[Stephanie's POV]
I wondered if you would ever be in a situation where someone noticed that you were sad when you were desperately trying to hold back your tears and were about to succeed. After you heard their words of concern, your eyes were like a faucet that had been twisted open, and you could no longer hide your tears.
I was in tears, grasping my father's and Patrick's hands, sobbing and apologizing, "Sorry, Dad. Sorry, Patrick. I'm sorry. Sorry."
They looked at each other, wondering what had happened to make me suddenly cry and apologize to them. But, this apology was something I must say to them.
"Patrick, take care of your sister. I'll go get Dave." Dad's voice showed his concern and nervousness for me as he tried to break my hand and go get the pack doctor.
"Dad," I couldn't say a complete word to stop my father from getting Doctor Dave.
King Arthur stopped Dad first, shook his head at him, and turned his attention back to me. My eyes were blurred with tears, so I couldn't see what kind of expression King Arthur was looking at me with by now.
Suddenly, he leaned over and embraced me in his arms. My chin rested on his broad shoulder, and my eyes widened as I inadvertently let the tears fall on his T-shirt. His hand brushed my hair, a gesture that seemed like he was grooming a cat.
"It's okay. Stephanie, from now on, everything will be fine. I will help you. Trust me." King Arthur reassured me with words that only he and I could understand.
His 'Trust me' seemed to work like magic, and I couldn't help but nod my head, gradually calming myself and stopping my tears. I wanted to believe him when he said, 'From now on, everything will be fine.' This time, I would cherish my family who loved me. I must protect them from being killed or hurt by Carl and Freya.
"Thank you, Uncle Arthur." I left his warm arms, dried my tears, and sincerely thanked Uncle Arthur.
I thought it must be because he was my father's friend that he saved me when he saw I was dying. He kindly sent me back a year ago and came back with me to make sure I remembered what happened a year later. What a kind and powerful Alpha King. My father really made a great friend, and now I felt like I preferred to call him Uncle Arthur.
Patrick and Dad were speechless with surprise as I turned to Dad and smiled, "Dad, I'm glad you have a friend like Uncle Arthur, truly."
[Arthur's POV]
"Well, it seems your mate didn't think she was your mate at all. She treated you like an elderly family." Paul chuckled after he had been silent for some time.
"At least, she doesn't call me Stupid Wolf or King Arthur." I returned Paul and stood up. Eric threw me a grateful look, but I knew he must have been skeptical about me comforting Stephanie. After all, Eric couldn't believe that I had met his daughter, but I didn't act like I was meeting Stephanie for the first time.
"It's enemies, the two bastards who killed Stephanie." Paul reminded me as I immediately smelled the hidden scent from the air wafting into the house through the crack under the door. The scent contained the stench of sweat that disgusted me, the heavy aroma of jasmine, lily, and musk, and... the remaining smell of lust.
Soon, the two wolves opened the door directly without knocking and came in. However, they did not seem to expect so many people in this room. The moment they pushed the door in, their smiles froze on their faces.
I put my gaze directly on the he-wolf, Stephanie's first mate. The last time I met him was in the dark, and without getting a good look at him, he turned into his wolf form and fought with Paul. This was the first time I had seen him since I came to this parallel world.
He was about 5'8" feet, with brown eyes and a smile he didn't have time to retract that left a pair of dimples on the sides of his lips. The man did have a look that could barely be described as handsome.
I glanced down at Stephanie, whose eyes widened at the sight of the two wolves opening the door, and quickly moved to a position behind me to hide her form.
"Oh my goddess, Steph, are you okay?" After she froze for a few seconds, the smaller 5'2" she-wolf suddenly spoke up. She rushed over to the bed, hugging Stephanie tightly as she sat on the edge of it, speaking words of concern.
The other he-wolf followed her, and he walked towards Eric and apologized, "I'm sorry, Eric, I didn't knock and sneak in with Freya. Because we heard that Steph accidentally fell on her head while riding her motorcycle. Even though Mrs. Grete said Steph was fine and needed to rest, we were worried about her and wanted to make sure she was okay."
"Hey, babe, are you okay?" He finished explaining with Eric and was going to approach Stephanie, who seemed to be too scared to move with her eyes wide open.
I tried to suppress my anger and held out my arm to stop the he-wolf from getting any closer to Stephanie, and I asked him, "Are you blind?"
[Stephanie's POV]
The second I saw Carl and Freya open the door and enter the room, my whole body tensed up, and my mind went blank.
I thought the hatred would support me to face both of them normally. However, as soon as I saw the smiles on both of their faces, it was like every hair on my body was trembling. I even had an illusion, as if the next second I would see them, one with a silver dagger and one with silver arrows to kill me.
My body reacted quickly, subconsciously looking for shelter to hide. However, it was too late. Freya had already found me. Carl was apologizing to my father.
The time they spent talking might have been short for an ordinary person, but it was as long as two lives for me.
I tried to push Freya away, but my arms were hanging at my sides, and I couldn't move because I remembered the torture I had suffered in my last life before I died.
Those three weapons seemed like hungry demons at that time, devouring my strength and corroding my flesh and blood while each bone and all the nerves in my body were suffering.
Even though I knew Freya and Carl definitely hadn't had enchanted silver daggers and silver arrows to kill me now, I just couldn't control my fear and shake. My heart was almost beating out of my chest from fear.
Carl finished talking to my father and was about to approach me. No! Don't come any closer! My lips trembled as I struggled to raise my arm to grab something to help me stop the demon. A strong, powerful arm stopped Carl. I looked up, and it was Uncle Arthur.
"Are you blind?" Uncle Arthur asked Carl a question that was unexpected by everyone.