[Stephanie's POV]
My vision got darkened unexpectly. I looked up to see the honorable Alpha King already standing in front of me, which brought his handsome face even closer to mine. He smiled at me, showing his straight and white teeth, "You are gonna be fine."
You are gonna be fine. The low and attractive voice stimulated my memory. I forgot who this man was and immediately grabbed his wrist and demanded, "Could you repeat what you just said? "
I knew my question sounded stupid, but I desperately needed him to repeat what he had just said in the same tone of voice. I needed to confirm one more time that his voice was the same as the one in my soul's memory.
"Silly girl." Arthur chuckled softly, bent down, and whispered in my ear, "You are gonna be fine."
That's it! I stared in shock at his eyes as deep as the night sky and couldn't help but say, "It's you! That stupid wolf."
He raised his eyebrows and quickly understood why I called him 'stupid wolf.' He smiled and nodded, "It seems you...."
"Stephanie.Amber.Woodville." My father shouted out my full name, interrupting Arthur's words.
I noticed my father's face flushed with anger and Patrick's mouth hanging open in surprise. Well, I knew my father must be very furious right now. Because when he called me by my full name, it was usually when I did something that he had to punish me for.
As an afterthought, I covered my mouth. Just now, I seemed to have called Arthur "That stupid wolf!" in order to beg for confirmation that Arthur had saved me.
"I'm so sorry. Mr.Arthur. No, Mr.Williams. Oh, no, King Arthur. I don't mean it. I just ...." What's wrong with my tongue? I must have had a brain concussion after I hit the tree.
"I know. You don't have to apologize to me." He reached out and pressed his index finger to my lips, interrupting my apology.
When his finger touched my lips, I felt as if a subtle current had struck me straight from my lips to my heart and quickly coursed through my limbs. Did he use some kind of magic to attack me?
I quickly stroked my heart, and my heartbeat seemed to speed up. I rolled up my sleeve again to check my wrist. There was no bleeding and no wound. So what was that strange sensation just now? I only knew that it definitely wasn't a feeling only between mates because my mate would be that bastard Carl.
However, none of that mattered. The most important thing was that King Arthur saved me.
"Why? Why save me?" I completely ignored the fact that my father and Patrick were still in the room and just stared at King Arthur.
[Arthur's POV]
As soon as Stephanie asked me why I saved her, I knew she must have recognized me as the one who saved her. But the strange thing was that she asked me why I had saved her. Did she not know that I was her mate? No, perhaps, she didn't hear me call her 'my silly mate' in full.
I didn't have time to answer her question, even though I wanted to tell her why, and Eric, sensing something, came up to me and invited me to his study. Eric nodded in agreement, and his face showed his concern for Stephanie.
I guess they probably suspected that she was acting so strangely because of the head injury she had sustained. Indeed, without knowing that my soul and Stephanie's soul actually came from another parallel world, anyone would have been puzzled by the conversation we just had.
The girl sitting on the bed seemed to suddenly realize that we were not the only two in this room now. She immediately let go of my wrist, and I felt a little lost in my heart because her hands were warm and soft, just as soft and warm as her lips. No, her lips should be softer. Hell, I wanted so badly to touch her lips again, even to let my lips try how soft her lips were in person.
"Dad, Patrick, I'm fine. I got a little distracted earlier. Sorry, King Arthur, I asked you a weird question, and maybe I still thought I was dreaming." She smiled and apologized, but I didn't feel the necessity. And I felt a little lost to hear her call me King Arthur. I would have preferred if she had just called me 'Arthur.'
[Stephanie's POV]
"Call me Arthur, and I'll forgive you for being rude." He said.
Hold on. Why did I feel that there was something sly in the smile on his face when he asked me to call him Arthur? Did he ask for it on purpose? He must have known that I was rude because I recognized him. So, now he was joking with me?
After my Dad was already angry with my rudeness, this honorable Alpha King asked me to call him Arthur? Was he angry because I didn't recognize him as my savior at first sight of him, and I didn't show my gratitude to him? So, he deliberately asked me to call him Arthur to give me a second chance to show my rudeness again and continue to anger my father.
Well, although I had no idea how he saved me or why he saved me, I was grateful to the Alpha King who saved my life and magically made me go back to a year ago. However, now my father and Patrick didn't know that I was Stephanie from a year later, which meant I couldn't thank him formally for saving me in front of my father and brother.
I stood up, bowed to the Alpha King, and said sincerely, "King Arthur, I'm so sorry for all my rude behavior today. Please don't joke with me. If you have an interest, please allow my brother Patrick and I to show you our father's study and the underground library." I thought that King Arthur must also be eager to talk to me alone about his revival of me to take me back to a year ago.
My father reached out and touched my forehead with concern on his face, "Kid, are you sure you're good?"
Patrick pressed me directly to the bed to sit down, "Steph, if you don't feel well, just lie back down and rest while I take King Arthur to the study and library. If ..." Patrick bent over and whispered in my ear, "If you want to go to the Silver Moon Pack too, I can talk to Dad about letting me stay." He winked at me, the look as if he understood exactly what I was thinking.
"Patrick, Dad," I murmured both their names. At this moment, my Dad and Patrick ignored the honored guests standing off to the side. They were both standing in front of me and concerned if I was uncomfortable.
Looking at my only two family members, I remembered something that happened in my last life. After Carl and I started dating, I used to go to Carl's pack almost every day. I barely had dinner with Patrick and Dad for two years and sat down with them both for a good chat.
In the year after Patrick's death, my boyfriend and bestie were both falsely trying to comfort me and help me out of my pain. I would go to Carl's pack after class or go out shopping with Carl and Freya. My father must have been as sad as I was about losing Patrick. But I rarely paid attention to what my father was doing or who was there with him, and he must have been very lonely in the year.
I remembered once in a past life that I saw Dad sitting alone at the dinner table eating dinner before leaving the house. I just said hello to him and left without waiting for him to talk to me.
Hell, Stephanie, were you blind in that year? I cursed myself of my last life in my mind. I was not a good daughter and sister in my last life, just a fool who was confused and easily addicted to a jerk.
Thinking of my last life, my eyes were swollen. If I hadn't clenched my teeth and had no guests there, I would have hugged them and cried bitterly right now.
"Hey, girl, are you all right?" King Arthur knelt on one knee in front of me. His expression and dark blue eyes told me how much he cared for me.