[Stephanie's POV]
After Uncle Arthur said that to the direction Carl had left, he looked down at me sitting on the edge of the bed and asked, "Feel better now?"
I shook my head, angry at myself for acting like such a loser. But now that Carl and Freya were out of my room, I did feel relaxed. Even the air I was breathing made me feel much better.
I remembered that it was the right time to thank Uncle Arthur. So I immediately stood up, bowed deeply to him, straightened up to look into his eyes as deep as the night sky, and then sincerely expressed my gratitude.
"Uncle Arthur, I know that a thank you is not enough to repay you for saving my life and sending me back to a year ago so that I can have my revenge and save my brother Patrick. So, from now on, no matter what time you need my assistance, I will do my best to help you. No matter where I am, I will immediately rush to your side to help you do anything."
"Humm...." Uncle Arthur stroked his chin, probably thinking about what he needed me to do.
"I guess I do need you to do three things for me right now." He held out three fingers to me.
"Please tell me! As many as I can." I immediately straightened my back and waited intently for him to say the three things.
"First thing, from now on, you can't call me Uncle Arthur or King Arthur, Oh, Mr. Williams either!"
"Then I'll call you Master?" I couldn't help but make a little joke when I heard that the first thing he proposed was so simple.
He raised his brow and said firmly, "Arthur. Just call me Arthur."
"Okay, Arthur, what's the second thing?" I held up my hands in compromise.
"I want you to be my ....." He paused as if hesitating about something, "Assistant." He looked at me with a smile and waited for my answer.
I was a little puzzled by this request because he had already decided to choose me as his assistant according to his conversation with my father. Why did he need to confirm with me again?
"I remember you told my father you had already decided on your assistant. If I am not wrong, you are talking about me. Why do you have to ask me again now?"
"Steph," he called me by my nickname directly, which made me a little blush. He continued, "I decided to choose you to be my assistant, and you didn't tell me your decision."
"If I said I wanted to stay with my pack temporarily, would you say yes?" I asked him. For a brief moment, I noticed a look of loss flash across his face, but his loss lingered on his face for just a second before he smiled at me again, nodded, and said, "Of course. I can come back here in a year and ask you if you want to be my assistant."
He knew full well that my reason for wanting to stay in the pack was that I wanted revenge and, as he probably knew, that in a year, I would be 18 and that I would be rejected by my mate. But how could he know that? Why did I feel as if he knew a lot about me? No matter what, he still wanted me to be his assistant.
I nodded my head, "No problem. I am willing to be your assistant. However, if you need me to do any work during the year, you can just email me and let me know. Or, you can start by asking Patrick to replace me. In fact, he admires you, Alpha King, and he's smarter than me. Patrick is always a few points ahead of me on every test at school, although the theory test is not proof of overall strength."
"Patrick is good. but I only want you." His voice was very appraising. Something subtle about the way he looked at me made me feel the temperature in my cheeks rising rapidly. Calm down, Steph. He's not your mate. He just appreciated your abilities.
I cleared my throat and thanked him again, "Thank you for appreciating me, and I'm glad you recognize my abilities. So what's the last thing?"
"The last thing is a bit complicated ...." He sighed, "Steph, I want you to be yourself in this world, do what you like to do, and then live well."
After hearing this request from him, I found it hard to laugh easily, "Aren't I being myself right now? I'm alive and well, too."
Arthur shook his head and said, "At least, I'm assuming you probably weren't being yourself until you found out who that Carl really was. And, you were afraid to do the things you liked to do, like riding motorcycles. The person who really likes you doesn't mind if your preferences are different from his. He won't demand you turn out to be an acceptable partner to his satisfaction. Steph, you know what I mean?"
He seemed to be able to see through people's past, and I looked into his eyes as if I was exposing my past love to humble me to him without reservation. I felt ashamed of my past self but had to admit that Arthur's suspicions about the past me were right.
Be myself. To throw away my pink dress and put on my jeans for a motorcycle ride; to throw away my flats and put on my more preferred sneakers or high heels; Although I liked the smell of mint, I wanted to embrace the smell of fir more.
Was there anything in the world that I could do with more 100% sincerity than this? Of course not.
I felt relieved now, maybe because I was excited, maybe due to gratitude. Or perhaps because I had just said goodbye to my past self, who was willing to throw away my own will and preferences for Carl's sake.
"Fine. I promise. Be myself." I flashed my teeth at Arthur and grinned from the bottom of my heart.
"Your grin is 100 times more beautiful than the smile you just gave those two assholes when you sent them away."
"Thank you. "I quickly lowered my head to hide my red cheeks. Hell, I couldn't stare at his eyes right now because the sincerity and tenderness in his eyes when he complimented me was addictive.
My sanity reminded me loudly that No, Steph, stop thinking about how attractive this man is. This Alpha King would not be your mate. You had to stay calm.
I took a deep breath, looked up at his hair, smiled, "You know these three things are easy for me. You saved two lives, Patrick and me. If I do something so simple, don't you think that's a bad deal? How about you mention a few more things for me to do for you?"
Arthur laughed and shook his head, "No, Steph. Other than that, you call me Arthur. The other two things aren't simple. It's not an easy thing to be my assistant."
"I know your pack is much larger than our White Star Lake Pack. You must have to deal with a lot of things every day. No matter what, I believe that as long as Patrick and I are still alive, I can find a way out of the most difficult things." I nodded my head, not fearing or flinching from what a busy future I might face. I felt I could face any difficulty or trivial matter now, as long as my beloved families and I were still alive.
"Now I really think your boyfriend is blind." he suddenly said something that confused me.
"First, I must correct you. He' s no longer my boyfriend to me. Second, why do you say he is blind? His sight is far superior to that of average wolves."
He took a step in my direction, and there was probably only a fist's length between him and me." Incredibly, he would reject you, who are brighter and more appealing than the full moon. I can't think of any other reason except that he's blind."
He leaned over, brushed his lips against my earlobe, and whispered, "You have no idea how charming you were when you spoke to me with confidence."
It was too close! I could feel his hot breath caressing my ear and even wafting into my body. I felt my limbs go limp with just that one sentence, and my cheeks were heating up rapidly.