Two Worlds: Land of Ice Ch. 09

Tristan drove as fast as he could on the slippery roads as we headed towards the news site. I felt like we were going in slow motion though and every second seemed to increase my worry for my mate. I couldn't get the image of him tied up and hurt out of my head and it made me want to cry. Finally we got to the area right as a few government vehicles arrived as well. I burst out of the car, not caring about anything else but getting to my mate as I ran past everyone and ignored any yells of protest.

"Refre!" I screamed as I finally saw him, still tied up and on the floor. I shoved past the police officers that tried to stop me and rushed to my mate, tears clouding my vision as I knelt down beside him.

"Oh Refre!" I cried as I hugged him close and started to softly speak a little in his language. He stirred a bit and opened his eyes weakly to look at me. I smiled at him before I suddenly felt someone grabbing me and trying to pull me away.

"No! Leave him alone! He won't hurt anyone!" I screamed as the police officers pulled me away from him. I didn't listen to anything they were saying. Nothing mattered except getting to my mate and making sure he was okay. I screamed and kicked at the man that was holding me back as I saw some of the government agents approach my mate with a syringe. Refre started to struggle with his binds more, calling out for me.

"No! Please! Please don't do this!" I screamed out as I kicked harder and struggled with all my might. It didn't matter though. They didn't listen to me and just stabbed him with the needle. I heard him cry out in pain before seeing him go limp. I continued to fight the police officer as tears streamed down my cheeks and soon I was nothing but a sobbing mess as I watched them drag my mate away.

'''''''''''''''

Nate stepped out of the plane and was greeted automatically by his second and his mate. He pulled his mate close and gave her a passionate kiss before turning back to business.

"We did everything you asked. They have the bear halfling locked away in the nearest military base and they dragged the four humans involved along with them. The humans are being kept for questioning and it seems that the base is going to be sending out soldiers to search the nearby caves soon." Wesley informed him as they walked up to the main house.

"I pulled out every contact and favor due that I could and managed to get them to let the humans into our care. They will be here in about an hour but I could not get them to release the halfling to us." Rachel took up the report. Nate nodded and sighed at this.

"Alright. Prepare some rooms for them and a good hot meal." He told Wesley, who nodded and ran off to do so. He turned back to his wife and pulled her in for another passionate kiss.

"Times are going to get tough, aren't they?" Rachel sighed when they broke the kiss.

"I'm afraid so love. We may be revealing our secret to the world soon. And there may be more creatures than even just the cats and bears. If they have managed to stay untouched by humanity for so long, who knows what else could be in the same situation? All the government officials are going to start looking in their caves, their mountains, their jungles for anything like them..." Nate shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Things are definitely going to be tough, love. Tougher than we ever imagined."

'''''''''''''''

I looked at the screen in shock as the news report finished. I wasn't sure what to think at that moment. You think with the shock of finding a species first hand and then finding out about werewolves that nothing else would shock me. But I guess I hadn't thought that there would be more halfling species like my tribe.

"Oh my..." Shelly finally said, breaking the silence that had followed the report.

"Do you realize what this means?" Eric practically whispered before turning to all of us. "There could be more halfling species out there. Think of all the caves left unexplored. All the potential things that could be living down there..."

"And I've exposed them all..." Charles whispered into his hands. I turned to him and shook my head.

"No Charles. Don't blame yourself for this. You didn't know. It's not your fault for how badly the human race has reacted to other species." I told him while adjusting Losy in my arms.

"Yes it is..." He chocked before sitting there for a moment and then looking up at me with a determined expression. "But I'm going to make it right. I will fight every moment of my life, with every breath in my body for their rights. I will do everything I can to make sure every single one of those species I have exposed is safe and has the same rights as any other human being. Unari would have wanted that."

I wiped away a tear that had leaked over a bit and smiled weakly at Charles. He smiled weakly back as Isaac stood up.

"And we'll be with you every step of the way," he added with a smile. Eric and Shelly stood up as well, offering the same thing and Kael smiled at me before nodding at Charles.

"We will do whatever it takes." I agreed, trying not to cry as we all pledge to risk everything for our tribe and any other that was to pop up.

'''''''''''''''

"How are we going to protect them? Look at what happened to the other species! We can't let that happen to the flock!"

"I know. But what can we do? If the government gets involved we can't very well protect them from an army!"

"We could move them somewhere maybe! Get them out of those caves."

"And where would we put them? There is no where we could hide them. We just have to hope for the best and pray they aren't found."

'''''''''''''''

"He has your eyes." She said as she looked down at her newborn son.

"Yes. He's like your kind though. No fur or tail."

"That's true. Does that make you unhappy?"

"No. As long as he is healthy I am happy." She smiled as she looked up at her mate and pulled him close by his mane. She kissed his lips passionately before returning her attention to her son. Her worries came back again as she thought about how she had been gone for over a year. Her parents will have started to worry. She was only supposed to be gone a few months.

"Can you visit parents?" her mate asked, reading in on her thoughts.

"No. They live far from here my mate. I am not from this land. I worry they may come to try and find us though."

"That a bad thing?"

"It could be..." She thought out loud, worry in her voice.

'''''''''''''''

"Do you lay eggs when you have babies?" he asked her as they walked through the forest.

"Eggs?" she laughed, making him smile as it filled him with joy. "Why would we lay eggs?"

"Well lizards usually do..." he tried to explain to her with a shrug.

"We are not these lizards you think of my mate. We don't lay eggs and we don't shed skin like them."

"They look like you though." He told her before noticing his brother running at them. He stopped and panted a bit, looking out of breath.

"There's... there's news from town brother. The village just got it."

"What news?"

"They found a new species. A species half human, half animal like them! They are going to start searching for others!"

"What?" his eyes went wide at this news and he suddenly began to fear for his mate and her kind.

'''''''''''''''

It had been over 24 hours since they had dragged us in here for questioning. The first few hours I had screamed and yelled at them to let me see Refree. The longer they didn't let me, the more frantic I became until Sky finally managed to get me to snap out of it. After that I had sat down at this spot and haven't moved since.

They had offered us snacks but none of us could eat at this point. Sky had managed to fall asleep about an hour or two ago and was resting on Tristan, who looked like he was about to pass out as well. Becky obviously was along the same boat as me and couldn't even think about sleeping. I was sick of answering questions and waiting around. I wanted my mate and I wanted to go back to the village and live in peace.

Suddenly the door slammed open, startling Sky and Tristan awake. An agent walked in with a few soldiers and came straight over to us. The soldiers all handcuffed us while the agent seemed to be explaining what was going on.

"We are transporting you to another facility at this time for more questioning." I practically growled at this.

"And what about my mate?" I hissed at the agent.

"The creature will be staying here." The agent stated simply before walking out the door, the soldiers pushing us to follow. We were forced into the back of some van and started to drive away from that base. I hung my head as tears slipped down my cheeks as we drove further and further away from my mate.

It felt like we were sitting in that van for hours in silence before we finally stopped. I didn't even really notice until suddenly the side door opened and a man was motioning to us to get out. I followed the others, still not paying attention to much as we walked across the snow and through a gate to another van.

I still didn't pay much attention to anything until there was suddenly a familiar pair of hands unlocking my handcuffs. I looked up to see Sky smiling at me as she took them off and then helped Becky out of hers. I realized I had missed something and started to pay attention.

"I'm Nate and this is my second in command, Wesley. We just have a few questions for you and then we will do whatever we can to help you protect the halflings you found." The man who was driving told us.

"Why do you want to help us protect them?" Tristan asked suspiciously.

"We will show you when we get to the main house."

"You probably wouldn't believe us if we told you," the other man, Wesley added with a chuckle.

"What of my mate?" I cut in, not really caring about anything else.

"We are working on it. However, we have a team of trucks ready to help you evacuate the caves. We figured if you can show us where they are and help us we can get them out of there before anyone else finds them and tries to hurt them." Nate explained, looking back at me sympathetically.

As if he could possibly know what I'm going through.I thought as I looked down. I was glad we could save the others but I knew I wouldn't be able to rest until I could see my mate again.

We pulled up in front of a large cabin looking building that was surrounded by other good size cabins. It didn't look like much of a military base, but more like a getaway resort. It had a rather homey feel as I looked at it and saw people running around outside.

"What are children doing at a military base?" I heard Becky ask as we got out and headed towards the main cabin.

"That's just our cover." Wesley winked at her. "This is actually our home."

"Come into my office and I'll explain things better," Nate insisted while holding open the door to the cabin for us. We followed him inside and to a well furnished office where we all sat down around the large desk.

"Alright. What's going on? You say you want to help the village. Why? What do you have to gain from it?" Tristan cut straight to the chase before Nate could even open his mouth. Nate and Wesley chuckled before Nate sat forward more.

"We do want to help the village for many different reasons. We do not think the humans will treat them very well and want to protect them from harm or extinction. One of our reasons is because we believe every life is sacred. Another is that we believe everyone should be treated equally. But I would say that our main reason is because they are just like our ancestors."

We all looked at him in shock for a moment before Becky snapped us out of it.

"What do you mean? You look completely human to me."

"Yes. I suppose we do, don't we? Wesley? Why don't you show them this time?" Nate requested of his second in command.

"Yes Alpha," the man nodded before starting to take off his clothes. We all looked at him in confusion, wondering what the hell was going on before suddenly the man before us began to change. Fur sprouted out of his skin as his bones seemed to reshape themselves and he howled out as he landed on for legs.

"W-w-werewolves?" Tristan stuttered as we all stood up in surprise. I stumbled slightly and my vision became blurred before it started to get dark and I couldn't remember anything else.

'''''''''''''''

"Mina. Mina."

"Mmm... Five more minutes..."

"Mina wake up." Finally the voice began to register and I realized that it wasn't my mom trying to wake me up for school. I opened my eyes and looked around in confusion before remembering where I was.

"Are you okay?" Sky asked me as I looked up and saw her, Becky and Tristan all looking down at me. I sat up slowly as Nate kneeled down to hand me a glass of water. I took in gratefully and took a few sips before setting it aside.

"Sorry about that. I don't know what happened." I apologized, blushing a bit.

"I understand. It's quite a shock and I'm sure you didn't sleep much last night." Nate assured me.

"We haven't eaten much either, which is not good for any of us. Especially you Sky. You should be eating a lot more." Becky commented with a pointed look at Sky. Wesley stood up then and headed for the door.

"I'll go check if the food is ready for you." He told us as he closed the door.

"Here," Nate offered, holding out his hand to help me up. I sat back down in my chair as the others followed my example.

"So. Werewolves. That's... Interesting." I noted.

"Yes. Our kind looked much like the other halflings before we started to mate with humans and evolved to shift. It's beginning with the cat halflings already. Jess has had a child that can change into a panther."

We looked at him in shock before all turning at the same time to look at Sky.

"What?" She blushed, looking a bit confused.

"They didn't have fur... They didn't look like the bears..." Becky stated in wonder.

"Wait... Are you saying that my babies may be able to shift too?"

"You're pregnant?" Nate interrupted slightly.

"Yes. About seven months now."

"And it's from one of the bear halflings?"

"Yes. My mate is still in the village in the caves. He is probably worried about me... I told him I would visit today."

There was a knock on the door that cut off any response before a beautiful woman walked in with a two trays of food. She smiled at us all while setting the trays on the table and then going over to Nate and kissing him lovingly. I looked away, longing to be able to do that with my mate again.

"Everyone, this is my mate Rachel." Nate announced.

"You have mates as well? Do you find them by smell like the bears do?" Becky asked.

"Yes. We do. However we form the mating bond by a bite during sex and it doesn't have to be the first time." Rachel explained. Becky nodded, clearly fascinated by this.

"Now why don't you four eat up and once you are done we can start the mission to get your village safe." Nate smiled as he motioned to the food in front of us. I looked at it and sighed as I realized that I should probably eat something if I wanted to be any help.

'''''''''''''''

I bit my lip as a whole long line of vans drove towards the entrance to the caves. I hoped that a news crew or branch of the military wasn't following since we stood out rather easily. We were at the front of this line, with one of what Nate called his "betas" driving and Nate himself sitting in the passenger seat. Becky, Sky and I were in the backseat with Sky directing the way. Tristan decided to let us be in this car together and had gotten into the van behind us instead.

"Stop there!" Sky called out when we got close to the entrance, having gone off road to get as close as possible. We pulled up as close to the entrance as we could and the rest of the vans surrounded it. We quickly got out and Nate started commanding everyone to get ready. Sky, Becky, Tristan, Nate, the beta named Al and I were all going to go into the caves while the rest stayed out until we were able to explain everything.

Sky, Becky and I quickly went to the back where there were some sheets we had grabbed before leaving. Traditionally the women weren't meant to leave their huts but in this case they would have to. We had decided to grab the sheets to cover any of the woman who wanted to keep as close to tradition as possible.

"Alright. Are we ready?" Nate asked as we finished pulling out all them all out. We nodded and Sky led the way into the caves.

We were mostly silent on our way towards the village and about halfway down we heard a growl and a patrol from King Rau's village came out of one of the tunnels. Sky paused and started to speak to him too quickly for me to follow very well. Her voice sounded urgent though and the patrol nodded after a moment and turned and left.

"Wow..." Al said when they left. I looked back to see Nate and him both grinning. "This is so cool."

Sky chuckled before continuing down towards our village. When we got there Nate and Al both stopped in amazement.

"It's huge down here! It's a wonder they haven't been discovered before." Al commented. Nate nodded and then we all headed for the village. I almost expected to see Refre there but then remembered what had happened and almost started crying. I forced it back though so I could concentrate on helping the rest of the villagers.

Faraf came running towards us the moment he saw us and scooped up Sky right away. They spoke urgently to each other for a few moments before he sat her down and nodded at the rest of us.

"Come. We must speak with the Queen and King." Sky told us and we all headed into the village and towards their igloo. We stepped inside and Sky greeted them before introducing Nate and Al and explaining the situation. I didn't pay much attention to what was being said but instead was wondering about my mate. I had to be with him soon. It was driving me crazy to be away from him and we hadn't even mated yet.

"Would you mind showing them what you are?" Sky asked Nate, interrupting my train of thought. Nate nodded and started to strip. We moved away from him the best we could as he started to shift. When he was done I noticed that he was a lot bigger than any of the others I had seen and I wondered if that came with being an Alpha.

I looked around the igloo and noticed the look of shock on everyone's face as Nate changed back and got dressed. I hoped they would listen to what Sky was saying and would leave this place before anyone else came. I didn't want them all to end up like Refre...

"They've agreed to the plan." Sky told us after a few more minutes of discussion. We all seemed to sigh with relief at that and the King stood up and led us all out to announce it to the village. As soon as he did the village cried out in disagreement but it was obvious that the Kings decision was final. He spoke a bit more to the village and I could see that they finally understood the reasons. Mothers started to hold their children closer and mate looked at each other worriedly.

"He's dividing up duties now. We will have a few other women helping us." Sky whispered to Becky and me.

"Good. And once we get this village out we'll have to go to the other village." Becky said, gripping the sheets a bit tighter. It was obvious that she was worried about her mate and I looked down as I continued to worry more and more about my own.

"They might be already getting ready to move." Sky replied. "I gave the patrol a message to tell King Rau to get the village to pack up their things."

"Hopefully they will listen and be almost ready by the time we are there." Nate slipped in.

Sky nodded and then motioned for us to follow here. She gave Nate, Al and Tristan instructions on what they were to do before turning to us girls and leading us to the other woman that would be helping us. We went to every igloo and made sure we found all the unmated females. We had to explain briefly what was going on and then wrap each of them in the sheets, covering them as much as we could. Finally we managed to gather all the unmated females and watched as they all hesitantly took their first steps outside since they had been about five.