Two Worlds: Land of Ice Ch. 04

Hey guys. So I've decided to finish this of course. Just to let you guys know, usually when I say I'm giving up on something I tend to get inspiration for it or am just too damn stubborn to actually do so. I got inspiration for this of course only about a week after deciding to give on this story. So here's the next chapter! If I say I'm going to give up like that again, just check back two or so months after and I'll probably have the next chapter up. Sorry to leave you guys hanging like that! Also, I didn't edit this so sorry for mistakes! I finished it and then just wanted to get it up as quickly as possible. Hopefully there aren't too many mistakes.

Don't forget to comment and vote!

~Vixen

Nate woke up slowly the next morning and opened his eyes to see a head full of curly blond hair lying on his chest. He chuckled as he looked over and saw that Rachel was in a similar situation. He stroked Liliana's hair for a few minutes before noticing the time and sighing. He felt Liliana stir a moment later and smiled as she rubbed her eyes and looked up at him.

"Morning Daddy." She mumbled sleepily. Nate chuckled before carefully getting up and carrying her downstairs.

"How does waffles and bacon sound?" He asked as he sat her down on the counter. Her face lit up a bit at that and she nodded happily. Nate grabbed everything he needed and got to work, Liliana helping where she could. After a few minutes he felt arms wrap around his leg and smiled down at his soft stepped son.

"Mommy still asleep?" He asked. Zachariah nodded while continuing to cling to his leg. Nate smiled and moved over to make some coffee for his mate. By the time the bacon and coffee was done, Rachel finally came downstairs. Nate automatically handed her a cup of coffee, knowing that she never fully woke up until she had one. He then sat plates of waffles and bacon in front of each of them before filling up his own plate. The kids themselves eat about the amount of a full grown human male and Nate and Rachel eat about twice as much. The pack went through a lot of food in a week.

"Eat up!" Nate told the kids with a smile. They smiled back and then dug into their food. Rachel started to wake up better and seemed to realize there was food in front of her. Nate chuckled as she finally started to eat and then dug into his own food.

After they finished eating Nate helped the little ones get dressed as Rachel showered and got dressed as well. Nate helped them make their own snacks before Rachel came down, dressed in her work clothes and carrying a travel bag.

"How long will you be gone?" Nate asked, wishing she could stay and not have to deal with this outside business.

"Only two nights and then I'll be back." She sighed before setting down the bag and wrapping her arms around his waist. Nate pulled her close, holding her tightly against him.

"I wish you didn't have to go." He whispered.

"I know love. But you know I have to. I'm running our business ventured this cycle, you know that."

"Yeah, yeah. Still wish you didn't have to go." Nate sighed before kissing her passionately. She moaned lightly and the kiss grew more heated before there was suddenly a giggle that broke them apart. Nate looked over to see the kids peeking around the doorway with their backpacks on and covering their mouths to hide their giggles.

"Alright you two. Let's get going!" Rachel called to them before kissing Nate's cheek and then picking up her bag. The kids ran over and hugged Nate before hugging Rachel and following her out the door. Nate waved goodbye to them before going to go take a shower and getting ready himself.

Once he stepped out of the shower he heard his doorbell ring and sighed. He wrapped a towel around himself and headed out to the door.

"Yes?" He asked as he opened the door to find Al standing there.

"It's gone national and there's something else you need to see." He reported. Nate sighed and ran his fingers through his messy chestnut locks.

"Alright. I'll be there in a minute." He said before shutting the door and going to get dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He stepped out into the cold, not even bothering with shoes as he walked across the snow into the main building. He nodded to all his pack members as he went by before entering the security room. He found that his betas had already made everyone else leave so he turned to the screen.

"Go ahead." He told them. Someone pushed play and an international news report came on. It had been a few days since he had received the first video and wasn't very surprised that it became international already. It just showed the same report as before and then did a report about it.

"Alright. That wasn't too bad." Nate said as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"That's not all. This is what you really need to see." Wesley told him tensely before turning on another video. Nate turned and looked at it before staring at it in shock.

"Alpha Richards requested another conference in about an hour." Wesley said, breaking him out of his shock. Nate nodded before turning to leave.

"I'll be back." He managed to say before he was out of the room. He went and sat down in his office, trying not to feel sick over what he just saw. He tried to concentrate on other work but of course had a hard time doing so. He couldn't stop seeing the look of pain and fear on so many of the cat halflings' faces. The thought that human beings had done that sickened him and made him wonder how accepting they will be if they revealed themselves. He ended up pacing, his thoughts in turmoil for about a 45 minutes before heading back to the security room.

"Let's get this going." He commanded when he entered the room. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair again as Al started up the video conference.

"Alphas." Nate greeted again as they started to appear on the screen.

"I'll wait five more minutes." Alpha Richards said when a few of the Alphas hadn't appeared yet. Finally all the Alphas that could be there were signed in and Richards cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

"First off I have good news," he beamed, glancing at his mate, who was in the room this time. "My mate is finally pregnant!"

The rest of the Alphas congratulated him, many of them cheering. Nate smiled happily, knowing that this was definitely a good omen since Richards and his mate had been trying for pups for a few years now.

"Thank you! Thank you! Now on to business. I know you have all seen that leaked video by now and I want to let you know that I now have the situation under control. I have convinced the Governor to let me take in the halflings. However I will need a little help with it. After the recent coup against me I have lost several of my betas and thetas and currently don't have enough to help with security while moving them."

"I'll volunteer some of mine and even help personally if you need it." Nate offered almost right away. A few of the other Alphas from the North American packs offered some of their betas and thetas as well.

"Thank you Alphas. I'll be moving them to the compound and hopefully will be able to find the woman who was with them. She seemed to know their language and I want to make this as comfortable of a transition as possible for the halflings. Their last transition was already full of pain. I don't want to cause them any more harm." Richard informed them as most of the other Alphas nodded in agreement.

"Now has anyone been able to talk to their governments about this yet?"

The conversation turned political and continued for another hour. Most people revealed that their governments were rather torn about what to do about the current situation. It was something on everyone's mind however and most people were going towards the side of assimilating the halflings. Finally the conversation drew to a close and everyone signed off except Richards and Nate.

"Do you want me to come down to help?" Nate asked him. Richards had been like a father figure to Nate and he worried about him, especially with the recent coup.

"Honestly boy it would be a huge help. I'm stretched thin at the moment with everything else happening." Richards admitted, seeming to deflate a bit. Nate knew how hard it was for the elder Alpha to accept his help and was glad he was going to.

"We will be there tomorrow afternoon then." Nate responded with a nod.

"Alright. May Luna's light guide you." Richards concluded before the screen went blank.

"Al, Jereth, you're with me. The rest of you will stay here and watch over the pack. Call the Thetas and ask who would be willing to come with me. I need at least ten of them." Nate instructed. They all nodded and got to work on calling the Thetas. In the end 15 of the 45 Theta's offered to go with them to California while the others were to stay and protect the pack. They had a meeting to brief the 15 of them and then started to arrange who was to deal with what preparations.

"Alright. Everyone sleep well tonight. See you early in the morning." Nate finally dismissed them after he felt that they covered everything they needed to. He watched them leave before following them out. He sighed as he sat down at his desk and remembered all the work he had put off yesterday.

"Better get to it now." He mumbled to himself, picking up the paperwork where he had left off.

This is going to be a long day...

~

"Bye Mom! Bye Dad! Bye Riz! We'll be back before dinner!" Sky called as we walked out the garage door with Tristan right behind us. I slid into the back seat behind him while Sky got into the front seat.

"How far should we drive out before doubling back?" he asked once he started to head out of the garage.

"Drive half way to town. There's a road we can take that will lead us closer to the caves. It will still be a bit of a walk." Sky responded. Tristan nodded before concentrating on the road.

"How have you and Becky been doing?" I asked Tristan, trying to break the silence.

"Fine. We finally found a place to live together. Hopefully the wedding will be next year." He responded with a slight smile. I smiled as well before poking at him.

"I haven't met her yet, by the way." He chuckled at that, shaking his head.

"I'll introduce you to her soon. But guys, she can't know about this, okay?" We nodded in response and the rest of the drive was in silence.

After Momsy, Dave and Riz had left Tristan had heard me and Sky talking and realized that what we had told Momsy and Dave had been a lie. He demanded to know what really happened and we had to tell him. I tried to act like nothing happened but that meant lying to him and I couldn't do it. He also saw right through us when we tried to give as little detail as possible so we ended up telling him everything. At first he didn't believe a single word of it but he could see in our faces that we were being sincere. He still didn't entirely believe us so demanded that we take him to see the village.

Momsy and Dave got back later that day and Riz had stayed in bed and been rather quiet since. I had tried to talk to her about everything but she didn't seem to want to talk much. Her ankle ended up having a slight fracture and so she couldn't walk on it for awhile. It meant she couldn't do anything, include going to the village with us but honestly it didn't seem like she wanted to. I had wanted to be a good friend and stay with her as well but I couldn't stop thinking about it. Finally she just snapped at me about it and told me to just go since I wanted to so badly. I felt bad but it gave Sky and Tristan a reason to go out for awhile. We told Momsy and Dave that we were going into town so that they could show me around.

We finally got to the road Sky had been talking about and turned down it. Sky suddenly winced slightly and Tristan glanced at her worriedly.

"We should really have a doctor check you out, Sis..." He said worriedly.

"No. I can't risk it. I don't want them to end up like the necos or whatever they are calling them now. Did you know they are being transferred to a secret location for 'protection?' It's probably some lab where they can better test on them!" Sky looked close to tears at this and I reached forward to touch her shoulder.

"We won't let them end up like that, okay? Tristan is just worried about you and the baby is all." I explained gently. Sky nodded and then motioned at the road for us to pull over. We parked along the side of the road and got out. I shivered a bit, glad I had listened to Sky and brought the fur that Refre gave me. I wrapped it around me, Sky and Tristan following my lead, Tristan wearing the one that Riz had been wearing.

"Which way?" Tristan asked. Sky started to walk the right way and we both followed her. It was mostly quiet as we walked, none of us really knowing what to say. After awhile we came to cave that Sky had been using before Riz and I crashed through the ice. There was a rope that she had secured to the ice with this hook thing that looked like the things they used when climbing the ice on high mountains.

"That's where my climbing gear went then." Tristan chuckled slightly.

"Yeah. Sorry about that." Sky shrugged before grabbing the rope.

"Maybe I should go first." Tristan stated before gently taking the rope from Sky. She sighed but let him go first. He slid down into the hole and we watched until we couldn't see him anymore. After a moment he called up and Sky started down. I watched her until I was sure she was safe, amazed at how well she had climbed down.

"You've gotten strong," I heard Tristan say. As soon as I was sure she was at the bottom I started climbing down as well.

"Let's go," Sky said when I was finally standing beside her and we each had flashlights. She started to lead the way, moving through the tunnels that started to head down. As we went through I was very thankful that we had Sky to lead the way because I would have gotten lost navigating all the tunnels. Finally we came out into the cavern were the village was and we both smiled when we heard Tristan gasp.

"Wow." We laughed slightly at that before heading for the igloos. We were barely half way there when Faraf suddenly peaked out from one of the igloos. He cried out excitedly before running over towards us and picking up Sky to hold her close. I smiled before looking back at Tristan and almost falling over laughing. He had stopped a little ways behind us and was standing there, mouth gaping, eyes wide and completely frozen in place.

"Believe us now?" I asked him with a slight smile. It seemed to snap him out of his shock and he blinked before looking at me and nodding.

"This... Is insane... I honestly... I don't... Give me a moment." Tristan struggled out before walking a little ways away and pacing a bit. It looked like he was having a bit of a freak out and I considered telling him that if he couldn't handle it then we could just go home. However at that moment I heard a slight call and saw some of the men coming back towards the village, Refre in the lead. He came running right to me and like the first time we met, knocked me right over. I giggled slightly as he stuck his cold nose to my throat, sighing happily at my scent.

"Hello Refre," I greeted in his language, which Sky had been teaching me a bit since that fateful day. He smiled and greeted me back before standing up and pulling me up to hug me. I sighed softly, soaking in the warmth of his body and fur. I smiled as I heard him chuckled and then pull away. I looked up and saw that he was looking behind me suspiciously and turned to see Tristan had calmed down a bit.

"He is Sky's brother," I did my best to explain. He continued to look him over before Tristan noticed him staring and looked a little awkward and a bit scared. He hesitantly waved at Refre before putting his hands in his pocket. I sighed before going over to him and pulling him over.

"Tristan. This is Refre. My mate." I smiled brightly as I introduced them, glad that I understood now why I felt the way I did towards Refre. Tristan looked unsure for a moment before Refre smiled and offered his hand. Tristan smiled and took his hand, shaking it. I sighed happily at that, seeing the acceptance in his eyes.

"Just like people in big fur suits I guess," He commented with a shrug. I laughed slightly before looking up at Refre and seeing that he was looking at me with love. I turned as I heard Tristan laughing slightly.

"You really are Mini here, aren't you Mina?" He teased. I glared at him as he almost fell over at the almost 2 foot difference between me and Refre. I almost yelled at him but at that moment another one of the males came out and started to talk to Faraf and Sky and Sky motioned for us.

"What's up?" I asked her when I was by them.

"Come on Tristan. They don't bite, I swear." Sky said as she looked behind me with a knowing smile. Tristan had stayed back and blinked in surprise before coming over to us.

"I want you to meet someone but you'll have to come with me." She told him while grabbing his hand and dragging him along. I smiled as I followed having a feeling I knew what was going on. The non-mated females always stayed inside or hidden from view until they were mated because of superstition and tradition. When they are declared old enough to mate their scent was passed among the unmated males to see if any of them were meant to mate the female. Only females or males of the family were allowed to see the female until she had a mate.

"Someone caught his scent, didn't they?" Sky gave me a smile in answer before we came to one of the igloos and she asked to enter. She dragged Tristan through the door, with him looking a little frightened. He had listened in a bit when Sky had been explaining things about the culture of the Bears and I think he was starting to realize what was going on. I followed them in, not entirely sure of what would happen but hoping that Tristan would be able to deal with it.

We got in and one of the village women was sitting on the ground with her parents behind her. She looked at Tristan as he walked in as if he was the only person in the room. Tristan stopped a little ways in and I was afraid that he was going to freak out and run out until I saw Sky looking like she was trying to hold back laughter. I moved so I could see Tristan's face and had to hold back as well. He was looking at the woman with awe and amazement. He honestly looked thunderstruck and I was starting to think I would have to hit him in order for him to snap out of it. But then the girl giggled and Tristan suddenly smiled a very content and peaceful smile.

"Hello." He said softly, trying to speak in their language. Apparently he had been paying attention when Sky was teaching me. The woman smiled and her parents introduced her as Eha before inviting us to stay for lunch.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Sky inquired of her brother as we all sat down to eat with them. Tristan stayed quiet for a moment before looking at Sky.

"Yes... It means I'm going to have to break off the engagement to Becky."