"They'll come for her, Olivia. You've got to hide her at all costs," the voice says again. Despite the fear these words create in me, the voice sounds calm and beautiful.

I'm in the middle of dark woods, walking between large trees. My bare feet are covered with wet soil. As I look at them, I realize I'm wearing a pure white dress. That's an A-line dress, with a silver belt on my waist.

"Just keep on walking, Liv. You need to meet us," another voice says to me.

But this time, I know the voice.

Selene.

As soon as I hear her, I catch a heartbeat that I recognize as hers. I know it's hers as mine beats as one with it.

I feel like I run for hours when I finally reach it. The place I knew deep down that I was going to arrive - the wonderful clearing I'd been dreaming of for months.

In front of me, a giant, almost entirely gray wolf has her head on the lap of the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

As soon as she sees me, the wolf gets up and walks towards me. Her clear gray eyes enter my soul, and I recognize her even if she does not look like before.

"Selene," I murmur as she stands beside me and slowly caresses my belly with her muzzle.

"You're so different. What's happening to you?" I ask her.

"I'm changing into my true form. We just need some more time because you have to be stronger. Recent events delayed things a bit. But that's gonna be fine. I promise I'm strong enough to protect us," she answers me.

"I've never doubted that, Selene," I say, smiling and cuddling her head.

After some time, the beautiful lady gets up and walks to us. She is thin and tall, with long silver hair, and silver-gray eyes, piercing my body. Her dress looks like an antic Greek Goddess one. But still, despite her powerful aura, she does not scare me.

She finally comes to me and takes my hand before pulling me towards the clear water pond. We sit on the ground, and then she finally speaks.

"It's so nice to finally meet you, Olivia. I've been waiting for a long time. Before I start to answer your questions, you have to know that I won't answer all of them," she says calmly. I look at her, listening carefully.

"You must figure some things out on your own. That's the only way to develop your instincts enough to stop the war."

"Stop the war?" I ask her. Strangely, the words come out of my mouth in a calm tone.

"Yes, the war; Our tainted history is playing on repeat. Greed and jealousy are filling his heart. He will do anything to become powerful enough to rule," the woman answers me.

"He? Who is he? How do I find him?" I ask hurriedly. Selene, who was still up on her paws, lies down and puts her head on my lap.

The beautiful lady smiles at me.

"I have to figure it out on my own," I understand.

"That's one thing I can't tell you. You're right." She takes my hand.

"You'll figure it out; I know it." She starts to cuddle Selene with her other hand.

"You said you've waited to meet me for a long time. You're the figure I saw in my dreams. The one with Selene and Ares." My words do not sound like a question. They are a statement.

"I am. Ares and I had to take care of Selene. She could not show up before you were ready or needed her to accomplish your destiny. That would have put you in danger," she states. Even if she sounds calm, I notice her eyes turn iron steel before returning their formal color.

"It's because of Selene's color, right? She is different, even for a lycan?" Selene whines and licks my hand. I don't need the beautiful lady to answer me.

"What are we?"

"Thousands of years ago, rumors said that a giant white wolf was hiding in the mountain," the woman says. Before I can ask her about that mountain, she smiles at me—another question I will have to answer on my own.

Hunters went after her, decades after decades. Then, one day, one of them finally found her. He was ready to shoot her with an arrow when she looked at him. At that precise moment, he knew he would not be able to kill her and that he would die protecting her," she says.

"He was her mate," I mutter.

"Precisely," she says.

"The first werewolf was this white one. The first lycan. With all her strength, she turned into a human to join her mate. They decided to live apart from the humans so she could turn whenever she needed and never be hurt. After a few years, she gave birth to two children - a boy and a girl. The boy had her father's dark hair and green eyes, while the little girl had her mother's white hair and blue-gray eyes. They grew up like any kid until they turned fourteen. On this special day, they turned into wolves - two giant wolves. He was a black one while she turned into a white one. After a few months, they found their own mates - simple wolves. They shared their abilities to turn into humans. That's how everything started - the rising of the werewolves." She stops for a moment and looks at me without a word.

"That's why most of the Alphas are black, and Lunas are white?" I ask her after a few moments. She nods.

"But then, why are some Lunas brown? I mean, my mother," I say before she stops me.

"Good, Olivia. You're thinking so good." She smiles.

"After generations, it turned out that some wolves were destined to be giant wolves, called lycans, and some others were less strong - werewolves. It was not uncommon for twins to be born at that time. One boy and one girl.

But for the first time, the oldest was the little girl. Something changed when they shifted for the first time. If the little boy was a black wolf, as expected, the little girl was an even larger gray wolf. She was the first Alpha female.

If everything seemed to be fine, it changed when she gave birth to twins a few decades after finding her mate. The day her children shifted for the first time, it came out that her daughter - once again the oldest of the twins - was a gray wolf.

The former gray wolf's brother envied her. His children had no gray fur. They were nothing more but Alphas and Lunas lycans.

More and more female gray wolves, always the oldest of twins, were born, and they always turned to be new undefeatable Alphas," she keeps on telling her story.

"But after decades of peace, some Alphas, led by the jealous brother, decided to make these gray wolves theirs. They did terrible things in order to produce strong heirs, but it never worked. They understood these lycans could only breed with their true mates. So they let them find their mates and steal the babies to raise them as their own, hoping it would help them rule over all the werewolves - mostly the awful brother." As she says that, a scream gets out of my mouth.

"That's insane. These babies," I sob as tears fill my eyes.

"Yes, unforgivable. The first gray wolf went mad. She confronted her brother and turned into the first silver wolf. When her brother thought he could control gray wolves, it appeared that the gray wolves only had one Alpha. The silver one.

Nevertheless, these gray wolves were young, and the battle lasted for years until the two siblings really faced each other. It ended with the man's disappearance, as he refused to surrender, swearing he would kill her no matter what," she says as some tears pop up in her eyes. Pain and sorrow grow in my heart. Eli's smiling face appears in my mind, and then I understand.

"You killed your twin. You're the gray wolf. The first silver wolf," I say.

She looks at me, a sad smile on her face.

"I had to protect the wolves, their liberty. That was my duty." She wipes her tears, and Selene licks her face.

She smiles, then looks at me again.

"After that, I decided to protect the future gray wolves. They could not turn, except if their strength was needed. The mothers of these wolves would never be white. Only regular brown wolves, but still more powerful, so they would be harder to find or catch. When we decided this, all wolves agreed to silence the fact that only the oldest female twin could become a gray wolf. But unfortunately, they were traitors, and through time, I had to wake gray wolves several times. The last time was centuries ago, but lycans stopped the rebellion before the silver wolf fully woke up. Only two other gray wolves shifted, and they hid their true nature by living among humans so no one could ever know about them," she says before she stops again.

"Is that why lycans and wolves don't live with each other anymore? Because you hid the gray wolves into wolf bloodlines?" I ask her.

"Partly. There were a few gray wolves among the lycans. The main reason is that I thought it was better to limit the number of lycans. They are more powerful, but also more ruthless and greedy. So I needed them to be under control. That's why I made sure they could only breed with their true mate, the one that could face them. It may seem cruel, but that's the only way lycans can be controlled.

The second reason is that I wanted the gray wolves away from all threats. They can win over any wolf, even if that's their first shift. But not against lycans. They need their mates to be safe until they are powerful enough. That's also why only the lycans with the purest hearts could be destined mates to the potential gray wolves, so they are never abused again. At least, that's what I wanted," she adds sadly.

"So Alec," I start.

"No matter how things look, Alec and Ares are doing their best to protect you. No matter how heartless they can seem to act right now, you have to trust them. Ares has known Selene since you were born. He would never hurt her or you if he had another choice. And Alec may have made mistakes, but he will do anything to protect you. You are his family now," she smiles at me.

"Can I tell him? All of this?" I need to tell my mate that I know everything. He needs to know that I can help him.

"We can't, Olivia. We need to act like we ignore everything, just like Alec does. If anyone knows about us, they could tell him, and he will do anything in his power to take us. I need more time to protect us all. The moment I'm silver, we can tell him. But before I am, we have to act like you know nothing about that. I'll tell Ares, I promise. But you can't say anything to Alec. He loves you too much, and he would show it if he knew you already knew," she says, rolling her eyes.

"Why do you roll your eyes?" I ask her. The lady laughs. Could one of them tell me what is so funny?

"He feels so bad about not telling you that Ares and Jaci had to fight with him almost every day. He is so stubborn. Even more than you," Selene says before turning to the lady.

"Why did you have to mate her with him? That will be exhausting; you know that?"

"A powerful King needs an even more powerful Queen," she answers.

"Yes, that makes sense. She had to make sure Alec would not turn into a greedy asshole. Even if I don't feel like facing an angry Ares yet, I suppose the Moon-Goddess always has her reasons, right?" I say.

Then I realize what I had just said.

"Then she gets it. It took some time," Selene laughs at the silver-haired lady.

"Yo...You...," I stutter.

"Yes, say it and breathe, Liv." Selene licks my face.

"If you could try not to die in your vision, I would be grateful."

This wolf. She knows everything and does not say a word, and then she asks me to breathe.

"You're the Moon-Goddess," I whisper. Damn it! I acted so disrespectfully.

"I'm so sorry, Moon-Goddess. I hadn't realized. I'm so fucking stupid. Please, forgive me." I bow in front of her.

She bursts into laughter before she cups my chin and lifts my head.

"It's okay, Olivia. I like people's faces when they understand who I am." She blinks at me.

"We'll meet again soon, but you have to leave for now. Remember, you have to be quiet and hide everything from your mate until Selene is strong enough," the Moon-Goddess says.

"I'll kick your ass if you try otherwise," Selene says, showing me her teeth playfully.

"If you want your family to be safe, you have to protect her at any costs. Even if it means lying to Alec," the Moon-Goddess says before kissing my cheeks.

"But if Ares told Alex about gray wolves, he's seen Selene. He knows about her. So the entire world knows about us," I whisper.

"I don't need protection. Well, not in a short time from now, at least. I'm not the one you have to protect," Selene says, resting her head on my lap, her muzzle against my upper body.

"Focus, Olivia. And you'll have your answer. You'll know why Alec is hiding things. You'll know what he already knows," she says before she kisses my forehead, gets up, and walks away.

"For the heirs to come, be brave," she adds before she disappears.

I want to scream and stop her, but I can't move or say a word. Everything turns darker, and there is only Selene and me, sitting in silence. Not a sound.

Well, almost not a sound, but this distant echo resonating in my head. Then it makes sense. I look at Selene, who only smiles at me.

Then I wake up, panting.

I'm going to kill these fucking liars.