His Redemption (Complete His Series)

Azalea

I fell asleep in Liam’s arms. I know I should be afraid of my heat coming back and him trying to attack me again, but I was not. All I wanted was him. Even when I was scared of what he was going to do, I realized I was more afraid that he was leaving me than anything else.

I don’t know how long I slept, but I know that Liam never let go of me. I opened my eyes slowly, trying to wake up.

“Hey, baby. How did you sleep?” Liam’s deep voice surrounded me. Looking up slightly, his blue eyes peered down at me. His face looked worried.

“Mmmm, good,” I hummed softly. I reached up, placing my hand on his cheek. He leaned into my touch.

“Lily and Damien are downstairs cooking some dinner for all of us,” he finally said. “We thought it was best that they stay here with us for now. Is that okay?” he asked. I nodded my head. He shifted me on his lap so that I was facing him now. “We really need to talk,” he said, running his hand through my hair.

“I know,” I said.

He let out a breath. The look on his face told me he didn’t know what to say exactly. “So, your heat…” he finally said.

“Yea,” I said.

“I don’t want to mate if you aren’t ready, baby. But I am not going to lie to you; this is going to be really difficult. Did Lily tell you about what is going to happen?”

“Not really. Just that this will last at least a couple of days, and you will continue to want to mate with me until it’s over.”

“What did you feel earlier? When you came into the house?”

“I was uncomfortably hot. I had taken my sweater off while I was on the porch, and I was still hot. I was trying to get some ice water when you… found me…”

He sighed. “Well, I think I should tell you that it is going to get worse from here. I don’t want to scare you, but I want to be honest with you. Your body is going to feel even hotter, and we will only be able to cool you down a little with cold water. The need will become physically painful; your entire body is going to crave my touch…” he trailed off. I tried to absorb what he was saying.

“What about you?” I finally asked.

“Me?” he asked, surprised.

“Yea, what about you? You didn’t seem like you were okay today… then you had to run from me….”

“It will get harder for me to resist the longer we go on, but I think I have it under control now. That is another thing I wanted to talk to you about…” he finished hesitantly. I looked at him, confused. “I had a talk with Gavin. He said he would calm down and refrain from his insistence on mating you for a little while, but…” he paused. With a sigh, he continued, “He wants to spend some time with you. He can’t access your wolf, so he feels an attachment to you just as I do. He promised to behave if you would agree.” Liam looked at me with hesitance. I could tell he was worried I would refuse.

“I would love to meet Gavin, Liam,” I said with a big grin. His shoulders relaxed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course. He is a part of you; why wouldn’t I want to meet him?” Liam’s face looked elated; he looked like a weight was lifting from his chest. He pulled me to him in an enthusiastic hug. He pulled away just enough to capture my lips in a sweet k**s. I kissed him back, trying to express how much I felt for him. A knock on the door interrupted us.

“Alright, love birds, dinner is ready,” came a gruff voice from the doorway. Liam stopped kissing me and looked over my head toward the doorway.

“We’ll be right there,” he said, looking back down to me. I could feel my cheeks burning. “Let’s go eat. We can talk more later, okay?” he said with a chuckle. I guess my embarrassment was comical to him. I nodded at him. With another quick k**s on the lips, he let me climb off his lap.

Looking down, I realized I was still wearing his oversized sweater and a pair of leggings. Before I could walk away to change, Liam grabbed my hand. “No, you look pretty. I like you in my sweatshirt,” he said like he could read my mind. I blushed again.

“Okay,” I said. He grabbed my hand, and we walked down to the kitchen together.

–

Walking into the kitchen with Liam, we found Lily and Damien setting the table. Damien looked more or less the same as I remembered. He was just slightly larger and more muscular than before. He was still the largest werewolf I had ever seen. I had heard his friends make were-bear jokes around the packhouse. I could honestly say it would not surprise me.

Lily turned around when she noticed us. “Hey, there!” she said, coming over to me. She pulled me into a hug, squishing me to her quite forcefully.

“Hey, Lil, unhand my mate, would ya?” Liam said next to us.

Lily let go of me. “Right, sorry. She’s just so cute and sweet. Feels like I already have a sister!” she said with a laugh. The serious atmosphere from earlier events was obviously forgotten. “You guys hungry?”

“Always,” said Damien coming up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her from behind. “Hi, Azalea. I don’t know if you remember me, but I am Damien. I am Liam’s Beta. It’s nice to meet you again,” he said, looking at me.

“I remember. It’s nice to meet you again as well,” I said. It was hard enough wrapping my head around everything that has happened with Liam but now accepting everyone else who tormented me being nice was going to take some work.

Damien could sense my hesitancy. “Sorry for everything that happened, ya know, before…” he started with a worried look at Lily. “I hope you can give us all a second chance.” Lily gave him a knowing look. Damien pretended not to notice, but I could tell she made him nervous.

I giggled. “It’s okay. No worries at all. The past is the past,” I said, trying to reassure both of us. Damien didn’t seem like a bad guy, and Liam trusted him completely, or they wouldn’t be here right now.

“Let’s eat,” Liam said with a hopeful look.

“We have roasted chicken, a potato salad, some steamed veggies, and I tried to make some dinner rolls, but they kind of turned out horribly, so there is some cornbread in the oven that will be ready in just a few,” Lily said untangling herself from Damien’s arms.

“Oh no! I could have helped,” I said as Liam pulled me along to the dinette table.

“You can bake?” Lily asked me. Damien pulled out her chair. Her attention was momentarily shifted to him. A loving look passed between them as he scooted her chair in for her. She looked back at me with a smile still on her face.

“Uh, yes, actually, it’s one of my favorite things to do,” I told her.

“Oh, can you make croissants? You know the fancy ones with different flavors inside?” she asked excitedly, looking at Liam.

I looked at him, confused for a moment. “Yea, I have been making those since I was about 12; why?” I said with a nervous giggle.

“No reason,” she said, giggling. I looked between her and Liam, confused for a minute. A timer dinged over the stove. “That is the cornbread. Y’all dig in; I’ll be right back!” she said, getting up.

We all filled our plates and dug in. Dinner was filled with pleasant conversation and laughter. Damien was the least talkative of the group; Lily was clearly the one who liked to talk more. They seemed like the perfect couple. When we finished, both boys got up to get our plates and clear the table. I looked at Lily; she shrugged, telling me, “I’ve trained them well. You’re welcome,” which earned her a laugh from me.

While the boys cleaned up the meal, Lily grabbed us a bottle of wine and a couple of glasses. We went to the back patio and sat down. She poured us each generous glasses, handing me one.

“If I drink all this, I may pass out,” I said.

Her eyes got really big, “Oh no, the whole not a normal wolf thing! You do not have our tolerance! You probably shouldn’t drink that!” she said worriedly. I laughed.

Setting my glass on the table next to us, I said, “It’s okay. I am not much of a drinker anyway.”

“I am sorry. I will probably make an a*s out myself 100 different ways this week being forgetful.”

“Ha. It’s really alright,” I told her.

“So, are you doing okay?” she asked, clearly waiting to talk about everything.

“Yea, I am okay.”

“Are you ready for what’s going to happen?”

“More or less. Liam got Gavin to calm down if I agreed to meet him, but we haven’t talked about that yet.”

“Whew. Be careful. I have seen Liam when he lets Gavin out….”

“Wait. What do you mean?”

“Liam is an Alpha. His wolf is much more…. primal… than some. I don’t think he would intentionally hurt you, but he can be very aggressive.” she said with a little bit of worry.

“I trust Liam and Gavin,” I said, looking out over the lake.

Soon enough, the boys joined us outside. Liam picked me up, sitting in my now vacant seat and placing me in his lap. Lily laughed at us. “You two are seriously too cute for me; we are going to bed,” she said, downing the rest of her wine glass. She gave Damien a look, and his eyes shot up. He hopped up right away, grabbing her hand to drag her away. We laughed as they ran inside and probably to one of the other bedrooms.

Liam pulled me closer, running his nose up and down my neck. “Mmmm,” I said, enjoying the feeling. We cuddled for a minute before I asked, “When do I get to meet Gavin?”

Liam sighed. “I guess the sooner we get this over with, the better,” he said.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

I looked him in his eyes. I could see the concern in his bright blue orbs. “It will be okay. And if this calms him down, I want to do it,” I told him. Liam gave me a tight smile.

He stood up, placing me on the ground. Grabbing my hand, he led me through the house and back to our bedroom.