The night was quiet, save for the chirping of some crickets and the hoot of a lone owl. Even though some would find the atmosphere rather disconcerting, it was a perfect opportunity for Terra to sneak out of Cain's den, the latter of which was sleeping soundly. Terra desperately needed to get away from the demented wolf, especially after what had happened a few hours ago. She still could not believe that she nearly submitted to that flee-bitten waste of fur. Her heart even felt like it broke a little when she realized that she nearly betrayed Samuel, the wolf she pledged to be mated to for the rest of her life. And Anna, what would her daughter think of her if she knew what she had almost done. Such thoughts plagued her mind, bringing tears to her eyes. However, she was soon pulled from her self-loathing by a groan coming from a nearby den.

Following the sound, Terra came upon a den that was guarded by the same two Alphas that had escorted Daniel to Cain's residence. Cautiously stepping forward, Terra let out a sigh of relief at the fact that the two sentries had dozed off on the job, miraculously remaining in an upright position as they slept through the night. Crouching down low to the ground, Terra, thanks to her lithe Alpha body and exceptional skills, managed to snake her way between the two Alphas as she entered the den. Unfortunately, upon entering the den, Terra, with eyes wide, choked back a sob as she was met with a very unpleasant sight.

"Oh, Daniel, no,"

she whimpered, fresh tears falling from her eyes as she beheld the grizzly sight before her.

Daniel, surrounded by the other Omega's of the pack, his young body laden with not only the bite wound on his neck, but fresh claw wounds along his back, limps and face, groaned as he turned his head to the voice that had just said his name. Upon seeing the young Omega's face more clearly, Terra held back another sob as she saw that his right eye was severely swollen, along with three fresh claw marks over the eyelid. But, luckily, the other eye was left unharmed, as evident by it locking onto Terra's form.

"Ms. Terra?" Daniel inquired in weak whisper. Like a flash, Terra was by the stricken boy's side in an instant, stopping only slightly upon seeing the boy's tail, or at least what was left of it. True to Cain's word, Daniel's tail was indeed torn off. From what Terra could see, the spot where Daniel's proud, bushy tail had once been was now replaced with a bloody stub, which was still bleeding ever so slightly, but luckily tended to by the Omega healers.

"Shhh," Terra soothed as she lowered her head toward the young wolf's, her eyes meeting his, or rather, his only good one, "don't say anything, rest." Realizing protesting was a futile effort, Daniels stiffly nodded as he laid his head down on he ground, allowing the healers to attend to his injuries. The moment was soon interrupted by a new voice, a voice Terra had heard earlier that day.

"Ms. Terra?" it inquired. Turning quickly, Terra could make out the form of Cody as he stood at the entrance of the den. Letting out a sigh, Terra relaxed as she addressed the wolf before her, nuzzling her head into his chest as he came to her side.

"Cody, thank heavens." Nodding with a small smile, Cody's attention was soon brought to the wounded wolf in the center of the den. His smile now gone, Cody sat along side Terra as the healers continued to offer aid to Daniel.

"Dad?" Daniel weakly inquired, just barely making out the form of his father.

"I'm here son," the father answered, bringing his head down to nuzzle his son.

"How is he?" Cody asked as he turned his attention to one of the healers, who Terra was surprised to see was Delilah.

"We managed to stop the bleeding," the Alpha responded in a surprisingly sorrowful voice, "but he has lost a lot of blood." Upon hearing this Terra whimpered before asking,

"Will he be alright?" Her heart dropped when she heard the female sigh.

"We've done all we can, the rest is up to him." A small whimper echoed off the cave wells. Looking to the source, Terra's heart broke as she saw little Elise snuggle into her brother's side, her eyes brimming with tears. The sadness in Terra soon turned into anger as she glared accusingly at Cody, who seemed to shrink a little under her gaze.

"Why didn't you stop them?" Recovering quickly, Cody responded with an indignant expression.

"What could I have done?" he stated bluntly. "If I had intervened then I would be in the exact same position Daniel is in. Besides, this is all part of the plan to get you and the other Omegas out of here. And, Just so you know, I didn't make Daniel do this; it was of his own accord. And for that, I could not be more proud of him." Terra, a bit taken aback by this news, quickly recovered as she took on a steely expression, nodding firmly at Cody, a solid indication that she would not let Daniel's choice be in vain. Offering a kind smile in response, Cody turned to the others, who looked upon him and Terra with great interest. Stepping forward, Cody began to address the crowd.

"My friends," he began boldly, "the time of your salvation is at hand. Take heart in knowing that allies on the outside will soon come to set you free." A murmur went up as the Omegas began to converse with each other. After few minutes, the murmuring died down as a brown-furred male spoke up.

"It's a nice notion," he began solemnly, "but at this point, there is no hope."

"He's right," Delilah added in, "I realized long ago that I would be nothing more to Cain than his little sex toy. Nothing else I did mattered. But I have never let myself hope that there could be a way out for me."

"I promised my mate I would protect our children right before she died," Cody said to Terra, but also loud enough for the other's to hear, "but now I fear that I have failed her."

With that said, the others bowed their heads in defeat. Realizing he had just lost the crowd, Cody did the same.

A long moment of silence then enveloped the den as each wolf present began to give up hope.

"Worse," Terra finally said, catching everyone's attention.

"You are failing yourself."

After taking a moment to compose herself from the uneasy feeling of the other's eyes on her, Terra continued to speak.

"Only when you don't try, do you truly fail...but I know that if we DO try, we can succeed."

As Terra said this, the Omegas in the den raised their heads, a twinkle in each in their eyes...

A Twinkle of Hope.

"Terra is right," Delilah added in, "I am tired of bending myself to Cain's perverted desires.

I want to know what it is like to have a mate that truly loves me."

"I want my pups to play without fear," another female called.

"I want to live a life free of submission," a male shouted from the back.

With each proclamation, Terra and Cody swelled with pride at knowing that they had re-lit the fire in the Omega's before them.

Now they had an army.

Sam gazed up at the night sky. It was nearly a full moon. But, that was not his most pressing concern at the moment. Right now, he was more concerned about how he was going to help his mate and all Omegas under Cain's oppression escape the deranged black-furred wolf. And the more he thought about it, the more his mind went back to Daniel and Elise, and how he truly hoped that no harm would come to either of them. It was strange, but Sam felt a rather odd connection with the young Omega. Sam was eventually brought from his thoughts as he heard footsteps approaching from inside the den that had been generously offered by his new ally, Rex, who was the source of the footsteps Sam had heard.

"Can't sleep?" Rex inquired with a smile, which Sam found it difficult not to return. Again, Sam was perplexed by the mystery of Rex. He had only just met the wolf, yet there was still something familiar about him; his grey fur, his warm personality, his ice blue eyes. Shaking those thoughts from his head, Sam responded to Rex's question.

"Kind of hard too, really," he said, looking into the den to see Anna curled up beside King, sound asleep and completely oblivious to what was about to transpire. As for King, Sam's stare seemed to linger on him the longest, his mind going back to what his father-in-law had said earlier. With a sigh, Sam shook his head as he turned back to Rex.

"I can't let him do it, Rex," he said, his mind clearly made up, "I can't let King kill Cain. Even though that menace deserves it, King already has enough blood on his paws. Besides, in his condition, King wouldn't last five minutes in a fight." Looking back to the moon, Sam's face soon took a determined expression and, after walking back into the den to kiss his child for what could be the final time, he began to walk in the direction of Cain's pack. Dumbfounded, Rex placed himself in front of Sam.

"Where do you think your going?" Stepping around Rex, Sam continued without saying a word. Realizing what his Omega friend was doing Rex, bounded up to him, keeping pace with the cream colored wolf. After a few minutes of walking, Sam let out a frustrated groan.

"Don't try to talk me out of it." With a shrug, Rex responded.

"I'm not. I'm coming with you." Looking to the grey furred wolf in shock, Sam took in a friendly and encouraging smile, a smile he recognized all to well. It was at that moment it clicked. As the pair continued to walk through the night toward their destination, Sam decided to ask a question that would undoubtedly answer any remaining questions he had about Rex.

"Rex," he began, catching the older wolf's attention, all while the two didn't break their stride, "before she died, did you and your mate have any children?" Rex's walk seemed to falter a bit as his expression changed to that of sorrowful remembrance.

"Yes," he began in a pained whisper, "one pup. A son. A son we loved so dearly that it broke our hearts when we lost him. You see, we were traveling along the mountain range in the Rockies, when a massive snowstorm hit. In the midst of it all, my mate and I were separated from our son. When the storm finally let up, we searched and searched, but couldn't find him. In the end, we just gave up hope."

Upon hearing this, Sam remembered a story he had once heard from an old friend. Stopping suddenly, He smiled as Rex skidded to a stop, leaving behind about two feet snow tracks.

"What is it?" Sam beamed brightly as he began asking questions of his own.

"When you were separated from your son, do you know if you were near any parks?" A bit befuddled, Rex answered.

"Y-yes, it was by Jasper Park." Pleased with the answer, Sam continued.

"And your son, does he have ice-blue eyes like you?" Catching on to Sam's excitement, Rex felt his own grow as he began to feel hope rise in his body.

"Yes, and well called him..." and at that moment, both wolves smiled broadly as they said the same name.

"Humphrey." With the smile still plastered on his face, Sam added to Rex's hope.

"Your son is alive."