Heartless Angels

Chapter 11 – Oakley

Chapter 11 – Oakley

Once the last person leaves through the gate, Sophia looks out over the field at the 50 of us that made it through tryouts.

“Congratulations on making it through tryouts, she begins.

I can hear who ops and cheers start until she holds up her hand. “As I was saying, Congratulations on making it through tryouts. You have the basic skills of our 13 year old cadets in military school. You probably won’t die in a fight with a group of

roques.”

Well, that took the wind out of our sails.

Cassie turns to me and mouths, “Charming.”

I have to stifle a laugh because Sophia turns her burning gaze on me. A look passes across her face that I can’t quite make out. Confusion? Recognition? Whatever it is, she shakes it off and her gaze moves past mine.

“You are now trainees. Over the next month, you will participate in a variety of daily lessons focused on assessing your me ntal and physical agility, fortitude, and strength. Only ten of you will make it through the month to become one of the Elite. Those final ten will go on to the intense, grueling, and extremely rewarding path of the Elite Ten. This is not for the faint of heart. This will consume your daily life, your future, your entire soul. You will be forfeiting a pack, becoming one made up of yourself and the other nine of the Elite. You will be forfeiting finding your mate for the next 30 years, meaning that you will also be forfeiting the possibility of pups. You will be forfeiting your family, for they cannot know where you are. You will be forfeiting your entire identity, including your name. The old you dies as soon as you complete this month. It is a great sacrifice, to tie yourselves to the Goddess and to each other in this way, and it is not for every wolf. Only those special ten within a generation can survive all that this life will demand of you. But in return, you will get a long, adventurous, and rich life. One that is blessed by the Goddess. And one where every wolf on this continent owes you their very lives”

The entire field is quiet. The only sounds are coming from the birds chirping in the trees along the walls and the city noise

outside. Sophia’s words have had their desired effect.

“Each week, there will be a final test. That is where most of the eliminations will occur. Don’t think that means that you are

safe throughout the week Eliminations can happen anytime. Each week, a minimum ten will leave. That doesn’t mean that more won’t be gone at the end of the week. The only important number is that we have ten at the end. Everything else will just

come out in the wash.”

Geez. Her indifference is so inspiring.

Thick, thick sarcasm.

“The first week, you’ll be focusing on weaponry. The farther away you can take out a target, the less likely you are to get yourself or one of your pack members hurt or killed. I will be training you, but each of our trainers will be watching. Assessing. Scoring. The second week, we’ll focus on hand-to-hand and wolf-on-wolf combat. Ethan will be in charge of you there, but again all of us will be watching. The third week will focus on poisons. Creating them and withstanding them. For that one, the Goddess and our own Doc Elwood will be watching you. Hopefully all of you will survive. Our final trial will be a puzzle. One that

you will know nothing about until you make it that far. If you make it that far.

༦ བ སྟྲ སྡེ་

I huff a huge sigh, feeling a bit overwhelmed. But the thought of anonymity, of knowing that I won’t have to deal with Levi or the backstabbing wolves that I had thought of as family my whole life that was worth the pain that I know will come with this. I

may have only known about this possibility since yesterday, but I am holding on to it with all my heart. I can’t think of any other

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Chapter 11 – Oakley

ay to ensure that I am out of their reach. Even if I leave the continent, Levi’s alpha status could force me back here. This is the

best thing I can think of doing.

While I’m thinking about all of this, Sophia is staring down each and every trainee. Her gaze is fierce, assessing, and Intimidating. Her staring contest for each and every one of us lasts a total of five minutes. It’s extremely uncomfortable.

She seems to keep coming back to two wolves, one behind me and the other on the opposite side. “If you don’t think that you can hack it, if you don’t think that you can make the sacrifices necessary, then the door is right behind you. There is no shame in knowing yourself. In knowing your strengths and weaknesses. And knowing that you don’t want to sacrifice that much of your life without leaving your real name behind for your legacy. It’s a lot.

The silence only stretches a few more seconds before the wolf behind me leaves. A few seconds later, the wolf on the other side leaves.

Sophia watches them go. When no one else moves, she claps her hands together. “Good” Now Ethan will give you a tour of your home for the next well for however long you last.”

With that, she walks off the stage and Ethan steps forward to grab our attention. “Alright, trainees. You’ve already become well acquainted with the courtyard. Follow me and I’ll show you to the mess hall.” He doesn’t wait for us and just starts walking away.

Ok…guess we’re supposed to follow

Ethan is a t

taller male, leanly muscled and tanned skin, belying how much time he spends out in the sun. He has thick black hair that falls to his chin. It has the b*dy that I’ve always envied in others, especially while I was stuck in my depression and my hair was lank and thinning.

Surprisingly, since I left four days ago, it’s back fuller and thicker. Everything about me seems healthier now that I’ve broken ties with my family and my pack. It’s like my wolf was waiting for me to leave to show her true potential. I don’t know why that would be the case, but I’m also not going to complain.

After the mess hall, Ethan shows us to the showers, the library, the classrooms, and finally to the dormitories

“Listen up! Male dorms on the left, she-wolf’s on the right. We’ve already got you split up, so once you know which room is

yours, go get your stuff and get settled. You have an hour before dinner and then evening classes. Ethan is taking little plastic

plaques with what I assume have our names and starts to slide them into the frames outside of the dorm room. Unfortunately,

that’s when some whiner decides it’s time to make themselves known.

“Are you serious?” a blonde girl, just a little taller than me, asks. “We just got here and we already have to start classes.”

“What’s your name, trainee?” Ethan asks, giving her his full attention.

“Julia” she responds.

Ethan co cks an eyebrow. His face doesn’t change, but an aura is suddenly thrust into the room. Julia is at the receiving end of it, but we all feel it brush past us as it moves toward her. It’s powerful, leaving a cold and pri ckly feeling. Julia immediately bares her n*eck, her back actually bending forward in a bow. Ethan’s flat, almost bored voice shifts to one of cold, flinty steel.

“You will address all of your trainers as sir, ma’am, or instructor. Anything else will result in immediate punishment for you and

your whole unit. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir,” Julia says, her voice straining as she tries to remain upright.

Ethan maintains his aura for a few more seconds before dropping it. “Now, Julia, you have earned a punishment for all of

your unit, That’s 30 push-ups for your insolent comment and 30 push-ups for the disrespect. On the ground and count them

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Chapter 11 – Oakley

loud trainees.

Some people think that Ethan’s joking, but I can tell by the flint that’s still present in his eyes, he isn’t. Cassie and I are the first two on the ground and we start counting Pretty quickly, everyone is on the ground.

I’m used to training with my father and brothers, where most of their focus was on making sure that I could out-maneuver and move faster than my opponent. Strength conditioning was given over for running and cardio. So, by the time my 60 push-ups were complete, my arms felt as if they were made out of jelly and I was sweating profusely.

I slowly stand and wait for the rest of the trainees to complete their reps.

Once we’re done, Ethan starts to insert names into the plaques on the outside of the sleeping quarters. “First up, we’ve got

Cas sandra Sky, Oakley Moon, Mary Black, and Lisa Ivy.”

Looks like I’ve got my first roommates.

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