His Redemption (Complete His Series)

LIAM

When I finally calmed down last night, Azalea wouldn’t speak to me. I knew it was punishment for my behavior. Gavin had to point out that I was directing everything at her, which was unfair to her. I hated how right he could sometimes be.

She took a long, hot bath, then took her time to braid her hair, and Goddess knows what else before she finally retired from the bathroom. She glided right past me to climb into bed, and I had to rush around the bed and stop her to get her to listen to my apology.

When I agreed not to kick Azeron out of the pack, for the time being, she let go of her anger with me. She ended up under me once again, and I fell asleep exhausted.

I woke up to a message from Damien asking to talk after breakfast this morning. After waking Azalea up, we started our day. I didn’t see Damien when we were eating, so after getting the kids off to school for Azalea and Lily, I went to my office to wait. Beta Meadow had sent over some things that she believed Warwick was involved with, business associations and transactions. She was a pretty impressive she-wolf. Alpha Lombardi certainly seemed challenging to work with, but she somehow managed to do that and help us. I needed to look over the information she sent as well as start looking at making arrangements for my father.

As I worked, I found it difficult to concentrate with my father’s arrangements hanging over my head. Just as I was about to find Azalea to distract me for a few minutes, Damien’s head popped through the doorway.

“Hey,” I said.

“Is now a bad time?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “I needed a break from all this anyway.” I waved to the printouts in front of me. I started haphazardly piling and moving them to the side. “What did you want to talk about?”

Damien’s shoulders dropped a bit as he came in and sat in the chair across from me. We had been in this same position so many times I couldn’t even count.

“Still got that whiskey?” he asked. I furrowed my brow.

“Is it that bad?” I asked. He just shrugged. I dug into my bottom drawer and pulled out the small liquor bottle and two glasses. I poured us each a double, and Damien reached forward to grab a glass.

He took a long swig and swirled his drink around in his glass. “Spit it out,” I said, taking a sip.

“You need to decide who will replace me,” he said without making eye contact.

“Replace you?” I asked, setting my glass down.

“Liam, I am resigning as your Beta,” he said, finally looking up at me.

“No, you aren’t!” I barked.

“Don’t do that. Don’t make this harder,” he said, looking away again. He took another drink before continuing. “Liam, I can’t be Beta like this. Who would look up to me? I am ruined. We both know that I may never be able to connect with Cage again. I can’t help you lead a pack of wolves when I have no idea if I will ever have control of mine again.”

“No, Damien, I don’t accept this,” I said. I was completely blindsided. Yes, things weren’t magically fixed now that he was awake, but that didn’t matter. We knew what was wrong, and we would continue to look for a fix. How could he even think that I wanted him to resign in any world?

“Liam, you need to stop thinking about this like I am your best friend. You are Alpha, and you need to do what is best for the pack,” he said in a defeated voice. “I have thought a lot about this. There is a lot of quiet in my head now with Cage gone.”

“No Damien, you need to stop!” I said angrily. “You listen to me; you will not be resigning as Beta! You are right: I am Alpha, and I need to think about the welfare of this pack above our friendship. But guess what? The best thing for this pack is to have an Alpha with a Beta he can trust above all else. You have never let me down, ever. You call me on my s**t and put me in my place when I need it. Without all your help, I would never be in the position I am. Our pack would not be as healthy and thriving as it is. I wouldn’t be sitting here because I would never have gotten Azalea back after all the times she has been targeted. I am only the Alpha I am because my best friend is the best Beta on this planet. I will not accept losing you just because of this little issue.”

“Little issue? Liam, I have no access to Cage! I can’t do anything while shifted because I am not in control, and Cage has no clue what is happening. I can’t help you when I can’t even help myself!” I could hear the frustration and anguish in his voice. He didn’t want this, but his conscience told him he had to do this. He didn’t have Cage in his head backing him up anymore. He lost his confidence without his wolf.

“You don’t need to help yourself because you have me! And Lily and Azalea too! None of us will stop until we figure this out or find someone who can. This pack doesn’t need a change in leadership right in the middle of a war. They need the Beta they love and trust to recover and come back to them, to show our enemies that they can knock us down, but we will get back up and keep fighting!” I stood up and turned around, squeezing the bridge of my nose between my fingers. Damien couldn’t do this, not when I just lost my father. I needed him.

“I’m sorry,” he said, breaking the tense silence between us. I turned around, and he had his head hung, slowly swirling the last dregs of his drink. He slowly finished it and placed the glass on my desk.

“You don’t need to be sorry for what happened. But I will not let you make this mistake, and that is what this is, Damien, a mistake. Does Lily even know what you are in here to do?”

He shook his head, still not making eye contact. “Damien, we have been through too much for you to quit on me now. If you do this, I can’t win this war. Warwick will find a way to take everything from me, kill our entire pack then me. He will ruin our whole world if you don’t help me stop him. Don’t make me do this without you.” It was a plea but also a command. He couldn’t quit the job he spent his whole life training for, working his a*s off for. Betas were chosen; it wasn’t a birthright like being the firstborn child to an Alpha. Damien was taught that by his father from a very young age and ensured that he would never be anything less than the perfect candidate for the job. He pushed me and kept me in line when I was spiraling. In some ways, I needed him just as much as I needed Azalea.

“If I hurt someone…” he started.

“You won’t,” I stopped him. He looked up at me. “I won’t let you do it. Cage won’t hurt someone if we can figure out how to keep him sane until you are connected again. Letting him out regularly will help.”

Damien nodded. “What if this is a mistake?” he asked.

“It isn’t,” I told him. “I know that because I know you, and you already have some ideas on how exactly we take out this son of a bitch.”

The corner of his mouth twitched up in a half-smile. “I might have a thought or two. Got a lot of time on my hands to think while I am working out.”

“Pour another round and fill me in,” I said, retaking my seat. Damien reached over the desk and refilled both our glasses; then, we got down to business.

AZALEA

Liam was busy in his office and had been radio silent. It was a nice break considering he apologized before bed only to pull me under the covers and wanted s*x again. I then woke up to Liam kissing his way down my body, which ended in another o****m.

I know everyone processes grief in their own way, but I was worried he was avoiding his feelings through s*x. I had to push my worries aside and figure out what to do about meeting with Warwick.

Now that Felix was with me every day again, I felt like I had a small amount of flexibility in his proximity. Azeron had taken Liam’s directions very seriously and seldom left me in a room alone. Felix would at least go to the hall when he could tell I was not in the mood for company or needed to have a sensitive conversation.

I needed to do something to put a stop to all of this. As things went on, the stakes became higher. Now Robert was dead, and I could see Liam hurting even more. He was upset about the old man, but I think he was more hurt because I was hurting. I couldn’t bear to see him hurt anymore, and I wanted to find a way to stop this before he ran off to risk his life to kill Warwick. I didn’t want to lose my mate, and I didn’t want this fight to be inherited by our children either. If I could figure out what started this all years ago, maybe I could find a compromise to end the conflict.

The first order of business was obtaining a witch. I wasn’t even sure where to look. I couldn’t exactly broadcast what I was doing either. My eyes fell to the velvet box I had placed on my desk. An idea struck me, and it sent in motion a whole plan.

I reached for my phone to call Theodore first when someone knocked and opened my door. Lyssa walked in with Felix shrugging his shoulders from the doorway behind her. I set my phone back down and smiled softly at her.

“Lyssa, it’s nice to see you. How are you feeling?” I asked.

“I’ve seen better days,” she said. She gravitated right over to the baby swing where Azly was laying, dozing contentedly. She bent over, smiling happily at her.

“Did you need something?” I asked her. I was hoping that I could leave after my phone call. This Warwick matter seemed time-sensitive, so I wanted to figure it out quickly. If I could find a way to get him to back off his crusade, maybe we could end this without any more bloodshed.

“No,” she said. “I just thought I would come to see my grandpup. Not much to do all alone in the house.”

My heart squeezed. She was lonely. It was the first time I had seen her since we made it back to tell her. She looked older and tired. Maybe even a bit thinner. Of course, she was getting older, but she wasn’t too old by werewolf standards at all. Losing Robert was having a physical effect on her. I hoped she wasn’t too hurt; losing one’s mate often led to suicide to escape the pain.

“Would you like to spend the afternoon with Azly possibly?” I asked her. She smiled, looking up at me.

“Would that be alright?” she asked.

“Of course,” I said quickly. “Actually, I was about to pop out to meet someone, so it would be extremely helpful.”

“I would love to watch her,” she said. Her face relaxed a bit, and she went back to looking at her. Azly’s eyes fluttered open, and she let out a happy little coo. “I would be happy to collect the boys after school too. Delilah and Lucas as well.”

“I’m sure that would be okay. They may want to play games in the backyard after school. That is where they usually end up with Felix,” I told her.

“Azly and I can cheer them on,” she said with a big grin on her face. She bent over and carefully picked up my baby girl. “Right, little princess?” She was lost in Azly now. If spending time with the kids helped her through the grief, I couldn’t deny her time with them.

“Okay,” I said. “Felix and I will be back later. I will text you if I won’t be home in time for the boys.”

“Be safe,” she said, not looking up from Azly.

I grabbed my cellphone and purse, then stuffed the watch box inside and headed to the door where Felix stood, listening. I looked at him as I walked by. “Can you let Liam know that his mother is here and watching the kids for the rest of the day? We need to visit Theodore; he should be staying somewhere right outside the town.”

Felix nodded. “I know where he is.”

“Great,” I smiled happily and headed down the hall. If I did this all correctly, I could figure out how this watch works and get myself a witch to help facilitate the meeting with Warwick. If I didn’t, Liam would be furious, and I would end up on lockdown until this war was over. All I hoped was that it was the former.