Heartless Angels

Chapter 21 Oakley

Chapter 21 – Oakley

It’s the third day of training and today we’re working with knives. My absolute favorite weapon. Nob*dy left overnight this time, and many of our rankings stayed the same, except for Mary. She went down from number 14 to 20.

“What’s going on?” Cassie asks her at breakfast after we saw the rankings this morning. “I don’t understand what the issue is. You keep doing really well in the skills part and then you fall apart when they calculate the other stuff.”

“Hey, Cas s! Go easy on her! She already feels like s hit,” I say, putting an arm around Mary. Her eyes are red and glassy, her

cheeks blotchy as she tries to hold back her tears.

Chastised, Cassie reaches her hand over to grab Mary’s, which is laying on the table. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on, Mary. I don’t understand. You’re really good at what you do. You have the skills to do this. What is happening that’s

causing your scores to turn out like that at the end of the day?”

“It’s because she’s a bit ch,” Lisa says from the end of the table where she’s sitting with a couple of other she-wolves.

Jer ry growls, Cassie’s claws are suddenly out, and I stand up, aggression in my stance as I stare at Lisa.

“What the f uck did you just say?” Je rry asks, his wolf very much in his voice.

“I said, it’s because she’s a bi tch,” Lisa responds, speaking slowly as if we’re too dumb to understand her. “When she does

well, she gloats. When she doesn’t, she throws a tantrum. She taunts others and makes snide comments. She’s a bi tch out on

the field. Too competitive. That’s why her scores keep going down. She’s just a plain bi tch out there.”

“So, she’s a little competitive?” J erry says. “What wolf isn’t?”

“She told Jonathan that he was so useless at shooting a rifle that his mom should have swallowed him!” one of the girls

next to Lisa says.

I have to bite my l*p hard not to laugh at that one, because that’s funny as f uck. Cassie has no such composure and laughs

her a ss off

Jer ry turns to glare at his sister. You f ucking kidding me, Mary? They told you that half of the scores for the day were based on teamwork and how you interact with your squadmates. Why the hell would you do that kind of trash talking?”

Mary stares back at him, all defiance and Innocence. “We always trash talk, Je rry. Everyone in our pack used to. Why

wouldn’t I do it here?”

“Yeah and how many people did we have to beat the f uck out of to show that you could back up that mouth of yours? You got us in trouble more times than not and it’s going to f uck you over here.” Je rry looks completely exasperated with her and turns to Lisa. “Sorry about my response. Thank you for letting us know.”

“Yeah, well I’m not doing it because I actually like you or her. I want the best of the best to be a part of the Elite Ten with me. She’s one of the best and most skilled weapons masters that I’ve ever seen. If she can reign in the bit ch on the field, then she’ll be good,” Lisa says before narrowing her eyes at me. “Get rid of the less deserving.”

“The f uck is your problem with me? It’s like you have some kind of vendetta against me, but I only met you a couple of days ago,” I say, moving closer to Lisa.

“You don’t have to know what the problem is. You just need to stay the hell out of my way. You’ll be gone soon enough,” she says, turning away from me.

Tmpgeven closer to her and I can

in feel my wolf rising in my chest, a low rumble flowing out of my mouth. I don’t know what

Chapter 21 – Oakley

I would have done, my wolf side more in control than my human side. But Ray has been paying attention to what’s been going on and he sweeps in, pulling me from the table and out into the hall quickly.

“Ray, get out of my way” My voice is overlaid by a low, growl, telling me that my wolf is even closer to the surface than I thought that she was.

“No, Oakley. I’m not going to let you ruin your chances of being here because of some uptight little princess who thinks that she’s better than everyone. I want you to beat her fair and square and get her kicked out of here. You’ve already overtaken her in the rankings and it’s only the second day” Ray takes my face in both of his hands, making me look him in the eye. “Take some deep breaths, baby. You’ve gotta get your wolf under control.”

He puts my hands on his chest and takes a deep breath, modeling exactly what he wants me to do. I roll my eyes, but follow his lead and soon, my wolf has receded.

“Good girl,” Ray says, leaning in and k*ssing me lightly on the l*ps. “You keep being a good girl today and I’ll give you a reward later tonight.” He licks his l*ps, catching his bottom l*p between his teeth.

“Goddess, are you trying to get my wolf back up?” I say, teasingly, before pulling him in for a longer, steamier k*ss.

He laughs, then turns me back towards the mess hall and smacks my as s. “Use the S**ual frustration out on the field.”

The day is a mixed bag for me. I’m in Mary’s group, so I can help her relax with the trash talk, which was there like whoa! That girl needs her mouth taped shut! I mean, she talks a lot anyway, but she’s normally, I don’t know…nice. Now, she really is a bi tch. I wish that I could say it nicer, but there is no other way to say it.

She talks about how good she is and how much everyone sucks, and freaks the f uck out anytime that she misses her target. I literally cover her mouth with my hand multiple times because she can’t seem to stop no matter how many times I remind her about her overall score.

I end up having to make her go in front of me every time. When we’re done our turn, we have to go stand next to the trainers, which seems to be the only thing that can shut her up. Her going first sends her over to them quickly and I can then concentrate on what I’m doing.

Even with all that, thank the Goddess that my skills with knives are as good as they are because Mary is going to give me gray hair and drive me to distraction. Somehow, through all of this, i hit the target when throwing my knives all ten times and strike killing blows in the dummy all five times.

We also spar several rounds with different wolves and I get to spar with my old friend and roommate, Lisa,

Standing in front of me, she gives me an evil sneer. “Finally, I’ll be able to get you out of here. The goal of our sparring is to disarm and “strike” a killing blow on our opponent, pulling back before actually inflicting damage. Though, Lisa looks as if she is going to conveniently forget about the pulling back bit.

Stoff Won’t

“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” I say, not giving in to the desire to tell her to f uck right off. Won’t help with the final

I

Score.

She just bares her teeth, waiting for Sophia to blow the whistle to begin.

The second that the whistle goes off, Lisa is flying across the circle at me, like she’s going for the kill, knives in both hands

pulled back as if she’s going to punch me.

She’s full of confidence in her skills, as she should be. She’s good.

Unfortunately, she’s not as good as I am and her hatred for me seems to have blinded her. 273

Chapter 21 – Oakley

I duck under her swing, kicking out at her knee and striking up with the palm of my hand to knock the knife out of her hand She sees the kick to her knee coming, but misses the strike to her palm. One of her knives clatters to the ground, letting out a dull, thumping sound as it lands.

“F uck!” she curses under her breath as she spins around to look at me. I’m already up on my feet, both knives in the hand that didn’t strike her. I don’t really want to hurt her, I just want her to lighten the f uck up and leave me alone. I don’t know what I’ve done to pis s her off, I just want her to get over it. I legitimately don’t want to fight her, but I will if I have to.

“Ground yourself, Ivy, the trainer says, calling Lisa by her last name. “You’re letting emotion get in the way.” Even he can see the dislike that she has for me. And that she’s letting it rule her.

She lets out a breath and I know that she’s trying to calm herself. I have to make a split second decision: do I press the advantage and show my skills or do I let her collect herself and show team spirit. I had promised myself that I would show my skills and get those points before worrying about others.

And just like that, I’m flying across the space between us. I put both knives in the sheaths at my waistband, grab Lisa’s wrist that is holding the last knife and twist it away from my b*dy. My other hand wraps behind her n*eck and pulls her towards me, my leg swiping both of hers at the ankles so that she falls into me. As soon as she’s falling. I let go of her. I keep twisting her hand with the knife, my other hand peeling her knife from her fingers and taking it in my hand. She comes down with my knee in her sternum and her own knife at her throat.

It all happens in a matter of seconds.

“Called for Moon!” the trainer says.

I look down into Lisa’s eyes and see her eyes are nearly crimson with anger.

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