Heartless Angels
Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – Levi

Chapter 8 – Levi

She’s been gone for about 36 hours now and my wolf is losing his mind. I can’t eat, sleep, or even focus on anything since she’s been gone. I had no idea that her mere presence affected me so much. Her scent used to permeate the air near the packhouse and my time spent with her brothers and father would bring her scent to me on their clothing. Now it’s started to

dissipate without her there.

She’s smart. Smarter than I knew. We had tracked Oakley’s bank transactions to about five banks at the first decent-sized town that she went through heading East. She had taken about $200 from the cabin, but she went on to completely empty her

account, nearly $5,000 that she had apparently earned in high school.

She also switched out the license plate on her brother’s SUV. It made it harder to track her through traffic cams and toll booths, but Jack had quickly called up his OnStar account and was able to track the car to another town where she stopped at a

pharmacy. At that point, we were only about two hours behind her and we were trying to catch up quickly.

A quick search of the surveillance cameras showed her scooting along the outskirts of the camera’ views. She stopped in the hair care aisle, exiting out the back of the store and setting off the emergency alarm. It was easy to tell that she had stolen some hair dye and was trying to change her appearance. A stop at a nasty gas station and a search of their dumpsters found a

box of brunette hair dye with her scent on it.

The final time that we knew anything about her movements was when Jack’s car was dumped and Oakley stole another car.

This one was an old beater and there was nothing on it that was trackable through the internet or other accounts.

I doubt that she kept that car for long, but there’s no way to tell which way she went, if she continued East, or went North or

South. Hell, she could have even doubled back to make it harder to replace her. There’s no way to know. If we knew a direction, we

could at least follow the trail of stolen cars like bread crumbs. As it is, we’ve got nothing to go on.

Even her family is at a loss. And me? I don’t know her, I didn’t take the opportunity to get to know her. I have no idea of anything about her. I had my best trackers and detectives out looking for her, but after the first 10 hours, we’ve got no leads and

no idea how to replace one.

I’ve searched through her few meager belongings that were still in the cabin, wanting to try to get to know her, but the things that she left behind were non-descript: a few band t-shirts, a random ‘to-do’ list, some nail polish. She hadn’t planned on staying here as long as she had. It was supposed to be just a few days and then she would head back home.

She’s my mate, my other half, and I know absolutely nothing about her. Nothing beyond the surface.

But she knew about me. Knew enough to be frightened of me. Knew enough to reject me. And what had I done to change

her mind? What had I done to try to make her give me a chance? I had insulted her beauty and had said that I would keep her as a breeder. All for what? Because of my wounded pride when she ran away from me. Because I was afraid to have a weak mate.

It’s only now that she’s gone that I realize what a f ucking idiot I am. It’s only now that I realize how much I need her. She’s the other half of my soul and I treated her like s hit. I literally beat her until she couldn’t move. Had she been any other she wolf, It would still have been a harrowing experience, but she would have healed quickly. As it was, it took three months for her to fully heal. And each time that I went to see her, her beaten and broken b*dy reminded me of my failure to care for her the way

that I should.

I am a cruel male. I know it. I own it. It is something that will keep my position and my pack safe. But I had never wanted to be that way towards her. I just couldn’t handle the fact that she rejected me without giving me a chance, not with her words,

but withhgi attempt to run away from me. She had known I was her mate and she hadn’t come to me. The only reason I had

thing

realized it was because the twins had come up to speak to me.

Speaking of the twins, they have categorically refused to speak to me since I told them that she would be moving into the pack house prior to the luna ceremony.

I’d like to think that I wouldn’t have gone through with making Brittany my luna. I’d like to think that I would have found the kindness that I had always wanted to give to my mate and shown it to Oakley. That she would have broken her months long silence to speak to me and I could tell her how I really felt about her.

I f ucked this up so much that I don’t even know how to explain myself to myself. I was so angry and I let it take me over. And now I’m reaping the consequences of my actions.

I hear the door to the cabin open and slam closed as three pairs of heavy footfalls enter. Must be Jack, James, and Bradley, My prediction is confirmed when they walk into the room to see me sitting on her bed. I can’t help it. I need to have her. scent around me and this is the only place that I can still replace it.

“Alpha,” Bradley says, the hostility evident in his voice. “What are you doing here?”

Clearing my throat, I look them in the eyes. I try to pull my alpha authority and cold demeanor around me, but I’m not sure that I’m entirely successful. “I was trying to see if I could replace something that would give us a clue.”

“Don’t you think that we would have found it if there were such a thing? Jack asked. “James completely tossed the room. There’s nothing here but the things that she didn’t care enough about to take with her I see the thick swallow he takes as he unconsciously looks towards a photo of their family taken at Oakley’s graduation, just a few weeks ago. She didn’t want any reminders of her place here or of her family back home. She had well and truly given up.

I clear my throat. “What about her cellphone? Have you been able to get ahold of her internet searches or call histons Maybe she called a friend from home or searched a place that she might be going to

“She didn’t have any friends, James interrupts me. “Because she barely had a wolf, people shunned her Wolves that she had known her entire life stopped talking to her because of the culture that we have around here. She was basically human and anyone that interacted with her was seen as weak. We didn’t even act as if we knew her in public because of what you and your father have purported as being the most important thing in a wolf James ducks his head before hitting himself in the side of his head. Tears fall from his eyes and he either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care who sees. “No wonder she left.”

I don’t even know what to say. Her own family felt that our pack would see her as such an outcast that they even shunned her in public?

“So, it’s your fault that she left!” I snarl out, my wolf rising to the surface quickly, eager to shed some blood and rid itself of this helpless feeling Maybe if we helped our mate get revenge on those that had hurt her all of her life with their indifference,

she would come back.

All three males tense, their eyes immediately turning black with their anger at my suggestion. They are obviously fighting against the need to submit to their alpha and their desire to fight back.

Finally, Jack steps forward, his teeth having elongated in his wolf’s desire to fight mine. He has to speak slowly to enunciate the words that he is saying around his wolfish teeth. “We aren’t the ones who told her that she wasn’t good enough to be a luna or a mate. We weren’t the ones that told her that the only thing she could possibly be good for was breeding, if she didn’t die from it. We didn’t beat her to a blo ody pulp, nearly killing her and requiring three months for her to recover. We didn’t nearly take another as our luna without rejecting her. Tell me, Levi. How many times did you f uck Brittany since you found out that my sister was your mate? How many times did Oakley claw at her arms and stomach, vomit up her food, and attempt to hide her

screams, nearly biting through her l*ps because she could feel you f ucking Brittany?”

2/3

Chapher & Levi

3/3

Chapter 8 – Levi

My skin blanches and my wolf falls back within my head, whimpering at what Jack just said. “What do you mean?

Jack gives a harsh bark of cold laughter. “You mean that you’re not just cruel, you’re st upid as well? You didn’t complete the rejection! Anytime that you were physical with that airheaded bimbo that you have led to believe would be our next luna, Oakley felt it. It complicated her healing and deepened her depression to the point that I don’t even know if she can have a pup any longer. All because you couldn’t swallow your pride and try to get her to love you” Jack’s wolf has caused his voice to deepen and become a raspy growl. “I’m ashamed to call you my alpha and to think that I took your side over Oakley’s. If I ever replace her. I will beg her on my knees for forgiveness every da mn day of my cursed life. But I will never bring her back to you.”

3/3