Somewhere around eight Night Pack dogs were in the hollow, attacking Coriander's packmates. Compass was balancing on three legs, attempting to fight off a wiry pit bull. Atlantic and Focus had planted themselves in front of Desmond and Kye and were bravely swiping at a giant Tosa Inu. They were fast and fierce, but the better skilled Night Pack dog seemed to be getting the best of them.

Coriander didn't know what to do. She had only received the most basic of fighting training, and she didn't know who to help. Her decision was made for her, however, when Ranger suddenly charged past her into the clearing.

"Ranger!" she shouted, running after him and grabbing him by the scruff. "Stay out of this!" She dragged the thrashing collie pup towards the healers' den, dodging her fighting packmates.

"Let me go!" Ranger howled. "I wanna help!"

"You can't help, you idiot!" Coriander snarled, throwing him inside the den. "Stay. There. You'll get yourself killed!"

Ranger attempted to get past her, but suddenly she heard a new frenzy of howls. She whirled around to see the returning patrols pouring into the hollow and plowing into the Night Pack dogs. Gabriel was like a red streak, cutting through the fray and slamming into a melanistic Doberman Pinscher. Coriander gasped slightly. She hadn't realized that Draco, the beta, was leading the attack.

Draco was knocked off balance by Gabriel's attack, but before he could retaliate, Speedwell was there, holding him down. Even though he was half the size of the Night Pack dog, Gabriel's eyes blazed as he glowered down at him.

"DRACO!" he roared. "What is the meaning of this?!"

Coriander had never seen her alpha look so enraged. Draco writhed beneath Speedwell, vainly lunging forwards with bared teeth. "Wind Pack has more territory than it needs," he growled. "Night Pack needs it more then you do!"

"So you attack us in our own hollow?" Gabriel's eyes sparked with fury. "And where is Pawnee? Why did he order this attack?"

"Pawnee is a coward." Draco spat on the ground. "He is an old fool who is more concerned about the other packs' opinions that his own pack's survival. He is in Siglitun's contempt."

"I don't care about your personal opinions," Gabriel replied coldly. "Get out of here before my defenders rip your pelts off. And don't come back!"

Speedwell stepped off of the Doberman and Draco stood up, jerking his head toward the clearing entrance. The Wind Pack dogs glowered after them, fangs bared and teeth bristling, but one dog, a female Cane Corso, turned around to speak to them.

"You underestimate us," she snarled. "But we will not stop until our demands are met."

"You are not in much of a state to be making demands," Gabriel snapped. "I'm only going to say this one more time. Get. Out."

One of her packmates tried to beckon her away, but the Cane Corso didn't leave yet. "You Wind Pack dogs think you're so smart. Just remember that it will be your fault when our pups starve this winter!"

Her words were met with unsympathetic glares and with a final growl, she ran after her packmates.

"Follow them," Gabriel ordered Feather, Lightning, and Minette. "Make sure they leave."

The defenders nodded and swiftly exited the hollow. The others were left to tend to their wounded. Coriander shook her head to clear it, bewildered. One second she had been bantering with Ranger, the next their pack was attacked. She began to scan the crowd, looking for the most injured dogs, when Ranger suddenly pushed past her.

"Mama!"

Coriander snapped her head around to see Sadie lying a few feet away from the healers' den, immobile. Her heart dropped into her paws. Those Night Pack dogs hadn't...

She raced to Sadie's side and saw that she was completely unmarked. The collie was stiff and her eyes were open but glazed. "Grace!" Coriander yelled. "Come now!"

The corgi ran over, her eyes wide. She ran her paw up and down her leg. "I can't find her heartbeat," she muttered. "She's in a state of shock, and now she's unconscious." Without another word, Grace aligned Sadie's head and neck and covered the collie's nose with her own mouth. She breathed into Sadie's nose, pausing between each breath.

Everyone seemed to be frozen, hardly daring to breathe until Sadie did. Grace suddenly stood over Sadie and began to press down firmly on her heart. She did this multiple times in quick succession, then breathed into her nose again. Coriander stared, praying that whatever Grace was doing, it would work.

Grace repeated the process a few times, then stepped back, her eyes dejected. "I lost her," she whispered.

Coriander's blood ran cold. Her legs felt weak and she nearly collapsed. No. No. It can't be. It can't.

"NO!" Ranger screamed suddenly, shattering the silence. "No! No! No! I don't believe you! She isn't dead! She isn't!" He threw himself forward, pressing into his mother's fur. "Wake up... Wake up, please..."

Nobody moved. Grace didn't respond to the pup's cries, her head hanging despairingly. Without thinking, Coriander moved forward until she was behind Ranger.

"Ranger," she whispered. "Ranger, stop. She's not going to wake up. She's dead."

Ranger whirled around to face her, hot tears spilling down his face. "She lied to me!" he screamed. "She said she'd never leave me! You lied to me! Everyone lied to me!"

"I'm sorry." Tears began to run down Coriander's face. "We couldn't help her. Please try to understand..."

"NO!" Ranger shoved her away. His whole body was shaking, and he looked to be on the verge of hysteria. "You said you'd make her better! You lied to me! You lied, you lied!"

He turned away and buried his face into Sadie's fur, sobbing inconsolably. Coriander didn't know what to do. All she could see was another puppy who had lost her mother, who had seen the dog she looked up to most just let her leave. She knew there was nothing she could say, nothing she could do to make things better. All she could do was curl around Ranger and cry with him.

And so she did.

~

She didn't know how much time had passed or what her packmates had done. She simply felt a paw brush her shoulder and a gentle voice whisper in her ear.

"Coriander?"

She blinked and looked up to find Gabriel looking down at her, his brown eyes empathetic. "Coriander... I understand if you and Ranger need more time. Whenever you're ready, but... The others want to say goodbye to Sadie too."

Coriander blinked slowly, then gave a tiny nod. She slowly stood up, still hardly able to believe what had just happened. Just a few hours ago, the body next to her had been the same happy, gentle, caring Sadie. Now it was a lifeless husk.

Unable to bear looking at it any longer, she gently nudged Ranger. "Ranger," she whispered. "Come with me."

The collie pup didn't seem to have changed position, and he made no response to her words. She wondered if he had even heard her. She lightly took hold of his scruff and began to pull him away, and he said nothing, staring ahead blankly. Coriander drew him to the side of the hollow, allowing room for the other dogs to come forward and pay their respects.

She still didn't know what to say, so she simply sat there, Ranger leaning against her slightly. The tears hadn't completely dried on his face, and a few more leaked out. "She left me," he whispered. "Why did she leave me? She promised."

"She didn't want to leave you," Coriander said quietly. "It wasn't her fault. It wasn't anybody's fault. Do you understand that?"

Ranger said nothing. The two of them sat in silence for a while longer before Ranger spoke again. "I don't have any parents. I'm all alone."

"Oh no you aren't." Coriander wrapped her paw around Ranger and drew him closer to her. He didn't resist, relaxing into her white belly fur. "You have me."

I will be your mother now.

Well. All right then. This chapter was a little bit shorter than the last one; it was originally going to be one big long chapter, but I decided to break it up into two.
If any of you are wondering just what was wrong with Sadie, she had something called Addison's disease. It's a rare genetic condition in dogs, and it can be fatal if untreated. Her collapse and death was a situation of what's called Addisonian crisis, when the dog has an imbalance of electrolytes and metabolism during a period of stress. Naturally Night Pack attacking caused some stress, so she collapsed and... there you go.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, as sad as it was. Believe me, it was sad for me to write. But yeah, thank you so much for reading, and I will see you in the next chapter.