His Purpose

Chapter 8

Arabella Pov

I find myself just as annoyed with him as I am with myself, and maybe that’s why I tend to take it out on him, but I don’t know how else to deal with everything that’s going through me. More than once, I find myself watching the grinning brunet, how he leads the elites with an easy-going attitude but everyone follows his commands to the T without any sort of argument, with understanding, and a loyalty that I’ve never quite seen in warriors or elites. They weren’t scared to joke around and pick on Isaac, the wolves that were older than him acted like doting uncles and aunts, while the ones his age or younger treat him like a big or little brother, but when it came to it they snapped to every command, every order without question despite age.

I was having trouble wrapping my mind around it. At first, I wanted to snap at him and make him grow up and act like the commander he was supposed to be but watching the men follow his every command with the loyalty and admiration shining in their eyes quieted me. My father’s men never looked at him like that, they never looked at me like that. My father ruled them all with an iron fist that instilled fear and horror. They listened or else they’d be whipped, as I’ve been, not even his daughter has been spared from standing there in the middle of the field tied to a wooden pole while the biting crack of the leather smacked against my back time and time again. I guess in the end, that was the difference between Isaac and my father. Isaac’s men and women would fight to the death gladly for him, while my father’s men and women would flee, hoping they’d get a chance to escape as they were mercilessly slaughtered on the field.

I kept finding myself staring at him from the corner of my eye, remembering last night and everything that happened. I didn’t want to agree with anything he said, but the argument about the rogue kids and wolves was still spreading around in my head, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. He had stuck up for them, and while Nate wasn’t at a fault technically since he hadn’t known to try and get them to surrender, it would have been considered a slaughter by a commanding officer in any war. He could get away with it, not only because he didn’t know better but because he was the alpha. Rogues didn’t care about surrender, because they were fighting for their lives against the packs they wished they could be a part of, but there was an unspoken rule with wolf packs to ask for surrender, to give foreign rogues time to back down, to try and beg forgiveness, to try and get themselves trusted to amend their pasts and become part of a pack.

Not all rogues wanted to be rogues, most were forced into it either by being banished for something they did wrong or were falsely accused of, or they were born into it and never wanted it to begin with. There were also those that alpha died, and they had no alpha to lead them, making them have no choice but to move either in groups or separately as they desperately searched for a new alpha. Only five percent of rogues truly wanted to be rogues, which was why packs were notorious for allowing rogues to surrender. But Nate didn’t, never thought about it, and in all sense, slaughtered people who very well could have been forced into fighting and never wanted to be a part of any of it. Isaac stuck up for them, and I couldn’t stop…thinking about it. ‘You’re staring at him again,’ Misty teased.

I found myself pouting in annoyance, my lips pressed together as I stared at Isaac. It was hard to stop looking, and I was telling myself it was only because I was thinking about the rogues that I had grown up with but at the same time it was something else as well. Attractive doesn’t even begin to describe the depth and intensity of his eyes as he fluttered them around the training ground, watching the elites with a lowered guard that was still there slightly, always present and ready. His lime green eyes were filled with happiness, but there was something else there that was never touched, something buried under the surface that I wondered if I truly cared about or if I was just going to keep ignoring, telling myself it wasn’t my business because he wasn’t my business. The perfect angle of his nose, down to the gentle curve of his pink lips. His light bronze-colored skin tanned from constantly being under the sun was glittering with the sweat he’d accumulated from warming up earlier, and I found myself secretly finding him…perfect.

Perfect for me, at least attractive wise not that I’d ever admit to that out loud or even where Misty could see it and tease me. But no matter how much he looks perfect, his personality wasn’t, and even perfect men weren’t immune to having imperfect personalities. He had already proven to me that his personality was far from perfect when he left me in that cell without care or pause, to love his brother’s mate instead.

I let out a sharp frustrated sigh as I forced myself to stare at the warriors under my care. They didn’t look at me the way they looked at Isaac, but I wasn’t surprised. While they looked at Isaac with admiration and unwavering loyalty, they stared at me with suspicion, not entirely trusting I was on their side. I didn’t blame them, I wouldn’t trust me either if I was in the same shoes as them. I was the alpha from the rogue pack, and maybe I redeemed myself slightly by killing my father in front of most of them, but that didn’t mean much. Rogues were notorious for fighting each other for the alpha spot, even if they didn’t have alpha blood they could lead rogues if they were strong enough to prove they had what it takes and conniving enough to lead them. My father and I were rare, being alpha born. It wasn’t always common to have true alpha-blood lead rogues, normally alphas led normal packs, not criminals and outcasts.

In a way, my father could have taken them and purchased land, could have built houses, and started corporations like all of the other true packs, and he could have turned them all into a proper pack if he had wanted to. But all he had cared about was revenge, and it ultimately led to his demise. Though as I stared into the group of warriors I chanted out steps, watching them listen despite their distrust, and wondered if maybe this…maybe this could be my pack one day. I could leave now, be a lone alpha wolf, build my own land and corporation and slowly gather wolves if I wanted to. I could leave when the three-month mark came, as I was fully expecting to do, or I could…stay. I looked over at Tessa, watching as she sat there in the grass watching Sean playing soccer. Avery and Paisley were not far away from them, leaning against a tree with their heads bent together, looking through maps as they tried to search for where in the world my father had possibly hidden her family. I could see Addison jumping and twirling, her foot slamming into a hanging bag as a few boys her age rolled their eyes at her, prejudiced because she was a bunny but unable to stop themselves from admiring her nearly perfect form.

I could stay, for Tessa. It was strange how close I felt with her, how much I wanted nothing more than to protect her and the small child growing in her womb, her little siblings. It was strange how close I’d gotten to her the past week I’d been here, seeing as that she was the one my mate was in love with. But I never once held it against her, because she wasn’t at fault for any of that. I couldn’t help but admire her, how strong she was, physically and mentally, the perfect luna that I would be proud to serve. But as I turned to look at Isaac, I frowned, torn once more, before shaking my head with a frustrated sigh.

‘How could I stay with him here? How could I stay in this pack, knowing it meant I’d have to forgive him, to marry him?’ I wondered.

I watched as Isaac nearly tripped over one of his elites that fell over in slight exhaustion, the two of them grinning and laughing on the ground as they helped each other up, a round of laughter rippling through the elites as Isaac stood and clapped his hands, forcing them to get back into line and keep going. ‘Would that be so bad though? Can’t you just forgive him? He’s our mate,’ Misty said with a whimper.

I narrowed my eyes at the brunet as he looked over at me, a smirk fluttering over his chiseled features as agitation flooded through me, his wink not helping matters at all. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked away from him, fury building inside me, trying to stop myself from running over to him and tearing him apart limb by limb. ‘I’ll never forgive him.’ I snarled, agitated. ‘Never.’