Heartless Angels

Chapter 69 – Oakley

Chapter 69 – Oakley

I am notified by one of the nurses that Cassie is awake and physically ok about an hour after dinner time. Psychologically,

so hot, but she’s able to leave the infirmary. Ray and I help her back to the dorms and Lisa and Harry help us care for her. Amazingly, after their rejection calmed down, the two of them have been able to be around each other without issue. It’s weird..

But it gives me hope. Not just for the Elite 10, which it’s looking more and more like they are going to be a part of the team. No, I also have hope for Jer ry and Cassie. At least they could possibly be friends with each other. That is, if Je rry doesn’t take back his rejection and try to take her as his mate. That would really hurt Mary, though. So, I don’t know what they are going to

do.

Even though the room is for four wolves, all five of us stay in there together. We all sleep in a huge puppy pile on the floor. These piles of us all together are best done skin to skin, so we wear as little as we’re all comfortable wearing around each other, guys in boxers, girls in bras and panties. The purpose isn’t S**ual at all, even though we have one mated pair and an ex-mated pair here. The purpose is to provide comfort. And Cassie needs a lot of it.

Ray and Harry go to get us breakfast in the morning while Lisa, Cassie, and I take turns showering and getting ready for the day. It’s another day off before the third week starts tomorrow.

While Lisa is in the shower, I ask Cassie, “How are you feeling, babe?”

“Like sh it,” she mutters. She told us about her conversation with Mary on the phone last night. How Mary had pressured her. Into making a decision right then and there and she just exploded out with a rejection. Mary had gasped as the pain laced through her, but then immediately accepted the rejection and hung up

Almost the second that the call disconnected, Cassie had smelled her third chance mate’s scent, so like Mary’s, but distinctly different as well. It had led her to Jer ry who was just getting off the phone with Mary. He scented her immediately and just went berserk. He pushed her away from him, screaming at her, at the same time that his wolf emerged, trying to come

to her aid. It was like the two sides of him were literally fighting with each other to fight her or comfort her.

That’s when the other wolves come out of nowhere and held him back from her. Ray and I had showed up not long after and

we knew what happened.

She had sobbed throughout the night, falling asleep and then waking up from dreams, whining and gasping from the pain. One of us would pull her into our b*dy and then she would calm only for the cycle to start all over again.

“Tell me something that will take my mind off of it. At least for just a little bit,” she nearly begs me. Well, I’ve got

something.

“Soooo, you know how Lisa has been really nice and all since we brought you back?”

She has to think about it for a second, but I don’t hold it against her. She’s a bit out of it for the moment, rightfully so. “Wait, yeah! Why was she in the puppy pile? She would never do something like that before!”

“So, right after you were taken to the infirmary, Lisa asked to talk to me. Apparently, her mother and my mother were twins. They were both mated to Trainer Ethan, but my mom rejected him so that she could become part of the Elite 10. He then rejected her mom because they are identical twins and he couldn’t handle the reminder of my mom. Her mom turned the entire family against my mom, so when Lisa figured out who I was…” I end by spreading my hands out in a helpless gesture.

Cassie just

stares at me with wide eyes and blinks a few times. “Well, da mn. I would say mission accomplished.”

I laugh, helping her to clean up all the pillows and blankets that were on the floor from last night.

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Chapter 69

–

Oakley

“So what made her want to say, ‘Screw, Mom!’ and be nice?” Cassie asks, still trying to process everything that I told her.

“She said that it was likely that the two of us would be in the Elite 10 and that we would have to be able to work together and I’d done a lot to help her.” I shrug my shoulders.

“Does she mean everything that went down with Harry?” Cassie asks.

That and the fact that she never talked bad about me to anyone. Never actually initiated any of the sh it that went down between us. She just reacted, handled it, and tried to move on. Takes a bigger person to do that, Lisa says, walking back into the room. I had been so focused on Cassie and making sure that she was ok that I hadn’t noticed that Lisa was coming back into the room. I mean, I could blame part of it on the fact that she just showered, so her scent was damped a bit, but that doesn’t excuse completely missing her. I just wasn’t thinking about it and I should have been.

“Sorry, Lisa. I was just trying to get Cassie’s mind off of everything… I say, but she holds her hands up to stop me.

“Don’t worry about it. I knew that you would tell her. She’s one of your best friends. I was actually surprised that you didn’t say anything last night. And thank you for letting me be part of last night. After everything went down with Harry, I didn’t really have any closure with him. Last night provided that.” She turns away from us to get dressed, but I know that she’s embarrassed and doesn’t want to show it.

Cassie and I look at each other and I’m about to say something when we all hear pounding footsteps running up the stairs beside our room. Whoever it is, they are coming too fast for us to scent them, but they are coming in hot.

Immediately, all three of us are on high alert. Lisa and I both force Cassie behind because her wolf is weak right now and unable to help her with strength, healing, or speed as well as our wolves can. Lisa has only had enough time to put on a tank and some panties, while I’m not fairing much better in a pair of biker shorts and Ray’s shirt that I threw on when the boys left for breakfast. But we both stand in front of Cassie, putting our friend behind us.

Several other wolves have run out of their rooms and have taken up defensive stances in the hallway when J erry crests the

stairs.

“Cassie! Cassie! I’m so sorry. I revoke my rejection! I want to try to fix it. We need to at least talk it out. I’m sorry, baby!” he screams as he tries to get to our room, but both Lisa and I stand in his way, partially shifted into our wolves.

My claws are out, my eyes have changed colors, and my mouth is starting to elongate to accommodate my growing number of sharp teeth. I don’t look behind me, but I can sense Cassie stiffed, know that she is feeling a million different emotions right now. She doesn’t know how to react.

Jer ry seems not to notice us standing in front of him, just tries to get past us to his mate.

Both Lisa and I snarl, as do many of the wolves in the hallway, but we all somehow hear Cassie’s whisper. “No…”

Jer ry immediately stops moving, sagging in Lisa and my arms. “No?” he whines.

“No,” she says again, louder. “I can’t. I can’t do this right now. You- you need to give me time.”

“Ok…I can do that. But I’ve revoked my rejection. I want to try to figure this out, Cassie. If that means that we plan to leave this place together or we stay, I don’t want it to be a unilateral decision. Ok?” Jer ry is pleading with her. I can hear my friend’s heart breaking. Actually, both of their hearts are breaking.

She nods and he lets out a large breath. Then he moves towards the stairs. “T’ll be here when you’re ready,” he says as he

starts going down the stairs.

Harry and Ray meet him walking up the stairs, but Jer ry just does the guy nod and keeps moving.

turns around, a perplexed look on his face. “What did we miss?”

Chapter 69 – Oakley

That night at dinner, Jer ry sits at another table with some of the guys from his dorm. Cas sle tells Harry to go over there as well, since he’s a good friend of Jerr y as well. It bothers Harry to leave her, but a ton of she-wolves circle around us, making sure that Cassie knows that they are supporting her.

Ray is called to a meeting, along with all the rest of the trainers. It’s just the trainees in the room and it seems quieter than

normal.

Right before we sit down to eat, Trainer Sophia comes into the room. Behind her, the trainers come in, bringing goblets full of what smells like wine. What’s this? We aren’t allowed to have any alcohol. All clean living here at the castle.

I try to catch Ray’s eye, since he looks kind of distraught. I don’t know what’s wrong. But he doesn’t look in my direction at all, instead looking directly in front of him.

“Congratulations everyone! You have made it half way through camp!” Trainer Sophia calls out and everyone in the room claps and cheers.

When we quiet down, Trainer Sophia says, “As a way to celebrate, we have a treat. A glass of wine for the 24 remaining trainees.” She sweeps her hand behind her and then she and the rest of the trainers all leave.

Well, that was abrupt. We all kind of look at each other, but it seems we are expected to drink it. So, we all file in a line and take a cup, some draining it right at the table and then going back to their food. Cassie, Lisa, and I take ours back to the table with us and drink it as we eat.

By the end of the meal, everyone has finished their glasses and an actual dessert is served. But as people start to get up to get it, they fall to the floor, passing out.

There’s an uproar and we try to figure out what’s going on as more and more of us fall. Soon, there’s only a few of us still awake, but that doesn’t last long I can feel dizziness take hold of me, my breath coming out in pants, and blackness starting to creep into my vision.

I see Lisa slump forward onto the table and make eye contact with Cassie. Fear is in her eyes just before they start to close. I don’t see her fall as darkness takes over my vision and I’m hurled into oblivion.

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