Heartless Angels

Chapter 20 – Oakley

Chapter 20 – Oakley

Listen up, trainees!” Sophia calls as roll call comes to an end. “I’m sure that you are all agonizing about or celebrating your spot on the list yesterday. Don’t get comfortable. Things tend to change overnight here.”

Behind her Ray and another trainer that I haven’t been introduced to yet bring out the ranking board. It’s fl*pped so that we can’t see it. Thanks to Ray, I feel a lot better about it. For multiple reasons. Goddess, I forgot how much of a good mood I get in after S**. It’s been too f ucking long thanks to my wonderful mate.

I blink hard, attempting to redirect my thoughts. I can’t let that as shole dampen the amazing mood I’m in thanks to Ray.

There is a flittering of nerves throughout the trainees. I had noticed that Ray was right. Three more wolves left overnight. Six down. It means that those of us that are left have less ability to screw up. These changings in the rankings could be crucial. Though Ray assured me that my ranking would be higher, I have no idea how high they would be.

I bite at my lower l*p, catching Ray’s eyes. “Breathe,” he mouths to me.

The second I follow his direction, I feel a calmness steal through my chest. How does this male do this to me? It seems like everything about him is irresistible and his touch sets me on fire. His heated gazes, calming touches, and perfect words that seem to come at just the right time seem made just for me. To help me with dealing with the crazy mix of emotions that have been going on lately.

“The rankings that we posted last night were just based on the skill set that you showed with the actual swords in training yesterday. However, there are a lot more qualities that a member of the Elite Ten must possess to protect all of wolfdom than just being good with weapons. Kindness, generosity patience, motivation, and a team mindset are just a few of those qualities.

So, yes, every day at the end of training, you will get your ranking. But at dinner that night, we will be discussing how those small groups performed and the ranking changes. Sometimes not by much. Sometimes it’s a hell of a leap.

“See, here’s the

thing,” Sophia begins, walking through the rows of trainees. You can tell that she is speaking in a rather low

volume, yet it carries across the entire field. She continues, staring right at me. “Members of the Elite Ten are not meant to live

by just their strength and weaponry skills. When push comes to shove out there in the real world, you need to react, fast and with all the fury that you have, including all the support of your team. That means that you need to build a relationship with your team. Because, if you make it all the way to the Elite Ten or if you need help during your program, these wolves are who you’re

going into life or death situations with. You need to be able to trust each other, because yo

squad mates will literally hold your

life in their hands.

“This means that we are taking into effect not just your skills with the testing weapons, but also how you interact with your squad mates. Helping them, cheering them up, pushing them to their fullest potential, and the amount of patience you show your squad mates and those that work around you.”

Sophia gives us another long, hard stare before continuing. “Most of you exhibited those qualities, even when frustrated

with a new technique or upset over losing a match. Several of you even stood out among the rest and your rankings will prove that. Now, everyone take a look at the board and then get some food. Training starts on time.”

With that, Ray and the other trainer fl*p the board. Lisa is still in one of the spots in the top five, though Je rry seems to have

edged her out of the top slot, which he takes. His score is so high among the rest of ours, lightyears above everyone. Seems that he would be rather useful in a fight. I cheer for him when I see him staring at me. He just shrugs his shoulders. I love that

he’s so modest. That kid is so sweet.

Cassie isn’t far behind them, at spot number seven. And that’s when I see my name. I was number 40 yesterday. If you had

asked me that it would have taken for me to rank up, I would have said that it would have taken a lot of hard work, dedication,

asked maghi

Chapter 20 – Oakley

and time. The fact that I have moved up 20 spots overnight is the biggest leap on the board, putting me right in the middle of the pack. Not exactly where I’d hoped to be from the beginning, but I couldn’t stop the grin that starts to spread across my face. At least I now have a fighting chance.

It’s right then that I realize that I hadn’t seen Mary’s name on the list yet. She and Jer ry were close to the top of the ranking board. But now that everything else is being considered…Jer ry is the highest ranked wolf and Mary is nearly at the bottom of the ranking board. It’s insane that they changed that drastically. Her score went from number 5 to 33.

Not a good thing and Mary’s face falls so completely that it’s as if her smile never existed.

I pull her into my arms, her head on my shoulder as I comfort her. She gives a huge racking shudder throughout her b*dy, but she doesn’t allow herself to cry. Mhm. This girl reminds me of me in so many ways. I wouldn’t have allowed myself to cry either. Not even if it got me kicked out. Emotions are a problem sometimes, especially when dealing with this type of disappointment.

“Alright, stop staring at the board like you’ve never seen numbers before. Go eat and be back out here for your first training sessions at 0800 hours,” Sophia says.

“Yes ma’am!” we respond in unison, hurrying to the mess.

Today’s session was all about the use of long range rifles and pistols. Lots of safety training, which, to be honest, if your don’t know how to do that, why are you even here? But, I guess that they want to be sure that we know the basics before they

move on to anything else.

Today, I’m going to employ a bit of a different strategy, and this is the perfect setting to do this, since most everything is Individual or run in small squads of four. I take care of my stuff first, do what I can to show off my skills in an appropriate light, considering what happened with Riley yesterday. Then I can help anyone that might need it.

Sometimes, I do step in beforehand. That’s mostly when I’m concerned that they are doing something concerning, possibly dangerous. There was this one chick that was just gesturing with her loaded gun as if it was a conductor’s baton. I wouldn’t be surprised if she is gone by the end of the morning session with how insane she was being with that da mn gun. I mean, I know that we’re werewolves and all, super healing abilities, hard to kill, yada yada yada. Doesn’t mean that I want to actually get shot

though.

I do well in

In the morning with the pistols. This was something that my father had insisted that we learn how to do and do well. He frequently told me that the fact that either he or his parther for the night had a gun which had saved his life. They were able to bring down a rabid rogue or cut an attacking group in half by using something that could kill at a further distance, making

them better able to handle the attack.

So, to say that I’m proficient with guns is an understatement.

I keep all of my shots within the target area in a tight cluster, actually earning a tight l*pped smile from Sophia.

After lunch, we come back for long range rifle practice. This is a bit harder. It’s not something that I have as much experience with and long range is very, very different from the short range that is done with a pistol. We get about an hour of practice with the guns and then are unleashed on our own targets.

Out of the 10 shots that I get, 9 of them hit within the target. The very first one was a little wide and cl*pped the outside

edge of the sheet.

By the end of the day, my shoulders are sore from the kickback of the rifle and the pistol in my hands. My lower back hurts, as do my abs and as s. You don’t realize how much of your b*dy you use when you target practice for hours.

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Chapter 20 – Oakley

I’m trying to loosen the muscles around my n*eck when Ray comes up behind me and whispers, “Come to my room tonight and I’ll make sure to pound out any of the kinks you might have in your b*dy.”

“I’ll take you up on that,” I whisper back before pinching his as s as he walks by.

“Trainees!” Head Trainer Ethan calls. “Time for the rankings!”

There’s a surge to the board and my friends and I hang back, not wanting to get crushed in the rush to see the rankings.

Lisa, of course, was at the front of the line. When she finds her name, she smacks the board so hard that it fl*ps. Then she

storms out of the little group around the now fallen board and glares at me. “You will not get in my way! I will beat you. One way or the other.”

Then she storms off.

Looking around, I ask my friends, “Who pis sed in her cereal this morning?”

They laugh, but honestly, I’m not sure why Lisa hates me so much. We haven’t even spoken since our first night. And she

was in the top five during both of the rankings. I am in the 20th slot. What threat do I offer her?

That’s made clear when we get to the board, after the trainees picked it up. First is Jer ry, which causes him to give a loud cheer and him picking up first Mary, then me, and then Cassie, swinging us around and placing large, wet, loud k*sses on our

foreheads.

“Get off of me, you pe rv Cassie cries, but I see her leaning in and nuzzling into him. Yeah, she’s not really put off by the

attention.

“Cassie, you’re number three!” I cry out to her.

“Huzzah!” she cries out, still in Jer ry’s arm and hugs him to her chest, where he seems very comfortable.

I continue to look down the list and find my name at number 10 and Lisa is number 11. Ah, that’s why she’s pis sed.

Mary’s name was just a few down from that. “Look, Mary! You’re at number 14. We’re all doing great!”

Mary and I tackle Jer ry and Cassie, all of us falling in a heap of joyful laughter.

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