2 Hannalee 1

"The human doctor has been removed from his position. The rumors were true of his abuse to the wolves." I spoke as quietly as possible, knowing full well that the wolf, Dante, from before was still keened into me. I could still feel his caramel brown eyes as they had given me a once over with an intensity that still shook me to my core.

"We will contact the human government and a new doctor will be sent to that location in a few days. You can return home afterwords and we will begin your partner arrangements." Ravena, my boss, stated matter-of-factly.

I cringed, so glad that she couldn't see my face. It was naturally my responsibility to my people to produce a child, so that we could keep surviving. I was 24, well past the age of being assigned a partner. But my superiors had been having trouble finding a suitable partner for me. I was unnaturally powerful among my people, and they needed to find someone at least close to my power levels that was near my age-range. The superiors viewed the value of partners being close to each other in age, since it often times resulted in a permanent partnership, rather than just the one time pairing that produced only one child. If the partners found that they were mentally compatible, they could stand before the council and form a proper partnership contract, and could reproduce as much as they wanted.

"Has a partner been decided yet?" I asked, hoping my voice sounding smooth.

"One has been decided. You will be meeting with him upon your return." She responded, sounding proud of herself.

"I understand" was all I could say.

"I'll expect you to return as soon as the new doctor is settled in." she stated, a slight warning in her tone.

The warning really wasn't necessary, I knew what my goal was, and this was simply a stepping stone to reaching my goal. If I followed the rules, did as was expected of me from my people, then I could be given my own realm to watch over. I would be given a chance to watch over the relations of people of the races in the realm I was given, and if violence truly broke out, then I would use the power I'd been given to maintain the peace, or separate the conflicting forces. Just like if war broke out between the wolves and the humans of this realm, they would be separated, the one realm becoming 2, and both races would forget about the other, just as had happened over a millennia ago.

No one knew anymore, that the realms had once been part of one greater world. A world where all creatures lived together, all kinds of shifters, all kinds of supernatural creatures. But the races began to fight against each other, each wanted control, so my people, now known as protectors, separated the conflicting races. Of course, none of my ancestors had predicted the entrance of the race known as humans. It was as though they had appeared out of nowhere, and each of the other races had been altered to think that they had been there all along. All of the races except my own. We knew that someone had somehow created humans within each of the separated realms.

There had been plenty of conflict since the humans had been placed in the realms, and it became the role of my people to watch over the realms, to make sure there was peace. We didn't want to separate the realms further, as it could create an unbalance, which I suspected was the intentions of making the humans in the first place. Some greater being wanted an unbalanced world, chaos in the realms. Granted, this was all just my own theory, and, since I had no true background, I had no means to prove it one way or the other.

"Hannalee, everything alright?" Ravena asked, clearly noticing my silence as I'd been lost in thought for a moment.

"Ah, yes, I'm fine, just thinking about my plans for the future is all." I panicked.

"Well, hold onto those plans and one day you will reach your truest goal. I have faith in you and all of your abilities." I heard her smile in her voice.

Ravena had been the one who had raised me, so it was only natural that she knew more about me than anyone else. She was the one who had helped me discover what my dreams were. If I hadn't talked to her about her own work as a realm guardian, I wouldn't have been so fascinated that I began the training myself. She had left the work when she formed a contract with her partner, deciding to settle into the life of a mother and the work of a superior. She was the mother I had never had, even if she had only raised me because it was her job.

"I won't let you down." I stated, as confidently as I possibly could.

The line went dead, clearly she was done with me for the time being. It wasn't the way of a protector to get emotionally involved in anything more than their responsibilities. The fact that she showed even a little emotion toward me was both unusual, and yet so welcome. We weren't like the shifters or the mages or the faery folk, all of whom felt love and desire, had what they referred to as soulmates, someone made just for them. My people didn't believe that love was truly important, as long as what needed to be done was done. I just wasn't sure I agreed with that mentality. Especially not when I could feel the pull in my gut every time I had felt Dante's eyes on me.

But romance with anyone outside of my own people was strictly forbidden. If a protector was found to be having a relationship with a resident of the realm they are watching, they would be stripped of their power, left as nothing more than a, once powerful, human.

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