[Stephanie]
"I have noticed this morning that you could not stop your wolf from coming out. However, I had no idea that your wolf's mind would influence your thoughts or even change your behavior. After all, you are the only one in my knowledge to have shifted early at the age of 17." Arthur said.
"I'm probably also the only wolf in your awareness that was killed by my mate on my shift night," I said and laughed at myself.
Arthur just shook his head slightly. His thumb and forefinger pinched his jaw as if he was thinking and talking to his wolf.
I walked over to the simple tire swing 2 feet away from me, still remembering how my father stood behind the swing and pushed Patrick and me.
I stepped on the edge of the tire and stood on the swing. It allowed me to have a good view of the Lyete Moutain in the distance.
More dark clouds gathered above the summit of The Lyete Mountain and tended to invade the sky on our side. However, the sun was generous enough to continue to favor us.
I turned my eyes to Arthur's thinking face. Standing on the swing made me almost 8 inches taller than Arthur, which allowed me to look down at him.
He had a kind of curly eyelash, which was a new discovery, and his nose looked more prominent than what I saw when I looked up at him. Perhaps it was the angle, but I just thought the side of his face looked more like an exquisite-looking statue.
"If you reopen your mind link, will you be immediately affected by your wolf's mood or thoughts?" My perfect statue spoke.
Arthur ended his conversation with his wolf and looked up at me.
"Oh," I blinked and shook the swing to hide my embarrassment.
"I haven't tried it yet. I'm giving Rose a break. I don't know how she'll react after she hears the two of us talking." I said.
"Paul can sense the mental state of other wolves. So far, he only told me that your wolf, sorry..." Arthur paused for a second, probably because his wolf was not happy with Arthur's calling of Rose,
"His mate, Rose, got very stressed out after seeing me. After she heard that I didn't bring the silver weapon to kill you two, she relaxed. He didn't feel anything else for a while."
"So the reason for failing to control her is just because I'm too weak?" I asked. The swing sent me halfway to the air and dragged me back again.
"I think so. Although your soul is 18 years old, your body age is still 17. We can't ignore that one year. I mean, none of your physical functions are fully developed. To some extent, they also affect your mental control ability." Arthur said.
My mate also thought I was weak, even though I said it first. It didn't feel good.
"Yes! My 17-year-old body must not be as functional as yours, an Alpha King who has lived for 49 years. And I don't get along with my wolf as well as you do with yours." I rolled my eyes.
I tried to get the swing to carry me higher. Not as strong as my mate, but I could reach a height higher than him.
Arthur laughed softly and stepped behind the swing. He seemed to think my reaction was funny. Or maybe he thought it was hilarious that I purposely swung the swing into mid-air because of his words.
As the swing dragged me back, unexpectedly, I was caught by Arthur. In a blink of an eye, familiar electricity flowed through my body.
"Would you believe me if I told you that you were the strongest wolf in the world?" He whispered in his sexy low voice.
His arms locked around my upper body. His lips pressed against the back of my shoulder. My T-shirt couldn't stop my skin from feeling the warmth of his lips.
My face was hot. And, my heart was already starting to beat disco in my chest.
"Don't flirt with me. Let me go. I have really important things to say." I said, raising my hand to bat the hand he was pressing against my stomach.
"Alright," said Arthur, taking a deep breath and pushing his arms upward to carry me off the swing. The tire lost weight and bobbed around in mid-air.
Upon landing, he let go of me.
I'd already missed his heat before the strong arms left.
"Anyway... " I cleared my throat.
"Considering that my physical functions are not going to be developed soon, I should focus on how to ease Rose's tension and our trust issue. So, Arthur, can I open the question bag that we talked about before about you saving me?" I said.
"It depends on what your questions are. I can only answer some of them. Because I didn't have her permission, plus, considering her safety. I can't reveal any information about the one who helped me." Arthur said.
"Her? She is the she-wolf who called you 'stupid wolf'? Why didn't she come here with you?" I asked.
"She-wolf?" Arthur raised an eyebrow, shook his head, and laughed again, "Sorry, Steph, all I can tell you is that she's different from us."
Arthur respected her wishes + Arthur cared about her safety + Arthur smiled and implied to me that she wasn't a werewolf = she was a non-wolf female who had a rapport and a special relationship with Arthur.
This additive equation seemed reasonable.
I felt a punch in my stomach, even though my arm was now pressed against my stomach.
I didn't know what other action I could do in response other than rolling my eyes.
"Fine. So where is she? The young lady who is different from us?" I asked.
"Are you jealous, Steph?" said Arthur, with a smirk on his face.
"Don't flatter yourself! I just don't like it when you say things that sound like riddles." I waved my hand in annoyance and went to sit on the tire swing.
"You know it's useless to lie in front of me, right?" Arthur said, and he laughed loudly some more.
I covered my ears and closed my eyes, pretending I couldn't hear his laughter, and covered my red cheeks with my arms.
Damn it! He was such an annoying lie detector!
I quietly opened my left eye as he walked over to my left and sat down on the tire.
In the moment he sat down, my eyes just hit his gaze.
His eyes looked like a night sky lit up with the stars, gorgeous, bright, and eternal.
But I noticed that he was trying to stifle a laugh after he caught me peeking at him. A part of me wanted to punch his smiling eyes.
"She's just a trustworthy friend of mine. Friend only," he said and winked at me.
He must have said that on purpose.
"Yeah, I'm just your friend with a trust issue." I pouted.
I hated I'd become like this. My sanity was being messed up by his jokes.
"You're my cranky mate," he said, still with a bad smile.
"If you can't reveal your friend's information, can you at least tell me how you saved me and why we were back a year ago?" I sighed.
"Have you ever heard of the effects of Phoenix blood?" Arthur asked me, withdrawing his bad smile.
"What? Is that the world's most amazing potion that can bring the dead back to life? But, I read in the biology atlas that the phoenix became extinct 50 years ago. How did you find it?" I said, eyes widening.
"That's a bit of a long story," Arthur said, smiling again.