Heartless Angels

Chapter 15 Oakley

Chapter 15 – Oakley

How is that even a choice?” lask. “Of course I’m going to pick being a part of the Elite Ten. My family sucks and were cool with giving me to a sa distic, uncaring, and unlovable mate. My pack hates me just because I’m not as strong as they are, even though I have plenty more to offer. And my mate, well the less sold about him, the better. Thave nothing to go back to. Why would I make any other choice?” That would make absolutely no sense.

“Just wait. There are things that you don’t know. Things that you need to see. The spirit of my mother pulls my hand, leading me down the ladder that goes out of the treehouse.

Once we get down, I see that we’re in what looks like a police station. Standing there, arguing with an older male wolf with

a decorated uniform, is Jack.

“I’m under the authority of Alpha Levi Silver of the Silver Lake Pack. I need you to check your city surveillance for this truck. I’m looking for the alpha’s mate. I need to find her, she’s in danger and we’ve had no word from her in nearly a week.”

The older wolf, I’m assuming the captain of the precinct, uses a calm voice to try to talk to my brother, but it’s easy to tell that he’s losing patience. “I can appreciate your dilemma, Mr. Moon, but without a confirmed written or verbal command from either Alpha Silver himself or a member of the council here in Corinth, there’s nothing that I can do”

Jack nearly launches himself across the desk in an attempt to grab the captain’s shirt and get in his face. As it is, it’s a near miss, the older male’s reflexes better than they look like they would be. “That’s my baby sister out there, you f ucking mutt. I need to know where she is. I need to know that she’s ok. Not for some f ucking alpha who didn’t know what he had when he found her. Because I need to make sure that she’s safe”

There are tears standing in Jack’s eyes and the older male’s eyes soften as he sees the pain that is plain on Jack’s face. He ushers Jack towards on office, fm assuming his, and has Jack sit. Tunderstand, Mr. Moon But my hands are tied when it

comes to using security cams-

Jack starts to interrupt, but the captain holds his hand up, indicating that he isn’t finished speaking. “What I will do while you put in a call to Alpha Silver and get confirmation for me is take a description of the vehicle that you think she is in, along with the license plate and have my patrols start canvassing for it. That will at least give us a head start.”

Jack nods, his shoulders seeming to relax a bit at the captain’s words.

But the captain isn’t finished. “Mr. Moon, I am willing to do whatever I can to help you find your sister and luna, but I want to make sure that you have realistic expectations about what is going to happen. Corinth is a huge city. Five million wolves live here, many commuting in and out of the city on a daily basis. Even when we have permission from Alpha Silver, it will take us a long time to sift through the huge amount of data. And the canvases, though more hands on and something we can start now, are going to be like trying to find a needle in a haystack. My hope is that we can find her in one of the more popular places for wolves seeking to skirt under the radar, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. Even if we do find her trail, that doesn’t mean that she’ll still be here when we find it. You have to know that this is likely to take a while and that you might still be looking once we

have finished with everything we can do here.”

Jack nods again, slower, before his face sinks into his hands, I can see his shoulders shake as he silently cries and the captain tries to comfort him as best he can.

My mother takes us towards the door to the office and heads out of the precinct.

“What the hell was that? Jack never gets upset. And why is he looking for me? They never seemed to care about me while I was there. It was all so that I could get well enough to take the offer that Levi gave me.” I’m so confused and I don’t

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Chapter 15 – Oakley

understand what I just saw.

“Not everything is as you thought. Your brothers and father had their reasons for acting the way that they did, even Levi did. I’m not saying that any of them were sufficient for the way that they treated you. But I am saying that they are all extremely remorseful and they want to find you, make amends. They’re going crazy not knowing where you are.”

When we leave the doors of the precinct, we walk into my father’s bedroom in the cabin where I had spent the last three horrid months. Father is hurriedly packing his bag, stuffing clothes in haphazardly, along with toiletries and other miscellaneous

things that have accumulated in the house over the last three months.

James walks into the room, two bags slung over his shoulder and another in his hand. “You almost ready? His voice is

terse, urgent. Like he’s in a hurry.

“Nearly. Just gotta take one last sweep through Oakley’s room to make sure that we have everything. She left so much behind, things I thought she loved…” Father’s voice trails off as he picks up the family picture I had in my room.

It’s a double frame. One of the day that I was born with all five of us in the picture. My mother’s face looks tired, exhausted from her labors, but still happy. Father looks like he’s just won the lottery, staring at the camera with the biggest grin I’ve ever seen on his face. James and Jack are both staring at me, not even noticing the camera. James is stroking my cheek, a look of elation on his face, while Jack pats my hair in a gesture of awe. The second picture is from my high school graduation. The intervening years had changed us a lot between the two pictures, but the happiness and love that I had always thought were there seem evident in the picture. Jack and James have hoisted me up on their shoulders, their arms outstretched in a cry of victory while my head falls back in laughter. Dad is kneeling on the ground in front of them, displaying my diploma like he’s Vana White. They are my two favorite pictures of my family. And I left them behind because I didn’t feel like I had a family anymore.

James’s face takes on a pained look. “She does love us, Father. She just doesn’t think that we loved her anymore. We definitely didn’t show it to her.”

Father sniffs, not turning around to look at James, and neither of them notice the other surreptitiously wiping tears from

their eyes. Father breaks the trance by putting the picture frame in his suitcase. “You go get the car ready. I’ll be right out. We’ve got a long way to meet up with your brother in Corinth Turning around to finally face James, Father says, “We’ll find her,

James. We won’t stop until we do.”

My mother’s hand then pulls on me, tugging me toward the door of the cabin

“I don’t understand. Why did they treat me like they did if they felt like this? If they really wanted me here?” I ask

“That’s something you can ask them. I’m just here to show you that the worst thing about them isn’t the thing that makes them,” my mother says. “One more.”

Just like before, leaving the cabin takes us to a completely different place. This time, it’s a very opulent and huge bedroom. One that Levi is in the process of destroying, throwing Brittany’s clothes at her as she hurriedly tries to pack.

“I said that I wanted you gone by the end of the day! I told you that the arrangement is off and that I’ve found my mate. Why the f uck are you still here?” Levi screams at her.

Brittany is crying, her lower l*p trembling, looking so confused and unsure of how to proceed. “If you found her, where is she? I can’t leave here, I can’t go back home to my father without confirmation that you really have found your mate. It could bring

war to both of our packs.”

“I don’t care!” Levi bellows. “I don’t care if there is war or if the pack falls apart without me. I don’t care if your father

comes to rip me apart. I deserve it. Levi falls to his knees, tears streaming down his face, his arms flailing listlessly in front of him as if searching for something that isn’t there. “I’ll give up anything, everything to have her come back.”

cyrus look crosses Brittany’s face. “Come back? You mean, Oakley? Oakley is your mate? The girl who was beaten

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Chapter 15 – Oakley

nearly to death because she didn’t have a wolf to heal her? The one who’s mate beat her? That Oakley?”

floor.

Levi doesn’t say anything doesn’t even acknowledge her, just curls into himself, shifting slightly to the side and falling to the

A horrified expression crosses Brittany’s face. “You did that? You did that to your own mate? To your luna, just because her wolf was weak? What kind of male are you? She doesn’t even take her suitcase with her. She just sprints out of the room,

leaving Levi on the floor sobbing.

He’s saying something and it’s hard to make out the words that are coming out. I walk a little closer as I try to make it out. When I do, I nearly fall to the ground in shock.

“Oakley. Please come back. Please come back to me, is all that Levi keeps repeating

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