His Redemption (Complete His Series)

Missy

Maddox and I had lunch then got ready to swim. I could tell he wanted to ask about my conversation with Vlad, but I wasn’t prepared to talk about it yet. He did his best to take my mind off the whole thing, which I appreciated. When I was coming down the stairs to meet Maddox outside, Lily stopped me.

“Hey Missy,” she said.

“Hi, Lily,” I said.

“We have some more kids joining the pack. There are a couple of high school age ones. Would you mind maybe hanging out with them this afternoon? Making them feel welcome?” she asked.

“Sure,” I said. “Maddox and I were just going to swim for a bit. They can come out and join us,” I told her. She smiled, looking slightly relieved.

“You are such a good girl. I will bring them down in a bit!” she said. I nodded and headed outside to Maddox. He sat on the edge of the pool, his legs already dipped into the water.

“There you are,” he said as I came over to him.

“Sorry. I got stopped by Lily. You wouldn’t mind some company, would you?” I asked.

His face dropped a bit. “I guess not,” he said.

“Apparently, we have some more wolves joining the pack, and Lily asked if I could make them feel welcome,” I explained.

Maddox leaned back on his arms, one of them posting behind me. “Guess I can’t really complain. If your mom hadn’t asked you to do the same with us, I would never have met you,” he said quietly. My cheeks heated up, and I looked away.

Maddox sat up and slipped down into the water, splashing me playfully. I pursed my lips and pushed myself down into the water, going after him. He laughed and tried to swim away from me, but I was faster. I splashed him mercilessly, laughing at his retreat. He ducked under the water before I could catch him again. I searched the water as the surface settled, ready to strike as soon as he surfaced.

The water broke behind me, and Maddox jumped out, grabbing onto my shoulders. He pulled me backward with him, submerging me by surprise. I wiggled out of his grip and kicked myself back to the air above. When we both came out of the water, Maddox was laughing triumphantly.

“That was sneaky,” I gasped, dragging in air.

“You splashed me. All is fair in love and war, darling,” he teased. I just rolled my eyes and pushed myself towards the side of the pool. The back door to the packhouse opened, and Lily came out with three people, two girls, and a guy.

“Missy,” she called.

“Hey!” I called back. Maddox swam up behind me.

Lily brought the people over to the pool with us. “This is Emmett, Alexandra, and Juliette,” she said, introducing them.

“Hi. I’m Missy, and this is Maddox,” I said.

“Call me, Julie,” the taller girl said.

“Marci is going to send out some snacks and drinks in a bit. Have fun,” Lily said. She hurried away, clearly excited to be relieved of this task.

“You guys want to get in?” I asked. Emmett smirked. He reminded me of Damien a little. He was large and bulky, but he had long hair pushed back away from his face. He dropped the towel in his hand and ran the remaining distance to the pool, jumping in with a large splash. He emerged from the water right behind me, scaring Maddox.

“I’m Emmett,” he said with a cocky grin. His confidence was apparent.

“You’re in my personal space,” I pointed out.

He shrugged. “Are you complaining?”

“Emmett, her boyfriend is going to deck you if you don’t back up,” Julie said above us. Emmett looked up at her while I looked over his shoulder at Maddox, who looked irritated.

“Not my boyfriend,” I said quickly.

“Really?” Emmett said excitedly.

“Ignore him; we do,” Julie said. She sat down on the pool’s edge next to me. “Come on, Allie,” she said, pulling the quiet girl down to join us. She reached forward, flicking Emmett in the forehead. He rubbed the spot and scowled as he put some space between us.

Maddox moved closer to me. “If you two aren’t dating, what are you?” Emmett asked. Julie splashed him.

“Emmett, you have been in this pack less than a day. Can you not try and get in a girl’s pants?” she asked, annoyed. “Sorry. He’s kind of a slut.”

“It’s okay,” I laughed. “I’m definitely not gonna be the one he wants to chase.”

“Why?” Julie asked.

“Her dad is the Alpha, and she has a warrior watching her 24/7,” Maddox told them, his finger pointing to the wolf lying in the grass only 30 or so yards away from the pool, bored eyes watching all of us. Julie looked surprised.

“You are the Alpha’s kid? Wait, do you have an older brother?” she asked.

“No, why?”

“The first-born child of an Alpha is always a male. You are what 16, 17? You should have an older brother getting ready to take over the pack,” she said.

I looked down into the water, trying to hide my embarrassment; I hated this part about meeting new people. Maddox placed a hand on my back under the water. “There are exceptions to the rules,” Maddox said, coming to my rescue.

“Well, if you ever want to have some fun, I don’t mind an audience,” Emmett said. I looked up at him to see him wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. I splashed him at the same time as Julie, and we both laughed.

–

The afternoon was fun. We all hung out and played games in the water. I kept finding Maddox near me, especially when Emmett came close. We stayed in the pool until right before dinner. We all changed then Maddox, and I met Felix, Junior, and Leo in the dining room for dinner. Liam and Lea were up in their room for the night, spending some time alone. I bet they just needed a break after all the stress they have been under.

After dinner, Junior and Leo ran off to play with Delilah and Lucas some more, Felix following them dutifully. Maddox and I went up to my room, deciding to do our movie marathon upstairs so we wouldn’t be watched all night. He seemed relieved I didn’t suggest that Allie, Julie, or Emmett join us.

We sat on my bed, a comfortable space between us. I picked the first movie, and we made it almost all the way through before my brothers crashed our party. Leo seemed determined to watch movies with us, planting himself between Maddox and me.

Maddox

I wasn’t surprised when Little Liam and Leo came into their sister’s room. She said they had been crawling into her bed every night since the kidnapping. Last night, Leo came in after Missy fell asleep, and we were lying together. He scowled at me but left the room, and us, alone. Having her with me last night and all day today made me feel calm. I haven’t forgiven myself for what happened, and I wasn’t going to let it happen again.

We put on a kid-friendly movie with our new company. The movie was only playing for a couple of minutes when I heard Little Liam say something.

“Hey, Maddox,” he said. I looked at him, but he was staring at the TV. Did I imagine that? “Maddox,” he said again. “Oh yea, I can link.”

I looked over at Missy, who was being cuddled by Leo. “Liam?” I tried linking him back.

“Yea, I can link you, but I have a question.”

“Um, alright?”

“Will you train me?” I looked at the kid again, confused by his question, but he continued watching the movie.

“Why?”

“To protect people.”

“Why?”

“To protect people.”

“What about your dad?”

“He says I am too little, and I don’t need to worry about it. But Leo got hurt, and Delilah was scared. I couldn’t protect them.”

“If your dad said no, I’m not sure I should, bud.”

“Please, Maddox? I want to be a strong Alpha. You’re strong; you keep Sissy safe.” If only he knew how much better I needed to do in keeping her safe. I had to admire his tenacity, though. He was clearly still dealing with what happened, but he is trying to do something about his fear rather than hide from it.

“If Missy says it’s okay, I will do it,” I gave in. He was already going to have a natural ability in his b***d to be strong and fast. At least if I helped him, I could make sure he didn’t get hurt. His face grew into an excited grin. I held back a laugh, knowing he would probably be able to convince his sister; she loved him too much not to let him do the things he wanted to.

–

Missy managed to convince her brothers to sleep in their rooms tonight. She left to tuck them in while I changed the movie for us. “I think we might finally be rid of them for the night, although I just had to barter away the first slice of my birthday cake,” she laughed as she crawled back into the bed. She pulled her blanket over her, getting comfortable again.

“Let me guess, Leo?”

“Yea,” she giggled. “Kid drives a hard bargain, but he is hard to say no to.”

“You didn’t tell me Junior can link already,” I said.

“Oh, yea. I forget sometimes. You know how Lea can heal people?” I nodded. “Well, I guess she comes from a pack where some wolves were blessed with special abilities. Liam took over the pack before they got married or something. So, some people here can do strange stuff. Junior has been able to link us all since he was really little. It took him a while to figure out how to direct it at a person, though,” she explained.

“Wow,” I said, amazed.

“Yea, we have this teacher at school who can do superhuman math in his head in a split second. And a girl in the class below me can make things float,” she said nonchalantly. She grabbed the remote and hit the play button. She tried to hide her yawn.

“Do you want me to let you go to bed?” I asked quietly.

“No,” she said. “I’m not tired.” But that was a lie because, within ten minutes, she was slumped against me, sleeping soundly. My wolf preened in the delight of having her so close. I stayed still like that for most of the movie, wondering if I should push my luck and sleep in her bed again tonight. While the debate lingered in my head, there was a soft knock at her door. I turned my head to see Alpha leaning against the doorframe.

I went to move, and he shook his head. “It’s alright,” he said softly.

“I can go, sir,” I told him.

“You care for her,” he observed. I nodded my head. He watched us for another minute, an oddly conflicted look across his face. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was debating in his head as he looked at his daughter lying with a guy in her bed. “I won’t send you away as long as you respect her.”

“Always,” I told him.

“That means if she is mates with the other one, you respect that too,” he said. I nodded. He stood up to his full height. Alpha Liam is an impressive man, not just physically. It’s no wonder his pack holds so much respect for him and his family. Before he left, he added, “And it would do you good to remember that her mother and I are right down the hall.” My eyes went wide at his parting words, and all I could do was idiotically nod.