His Redemption (Complete His Series)

LIAM

Azalea stayed cuddled up to me all night. I knew she was still a bit shaken after being attacked like that, and I still had Jett and Lance to deal with. I had them put in a room and a warrior stationed outside the door until I could decide what to do. I knew the clock was running out on that, but I wanted to hold onto my mate for just a bit longer.

There was a knock at our door before I was ready to get moving for the day. I sighed as Azalea stirred. “Liam, it’s your father. I would like to speak with you,” my father’s voice came from the other side of the door.

“What is your dad doing here so early?” Azalea asked.

“I’m not sure I want to know….” I told her.

“I will wait in your office.” We heard him say before footsteps sounded down the hall.

“I guess that is our cue to get going for today,” Azalea said, stretching.

“How do you feel?” I asked, running my fingers down her back. She hummed softly and gave me a sleepy look.

“Fine,” she said, leaning over to k**s me. “Let’s get dressed. Your father is grumpier when you make him wait long.”

–

When I walked into my office, my father was standing off to the side, looking at a few photos on my bookshelf. He didn’t flinch when I entered; I stopped at the center of the room and crossed my arms. “You wanted to discuss something?” I prompted.

“Yes,” he said. He paused, still looking at the photos in front of him. I waited impatiently for him to spill whatever was so important.

“I have held onto certain misconceptions that have prevented me from accurately passing judgment on your performance as Alpha as well as your mate’s as Luna,” he said carefully.

“Misconceptions? Judgment on our performance?” I questioned.

“Yes,” he said. “I have not given you the credit that is owed to you or your mate. This altercation with the vampire has not put you in an easy position, and I have not given you enough credit for that.”

“Dad, is this an apology?”

“You and your mate are doing an adequate job of leading this pack and raising the future leadership,” he said, finally looking at me. “Even if it is not the way I would do things, I should not be so critical of your performance.”

I stared at my father, stunned. If this was an apology, it was absolute s**t. I weighed my options, not sure how to approach his words. My father wasn’t one to readily admit fault, and I genuinely wondered if my mother made him come here.

“Does Mom know you’re here?” I asked cautiously.

“No, your mother is preparing breakfast for your children at the moment,” he said. “I told her I had a quick errand to run, but I would be back to eat with them.”

“Ah,” I said, nodding absently. He continued to give me a stern look, and I could tell how tense and uncomfortable he was. “So, does this mean you will cease the insults of Azalea?”

“When they are unwarranted, yes,” my father agreed. I watched him for a moment; I could tell it took a lot for him to come in here and say this much.

I shook my head and threaded my hand through my hair. “You should tell Azalea this,” I said, looking at him.

“I trust you can relay the message,” he grunted. He moved past me to exit the office but stopped with his hand on the door. “Your mate stood in front of an assembly of Alphas after being attacked by one. She didn’t cower or hide. She has admirable confidence for someone with limitations in our world.”

With that, he left the office. I should have known he would find out about what happened after he stormed out yesterday. That had to be his way of telling me that Azalea isn’t weak or worthless.

“Your father sucks, but he is right about Little Mate this time,” Gavin said.

“It’s probably too late to work on his apology skills, though,” I sighed.

“Let’s get Little Mate,” Gavin said, done with this morning confessional.

–

I didn’t tell Azalea about the conversation with my father until later that night after my mother brought back the kids. I was happy to have them all home. The boys bombarded their mother immediately, so I took Azly and let her tend to them.

Azly and I went upstairs to my office while Azalea took the boys for a bath. She cooed and drooled up at me, eliciting a smile despite my grumpy mood. Austin joined me in my office.

“Langston sent his head warrior with Jett and Lance back to their territory. He will be watching them for a while,” he informed. “Oh hey there, Princess.” Austin smiled at Azly.

“One of my daughters already grew up with a crush on you; let’s not make it two,” I rolled my eyes.

“Fair enough. She is still a princess,” he said, laughing. “You did well, Liam. I don’t like that Lea and Emma got attacked, but it all worked out, I think.”

“No outcome justifies my mate being attacked right under my nose,” I said in a low voice.

“You’re right. We got a lot of work ahead; none of these other packs have fought these guys before,” he said. I shook my head.

“No, they haven’t.”

–

After everyone departed from the summit, the real work began. I spent half my days training with my warriors and those sent to us from other packs. Many of these warriors had different fighting styles and ways of training, so it was proving to be a challenge to organize it all. More than ever, I wished Damien were awake to help me.

Azalea went to the clinic every day to try and heal Damien. Some days, she was very frustrated when she returned, and I knew she was slowly becoming discouraged. But when I was not training, I was buried under paperwork.

I saw less and less of Lily, and I did not think Azalea saw much of her outside of the clinic. I was getting worried about her the longer that Damien was asleep.

Azalea had tried to take on some of my more usual Alpha duties to allow me to focus on all the information we were gathering about possible vampire activity. Now that we had so many allies, information was being shared more readily. We even discovered more packs that Warwick had destroyed in his previous attempt to create packs of rogues by the other Alphas that had accepted the wandering survivors as we had.

Beta Meadow was sending us information under her Alpha’s nose as well. Having her resources at our disposal, even minutely, was a significant help. She promised to send us some warriors as well.

Maddox and Missy went back to being inseparable. I even found Missy with Maddox and Felix on the training grounds one evening. I was not opposed to my daughter learning to fight, but I was worried about her possible misconceptions. She would be going nowhere close to any fighting if I had anything to say about it. I wanted her and her mate to finish high school and choose a career path; I did not want them risking their lives in this war.

When Azalea told me that Missy and Maddox had started staying at her house all the time and simply stopped coming home to the packhouse at night, I was worried they were taking things too fast. She tried to remind me how perfectly normal this was for mated wolves, but it still didn’t sit well with me.

When I noticed them both not a dinner one night about a week after the summit, I decided to pay them a visit. Azalea tried to stop me, but I thought it was time for a frank conversation with my daughter.

When I arrived at her house, I was not surprised to see lights on from the inside. I knocked on the door and waited patiently. Missy opened the door, and her eyes grew wide.

“Liam,” she gasped.

“Hi, sweetheart. We missed you at dinner tonight,” I said.

“Oh, uh, Maddox and I wanted to cook dinner together….” she trailed off.

“I think the chicken is done!” I heard Maddox call from inside. Missy looked behind the door, presumably at him.

“Do you want to invite me in?” I asked her.

“Oh, right, please,” she said, stepping back. I stepped inside the house. It smelled like chicken and garlic coming from the kitchen.

“Alpha,” Maddox said with a hint of worry in his voice as he stepped out of the kitchen. He wore a cooking apron over his clothes.

“Good evening, Maddox,” I greeted him. “If you don’t mind, I would like to have a conversation with Missy. We won’t be long.”

“Oh, of course. I’ll just keep dinner warm. Will you be staying?” he asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “I just came to talk to Missy for a minute.” Maddox nodded and left us standing in the entryway after giving Missy a sympathetic look.

“Uh, do you wanna sit down?” she asked, motioning to the couch.

“Sure,” I said. She led the way over to the couch and sat down. I took a seat on the other end, looking around the room.

“It looks great in here,” I told her.

“Maddox helped a lot,” she said. I nodded. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

“I am not very comfortable with you living all the way out here with your mate, Missy,” I told her. If she thought she was old enough to move out, then I didn’t need to sugarcoat this for her. “We would like you to come back to the packhouse.”

She just stared at me for a moment, blinking her wide eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“Your mother and I want to make sure you are focused on what is important. School. Your future. I know everything seems easy and happy right now but living with your mate is a big decision and distraction,” I explained.

“But I will go to school. Why can’t I do both?” she asked.

“We would feel much better if you were at the packhouse with us,” I reinforced. “I also want to talk about the training.”

“What do you mean?”

“While I have nothing against you training with Maddox or Felix, I want to make sure you and your mate have no misconceptions. You will not be going near anything to do with this war.”

“Isn’t it a bit late for that?” she asked boldly.

“Excuse me?”

“Dad, I was kidnapped by Warwick. I am your daughter, so I am a target.”

“And I won’t allow it to happen again.” I could see tears starting to form in her eyes. She didn’t like what I was telling her.

She released a shaky breath. “Do you know what this whole war thing has taught me so far?” she finally said. I allowed her to continue. “It taught me that I am not okay with being weak anymore. Dad, I was so scared in that cell. Scared for me, scared for mom. I wanted to tear Vlad apart for what he caused, and I was so happy he wasn’t my mate, but I also felt so helpless. I never want to feel that way again.” She paused, looking away from me toward the kitchen. “When that vampire got into the cell before you could get through the door, I thought I was dead. But I was determined to leave that place. I am so thankful you and Maddox got to me in time, but I never want to have to wait to be rescued. When I stopped that Beta from hurting Emma, it felt so good. I have no idea how I did it, but I am glad I did it.”

“I never want you to feel that way either, but that makes it my job as your father to keep you out of that kind of danger. It is much harder to do that when you are not living under my roof,” I argued.

She shook her head. “I’m of age now. I’m an adult and can make my own decisions. I want to be here with Maddox. He makes me feel safe, Dad. And he is teaching me how to fight, so I won’t have to feel scared.”

“I don’t want you to train because it was his idea,” I said.

“It wasn’t!” she defended. “It was mine! Maddox would never ask me to do something I didn’t want to like that. And we do intend to finish school. I know it’s important to Mom that I do, and I won’t disappoint her. I just feel like it’s time to leave the packhouse.”

I watched her for a minute. The longer she defended her actions and decisions, the taller she sat. She reminded me of Azalea a bit. The more confident about something she was, the more she would argue with you about it. She would get the same steely look in her eyes.

“I have some conditions,” I sighed. Her face slowly lit up with realization. She nodded excitedly.

“Number one, school is above everything else. Above training and your mate. You will graduate, and so will he,” I said. She nodded. “Number two, you will not wander off anywhere alone. If Maddox isn’t with you, stay with your friends. You are safer in numbers.” She nodded again. “And number three, you will not make me a grandfather for at least three more years.” Her eyes got wide, and cheeks blushed at that one, but she nodded. “Go talk to the doctor about all that, but if you can follow those rules, you both can live here without your mother and I’s input.”

She didn’t say anything, simply jumped at me, tackling me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tightly to me. “I love you, Missy.” I kissed the top of her head, knowing I was going to be seeing less of her.

“I love you, too, Dad,” she mumbled into me. “Thank you.”

–

When I got back to the packhouse, Azalea was waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. “So, how did that go?” she asked with a knowing smile.

“Our first one is officially leaving the nest,” I sighed as I stopped in front of her.

“I knew we couldn’t keep her here much longer,” Azalea admitted. “But Maddox is a good boy. He’ll take care of our girl.”

“Goddess, if they make me a grandfather….” I trailed off, rubbing my hands over my face. Azalea just laughed.

“Your Uncle has already assured me that will not be happening.”

“When did you…?”

“Right after she went into heat. I went ahead and gave him a call just to make sure all the bases were covered.” She smiled confidently at me.

“You are remarkable, Little Luna,” I said, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her flush to me.

“All in a day’s work,” she said with a small giggle.

Sean came running into the packhouse. “Alpha, Luna, we have a problem.”

“What’s going on?” Azalea asked quickly, our moment ruined.

“It’s Mr. Greyback.”