His Redemption (Complete His Series)

Azalea

I woke up the next morning wrapped in a quilt in my bed. I don’t remember Liam leaving last night. I also can’t remember the last time I slept so well. This was better than the past few days. The ache in my chest was so light that I could completely ignore it.

I got up from my bed and walked over to my small kitchenette to get a glass of water. I went to my fridge to see if there was some fruit I could snack on while getting ready. I would definitely be eating breakfast at the Inn this morning.

There was a note on my fridge.

I couldn’t stay all night. I didn’t think it was safe. I will come back tomorrow with the pack doctor. I will fill him in on what happened 3 years ago. He may have more questions for you. No one will know besides us. We should arrive around noon. Please call me if you need anything, or we need to arrange a different time. Here is my personal cell phone number, so you do not have to call the packhouse. -Liam

I could make that work. I’m sure I had plenty of things to catch up on at the Inn, but this was important. I would just get over there and start as soon as possible. I don’t mind working late after meeting with the doctor either.

A good night’s sleep also renews my energy. I don’t know why I slept so well with him. Maybe it was his warmth or the slight forest smell that clung to him.

I went to my dresser, grabbing some leggings and a loose-fitting shirt along with some new underwear. I went to my bathroom, showering and dressing quickly. I pulled my hair up in a messy bun. I generally do not wear makeup as I never learned how to put it on.

I made my way up to the Inn and walked in the kitchen door. It was still early enough that Amy wasn’t here to start breakfast. I went out to the front desk to figure out what needed to get done today.

I set to work cleaning rooms for check-in today, breakfast utterly forgotten with a to-do list now in my hands. Last year for Christmas, Amy got me this neat little thing called an MP3 player that she put music on. I like to bring it with me when I do chores like these; it makes the time go by much faster.

After finishing the rooms, I started downstairs. The dining room was full of breakfast stragglers, so I started in the sitting rooms. The Inn had two. I moved around the rooms, dusting shelves and knick-knacks, wiping tables and chairs, cleaning windows, and vacuuming the rugs.

I was not paying attention to the time. I was dusting shelves facing away from the front door when he came in. Of course, I had no idea until, out of nowhere, I felt a hand on my waist and someone’s face next to my ear. I froze as he pulled one of the earbuds from my ear.

“Now don’t you look tempting, kitten,” his voice said in my ear. Kitten? What? I turned slowly to find myself basically in Liam’s chest. When the realization came over me, I jumped back. I moved just far enough to smack right into the bookshelf.

“Owww….” I g*****d, grabbing the back of my head. The look on Liam’s face went from one of cocky amusement to panic immediately.

“Azalea, I am so sorry. Oh, Goddess, are you okay? Are you bleeding?” He asked worriedly.

“Ow, um, no no. I think I’m okay. Just a bit tender now,” I said.

“Why don’t we go to the kitchen and put some ice on that just in case, young lady,” an older gentleman said behind Liam.

“Oh, sure,” I said, not noticing the man before.

Before I could move, Liam grabbed my hand, dragging me back to the kitchen. Luckily, it seems Amy had left to do the shopping for dinner and wasn’t in the kitchen. I did not want to explain this to her yet. When we got there, Liam turned around, grabbed me by my waist, and set me on the prep table. He turned to find the freezer. Right in the door, he found the three ice packs we kept on hand. He grabbed one, bringing it over to me. He stood in front of me, splitting my legs to either side of his h**s as I sat on the table. He gently pressed the ice pack to the back of my head as his eyes bore into mine.

“I am really sorry for scaring you, Azalea. I should have just waited to get your attention,” he said.

“I’m okay. I promise. This probably isn’t even necessary.” I replied. I reached up to take the ice pack from his hand.

“No. Just let me,” he said with sincerity in his eyes. Why was he trying so hard to take care of me? I have been taking care of myself since I was five years old.

“Alright, big bad Alpha. Let me look at her,” came the older man’s voice from behind us. Liam growled lowly at him. “And hush your growls. You know I will not take any of that. I can go back to my clinic at any time. Remember, this is a favor.”

“Yes, sorry, Uncle,” Liam said. My eyes grew with realization as the man moved in front of me, and Liam stepped away.

“Hi, Miss Simmons, as you have probably guessed, I am Dr. Ronald Blackfur, the brother of our former Alpha Robert and this nitwit’s uncle. I am pleased to meet you,” the doctor said. I looked at Liam.

“It’s okay, Azalea. Just because he is my uncle does not mean he will tell anyone. No one in the pack knows we are here,” Liam said, trying to reassure me. I don’t know why but I never thought about him bringing his uncle here. I nodded my head and looked back to Dr. Blackfur.

“How about you just call me Ron, okay? Now before we get to the pressing matters at hand, let me see that head? I understand that you never got a wolf, so you heal as a human would?” he asked as he began to feel the back of my head. I winced slightly as he touched the most tender spot.

“Well, sort of,” I said. “My wolf came at 13 just like everyone else’s, I guess. Although, we never shifted. But about two months later, she stopped talking to me,” I told him with a shrug. He had finished feeling my head and handed the ice pack back to me.

“Better hold that there a bit longer,” he said. “That is very unusual for a wolf. On the first full moon after your 13th birthday, how did you feel? Did you feel any shifting in your body, pain in your extremities, anything of this sort?” As he talked, Liam came up to my side. He grabbed the ice pack from me and held it to my head.

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. I can’t remember, honestly.” I told him. I don’t even remember my wolf’s name.

“Hmm. Your wolf spoke to you, right?”

“Yea, she did.”

“Did she ever take control of your body?”

“How would I know that?” He turned and looked at Liam, a conversation passing between them that I was not privy to. Liam turned to me with a tight smile.

“Azalea, when I touch you, what do you feel?” Liam asked me.

“Warmth, I guess. It feels really nice because I get cold a lot. Why?”

“And when Liam rejected you three years ago, what did you feel then?” Dr. Ronald asked.

I sighed, not exactly wanting to revisit that night. But, this was important, or he wouldn’t be asking. “Well, I didn’t know what was happening. I was already feeling a little sick from the drive. I didn’t get in cars often as a kid. I always walked to school. When he said he was rejecting me, it kinda felt like someone was squeezing my heart and trying to rip it from my chest. I couldn’t breathe properly for a while either. It was worse than breaking my wrist or ribs,” I said. I could feel Liam’s gaze on me. I didn’t want to look at him. I could not take his pity on top of needing his help.

“I see,” Dr. Ronald said. “And Liam said you weren’t feeling well when he got here yesterday. Can you tell me about that?”

“Well, I guess I was just feeling really under the weather. My chest felt very heavy, and my body sort of ached all over. I couldn’t get comfortable sleeping either, so I hadn’t slept much for a few days. I don’t really know why, but my body just started to feel a little better when he hugged me. He is really warm, and it felt nice,” I paused. The rest felt a little personal.

Dr. Ronald looked from me to Liam. “Please go on, Azalea. You seem much better today.”

I could feel myself blush. I looked down at my hands. “Well, I asked Liam if we could just stay like that for a few more minutes. He, uh, he picked me up and laid me in my bed. When he laid down with me, it felt like my whole body was relaxing. He was warm, and my bed was really comfortable. I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, I was feeling a lot better.”

Liam and Dr. Ronald looked to be having their own little conversation again. “I was probably just drained and overworked. I haven’t been taking much time off lately. I also haven’t been sleeping well, so I am sure that just Liam being so warm just made me sleepy. My apartment can be a little cold sometimes,” I said, looking between them.

Dr. Ronald looked at me, “Azalea, I do have more questions still, but I need to ask you an important question about the night Liam rejected you. Did you accept his rejection?”

“Yea, I let him leave me here at the Inn. I found his note and did as he asked. I didn’t see a reason to go after him. I knew he hated me after all. I knew he needed to do it so he could be happy. He couldn’t ever be happy with someone like me. Plus, I don’t think Alpha Robert would have ever allowed it.”

“But specifically, did you say that you accepted his rejection?”

“I didn’t say anything to him that night. Liam did all the talking. Why?”

“Azalea, Liam and I need to discuss something. Would you mind if we stepped into the dining room, maybe?”

“Uh sure, but uh…” I look down at the floor. Our prep tables were a little tall compared to me. Liam took the hint coming around the table. He helped me down. “Can I get you anything, Liam, Dr. Ronald? I could make some coffee, and there should be some pastries around here somewhere.”

“That would be lovely, thank you,” Dr. Ronald replied. He and Liam turn to leave. I watched as they pushed their way out the kitchen doors. Liam looked back at me over his shoulder for just a second.

Liam

I can’t decide if this is fantastic or the worst. Listening to her explain things to my uncle was like a repeated kick in the gut.

“So, your mate bond was actually never severed. Although, I am not sure any mates have ever left a bond damaged for such a length of time. But that’s where things get more difficult. I cannot be sure but based on observations of her growing up and some of the things she has told me today, her wolf is suppressed. It is not common for a wolf to have never shifted; I would hazard to say she may be the only one,” my uncle explained.

“But is she feeling the bond? I don’t feel warmth when I touch her. I feel sparks, the most pleasurable sparks you can imagine. It’s just the most amazing thing I have ever felt-”

“Woah woah woah. I know how mate bonds feel there, boy. But I don’t know if she feels the mate bond. My theory- yes, but not to the same degree you do. Although I haven’t seen it personally, I have read similar descriptions of the mate bond in humans. When she was younger, do you ever remember her with injuries? Do you recall anything about her healing?” he asked.

I thought back to my 17th birthday, to the cuts on her feet before that. To the many times she would fall or get pushed down. “She got hurt a lot, I guess. I don’t think she heals like a wolf. But if she heals and feels the mate bond like a human would, why did it hurt her as bad as me when I tried to reject her?”

“Because her wolf didn’t just leave her. At least, I don’t believe it did. Her parents were both werewolves, so the likelihood of them giving birth to a child who was not is almost non-existent. Wolf halves ‘leaving’ you is actually a myth. They can decide to hide or block us out, but they cannot leave. Our wolves are a part of us. But the fact that she never shifted concerns me. Right now, my theory is that her body could not handle the shift, so she never felt it happening. Her wolf retreated and lay dormant because it was never fully released.”

“But what would keep her from shifting?” I asked, not understanding. It was not something that a wolf had control of the first time. On your 13th birthday, your wolf came to you. On the first full moon following that, you would shift under the moonlight. My 13th birthday happened to be on a full moon, so Gavin and I did not have much time to get acquainted.

“My best guess, and that is all I can do for the moment, was her body. She was clearly malnourished most of her adolescence. Her size is almost unheard of for a werewolf. Have you ever met another wolf that is less than five and a half foot in height?”

His words cut a little deep. All those years she lived in the same house as me. Every day there was always enough food for everyone. No one was hungry. We could even come to the kitchens and raid the fridge and pantry for leftovers. I had never seen her eating with us ever. Mom had told me once she was permitted to eat in the kitchens after meals were served. I just thought my parents didn’t want a traitor eating with the other pack members.

I sat down, burying my face in my hands. How was I so oblivious all those years? I was so self-centered. My uncle sat down next to me.

“Look Liam-” he began. He was interrupted by the doors to the kitchen swinging open. She walked towards us, carrying a tray with coffee and snacks. She set it down on the table by us.

“Don’t let me intrude. I can leave you guys alone,” she said.

“No, no. I think I will take my leave. Azalea, it was lovely to meet you formally. We will see each other again soon. Liam, I will see you this evening,” my uncle said. He stood up and left us there.

I turned and looked at Azalea. She sat there with her hands in her lap. I really wanted to hold her hand. “So, uh, does Dr. Ronald know what to do about all this?” she asked me.

“No, not really,” I said, looking away from her.

“Oh,” she said. She stood up. I thought she was about to walk away, and I panicked a little. She grabbed the coffee kraft and began pouring us each a cup; she poured a copious amount of cream in sugar in hers. She handed me the other cup. I looked at the tray, noticing some croissants. I reached over, grabbing one.

She sat there sipping her coffee, not really looking at me. Goddess, I was so relieved when she said she never said the words. She never actually accepted the rejection meaning that our mate bond was never broken. It did mean that the few times I had found she-wolves to let off a little steam within the past couple of years, she probably knew. I imagine it felt about as bad as the night I tried to reject her.

Gwen refused to accept her mate’s rejection. He immediately found other she-wolves to keep him company. Damien was ready to kill him. Gwen was screaming in agony every time he slept with another she-wolf. Lily was the one who finally convinced her to say the words and accept it.

“I should probably get back to work now, um, you know the way out?” she said, breaking me from my thoughts. My heart sank. I hadn’t thought about leaving her today.

“Actually, uh,” I said, trying to find an excuse to stay with her. “I was thinking; maybe, you might want to spend the day with me?” Goddess, I am so lame. But I would do anything just to spend a little more time with her.

“Actually, lover boy, she has things to do. But if Alpha duties can be ignored to spend time with girls all day, then I have a thing or two you can do,” I heard the old man say as he walked up behind us. I turned to look at him. Before telling him I would have to decline, I heard a giggle coming from behind me. I stopped completely. It was the most amazing sound I have ever heard. I had never heard her laugh, ever.

“I will leave you two alone. I will be in the laundry room! Bye!” she said, dashing out of the room. I could not help but watch her a*s sway as she ran away from me, making my pants tighten uncomfortably.

“Hey, you stop that now, Alpha boy,” Mr. Greyback barked at me. I looked at him raising my eyebrow.

“And what am I doing?”

“Now you’re cleaning my gutters,” he said, throwing a pair of gloves at me. “Ladder is in the shed.”

I rolled my eyes as he walked away. I guess maybe I could use this as an excuse to have dinner with her later.