[Stephanie's POV]
My wrists and heart were so painful! I thought that the soul could not feel the pain of a dead body, but I never thought that I would still feel pain. Not only my wrists and heart, but my head also was heavy, as if hundreds of kilograms of stones had hit my head.
"How's Steph?"
"There's a slight concussion, I'll give her some medicine, and I believe she'll be fine tonight."
Who was talking? Why could I hear people talking even though I was dead?
"Thank you, Doctor Dave."
The voice was ...Patrick!
I opened my eyes and saw the man standing next to my bed.
6.1 feet height, brown curled hair, brown eyes, warm smile. He was definitely my dead twin brother, Patrick.
"Patrick!" I shouted his name, tears welling up in my eyes.
"Thank moon goddess. Patrick, you are alive." I sat up from the bed in excitement and hugged my brother tightly.
I left his chest and touched his warm cheek again to check if he was real. Tears kept flowing out of my eyes, and I hugged him tightly again.
"Hey, Steph, are you okay?" Patrick's hand was on my shoulder. His face was full of concern for me.
"Patrick!" I caressed Patrick's face again and reconfirmed his face and neck warm to the touch. I was sure he was still alive.
Wait, I looked at my warm palm and touched my bandaged head. My skin touched as warm as Patrick's. I squeezed my arm hard, and it hurt.
"Am I alive? I didn't die? "I widened my eyes and asked Patrick for confirmation.
"Okay, Steph, take a deep breath, then lie back down on the bed and have a good rest." Patrick probably thought I was too excited. He pushed me to the bed and sat down.
"What's the date today?" I grabbed Patrick's hand and tried to use the warmth of his hand to remind me that I wasn't dreaming.
"Now, lie down, close your eyes and have a good dream. When you wake up, everything will be fine." Patrick comforted me like a baby. He probably thought there was something wrong with my head. But he didn't answer my question.
"I'm fine. I'm serious. Patrick, answer my question. Please!" Patrick never turned me down whenever I gave him a pleading look.
"We are 17 now, Steph," my brother sighed, and after telling me how old we were, he pulled out his phone to show me what day it was.
Oh, my god. Today was July 24, 2021. That's the day before Patrick and I turned 17, the day Patrick was killed!
On July 23, yesterday, I remembered that Patrick bought me a motorcycle that I had wanted for a long time.
Since Carl didn't like girls riding motorcycles, I didn't tell Carl and raced the motorcycle with Patrick near the packhouse. I accidentally crashed into a tree to avoid a small child in the pack. I spent the night resting in bed.
Then the next afternoon, July 24, Patrick came to visit me and told me to go get Carl to take care of me while he went to fix my motorcycle. Carl came to meet me, but Patrick never came back, and finally, I waited for the news that Patrick had fallen off a cliff.
"Steph? Steph?" Patrick called me out of my memories. "Shall I call Doctor Dave back?"
"I think I should calm down and organize what the hell happened to me," I murmured.
"Well, maybe I should go to look for Freya or your dearest boyfriend come to look after you." Patrick smiled and winked at me.
"Carl ...," I whispered the name.
"You don't know how many scratches that poor thing has on his body. But I can definitely restore your birthday present. " Patrick said the exact same words. I clearly remembered him saying to me before he went out for Carl and Freya.
"Bye, Steph!" Patrick turned to leave.
"NO!!!" I immediately grabbed his wrist without overthinking, and with tears in my eyes, I begged him, "Don't! Please, Patrick, don't go outside to look for the fucking Carl and Freya."
Patrick raised his eyebrows, "Steph, did something happen between you and them?"
I shook my head. If I told him Carl and Freya betrayed me, he'd go and confront Carl and Freya immediately. I couldn't let my brother get killed by those two vicious scumbags again. I would never let them kill even hurt Patrick.
"I just had a nightmare. Forget what I said." I used the nightmare as an excuse. Old fashioned excuse, but it worked well.
"Okay, I stay here with you." Patrick rubbed my hair again, just like my dad did when we were kids. I knew that he always felt he should be my big brother instead of my younger one. However, our dad used to swear by what Mom told Beta Mrs. Grete in the pack before she left that I was born one minute before Patrick.
"But, I have to leave before Dad finishes his tour of Leyte Mountain and goes back to the packhouse. Otherwise, let him know you hit your head on the motorcycle, and he'll be for sure locking my precious Lucy in the barn with the rats." He winked at me and sat in the chair next to the bed, sliding his fingers across his smartphone screen.
"If that happened, I could lend you my birthday present!" Patrick had always loved his motorcycle. I knew that. I loved riding motorcycles too, but I had to give up my hobby and secretly let Patrick take me out for a ride. Just because that jerk Carl said a gorgeous lady he liked wouldn't want to ride a motorcycle. How stupid I was!
Thinking about Carl, I looked down and saw that my wrists were white and intact, without a scratch. I touched my heart again, and there was no pain there either. But I could clearly remember that I was once killed by Carl and Freya with a silver dagger and arrows that were enchanted. This was not my nightmare. Because, now I just think of them, I wanted to shift and bite their throats.
Speaking of shift, Rose would also live again on my 18th birthday if my guess was correct.
I needed time to sort out the fact that I hadn't been killed by Carl and Freya and that my soul had traveled back in time to a year ago. For now, I would guess that I had revived and had been 17 years old again. Then, I would call the world before the time rewinding as 'my last life.'
I remembered I heard a strange woman and man's voice before I died. I heard that woman shout to that man, "You stupid wolf. Hurry up...." Did that 'stupid wolf' save me?
'You are gonna be fine, my silly m...' That last word seemed to start with 'M.' Firstly, I quickly excluded the word 'mate.' The mate I was assigned by the moon god was that bastard Carl, although I accepted his rejection.
So, I would like to guess the left words that the first letter was M instead of considering the near impossibility of a second mate.
"Hey, Patrick, what's the word that starts with 'M' to indicate a person's identity or role?" I asked.
"Uh, mother? mom?" Patrick replied, raising an eyebrow and giving me a word with uncertainty.
Seriously? My eyes widened. I could have sworn to the moon goddess even though I'd been obsessed with Carl in my past life and dated him for two years as his girlfriend, but I hadn't slept with him. It's impossible to have the bastard's kid. The probability that I was being called a mother was lower than Patrick letting other girls sit on his beloved Lucy.
But I was just thankful that I wasn't crazy enough to have sex with Carl. I couldn't help but laugh when I thought of my wolf Rose describing Carl as a five-minute jerk. I hoped that my Rose would do reappear after one year.
"Steph, look at me. What does five plus seven equal?" Patrick asked me with a frightened look, asking me a very idiotic question.
"12," I rolled my eyes, "I'm not having trouble with my head. Besides, even if I did lose my memory, I wouldn't be stupid enough to forget what I had learned from Mrs. Taylor." Mrs. Taylor was our Math teacher.
So, was that word Ma'am or Miss? That sounded like a much closer answer. I continued my guessing the word game.
Unfortunately, Patrick seemed to take my joke as fact. He didn't give me a chance to think of more words that start with M. He kept talking to me about the past life throughout the afternoon. I thought he must have been afraid that my head would be knocked out and I would lose my memory.
He mentioned Carl and Freya a couple of times, but my indifferent response made him notice I didn't want to hear their names. He tried to ask me what had happened, but I didn't answer.
If he knew what they had done to me before my rebirth, he would have rushed out to get revenge on Carl and Freya. But I couldn't let my brother have any more interactions with the two demons. I must take revenge on them alone.