"Why the hell do I have so many things inside this desk?" I grumble as I try to find this work of art I made months ago. I've been looking for it for almost an hour.

"Come on, where are you, stupid piece of paper?!" I scream as I empty one of the drawers for the fourth time to check all the things I've drawn through the years.

Tones of drawings, mostly wolves or landscapes, fill every little space inside my desk. I should have given or gotten rid of some of them. Well, I could have put this one in the trash and I desperately need it right now, so we're lucky I have this compulsion to keep all of my pieces of art - if we can name them as art.

"Olivia, what are you doing at four in the morning here?" Alec's voice asks me.

My head is partly inside one compartment, and I move brusquely as I hear his voice behind me. Unfortunately, my jerky move throws my head right against the wooden board of my desk.

"For the Moon-Goddess' sake! Do you want to kill me? Do you want me to have a heart attack, Alec? Seriously." I put my hand on my head, and I already feel the bump on the back of my head.

"Damn, that's not agreeable. Thanks, Alexander," I keep on grumbling to my mate.

I go back to the mountain of paper that stands in front of me.

Alec comes closer and looks at the bump on the back of my head.

"You should be careful, Liv. That's not a good plan to have concussions or just be hurt," he says as he looks at my head worriedly.

"Maybe we should call the doctor?"

"No one calls the doctor, Alec. That was just a flesh wound. I survived it as a human. I'm sure I can't die from a bump now that I have Selene." I stop my desperate quest to find my lost drawing, sitting on the floor and sighing.

"What's going on, Liv? What are you desperately looking for?" Alec asks me as he sits in front of me.

"An old thing I did a few months ago. Two wolves - one gray and one black - with a large white moon and a large black stone. I was sure it was there, but I can't find it anymore?" I sigh and look at my hand that lies on my thighs.

"I needed it to figure out something. Some kind of intuition, but now, it's just lost," I say, exasperation in my voice. Where the hell is that picture?

Alec gets up and gives me his hand.

"Come on, little wolf. Let's solve your problem," he says with a smile.

"How do you want to solve this problem? It's lost, and I just have to do it again. There's no other solution," I almost yell at him.

"Remember about blinded trust and things like that," he says, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah," I grumble before I take his hand. He lifts me in his arms and kisses my lips lovingly.

Then, he grabs me and gently puts me over his shoulder, my face meeting his muscular back.

"Alec, what the fuck? Just put me down. Are you nuts?" I shout.

"I'm solving your problem, Liv. So just be quiet; you're gonna wake up the entire house," he says, slapping my bottom.

Seriously, what is he doing? Did he lose his mind?

He walks back to his room and puts me down on the bed.

"Is that what you're looking for, little wolf?" He asks as he points to the wall behind me, above the pillows. When I turn, I see it in front of me, in the black wood frame.

"Why is it here? How did you know?" I sputter, then get up on the bed to take the frame off the wall.

"I looked at almost all the things you've created. Your parents told me you were the talented artist known as O.S.E." Alec looks at me, his eyes shimmering with love.

"So, will you tell me why you needed this beautiful scene so eagerly?" Alec is on the bed, just beside me.

"I'm sorry, that's a secret, I can't tell you. I promised someone something before I met you, and I can't break that promise," I blurt. Alec takes me in his arms, my back against his bare torso.

I was so absorbed by my lost drawing that I didn't notice my mate was half-naked in all his splendor. Damn. Why is he so hot?

"Get dressed, you're too sexy, and I don't want you to use your sexiness over me," I say as I close my eyes.

I feel his soft lips running down my neck.

"I promise you I won't use any sexiness to try to get information. Trust and things like that," he whispers before he gently bites my ear lobe.

As his lips brush my neck, shivers run down my spine. My hands let go of the frame and instinctively wrap around his neck, his lips finally meeting mine. His hands cup my face as his lips leave mine to go back to my neck. He softly bites the crook of my neck, right where my clavicle meets my vertebrae.

The moment I feel his teeth on my skin, I know he is exactly where he should be to mark me, and an uncontrollable urge to be marked grows inside me. I'm a hundred percent sure that Alec wants it as much as I do, as I feel his fangs getting bigger and starting to cut my skin.

Before I can open my mouth to ask Alec to mark me, the intense hot atmosphere growing thick around us is perfectly destroyed.

Not now, Olivia. That could be dangerous if Alec marked you right now.

The annoying voice of my break-the-mood wolf is resonating in my head. I wish I could say she is the only one stopping Alec from marking me, but I'm sure Ares is part of the game, too, as Alec quickly steps back.

"Sorry, Princess. I didn't mean to hurt you," he says as he looks at my neck.

"Hopefully, the marking process did not start. I want you to be marked properly, Olivia. Just like any other future Queen. Doing it in time of war, in a bedroom, is not something beautiful enough for such a brilliant future Queen." He kisses my forehead and gets up to take a shirt. He puts it on. I get up and wrap my arms around his waist, my front body against his back and my hands exploring his torso under his clothes.

"I don't really care about where you'll mark me, Alec. I just love you, and anywhere will be fine as long as we are together," I answer before letting him go.

He turns, but the door suddenly opens. Elijah and Jackson enter the room with worried looks on their faces.

"We've got a rogue, Alec. We were right; there are lycans with them." Elijah stays silent as Jackson throws the news at us.

"We need to put them in the safe room while we check the territory." Jackson tries to be as calm as possible, but I can feel how nervous he is. I take the frame from the bed.

"Okay, we should go. I want to be with the kids in the safe room." I need to be protected, I know it, and I can't risk my life outside. Not anymore.

My reaction seems to surprise Elijah, who looks at me dumbfounded, just like Jackson.

"I feel tired and dizzy. I hit my head earlier; maybe Selene is not strong enough to heal me properly for now," plainly lying to Jackson, my brother and my mate.

Being safe is not my only idea. If I want to talk to her, I must be with the kids. She has the answer to my questions; I know it.

I get out of the room to go into mine and take one of my bags. There are always pencils and paper in this bag, so I don't have to prepare anything in a rush when I suddenly decide to let my artist soul come to life.

I catch the bag, and before I can put it on my shoulder, Alec takes it with one hand and seizes my waist with the other one.

"I'll take you to the safe room. I won't let anyone hurt you, little wolf. You stay safe as long as none of us tells you to get out," he says, his grip on my waist stronger than before.

I just follow him peacefully to the safe room in the basement.

When we arrive in front of the room, Alec turns me to face him, then he lovingly kisses my lips.

"You stay here, and you do nothing stupid. Are we clear, Olivia?" he asks me.

"I promise you I'll stay here, safe and sound, Alec. Just be careful, don't get hurt, my Prince," I whisper before gently biting his lips.

"I love you."

"I love you too," he answers before he pushes me inside the room and closes the door.

As soon as I look around me, I see the youngest kids with Alice and Kate. Some other women are here. Most of them are pregnant she-wolves, close to getting into labor.

"Olivia, I did not think you would come here," one of the women says when she sees me.

"Hey, Joana. I think I'm better here, just in case. My brother and the Prince are better off if they don't have to worry about me getting into trouble," I answer with a smile.

Then I go to one corner and sit on the floor. I take my sketchbook and some pencils and start drawing.

My hand leads the pencils that dance on the paper. Forms slowly turn to actual characters. Two little wolves.

One of them is a small black puppy with a playful face. It seems about to jump on the second puppy, looking at the sky.

The second puppy has such fabulous fur: different browns create a unique color, and some gray patches are set here and there.

You should add a blond wolf beside them. I think it will be clearer for her.

Selene says in my head.

How do you know she's a blond wolf?

I ask her. I've never seen her shift before.

Omegas' fur is always the same color as their hair. So even if you don't consider Omegas as weaker wolves in Blue Lakes, it does not mean that their position does not exist. Alphas are black; Lunas are white - or brown when a gray wolf could appear in their bloodline; regular wolves are brown. Beta can be a really dark brown, sometimes almost black; and Omegas' fur is always the same as their natural hair color.

Selene says this as if she was telling me the story of the wolves. She almost sounds like Moon-Goddess when she is so serious.

Before I realize it, the picture is already done. My hands worked on their own as I was listening to Selene. I rip the page off the sketchbook, then take the frame in my other hand.

I walk to Alice and grab her wrist. The moment I touch her, she looks at me, and her pupils go wider as if fear was filling them.

"Could you help me tidy the children's book in their box, Alice?" I ask her, slowly pulling her. She nods.

We walk to the box, and she kneels and takes the books to put them in it. I kneel beside her, putting the two drawings on the ground.

"I've got a question for you, Alice. I need your help to decide if I'm doing good or not. Would you mind helping me?" I ask her.

"I'll try to help you as much as possible, Miss Olivia," she answers.

I put one of my hands on the frame.

"You see, this is the first I've made, and I thought about calling it 'The mourning wolves.' This wolf, an Alpha," I say as I show the black wolf, then stop on the black stone.

"and, his Luna," I continue, showing the gray wolf on it, then the white moon.

"are mourning. I didn't know why they were so sad until I made this one," I add, giving Alice the second drawing.

"I was thinking about calling 'The Lost Puppies.' I imagined that these two puppies were the reason the two wolves were so sad in my first artwork. I imagine that this gray wolf had to make sure that this blond wolf would take care of her lost puppies. Let's say she could have sent them away in order to protect them," I speak slowly.

I don't have to turn to say that no one is listening to us.

"What do you think about this story, Alice? Do you think that this could be theirs?" The moment I look at her, I know that my theory is the right one.

Alice's eyes are full of tears. I take my hand and wipe the tears from her eyes.

Then I hug her.

"I'm sorry. I can't answer your question. I promised," Alice sobs.

"That's okay, Alice. You already answered it," I whisper in her ear.

"Dry your eyes. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. I need you to play your role a little more, but I promise you it will be over soon. You've been doing great." I move so I can look into her eyes.

"Alice, I need you to listen to me and do exactly as I say. Can you do that for me, please?" I ask her.

She nods and wipes away her tears.

"Of course, Miss Olivia," she answers.

"When my brother and Prince Alexander will come to ask you about answers, tell Prince Alexander that the answer stands behind the mourning wolves. Could you do that to me, Alice?" I ask her.

"The answer stands behind the mourning wolves," she repeats after me.

At least the one I've got for now.