Heartless Angels

Chapter 3 – James

Chapter 3 – James

I

I

can’t believe everything that happened with Oakley. The guilt that I feel is eating a hole into me with every day that

passes.

I know that it doesn’t look like it, but I love my baby sister. She is the glue that held our family together when our mother left. But she’s not a baby anymore and she needs to hold up her weight in our family, not just coast by like Father’s allowed her to do for the majority of her life.

Of course, I was p issed at her at first. That girl has had everything handed to her since she was a baby. She looks so much like our mother that Father couldn’t deny her anything. After all these years and the fact that she left him, Father still misses his

mate.

So, to hear that Oakley turned down a legitimate offer from a very powerful alpha, one that will not just help her, but also

help the rest of us? Well, it was just too much. I couldn’t believe that she would throw that kind of chance for our family away because of her pride.

I said some pretty nasty things to her. I couldn’t help it. I guess I guess I’ve always been jealous of her. It seems like a

weird thing to say, knowing that she barely has a wolf and is seen as a liability within wolfkind, but it’s true,

When our mother left, Father only responded to Oakley She was two at the time and she would curl her little b*dy into his

lap and bring a smile to his face. Jack and I were seven then and were pretty much left in the hands of sitters, neighbors, or

Father’s family, but he still cared for Oakley personally

When I found out that she had rejected Levi after he gave her a cushy alternative that would have gotten my twin and I away.

from our father and hurt her a little bit in the end…well, it was appealing. I’m not proud of it, but it’s the Goddess-honest truth.

But now, seeing my sister basically waste away to nothing that moment of pleasure at her expense has come back to bite

me ten fold. Every time that I look at her, I see what my words and actions have wrought in the way that her clothes hang off her.

the sallow color of her skin, and emptiness in her eyes.

I can’t remember the last time that I heard her voice. Was it when we lied to Father and he scolded her, saying how

disappointed he was with her? How he blamed her for her own beating, saying that she brought it on herself. He wouldn’t even let her defend herself. Neither did Jack or 1.

We didn’t even take into account the pain that she must have been in after rejecting such a powerful mate. Her barely

existent wolf died that night. I couldn’t imagine being without my wolf. He is as much a part of me as my hand or my sense of humor. We are two sides of the same coin. For him to just be gone. And to feel his departure? It must have been the worst

pain in the world.

Either that or the betrayal her brothers perpetuated on her that night.

Jack is much more reserved about his feelings than I am. I have to work hard to hide what I’m feeling, but Jack is an Iceman. When he doesn’t want you to know what’s going on in his head, you just won’t. The only reason I know is because we are twins. I can feel his pain even when our mindlink isn’t open. According to the elders, it is this way for twins until they find their mates. We are the other half of our twin in the literal, physical sense, especially in the case of identical twins. That bond is

only trumped by the bond between the other half of our soul,

Since that night and the few days after when we began to see the toll that our treatment had taken on Oakley, as well as Levi’s treatment of her, Jack has been punishing himself. Sk ipping meals. Training for hours. Taking night patrols and barely

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Chapter 3 – James

sleeping when he came home. It only stopped when his b*dy literally shut down on him and he would basically hibernate for two days before he started the cycle all over again.

I had gone to Levi to beg that he just accept the rejection and let us go home, but he threatened our father.

“You know, your father prefers to do the night patrols. You never know what’s gonna come out of that darkness. It would be a shame if something were to happen to him.” Levi’s words were said in the fakest concerned tone that I’ve ever heard and the evil glint in his eye made sure that I didn’t lose the meaning of his words.

I didn’t even tell Jack about that meeting. I was too scared of what he would do and that Levi would make good on his

threat.

Now, Levi had announced that he was tired of waiting for Oakley to come to her senses. He would move her into the pack house. On the night that he took Brittany as his Luna in three days, he would begin working on breeding Oakley. As long as she behaved, she would be treated well. If not…well, there is more than one way to make a sla ve do what you want them to

Because that’s what Oakley would be to this alpha. His sl ave. A f ucking s ex sl ave. That’s what my selfishness and st u p idity is turning my sister into. It’s enough to make me want to rip out Levi’s throat. And my own as well.

“Maybe we shouldn’t do this,” I say to Jack as we begin the short walk to the pack house. Father, who had been helping on patrols since we had come to stay here, would be meeting us at the pack house for the meal. This is the only time that I’m going to have with Jack before this whole sh it show that’s supposed to happen. “We could take her and Father and just leave. We could go to the next pack over. Once Oakley’s far enough away from Levi, and for a long enough time, it’ll break the bond naturally, especially since she doesn’t have a wolf anymore.”

“You know we can’t do that,” Jack murmurs, searching the bushes and trees that we pass for an attack or an eavesdropper. Jack is a natural-born hunter. He can take the measure of the lay of the land in minutes, instantly finding deer paths, rabbit warrens, fox holes, edible berries and nuts, and any dangers around us. It’s because he’s constantly on alert, looking for possible danger around every corner. Even after all these years, he feels that he has to protect me from every danger that could possibly

come our way.

“You don’t understand what he’s going to do to her I plead with him. “You have no idea how much of a cruel and arrogant

as s hole he is

At this, Jack turns on me, his face ending mere centimeters from my own. “You don’t think I know about the threat that he’s made against Father? That he plans to just use Oakley as a s ex sla ve?”

my

I gape at him, my mouth opening and closing like a fish’s. I’m sure that it would be humorous in other circumstances, but

brother is on a roll now.

“Of course I know! It’s my f ucking job to know about threats, and Levi is one. It’s why I have a plan in the works.” Jack’s eyes glare at me holds me in my spot. A plan?

“What do you mean?” I ask, lowering my voice so that no passerby or the worst possible option, a spy, would be able to hear.

“Im going to challenge Levi for Oakley. There’s nothing that says that a family member can’t take possession of her after a mateship is ended. If I can get Levi to accept those terms, we can fight for her. I’m one of the best fighters in the entire pack. I should be able to take him down and win Oakley her freedom. But we have to let him come to the house. That way, there will be no advisors and likely no warriors by his side. Father and Brittany can stand as witnesses and when Oakley is free from him and he completes the rejection, we can pack up and leave.”

“Why didn’t you tell any of us about this?” I nearly scream before I remember that we are supposed to be quiet in case something gets back to Levi. “F ucking hell, Jack! I know that you like playing things close to the vest, but we need to fill each

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other in on our plans. Otherwise, how am I supposed to help you?”

“You’re not,” he says, turning around to continue our journey to the pack house.

This time, I’m the one that gets in his face, using my were speed. “What the f uck do you mean I’m not supposed to help you? We’re f ucking brothers and this is to keep our sister’s virtue and her life in tact! Of course I need to be there to help you!”

“You will not interfere. It’s my fault that it’s this bad. I’m the one that re f u sed to take her to the pack hospital. I’m the one that called her a worthless bit ch on multiple occa sions. I’m the one that decided that we would lie to Father about what really happened, knowing that he’d kick our as ses if he found out how we’d treated her. It’s my fault that she’s like she is. And it’s my job to fix it.”

With that, Jack walks around me and heads to the pa ck ho u se.

Well, this is going to be an in ter es t ing din ner.

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