A group of wolves made their through the woods. The leaves rustled and crunched under the weight of the wolves. There was a slight breeze, not enough to make reason for the group of wolves to gather together closer, but enough to make the trees dance with one another under the bright rays of the moon that made their way to the bottom of the forest, lighting the pathway of which these wolves were traveling, making it very easy to see their surroundings, and any unwanted problems were no longer a threat to the group.

Humphrey, Bruce and Winston made their way through the woods, trekking lightly, listening for the faintest sounds of a hostile wolf. If Bruce knew Cutter like he did, Cutter would do anything to gain an advantage over them.

However, the time passed and they arrived to their destination, with no incident, surprisingly. Humphrey, Bruce and Winston all sat down in the clearing, the area that Cutter and Humphrey decided they would meet, all taking place before Humphrey arrived back home at his Packs Grounds. It was about a quarter of the night they had to spend to reach this area, and about a day's journey from the grounds that were previously known as the Guardians home.

Winston suddenly broke the silence as they waited, and asked Humphrey something. "Why isn't Kate here? I thought she was the one that wanted to come, and if I remember correctly, she even argued with you for a slight moment earlier about it?" Winston said questioningly. Humphrey answered right away, being as dumbfounded as Winston was.

"I don't know what happened. She just decided she didn't want to go…" Humphrey finished, still perplexed as to what happened earlier.

Before moonrise

Humphrey was awaken by Hutch, letting him know that they would be leaving soon. Humphrey quietly thanked him, and got up, carefully, not wanting to wake Kate just yet. He looked at the sky, and saw that the sun was setting, nightfall approaching rapidly. There was a slight breeze in the air, enough to make someone shiver if they were out in the open alone. Humphrey proceeded to take a few steps from Kate, then began to stretch, then taking a couple of sips from the river beside them, and waited a few more minutes before waking his mate.

When the time had passed, Humphrey decided they needed to get going, and woke Kate. He walked over to her, sat down on his haunches. He loved closer to her ear, and whispered, "Kate. Kate, Kate come on, it's time to get up." In the softest voice that he could muster at the time. Kate mumbled, then proceeded to get up, stretching her body before Humphrey. Any wolf would be mesmerized at the sight of the she-wolf, but Humphrey had already seen her in many different ways, being unfazed by her action.

She gave him a quick lick, then she also got some water, and did some quick thinking. Kate then pawed over to Humphrey, and said, "I think I'm going to stay behind. I'll do some hunting, since somebody here has been doing all of that lately." She said with a sheepish, teasing grin. Humphrey laughed, but then was puzzled.

"Why not? I thought you wanted to go?" He asked. Kate smiled a reassuring smile, and began to walk away towards the hunting grounds. She looked over her shoulder, and said four simple words, "I'll tell you soon. Oh, and stop staring at my butt, Humphrey." She giggled, and was off.

"I-I wasn't!" He responded, loud enough for her to hear, with an embarrassed look on his face, being caught again. He stood up, shook himself, and was off to find Bruce and Winston.

End of time lapse

Humphrey got done telling the story, while leaving the last part out, not wanting to get into an argument with Winston. It'd go, 'Humphrey, what did Eve say about respecting our daughter,' and Humphrey would say along the lines of, 'I didn't mean to!', and of course, Winston would burst out laughing, saying, 'It's alright, I did the same thing with Eve,' with a slight chuckle.

Just as soon as he got done telling the story, they heard a twig snap, and Humphrey turned toward the sound in an instant, barring his teeth. Cutter padded forward along with Axle at his side, along with about ten other wolves. He walked into the clearing with a smug face, the other wolves following in his footsteps.

"Cutter!" Bruce seethed, barring his teeth in an instant, watching Cutter's every move.

"Now, is that a way to greet an old friend?" Cutter asked, with a menacing smile on his face. Winston stood alert, not sure what was going to happen. He was out of place. He was out-matched to any of these wolves that had just joined them.

"Please, don't let me interrupt your little story here, Humphrey. Kate sure is one fine piece of-" He was saying, but being interrupted by Winston.

"Don't even finish that sentence!" He said angrily, showing his fangs that showed years of service, some being chipped and others just being worn out. Cutter looked at him, grinning.

"What are you going to do, you worn out Alpha? You're no match for a Guardian!" He mocked, laughing a cruel laugh. Humphrey spoke up, protecting his father-in-law and his mates' name.

"No, but I am!" He growled, getting into a stance, one meant for fighting. Cutter, who stopped laughing as soon as he spoke, still smiling, and said, "Daddy's little runt! How brave!" And with that, Humphrey charged at him, sending Cutter flying into a near-by tree. Surprisingly, his wolves stayed put, probably under strict orders from Cutter himself.

Cutter got up, shook the dirt from his pelt, and taunted him. "You wanna try that again?" Winston was about to attack Cutter himself, that was his son after all. Well, almost his son. But Bruce spoke up, trying to get this under control before they actually did get into a fight.

"Stop! We agreed this was going to be a meeting, nothing else, right?" Bruce said, earning murmurs of agreement form both sides. "So, let's get this started."

"Ah, yes. Bruce, the peacekeeper. Always trying to avoid a fight. Too bad you weren't there for your buddy, Chris? Maybe you could have talked your way out of me ripping out his throat!" Cutter said, tossing him a smug look. Bruce, however, kept calm, and proceeded with talks of peace. Both parties all sat on their haunches, settling down. Humphrey knew he had to keep his cool, as did Winston.

A few hours later

"You see Bruce, I don't want peace. I crave the sound of another wolf whimpering, as their life drained from their eyes, while their throat was in my mouth. And I also crave the end of the Guardians. Not myself, but the 'good, save everybody Guardians'. And no amount of talking will ever change that." Cutter finished. He began to walk away, with Axle at his side.

"We aren't done here!" Bruce yelled. Cutter stopped, then turned to look at him.

"No, but I am. Kill them." He said gesturing to six other wolves. Cutter grinned menacingly, then left the area with Axle and the other four wolves.

Humphrey immediately leapt in front of Winston, while Bruce got into a defensive stance, ready to fight, fight to death if he had to. Bruce will get revenge, he thought to himself, even if he had to die to do so. Humphrey quickly told Winston to head back to the grounds, and get the Pack ready for a war, as Cutter would make sure to not leave things unfinished once again. And with that, Humphrey and Bruce were immediately put into combat, as Cutter's wolves charged them. Winston thought about it, but he wouldn't leave his son here to die. So, he saw a wolf looking to get at Humphrey from behind, and charged him.

The seen that was upon the clearing was not looking rather well. Bruce had two wolves on him, fighting as hard as he could. He clawed, bit, and kicked with as much strength as he could. He was doing alright. Sure, he had a couple of deep cuts running along his flank, and a couple of scratches along his face, but it wasn't nothing that a Guardian couldn't handle.

Winston was doing rather well for himself, only having one wolf to fight. Winston may have been getting old, but he could still defend himself and his Pack if he needed to. He had only minor cuts and scrapes, and his opponent was out matched, surprisingly.

Humphrey had the worst of them, getting three of the wolves that remained. And he was not doing well. He was bleeding profusely from a deep cut on his stomach, a cut from a wolf that Humphrey had managed to take care of, no longer a threat. But Humphrey was beginning to feel weak, as no one could stay functioning with the amount of blood he was losing. He fought as hard as he could though, clawing, biting, pinning his opponents, to no avail, as it was two on one, though it was a losing battle. Humphrey began to feel weaker, but still managed to take out another wolf. One would begin to think if these opponents went under proper training, as they were losing a three on one fight. As soon as Humphrey had released his jaws from the throat of his second kill, he passed out.

He collapsed to the ground and the final wolf was moving in to finish the kill. Bruce and Winston had seen what was occurring, trying to help him, but would have both been killed if they were to turn away from their battle.

As the wolf approached Humphrey, he began to laugh. This was the son of the mighty Chris, the most feared wolf that had walked this Earth, beside from the god and goddess, and he was at his mercy. He padded up to him, sniffed his wounds, and his eyes gleamed. He loved the smell of blood. All the sudden, he saw blood dripping. Onto Humphrey. He lifted his paw, touched his throat, and felt that it was wet. He pulled his paw away, and it was covered in blood.

Humphrey started to come to, having foggy vision. He saw the wolf he had been fighting come over to him, and Humphrey knew what was coming. Then, out of nowhere, he felt a warm substance dripping onto him, and saw that his opponent was bleeding form his neck. The wolf felt his neck with his paw, then he fell to the ground, right next Humphrey. Humphrey, after seeing his foe fall, tried to get up, but his body wouldn't allow him, nor allow him to talk. He looked around, trying to see who had saved him. His vision was beginning to darken again, but he saw a wolf that he thought was dead. He heard a whisper, and he began to think he was hallucinating. He heard the whisper again. It was weird. Because he heard the voice, but he didn't. It's like he could hear it inside his head. And he heard it again, this time very clear. And it was a voice he heard only once his entire life, to his knowledge, and that was during his training

"Stay with me, my son. Fight. Don't give up. Fight. Fight for your life, fight for Kate. Fight. Use the strength you have inside you. FIGHT!"

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