His Purpose

Chapter 2

Isaac Pov

“Left, right! Repeat!” I yelled, my hands crossed over my chest as I walked up and down the narrow path.

The soft sound of the elites punching the bags filled the air with their grunts of exhaustion and pain, but not one let up as they continued their rigorous training. Each one was barefoot, their feet balancing on a beam that I had crafted to rise in the air. They needed to balance on the beam as they punched the bag that was hanging in front of them. If they couldn’t multitask their balance and their strength, then they’d fall to the net that was underneath them. Every time someone fell, the beams were lifted another inch, making them scared. Scared warriors weren’t useful on the field, they needed to overcome their fear as well, to stand beside me.

I stared across the beams to watch Arabella as she instructed the warriors in their training. It has been a hard week since she came to the pack, but we’ve sort of fallen into a silent understanding. In the end, we had the wolves' vote. Arabella was selected by the wolves to train the warriors, and I was selected by the elites. I wasn’t surprised, considering I’ve fought beside and trained these elites since I was old enough to be stronger than them. I’ve earned their trust exponentially. As for the kids, Arabella and I were tasked to train them together. It wasn’t too hard though, considering training the kids meant various sports and weightlifting, and we rarely had to talk to each other about that either. We’d simply walk around and help those that needed us, on opposite sides of the field.

As if she could feel me staring Arabella turned and for a moment everything fell away. The grunts of pain and cries of fear from those who were about to slip faded away, the smell of sweat were gone, and all that I could see was her. Arabella’s hair was short since she had cut it in the cell, but I remembered how long it was from the pictures Jason gave me, the pictures I still had in my room. How it had been down to her butt, and now it floated in wavy curls around her shoulders, brushing against her skin in a way I wished I could. Under the light of the sun bearing down on her, her midnight-colored skin was sparkling in her sweat, and her warm chocolate eyes were staring intensely into mine, piercing through me, lifting a fire through my soul.

I wanted nothing more than to wrap her in my arms and promise her the world, but I already ruined that. I ruined everything. ‘Yeah, good job with that, numb-nuts,’ Patrick, my wolf said in my mind.

As if his voice was the key to breaking the spell, Arabella looked away from me, turning her back to me and everything was back again in full force, along with the piercing scream from one of my elites as he fell down from the beam and into the net underneath them. “One more inch!” I shouted as a collected groan spilled through the elites. “Come on, don’t be sissies!” I called out as some of them chuckled at me.

“You’re not the one up here!” One of them called out as the taunting words were flung at me. These men were more than just my elites, they all either raised me in a way or were raised by me since I had lost my father when I was seven by the rogues. The rogue whose daughter was my mate. They knew just what to say to get me to join in and I took the challenge in stride, lifting my shirt over my head and throwing it to the side, kicking my shoes and socks off as the men and women started to cheer for me. I climbed up the side of the wooden ladder after the man that had fallen, taking place beside him as he grinned sheepishly at me. From up here, I felt free, so high off the ground as my feet balanced perfectly on the beam and I started to chant with the others.

“Left! Right! Repeat!” I shouted. As if having me beside them made them feel more confident, they filled the air with their shouts, so loudly that the warriors and Arabella turned to watch us for a moment. I didn’t slip, I didn’t fall, and I was perfectly balanced as I hit the bag in front of me.

‘That’s because you’ve always trained longer than anyone else, perfecting nearly everything to prove you were good enough,’ Patrick said, admiration in his voice.

I grinned, feeling slightly embarrassed under his praise, even if no one else could hear it. ‘I needed to, Pat. I had to prove to them I was good enough. Do you know how hard it is to have a fifteen-year-old leading drills for twenty to thirty-year-old men and women? They didn’t take me seriously at first, and while my mom wanted to just order them to behave, I wanted to prove to them I had what it took to lead them. I worked my ass off to show them that just because I lost my father at a young age and I was younger than all of them, I was still an alpha, and I still had what it took to lead them into battle.’

Patrick barked at me, his tongue hanging out as he laid down on his paws, panting as if he was the one feeling the heat of the sun pouring down on him. ‘You have no idea how much I admire that, Isaac.’ he said as a smile fluttered over my lips.

“If you’re smiling, that means it’s not hard enough. How about a few more inches?” Arabella’s voice floated from down below me.

I paused long enough to stare down at her as the men and women around me looked at me in horror. “Bring it, sweetheart, I can do this all day!” I called back to her as my elites groaned in exhaustion.

Arabella’s eyebrow twitched at my pet name and a frown was pressed firmly on her lips as she started to turn the wheel, raising the beam five more inches. I grinned, cracking my neck as three elites fell off the moment she stopped turning the wheel, scampering off of the net and backing up as they tried to avoid being caught running in terror. One after another my elites fell down, and I didn’t feel the need to call them back up because I had only another half hour before their training was over anyway. Two or three stuck around with me, but mostly all of them were gone as I looked down at Arabella with a grin. “Do you want to come join me? You can stand right here beside me, darling,” I yelled out as Arabella growled a warning at me.

“Lord have mercy,” one of the elites whimpered as Arabella answered me by adding another two inches to the beams. “I’m out before you piss her off even more,” they said as they jumped down, falling into the net with a swish underneath me.

I shrugged, continuing to punch the bags, even taking a minute to jump and kick them, having no fear of how high up I was. I could still see Arabella from here silently watching me and I grinned, wondering if she realized some of her wall was down, and I could feel it. She was annoyed with me, but she was worried, too. She didn’t want me to fall and die, and while I knew that didn’t mean she actually liked me, it was a step up for me. It wasn’t easy finding your mate, and her wanting to kill you. Not to mention the fact that she overheard me confessing to my brother’s wife that I had been in love with her. ‘Not to mention you had ignored Jason telling you Arabella was our mate and continued to protect Tessa. And Arabella knows that, too.’ Patrick added.

I rolled my eyes, punching the bag harder as frustration poured through me. ‘Thanks for reminding me, Pat.’ I muttered.

Patrick simply laughed, and I shook my head at him. I risked a glance down at Arabella once more but nearly regretted it as I almost fell. Finally, I felt the beams lowered and I stopped moving, feeling the strange elevator feeling of standing still on a floor that’s moving. As the beams hovered an inch over the ground as they were made to do, the net tucked underneath them ready for another day, I looked at Arabella and grinned. “Thanks, darling. I was getting kind of tired.” I said, watching her stand there with her hands crossed over her chest, glaring at me.

“f**k you,” She replied, turning around without a second glance, and walking away. I sighed, feeling even more drained than ever as I watched her walk away.

‘She gave Nate three months, and then she’d leave. It’s only been a week and she already looks like she wants to just kill you and get out of here,’ Patrick said with a sigh.

I groaned, running my fingers over my face as I sighed. ‘I’m not giving up,’ I promised.