His Purpose

Chapter 1

Arabella Pov

~The past~

“I found you,” I squeaked, crinkling my nose in surprise as I started to slip from the old oak tree branch I was perched on. “Ara!” he gasped, running closer to the tree in time for me to fall out of it. I grasped onto the limb in fright, but it was slipping just out of my grasp until there was nothing left for me to grip onto but the air.

I groaned, landing on top of him as he fell to the ground, both of us rolling for a second down the small hill clutching onto each other. We landed in a heap of limbs and groans of pain, trying to untangle ourselves as we pulled away from each other. “You scared me, Logan!” I shouted, frustrated. I couldn’t help it, I started to bang my fists on the ground, frustrated. I had thought it was the best spot, the best hiding spot. He should have never been able to find me that fast, so easily.

“Well, if you hadn’t tried to hide in the tree, this wouldn’t have happened.” Logan pointed out, trying to act like he was so smart when he was only seven years old like I was.

I shoved him, annoyed that he’d found me so fast when we had just started to play. Logan merely laughed, falling backward onto the ground as he flung his hands up to the sky, staring at his soft caramel skin littered with the dirt we had rolled around in. “Father isn’t going to be happy that you got me dirty,” I pointed out to him as he looked up at me and frowned.

“I didn’t tell you to climb the tree, you can’t get me in trouble Ara. Daddy will be mad at me again,” he said, pouting slightly. “Your daddy just promoted mine to be his new beta, he’s going to kill me if I piss off your daddy,” he added, a whine in his voice. He was rolling back and forth, creating a small little friction of dust as the cold air collected around him, dust spilling into his face as he sneezed, waving his hands in front of his face in annoyance.

I nodded, because I knew that was true. My daddy wasn’t the nicest person around. I didn’t really like him all that much, to be honest. He wasn’t very nice to mommy, and he wasn’t really nice to me either. She didn’t want to be here anymore, she had been arguing with him a lot lately. I didn’t like it when they argued, because daddy was so big and scary and mommy looked so tired. I wanted to get stronger, to protect mommy because I’m an alpha too. One day I’ll be strong enough to protect her from everyone. “I’m not going to say anything,” I promised, standing up and wiping the dirt off of my pants. I didn’t want daddy to hurt Logan too. He was my only friend, after all. I had only been teasing. I’d never tell on him. Then I’d be all alone, and there would be no one for me to play with.

Logan sighed in relief, grinning at me as he jumped up. “Well, in that case, I found you. So it’s your turn to find me!” He shouted, before running off in the opposite direction. I groaned, listening to his laughter for a few seconds as it echoed through the forest, before disappearing.

I really didn’t like playing hide and go seek because it was just the two of us. None of the other kids wanted to play with me, intimidated that I was the alpha’s daughter. Only Logan. I didn’t like being so alone, but I was glad Logan didn’t avoid me too. It took almost an hour to find Logan, and it was mostly by accident because I stepped on his finger and he yelped in pain. “I found you!” I shouted as Logan started to run in the opposite direction, a giggle spilling from his lips as he nearly tripped running down the hill.

Logan looked back at me with dark brown eyes, his eyelashes brushing against his caramel-colored cheeks as she crinkled his nose at me, taking a second to brush one of the locks hanging in his face away. “That’s cheating! You wouldn’t have found me if you hadn’t stepped on me!” He pouted, stomping his foot at the bottom of the hill.

I frowned, looking down at the dirt on my pants. “I don’t want to play this anymore. Can’t we find something else to do?” I asked, looking up at the sky. “It’s going to get dark soon,” I added.

I was stomping back to the pack, when Logan grabbed my hand, pulling me backward. I nearly punched him in the face because daddy always said never let no man touch you without your permission, otherwise, all he’d get is a black eye and a head filled with lost memories as to where the black eye came from. But this was Logan, my only friend, and I reluctantly dropped my fist and stared as he pointed up at the sky, a bright grin on his face. “Do you see it? Ara, do you?” he asked, his voice high, slightly higher than the other boys his age.

Maybe that was the real reason he picked me to hang out with, instead of the others. He didn’t get along with them very well, not with his voice sounding like a girl and his locks hanging down to his shoulders. “What is it?” I wondered, staring up at the sky as the moon started to rise.

I shivered slightly as Logan pulled his shirt off, and slipped it over my shoulders, not seeming to mind that he was half-naked in the frigid air as he pointed up at the stars. “That one, see it? It’s falling. My mama said falling stars carry wishes, you know? You gotta make a wish.” He said, grinning at me.

I stared up at the sky, watching the star fall, sinking lower and lower into the sky. “I wish my daddy was dead, and my mama and I could just go back to the Nightshade pack as she wants,” I said, looking around us with a sense of danger flowing through me, wondering if even out here away from the others, I was being watched.

Logan frowned, a little pout spilling over his lips as he glared at me. “I don’t like that wish, Ara. I don’t want you to leave. I wish you stay here, forever. That we get older, and you take over from your father, and I marry you. We’ll be together forever, okay? Just us, like our parents want.” He said, holding his pinky finger out for me.

I took a step back from him, breathing in the scent of his shirt, before looking over into the direction of the Nightshade pack. I’d been spying on them, the past few days, watching. Wondering what it was about the pack that made mama want to go back to it. I saw giggles, kids playing on swings, teachers scolding the students sweetly, and others walking around holding hands, through the opened doors of the wall. Peaceful, and perhaps that was what mama was wanting. Here, we were rouges. We were outlaws, wanted by the Nightshade pack, wanted dead. They hunted us, we hunted them, an endless cycle of bloodshed and torment. Which side was the good one, I wondered, even back then. Which one was the best side? All I knew was I loved my mama, and if that’s where she wanted to go, that’s where I wanted to be.

I looked at Logan, my eyes narrowed as the star started to fall behind him, and took another step back, shaking my head tightly. “My papa says stars are nothing more than a dying rock, carrying useless hopes and dreams on their backs as they crash to the earth, shattering everything. A waste of time, trying to wish on a dying star, that lives in a graveyard.” I said, watching his face fall.

“I’m not going to give up on you, Ara!” Logan shouted as I turned my back on him and started to walk back to the pack. “You’re going to stay here, you’re going to marry me, and we’re going to be happy!” He screamed, pain in his voice as I shook my head, refusing to look at him. “I swear it!”

I turned back around to look at him, taking in the way he was rubbing his eyes, wiping his nose on his arm, and smiled at him, holding out my hand. “Come on, bugger butt. I’ll race you home!” I shouted.

He crinkled his nose at me but I was glad to see the smile slipping onto his cheeks as he started to run. I had thought I had distracted him from his thoughts, made him forget. I wonder sometimes, if I truly had.