Heartless Angels

Chapter 14 – Oakley

Chapter 14 – Oakley

Class mostly consisted of them telling us the dos and don’ts around the castle. Do listen to your instructor and do

everything that they say. Punishments would be given individually, to entire dorm rooms, and to the entire squad, based on the magnitude of the offense. That’s basically all the dos. The don’ts…well, that list is a lot longer.

Don’t go wandering around the grounds. Alphas from all over the continent often came to the castle on various business, as well as other government officials. We’re here to train, not ‘hobnob’ with the werewolf elite.

Don’t attempt to contact anyone outside of the castle. Everyone here is supposed to remain anonymous, which means you can’t let anyone know where you are. It’s for the safety of all involved, including any family they may have left behind. If enemies knew who the trainees were, it could be a simple, though time consuming, process of elimination to figure out who the Elite were when the dust settled.

Don’t go practicing on your own. Too many had gotten hurt by being overzealous. And while not all of us were going to make it as the Elite Ten, some might have a future as guards or trainers elsewhere on the continent. No point in permanently injuring someone if they could be useful later.

There were several more don’ts, but those were the biggies, along with one last one. Don’t get comfortable. You don’t know how long you’re going to be here.

That’s Instructor Sophia. Always so encouraging!

We’re all exhausted by the end of the day. Cassie, Mary, and I head to the showers to wash off the grime and then go straight to bed. Lisa isn’t in the room, but none of us is really worried about it. With any luck, she’s gone.

We all settle quickly, not even Mary wanting to talk. It’s been a long day, stressful emotionally and physically. We’re done. I don’t even think I remember my head hitting the pillow.

But I do remember my dreams.

I find myself in my favorite spot in my old pack: a huge, ancient, gnarled oak tree with a treehouse that my father and brothers built for me when I was six. The treehouse roosted in three large limbs that nearly covered our entire backyard. I’ve spent the majority of my time in that treehouse over the past two years. As a wolf, I love being outside. But as a weak wolf, being out in the woods with some of the newly turned males and even some of the bi tchier females can be dangerous. So, I spent my time in my treehouse. Doing homework. Listening to music. Mostly dreaming of when I could be accepted for who I am by my mate.

Well, that didn’t happen.

But still, being here fills me with happiness. I run my hands over the walls, feeling the places I sanded down and wrote some of my favorite book quotes, inspirational sayings, and song lyrics. My favorite pillow and blanket are snuggled up in the corner, along with the book that I had been reading before I left for Levi’s alpha ceremony, Little Fires Everywhere.

I figure that I’m in a dream, I might as well spend it doing my favorite thing. So, I knee-waddle over to my pillow to pick up my book. It’s only then that I hear someone clear their throat.

My head swings to the side, immediately sousing out the threat. I even feel my wolf coming to the surface, fighting to protect me. It’s an odd feeling, because I’ve never had my wolf be this forceful. I’ve always been the one to have to protect her.

Sitting on the other side of the treehouse is a woman that I’ve heard about my entire life, have seen pictures of all over my

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Chapter 14 Oakley

house, have felt in the stories of my father and brothers, but have no first hand memory of. She’s fair-skinned with a waiflike b*dy, looking frail and uncared for Her blonde hair is lank around her face, her blue eyes so light that they are nearly white. There is something ethereally beautiful about her, even with the wasted away quality that she has, similar to those consumptives in the early 1900s.

“Oakley,” she says to me, her tone warm and full of fondness.

I stare at her, surprised that I would dream of her. I honestly have no idea what she really looks like, how she sounds, or anything about her, but here she is. The brain is weird. “Um….this is strange. Why would my mind bring my mother who abandoned us show up in a dream on my first night of Elite Ten training? Anyway, um, hl. You can go now. It’s what you do, right?” That might sound harsh, but it’s a dream and I really don’t have anything to say to her, in real life or in a dream. I guess the most I feel towards the woman is netural. She at least had the kindness to abandon me early in my life, before I had any real memories of her. The rest of my family pretended to love me for years and then abandoned me to my as shole of a mate.

“Wow,” the figment that is my mother says. Her face is one of shock, but it quickly turns into a rueful smile. “I guess I deserve that. You were two when I left. And I couldn’t tell anyone what was going on, so that makes sense that you would be pis sed.”

“S hit, are we really gonna do this? I really just want a restful night. It was a long as s day and I’m tired as hell. Can you just I don’t know, disappear?” I ask, waving my hands around as if to shoo her.

She outright laughs in my face. “Oh, you are definitely my daughter. You are priceless. She shakes her head and continues to chuckle. I don’t know if it’s something about the light in the dream or if she’s starting to dissipate or what, but she’s starting to change. Her hair seems to be brighter, shinier, more voluminous. Her skin seems to have a healthier glow. She starts to fill out, more slender muscle packing on under her face, arms, and legs. Even her eyes seem bluer, to have more of a twi nkle to them.

She catches me staring at her and smiles knowingly at me. “No, Oakley. I’m not a part of your dream. This is a visitation, ordained by Selene. I’ve got some things to explain to you.”

“Oh, ok, sure. Selene, the Mother Goddess, wants to explain some things to me. What does she want to explain? Why my mother left me and the rest of my family when I was two, causing my family to blame me? Why she paired me with a sa distic

as shole of a mate who did nothing but torture me from the moment he met me? Why my brothers and father also abandoned me in favor of said as shole?” I figure if I’m not gonna be able to get out of this dream, I might as well get it all off my chest. I’ll

feel better

“Actually, yeah,” she says, smiling at me.

Well, sh it. Kind of took the wind out of my sails. “Well then…I guess

ess the stage is yours.” I say.

By this point, she looks like a completely different woman. She looks so healthy, so beautiful. I never thought that any of us Moon kids looked like Mom at all. Not based on the pictures that we have of her hanging up in the house. But now? I see

James’s eyes. Jack’s smile and chin. My face and b*dy shape. There are also little bits of us in her facial expressions and her intonation patterns. Little pieces of us that I didn’t know were missing are found in her.

She folds her leg up, resting her chin on her knee and looking at me. “Oakley, my sweet baby. You’ve had a difficult time of it. For that I’m so sorry. Honestly, I had thought it would have been impossible for Bradley to turn on you. I wouldn’t have

thought him capable. And the way that Jack and James adored you well, I was wrong. And Selene was right. You know, it gets

really boring to always be around someone who knows what’s gonna happen. I know that she’s an eternal goddess and has been

around for millennia, but it would be nice for her to be wrong every once in a while.”

I just co ck an eyebrow at her. “You’re telling me that you have interactions with Selene?”

Well yeah,” she says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the entire world. “Girl, you have really not been paying attention to

Chapter 14 – Oakley

any of the signs that have been sent to you, have you?”

I Ic

“What signs?” I can’t help it. I’m invested in this dream now

“The fact that your wolf came back after you left that f ucking pack and that limp d ick of a mate? The sheer power and total transformation of your wolf? The fact that you have an alpha’s abilities to shift whenever and it doesn’t hurt at all? The fact that you just met Cassie out of nowhere and she convinced you to try out for the Elite Ten? The f ucking story that you heard in the diner? Her voice is incredulous, like these are things that I should have put together on my own to come up with some sort of conclusion

I just shrug “Yeah, it’s weird. But what is it supposed to tell me?”

She sighs. “Where do you think the Elite Ten came from?”

I’m about to give a sma rtas s reply, but then something about the story I heard in the diner comes back to me. “Selene had ten grandkids…

She nods encouragingly at me.

“Are they descendants of those ten?” I ask, hesitantly.

“Got it in one,” Mom says, clapping her hands together.

“Ok. So, are all of the Elite Ten one of the descendants?” I ask.

“Yes. I was one of them. A descendent and an Elite Ten,” she says

“Was? Are you dead then?” I would like to say that I feel some sort of pain. She is my mother after all. But I don’t know the woman. Hadn’t seen her in 16 years. I feel the same pain that I would feel if I heard that an old grade school teacher passed. Maybe less. There’s just no relationship between us.

“Not dead. The Elite don’t die. I’m just in the Goddesses Realm now, which is why I had to leave. When you are done with

your service, she takes you to her home.”

“So, as an Elite, my entire life is over. I serve as an Elite for 30 years and then I just go up to heaven and I’m done? That sucks. But, honestly, what else do I have to live for? My mate is gone. My family is out of my life. And I don’t want anything to do with my pack. As good an ending as any.

“Not necessarily just like that. You have to carry on the next generation, so you will have several years between finishing in the Elite Ten and being taken by the Goddess” She says this as if it’s the most natural thing in the world.

“Wait.” What she said hits me just then. “You’re a descendent of Selene’s grandchildren. That means I’m one, too?”

of this

“Yup. It’s why all of this has happened to you.” She crawls over to me, getting close and taking my hands in hers. “Oakley I left when you were two because i didn’t have a choice. But I’ve always been with you. I’ve always watched over you and loved you. I’ve seen the amazing she-wolf that you’ve become. Unfortunately, you know that wolves are all about strength. And that’s why you were treated the way that you were. To give you a choice. If you had had your wolf, your true wolf, the one you have

now, all along, there would have been no choice. Your mate would have accepted you. You would be luna of the Silver Lake

Pack right now. But when I left, I took your wolf’s true form with me. This way, you can see what the people in your life really care about. What they really value. Your mate. Your pack. Your brothers and even your father, I’m sad to say, cared more about your weakness and how it reflected on them. They cared more about what their alpha thought and getting petty revenge.”

She takes pity on me, seeing the pain that I know is in my face. They feel remorse now that they’ve seen what it’s done to

you, especially your father and the twins, but that doesn’t change the fact that they had those feelings or what they did to you. Your Brooking free of the pack of the expectations, and of your mate is what helped your wolf break free. To be her true self and

Chapter 14 – Oakley

to help you begin to grow into your powers. And now you have a choice.”

“What choice?” I ask in a small voice.

“To either take this powerful wolf back to that pack and turn them into the pack that they have the potential to be. To have your mate grovel at your feet for forgiveness and make it up to you every day for the rest of your life. To have your father and brothers do the same. To have the culture of your pack turn around to find everyone’s strengths and use them appropriately. A goal which I can tell you, you will achieve and be one of the most powerful lunas in centuries. Or you can take the step in the direction to become what you were meant to be. What you were truly made for. You can become one of the Elite Ten.”