be using the human town as cover,” he replied.

I stopped for a minute. Dread overtook me; I did not want a hunter anywhere near Azalea. I never even thought about this bastard hiding in the human town. If he had any decent hunter senses, then he smelled me all over the place.

“Damien…” I started.

“I know. But he couldn’t know about her, Liam. Your uncle and I are the only ones who know anything.”

“My parents know she is my mate, but they don’t know that I have been in contact with her,” I admitted.

“When the hell did you tell them? And how is she alive? No offense, man, but your father is not the most understanding.”

“We’ll talk about that later. Follow the traces and let me know. We will head towards you in a few minutes.”

“Yes, Alpha,” he replied and dropped our link.

I told the group we would be moving in five minutes as my heart raced worrying about Azalea. I needed to find this bastard before he could connect Azalea to me; she wouldn’t be safe. Even if I sent patrols into the human town or planted wolves at the Inn, I couldn’t guarantee her safety without making our secret known.

Once everyone was shifted and ready to move again, we headed towards Damien’s group. After about ten minutes, Damien linked me again.

“Alpha, you need to see this now,” he said.

“What?”

“Just get here quickly. Come ahead of everyone else,” he said, then went quiet.

I turned and linked the senior warrior to my side. He nodded in understanding, and I took off as fast as I could. It only took me another five minutes before I broke into a small clearing where Damien stood. I approached him as we both shifted back to humans. He stepped aside so I could see what he was concerned about.

“I sent my group back to meet yours and told them to wait for us. Liam, he knows.”

I looked at what lay in front of us. There was a sign staked in the ground with a message for me:

SHE’S A PRETTY LITTLE THING. TOO BAD YOU CAN’T PROTECT HER.

I walked over to the sign, noticing something green flickering in the breeze on it. I grabbed the fabric, immediately realizing what it was. I retracted my wolf nails and worked the nail out of the sign, trying not to rip Azalea’s sweater; this was the sweater she wore on our date.

I turned to Damien. “She wore this last night,” I said coldly.

“Liam, whoever this is already has access to her.”

“I know, and he’s made it clear. He is after me and will use Azalea to get to me.”

“What do we do?”

“We need wolves in the human town tonight.”

“But even then, how do we explain things to Langston?”

“Let me handle that.”

“Liam, you know you have to bring her here. We cannot protect that far away.”

“Damnit, Damien, I can’t!” I roared at him. “She is absolutely petrified of anything pack-related! She panicked when I mentioned her coming to the pack only to see my uncle! We tortured her, Damien! Would you come back to a place where you were treated like a worthless traitor?” I was getting worked up now. Gavin was in my head screaming that we needed to go to our mate now, and I didn’t disagree with him.

“Liam, calm down. You are right. But it doesn’t change anything. She isn’t safe over there, and you cannot be there 24/7 with her.”

We both fell silent, absorbed in our own thoughts.

“Let me send a couple of wolves to check into the Inn. I’ll also send a patrol to run around the town as best they can. At least the woods are surrounding the Inn so they can keep an eye on her. We need to meet with Langston, and you need to tell him something.”

I sighed. “Alright. Get everyone moving now. Give the ones going to the Inn a Pack car and tell them to get there as fast as they can. They also need to give a note to the old man who owns the Inn. He should know what’s happening. He is too old to protect her, but he can at least be another pair of eyes.”

“Good idea,” he said, nodding. I knew he was already linking Lily to help him get everything in motion.

“As soon as we have finished meeting with Langston, I am going to her. Gavin isn’t going to sit by much longer until we know she is safe. Can you go to the search parties and send everyone back? Have one of Langston’s warriors link him to meet in my office?”

“Yea, I can do that. Are you going back first then?”

“Yea, I am going to shower and get my things. I was supposed to meet her tomorrow for dinner. I will probably spend the whole day over there to get an eye on things.”

“Understood. See you shortly,” he said. He turned and darted into the woods, jumping to shift into his wolf and head toward our party.

I shifted myself and ran as fast as I could back to the packhouse. “There was no trace of him when we got there. He knows about Azalea. He could be anyone!” Gavin growled in my head.

“I know, I know. I just need to take care of things here, and we can go to her!” I shot back.

“What if he takes her while you’re wasting time?”

“Shut up. If he wanted to take her, he could have already. We talked to her just a few hours ago, and she was fine!”

“And she’s been alone and vulnerable for hours. He is two steps ahead of you. Attacking the pack members was just a distraction to get your attention!”

“I am putting that together; thank you!”

“We need to bring mate here now. There is no other choice. We can’t get him if she isn’t safe.”

“You know she won’t come. We can’t bring her here until she’s ready!”

Gavin blocked me this time, leaving me alone to deal with this. I broke through the tree line and shifted mid-run. I crashed through the front door, not bothering to put any clothes on. I sped up to my room and immediately went for my phone.

I knew it was late, but I needed to hear her voice and know she was okay. I dialed her new number and waited for her to answer. Two rings later, she picked up.

“Liam?” she answered quietly. I let out a sigh.

“Yes, sweetheart. It’s me.”

“Did you finish your pack business?”

“Yes, I am back.”

“Good. Oh, wait, hold on a moment. The Inn phone is ringing.”

I could hear her answer the other phone. After a few minutes, she came back to the phone.

“I am glad your back safe. But I have to go, Liam,” she said.

“What’s going on? It is the middle of the night,” I said worriedly.

“Oh, a couple of people just called for a late check-in. I need to run up and get their room ready. They will be here in about 30 minutes, so I need to hurry,” she said. Oh, thank Goddess. It’s just my wolves checking in.

“Okay. I won’t keep you. Come straight back and get some rest, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll see you tomorrow?” she said hopefully.

“As soon as I can tear myself away from the pack, beautiful,” I told her. It was a bit of a lie but necessary at the moment.

“Get some sleep. Sweet dreams,” she said before hanging up the phone. I sighed in slight relief. She is okay for now. But that hunter has access to her, and I needed to figure out who it was.

I put my phone down and forced myself into the bathroom to shower. After showering, I grabbed some clean clothes and got dressed quickly. I grabbed a backpack from my closet and threw in some more clothes. I grabbed my phone and keys and put them in my pocket as I headed to my office. Damien and Langston wouldn’t be long.

I entered my office, and to no surprise, they were both already seated waiting for me. As I opened the door, Langston shot up and started shouting.

“I demand to know what you found and what is going on right now, BOY!” he shot at me.

“Please, sit down, and I will explain.”

“No, start talking now. Why did you call off the search parties when there is no dead hunter?”

“Because we no longer believe your territory is under target.”

“And how can you know that? He attacked my patrols as well!”

“Because this hunter is after my mate and me,” I said definitively. He gave me a shocked look, thinking that I had no mate. “If you sit down, I will explain. But this explanation does not leave this room. Am I clear?”

He hesitated a moment before nodding and taking a seat.

“Are you sure about this?” Damien linked me as he gave me a pointed look.

“I can’t hide it forever, and he should know. I will tell the rest of the pack in time,” I linked back.

“I am sure you are surprised to hear that I have a mate. No one outside this room knows about this.” I said with a serious tone. Langston nodded at me to continue.

“All that I can tell you for now is that the situation is complicated. For her own reasons, she has not accepted me yet and does not wish to come to my packhouse. Right now, she resides in human territory. I have inadvertently led the hunter to her, and now he is using her to get to me. We believe her life is in danger.”

He nodded again. “Then you need to bring her here for protection, young man. I do not need to tell you how important a Luna is to their Alpha.”

“I understand that. But it will not be that simple. For now, though, I need to take my leave and go to her; I am sure you can understand. I appreciate your discretion in this matter,” I said to him, standing up to indicate my explanation was over.

“I understand. Good luck to you, and I will be eager to meet her. Please let us know if you need any assistance in this matter going forward. I would be happy to lend some of my warriors to protect your Luna,” he said.

“I appreciate that. Thank you,” I said, bowing my head respectfully to him. He bowed back and turned to leave.

After he left, I looked at Damien. “You are gonna have to come clean to Lily, you know?” he said. “She is gonna be mad if we don’t tell her.”

“Can you explain it to her? I need to go. Plus, you can calm her down about it all.”

“Sure, Lily might not know everything about Azalea, so it is probably best I explain things. She might start throwing things at you again,” he said, chuckling. He clearly remembered the last time I had made her angry. I gave him a tight smile.

“Go to her. I got things here. Patrols will be switched tomorrow, and I’ll have new ones checking into the Inn every two days.”

“Thanks. What did you tell them?”

“That we think the hunter is there, and they are to watch over the humans. Look for any that display strange behavior and make sure none are harmed.”

“Good thinking,” I said and made my way to the door. I stopped for a moment before exiting, my hand on the doorknob.

“Damien… thanks. Really,” I said over my shoulder.

“Don’t mention it. Go get our Luna, man,” he said with a small smile. I left the office and went to the garage to get my car. I could get there faster running with Gavin, but I would need my SUV tomorrow. At least I knew Damien had my back in all this. If he and Lily accepted Azalea, maybe the pack wouldn’t be hard to convince.