His Redemption (Complete His Series)

Lacey

Alpha Liam wants me to present all the information I have compiled and the possible connections I have made to everyone all at once. It took me a few days, but I may have a few solid theories about what is happening outside of our pack. I walk around the conference room table, setting out the binders that Felix helped me to prepare last night with all the information organized. I am nervous, to say the least. When I worked for my previous Alpha, he had me help with this sort of task frequently, but I only ever had to brief him or a few others, never an entire room full of pack leadership.

Alpha and Luna arrive first, with Felix trailing closely behind. It was only minutes before the room was filling up. Lily and Damien, Austin, Jacob, Sean, and a few others I did not know the names of yet. Finally, Abe joined the group, and all the seats were filled. I stood patiently across from Alpha Liam, waiting for him to start the meeting.

“We all know why we are here. Lacey, if you will tell us what you have found, please,” he said. Everyone in the room turned their attention on me, and I swallowed, trying to rid my throat of its dryness. Felix gave me a subtle nod of encouragement.

With a long exhale, I began, “I have compiled all the information we have gotten from the misplaced wolves that have been taken in by both B***d Eclipse pack and Alpha Langston’s pack, Serenity Waters. I have coupled that with the information that Beta Damien could garner about the area of all the affected packs. I mapped all the attacks looking for a pattern. The only pattern I was able to discern was that these attacks were concentrated past the eastern mountains and were only occurring to remotely located groups of less than 200. We have reliable information to identify 37 attacks across six months. While we cannot be precise, we can estimate a survival rate among these groups of around 15%.”

Once I began speaking, everyone was listening intently. My nervousness went away the more I explained. “I turned to human forms of news reporting to look for signs of any other similar activity that could actually be the same types of attacks. I suspect another 15 attacks of a similar operation.”

“How sure are you about these additional attacks?” Alpha Liam asked, idly flipping through the binder in front of him. Luna was reading a page with intent concentration.

“If I had to apply a number to my confidence? Well….” I thought for a moment. “I would say I am 80% sure these could be similar attacks.” Alpha nodded and said nothing else, so I continued, “While I was looking for information in human news outlets that could be veiled supernatural activity, I came across another trend that I believe to be connected. It took me some time to match up the dates and the route along the map, but there are an increased number of missing persons reports in the denser populated areas near the packs that were destroyed within a couple of days of the attacks. Of course, this is again a guess because we cannot be sure of the exact date of each of these attacks.”

“He’s creating an army,” Alpha muttered. All attention turned to him, but he was silent for a moment.

“Lacey, have the disappearances moved past the region where these attacks were happening?” Luna asked.

I nodded slowly. “From the pattern that I believe to be happening, the attacks on packs lessened as the culprit moved past the eastern mountains, but the disappearances continued.”

“The packs on this side of the mountains are spread much further with bigger territories and larger populations,” Beta said. Alpha nodded.

“So what? He changed his plans after he got to the other side of the mountains and just went along kidnapping people?” Gamma asked.

“No,” Beta said. “The packs were just the beginning, and he only went after the ones he was confident he could eliminate easily. They probably have no patrols or standing guard at all times.”

“Lacey, how close is the last area of increased disappearances?” Alpha asked, his eyes skimming through the information in front of him.

“Travel by car would put the closest area about a day away from us, sir,” I said quietly.

“How many largely populated areas are between that and our pack territory?”

“Depending on the route chosen, there are 6-8 areas he could attack before reaching our pack territory,” I told him. Alpha nodded his head again.

“Lacey, how long do you believe he is spending in the populated areas?” Luna asked, looking up from what she was reading.

“From the times reported as last seen, 4-5 days at most. By the time a trend can be established, he leaves, and they slow once more. Many of these places have rules restricting reporting to 24-48 hours after a disappearance, so the reporting takes time before it is recognized.”

“What do you think, Felix?” Alpha asked. I knew Alpha Liam held Felix in high regard, but openly speaking his opinion in such a crucial matter openly told me Felix was well respected as pack leadership even without a title.

“The rogues weren’t supposed to be peaceful,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Alpha asked.

“He let them escape. If this is a vampire as we suspect, he could have tracked them all down and killed them. If his goal was hurting our population, he could have done that systematically with these small packs. He wanted to make rogues. He wanted them to move west and begin overwhelming packs on this side of the country,” Felix clarified.

“You think the wolves seeking refuge after so long was unintentional?” Beta asked. Felix nodded.

“Abe, what are your thoughts?” Alpha asked.

Abe looked up at me before looking at Alpha. “I think you are right. I think he is making an army. All of these vampires would be young, though. They would not have the speed or strength to overwhelm a werewolf, so I wonder if he has others up his sleeve,” Abe answered.

Alpha was quiet for a few more minutes, chewing on the inside of his cheek while his eyes listlessly scanned over the open page of the binder in front of him.

“Thank you, Lacey. You did very well,” he said, looking up. “Everyone is dismissed for now. Damien, we should talk.” He stood up then helped Luna to her feet. I bowed my head in respect. My eyes met with Felix’s as I rose, catching a proud grin on his face reserved only for me.

Missy

Part of me wishes my birthday would come already. Maddox and Vlad are dizzying. Vlad has been coming by the packhouse almost every day to make amends for what he said before. He brought me flowers one day and lunch another. He offered to help watch the kids even. I didn’t know how I was supposed to feel, and none of my usual methods brought me any clarity. I missed Lemon; I wished I could just go to the Inn and hang out with her for a few days, but I don’t think Liam and Lea would let me after the attack.

Maddox has been sleeping in my room every night. We always end up hanging out after dinner or after he is done training with Felix. One night he came in as I was headed into the bathroom to shower. When I was done, he was passed out across the bed. It wasn’t awkward or strange in any way; it just was. I was a bit worried that Liam would find out and freak out, but Maddox said he thinks we are okay. I did feel a pang of guilt when I saw Vlad. I still wasn’t sure where we stood. But having Maddox around made me feel safe after everything, and I didn’t want to be alone all the time.

I sit on the front porch of the packhouse with Allie waiting for Sol and Julie. We all decided to go to the movies today. Liam said he would send down someone to escort us, and they would drive us. Other than my constant escort, it feels nice to be doing normal teenage stuff outside the packhouse. Before all the new pack members, Vlad and I would hang out, or I would spend time with my siblings. No one else really bothered to try to be my friend after a while.

The front door opens, Sol and Julie coming outside chatting away. They were followed by Maddox, who had a stupidly large grin on his face. “What are you smiling about?” I asked as I stood up.

The front door opens, Sol and Julie coming outside chatting away. They were followed by Maddox, who had a stupidly large grin on his face. “What are you smiling about?” I asked as I stood up.

“I just got a new assignment,” he said proudly. I raised an eyebrow. “Apparently, all the extra training with Felix is paying off.”

“What do you mean?” Sol asked.

“Alpha just put me in charge of Missy’s detail!” he exclaimed.

“Wait, how?” I asked.

“Felix recommended me. I guess Alpha wants someone to be watching you permanently, just like Luna. Felix thought I would be the best fit since we are the same age and grade. Plus, we’re friends, so they don’t think you will complain,” he told us.

“It’s going to be mad awkward when your dad finds out your dating your bodyguard,” Julie teased. Sol snickered.

“We aren’t dating!” I said quickly. That just resulted in more giggling. I looked at Allie, who just shrugged. “Let’s just go,” I said, trying to get everyone off Maddox and me.

Maddox held up the keys to Liam’s SUV. “Who is riding shotgun?”

Maddox

I was not expecting Alpha Liam to put me in charge of protecting Missy again. It has not been that long since the rogue attack. He hasn’t said anything to me since that night that he permitted me to be with Missy, and I hoped this meant that I was forgiven for leaving the kids alone that day.

The more time Missy and I spend together, the more I am sure that she is my mate. Everything feels so right when I am with her. After we went to the movies, the girls wanted dinner, so that is where we went.

When we got back to the packhouse, Little Liam found me right away. “Maddox, you promised!” he said.

“I know. I had an important job today, but how about we go out to the training ground right now?” I said. He squinted his eyes at me but then nodded hesitantly. “Meet me at the backdoor in five minutes.”

“Still training my little brother?” Missy linked me. I turned around to see her standing at the bottom of the stairs, watching our exchange.

“Yep. He is determined. I promised him we would go out to the training ground after dinner, but that was before your dad had me go with you today,” I told her.

“Well, I am going to go up to my room for the rest of the night. Have fun with Junior,” she said, turning around and heading up the stairs.

I swiveled on my heel and headed right for the kitchen to grab some water bottles before I met Junior at the back door. He had a determined look on his face as we walked out towards the training ground. So far, the only thing I really taught him was to punch and kick properly.

“What are you going to teach me tonight?” he asked.

“Hmmm,” I thought for a moment. “Why don’t we work on some falls?”

“Falls?” he asked.

“Yea,” I told him. “If you learn to fall correctly, you can control your body as you go down, and you can keep from getting hurt.”

“But if I am winning a fight, I don’t want to fall down?” he said, confused.

“That’s mostly true. But you won’t win every fight, especially while you are learning. And, sometimes, you can use falling to your advantage,” I told him.

“Really?” he asked. I led us over to the grass outside the sparring ring, where the ground was a bit softer.

“Yea. Let me show you,” I said.