His Redemption (Complete His Series)

Chapter Four

Liam

My 17th birthday is in 2 days. I really hope I find my mate so I can take over being Alpha. It's a stupid tradition honestly. I am ready. I've been training for this all my life.

My mom has this crazy big party planned and she's invited all the of-age she-wolves in the pack that are unmated. She's even got she-wolves from other packs coming. Her and my dad have been having weird, hushed conversations lately and they won't tell me what's going on.

"I'm bored. Let's do something fun!" Gwen chirps as we all walk into the rec room.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked looking at her. The rest of our group joined us on the couches as I turned on the flat screen.

"Well, we could go mess with traitor girl," she shrugged. "That always brings us a laugh." She wasn't wrong. Although lately, every time I watch someone mess with her or I am mean to her, I have this weird feeling in my chest. Maybe I should go talk to the pack doctor.

"What do you have in mind?" Damien asked now on board with whatever plan Gwen was formulating.

"Have any of you seen where she sleeps?"

Azalea

I let out a breath. That should do it for tonight. I looked at the mountain of clean dishes sitting on the counter. I can just come down a few extra minutes early to put these away in the morning.

Alpha Robert and Luna Lyssa were hosting extra people in the pack house currently. Probably for soon to be Alpha Liam's 17th birthday party.

2 months and 5 days…

I would be turning 17 in just 10 days. But there wouldn't be a party, or cake. I hope there won't be a mate either. To most wolves, your 17th birthday is when you can start finding your mate. The one true love the Moon Goddess gives us. I don't think the Moon Goddess is there for me anymore. I wouldn't want my mate to be anyone in our pack who thinks I have traitor blood anyway. They could treat me the same, or even worse, than the rest. Getting a mate will just complicate my plan and I don't want it.

I made my way towards the attic. I just wanted to sleep. Tomorrow I had a very long list of things to do before Liam's party and I was not excited. I managed to fix my textbook well enough that I hopefully won't have to pay for the damage and my tailbone seems to be healed more or less.

I don't know why, but as I climbed the small staircase to my attic, something felt off. My stomach got uneasy the farther I climbed. I don't have wolf senses so I couldn't say someone had been here, but something wasn't right…

I poked my head up and looked around. Despair washed over me. Someone had been up here.

My mirror was lying flat on the floor and I could see shards of glass around it. My blankets tossed about the room. My two pillows had rips in them and stuffing falling out. I began to panic as I realized my clothes were also strewn about the room.

Oh no…

Please no…

Just not that…

I ran over to my desk with drawers hanging open ignoring the glass under my feet. My history report sat torn to pieces on the desk. That didn’t matter right now. I looked in the drawers quickly not finding my stash box anywhere. Oh, Goddess no….

I flipped the already torn apart room over, looking for it. It was gone. It was all gone, and I was almost out of time. What would I do when I left? I couldn't bear to stay longer than graduation.

Tears began streaming down my face. I don't cry. I don't let them see me cry. I bury it inside and remind myself of the plan. But the plan won't work if I don't have any money. I couldn't hold it back any longer. I slid down the wall sitting with my knees pulled to my chest. I cried all the tears that I hadn't shed all these years.

I was running out of hope. I was running out of time. Why now did they do this? What did I do? When would it be enough?

I let the sobs rack my sore body until there was nothing left. I looked at my feet noticing the cuts from the glass. I made my way up the wall and around the glass to find my broom. I swept it up into a pile to deal with later.

I made my way back down the small staircase and down to the omega showers. There was a small first aid kit I could use to clean up my feet in there. I sat on a bench pulling small glass pieces out of my feet and bandaging them up. Small sobs continued to escape my lips, but I gave up trying to fight it.

When the door to the bathroom opened, all the blood drained from my face and I wanted to throw up.

Liam

I couldn't sleep; I couldn't get comfortable. That weird feeling in my chest just kept coming back.

I decided to get up and go to the showers. The omega showers were always my favorite to go in to. As I walked by the showers on my floor, I heard voices and didn't really want to be bothered right now. All the she-wolves running around were really starting to get on my nerves. I decided to go down to the omega showers as it would be late enough that no one would be in there.

I walked in and saw her sitting on a bench with a first aid kit. She looked like she was bandaging her feet. She looked up at me with those dull green eyes and I could see her pale at the sight of me. Her face was tear stained and puffy. Had she been crying? Why was she bandaging her feet?

Oh Goddess. s**t.

Mom is going to kill me. We never intentionally hurt her bad. We definitely never made her cry. Or at least that we knew. She must have stepped through the broken mirror pieces. Damien didn't knock it over intentionally, he's just kind of built like a bear and that space is small. But none of us thought to clean it up.

I walked over to the bench and sat down opposite her. She quickly tried to pack up the first aid kit and move. I reached out my hand to stop her and she flinched away hard. f**k. This feeling again. I just want to make sure we didn't hurt her too badly, so I don't get a lecture tomorrow.

"Let me see," I said to her as softly as I could. She shook her head slowly. She stood like she was going to leave.

"I won't hurt you; I promise. Just let me see your feet," I tried again realizing I couldn't remember her name. She'd always been traitor girl and we just never gave her the time of day to care. She looked at me for a minute clearly trying to figure out her best move. She sat back down on the bench and gingerly pulled her feet back up on it.

"Thanks. Let me just see how bad it is…" I cautiously said as I reached for her foot. She closed her eyes, turning her head away. I could see her whole body tense as I reached for her.

I looked at the bottoms of her feet. She is really lucky for a girl without a wolf. From what I could tell nothing was too deep and most of the bleeding had stopped. I pulled the soiled bandages from her and re-dressed her feet, trying to make it as comfortable to walk as I could. Wolves aren't great at first aid because we heal so quickly. If she had a wolf, her body would have begun healing already. She would be fine in an hour or so. Without a wolf, this will take a week or more to heal.

"That should help," I said, closing the first aid kit. She looked down at her feet as she turned and set them on the floor. She stood to leave giving me a slight nod but never making eye contact.

Before she could retreat out of the door, I turned and said, "Wait! I can't remember your name." She stopped and looked up at me puzzled. I could see the defeat in her eyes, like she was just broken.

"Azalea" she whispered just barely loud enough for my wolf hearing to catch. Why didn’t I know how pretty her name was?

She turned and left the bathroom. My chest ache grew, and I could not figure out why. I hopped in a cold shower then went back to my room.

I hope she doesn't go to mom about her room and the mirror. I do not want an earful about it when it was not my idea. Gwen found the money and took it. Not that I tried to stop her or anything….

Azalea

"Wait! I can't remember your name," he said abruptly, making me freeze. I turned around to see him looking my way. I couldn't read the expression on his face and still couldn't figure out why he helped me.

I couldn't decide if it was too insulting that he couldn't remember my name or if he was playing some kind of weird game. If I didn't tell him, he could get upset and I don't make a habit of upsetting Alphas.

"Azalea," I answered quietly, not trusting my voice to not quiver. I turned and left quickly with fresh tears coming down my face.

I made it back to my attic and over to my bed. I grabbed a pillow and tried to put the stuffing back in. I found my blanket and shook it out trying to make sure no broken glass was on it either.

I lay on my lumpy, old bed and looked out the small window.

2 months and 4 days; I was getting close.