His Redemption (Complete His Series)

I drifted off for a little while in a fitful sleep. I woke up tired and cold. After getting dressed for the day, I made my way up to the inn. It was about 30 minutes until breakfast as I walked into the kitchen. There were a couple of helpers bustling around the kitchen. They momentarily paused as I came in the door. Then quickly went back to work. I let them handle things and went to the front desk, where the old man sat drinking some coffee.

“Good Morning,” I said to him, trying to sound like my usual chipper self. He just grunted at me. “Okay then,” I said, leaving him be. I walked around the sitting room tidying up, fluffing pillows, and fixing up the fire. About five minutes before breakfast, I went into the kitchen to make myself a plate of food. I figured I might as well eat something before I got to work. After making a small plate of food, I went out to the dining room, sitting at a table in the far corner. I sipped my coffee while I picked at my food. It was a dreary day that matched my mood.

“Mind some company?” came a deep, velvety voice from behind me. I jumped slightly, not realizing there was someone behind me.

“Oh, uh, sure….” I said, looking around to no other than Kol.

“Good morning, little flower,” he said with a smile. He sat down next to me at the table with his breakfast plate. “Did you sleep last night, or was Cinderella working the night away?” he joked.

I gave him a small laugh. “I sleep,” I said quietly.

“You aren’t very talkative,” he observed; I shrugged in response. He chuckled. “That’s alright. I am just a customer, right?”

“I think I am just feeling a little out of it today. I am sorry. Enjoy your breakfast. I’ll be around the inn today if you need anything,” I said as I stood up. I felt bad for not being friendly with a customer. I could not bury the empty feeling inside me, and the cold was creeping back in now that I had finished my coffee.

Taking my plate back to the kitchen, I got more coffee and headed to the front desk. I sighed as I sat down. Today was going to be an even longer day.

–

By lunchtime, I was beginning to feel sluggish. I sat at the front desk checking over the schedule for the rest of the week. People started to trickle in from the dreary weather for our lunch service. The inn seemed to be running smoothly with the extra hands around, and we were not losing any money. I pondered about the possibility of hiring more permanent part-time staff to help so Amy and I could work a little less.

A familiar voice broke me from my thoughts. “Why, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes? Hello there, Miss Lea,” John said, coming up to the desk. My head popped up to look at him. I gave him a weak smile.

“Hi, John. How are you?”

“Much better now. You back from your trip?”Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

“Yep. I got back yesterday. Ready to go back to work.”

He gave me a strange look. “So, where is your friend? You have a good time on your trip?”

I gave a shallow laugh. “He is, uh, busy. My trip was fine. How have you been?”

“Well, that doesn’t sound like you had any fun.”

I gave him another weak smile. “Would you like to join me for lunch? I may not be terrific company, but a friendly face sure would help.”

His face lit up at my suggestion. “Well, I would be honored!” He held out his hand to me to grab his own. I gently placed mine in his and let him lead me around the counter. Once I reached the other side, he held his arm up and put my hand on it. I gave him a small laugh as he led the way into the dining room with showy chivalry.

“So, what has made you so somber today?” he asked as we sat down. A waitress came over to get our orders. John told her to bring two specials and then turned to me with an expectant look. “So?”

I sighed. Looking out the window, I answered, “Things just didn’t play out how I hoped they would.”

We were both silent for a few minutes. I finally tried changing the subject, “It’s okay. I have the inn, and that is all I need. So, what have you been up to? Busy with work?”

“Not really. I have been on sort of a break myself. But I’ll be getting pretty busy again soon,” he said.

“You’re in contracting, right?” I asked, hoping to keep him talking.

“Yep. Basically.” The waitress came with our food and drinks. She gave me a speculative look before leaving. I didn’t recognize her, but I guessed she was from the pack. John immediately dug in while I picked at my food. I did not have much of an appetite still.

“So, what does that involve?” I asked.

“Oh, usually it just means someone needs a job done, and they call me in to do it,” he said in between mouthfuls. Our waitress came back over then.

“You are Azalea, right?” she asked. I nodded my head. “Oh, thank goodness. There is an urgent call out front for you.”

“Coming right now,” I said, standing up. Turning to John, I mouthed an apology and quickly darted from the dining room. I moved quickly to the front desk where the phone was lying, the light blinking telling me someone was on the line.

“Hello, this is Azalea,” I answered as calmly as I could. A growl came from the other end. “Um, h-hello?” There was heavy breathing in between growls. Realization washed over me. “N-no….” I stuttered, and he growled again. Slamming the phone down on the receiver, I ran from the room, heading out the front door. My breath was shallow, and my heart was racing. I reached the porch and grasped the railing, trying to calm down.

“Are you alright?” came a voice from behind me. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Clutching my chest, I turned to see Kol standing in the doorway. I held up one finger to indicate that I needed just a moment. I turned around, trying to collect myself. Before I could get myself completely under control, I felt a hand touch my lower back.

“No!” I screamed, jumping away from the touch.

“I’m sorry! I was just trying to help!” exclaimed Kol.

Kol stared at me for a few stressful minutes while I managed to calm down. “I am sorry, you scared me, is all,” I tried to apologize.

“No, no. I shouldn’t have done that. I saw you run out, and you looked distressed,” he said soothingly.

“It was nothing; I am okay,” I tried to explain.

“No offense, little flower, but I know what okay looks like, and that wasn’t it,” he said with a stern look in his eyes.

“I am sorry, but I have things that need my attention. Please let the front desk know if you need anything,” I said, walking past Kol and back to the inn. I came around the desk, headed towards the kitchen. The same girl who had informed me of the phone call walked by.

“Oh! Wait! There was a message for you!” she said, grabbing my attention. She handed me a small note before bouncing away. I put the note in my pocket and hurried out the back of the inn. I wanted to get away from everyone for just a minute. I hurried across the lawn to my apartment and slipped inside. I pulled the note from my pocket and read the neat script on the page:

Caller: Liam

Message for: Azalea

Please respond to your phone. We need to speak.

I crumpled the note. How dare he? Demand I respond to him after he calls and growls at me over the phone. I walked over to my desk, where I left the cell phone he gave me. I picked it up to see that about 20 missed calls and another 20 messages.

Before I could even begin reading the messages, there was a knock on my door. It really wasn’t my day today. I tried to ignore it and pretend I was not here. The knocking continued, followed by a voice: “Miss Lea, I know you are back here. Please open up.” John’s voice floated through the door. I sighed.

Opening the door, John stood there with an expectant expression. “Sorry for leaving you,” I said quickly.

“What happened? Girl up front said you were acting strange,” he asked.

“Nothing, just having a bad day. Lots of stress coming back,” I replied.

“Alright, well, I have to go. Let me know if you need anything?”

“Sure,” I nodded at him, trying to smile. He left the doorway and headed back around the inn. My phone rang in my hand as I closed my door. I swallowed hard before reading the caller ID. It read ‘Lily’, and I sighed in relief.

“Hi, Lily,” I answered.

“Azalea, what is going on? Are you with someone?” she asked, worried.

“No, what do you mean? I am working!”

“I know you probably don’t care much about him at the moment, but Liam is losing it. Damien has managed to keep him from storming out to you, but he is losing his mind about some John guy?”

“How does he know I had lunch with John?”

“Who is John?”

“Just a customer, a regular customer, of the inn! How does he know I had lunch with him? It literally just happened!” I almost screamed. I was getting mad now.

“Azalea, there are still wolves at the Inn…” she said hesitantly.

“So, I am being spied on in my own home? It wasn’t bad enough that he had to… to… do that, but now he is going to spy on me?! I did not think I needed to tell him that this is all over explicitly! I sent Damien away and asked him to remove the wolves! I just want to go back to my simple life here!” I know it wasn’t her fault, but I was furious. The words were just pouring out of me.

“Azalea, please calm down. I really need to talk to you about something,” she said, trying to be unruffled.

“Well, what is it, Lily?”

“Why don’t I come up there for dinner? This is a better conversation to have in person,” she suggested.

“Fine. Dinner starts at 6; I’ll be at the front desk!” I shot, and with that, I hung up the call.

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up my apartment and unpacking from the disastrous Lake House trip. I knew I should take care of things at the inn, but I was too irritated about everything to deal with it. I planned to tell Lily that she needed to take the pack members with her and that Liam would need to come here soon so I could officially reject him.