paniked

"Whats happening?!" Panted Ruby?

"I don't know, Clover show us where they are"

Clover took off towards the alley way and the adults followed her fearing the worst

Meanwhile, Jade was face to face with Jason, still feeling anguish from the sight of his mate.

"THIS IS THE ONE YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GET!" Jason growled and his comrades came charging towards Jade. Jade was a lot faster and he targetted Jason. Jason was a strong dog though he didn't have the speed Jade did, so he was jumped upon and attacked. The other dogs watched as their leader fought the dog he hated the most, and helped him by forcing Jade away, and pinning him down.

"See her lying there! SHE is dead! It's not like a big loss, she couldn't even give me puppies!" Jason said in a mocking voice. Jade struggled hard but couldn't break free.

"Don't worry, this fate is meant for you, so you will be with her soon in hell!" Jason said and a laughter escaped his mouth. 

"Who is there?!" A voice called coming closer to the alley many footsteps could be heard walking in the snow. The rescue party had just turned the corner and Kit gasped as she saw Jade under attack, and his mate motionless in the corner.

 

"***** it!" Jason said not wanting to be caught so he made a run for it without saying anything to his comrades, who all scrambled after him as they realized what was happening. As soon as Jade was free he ran to Ayianna.

"You sons of b******!", growled Utah, and he chased after the small group until they were long gone.

"Ayianna, honey please wake up!" He said nuzzling her but there was no respond. Few dogs that had called before had arrived in the alley and Utah was explaining what had happened. 

"Aiyanna...?" Jade said his ears falling back, he couldn't hear a heartbeat anymore. 

Jade lay there over Aiyanna's body all night not wanting to leave her, not wanting to let her go! Jade had asked Utah to bring Clover to her aunt Ruby, he would tell her in the morning

"She's gone" murmerd Utah, his tail lowering.

"No" whispered Kit, filling with despair

"Mommy?..." began Clover, making her way towards her deseased mother

"No" said Jade, his voice cracking "Don't let her see, I'll exlpain it to her later"

"C'mon little one" murmured kit, guiding her away "Daddy will tell you everything later"

"Is mommy going to be okay" she asked, her eyes looking up pleadingly

Kit glanced at Ruby, begging for help

"Lets hope so!" Ruby said in a low voice and hugged Clover. Everyone knew that she hadn't made it but they couldn't say it to a innocent child. 

"Thanks for your help" Ruby said to Utah and Kit as she glanced over her shoulder at Jade who lay now beside Aiyanna's body. 

"Clover honey you will spend the night with me!" Ruby said trying to fake a cheerful voice. Clover gave a small hopeful smile which broke everyones heart who saw it. If only she knew...

-------------------------

Days passed and Jade had turned into a ghostlike person. Clover was sent between Ruby and Maggie.  One day, neither could babysit her so they asked Kit to take care of her for one day. 

"Hi Kit!" Clover said happy but it was easy to see that the sadness wasn't far off.

"Hi Clover want to play with me today?" Kit said trying to distract her like the rest did. 

"Can we see dad today?" Clover asked hopefully and Kit couldn't find it in herself to deny it since the poor thing hadn't seen her father for the past days. 
They found him at home lying on a blanket in the corner of the room. 

"Dad..?" Clover said and her voice was about to break as she ran towards him. But jade didn't answer her he just turned his head around. Clover ran back to Kit!

"Kit dad is sick!" Clover said and started to cry. She thought that was the reason he couldn't see her.

It tore Kit's inside to see her suffer like this, all while still being completely clueless
 

"Yeah, he's a bit sick. Which is why you can't see him, you don't want to get sick, do you?"

But she eventually will, thought Kit hopelessly.

"c'mon, lets go to the beach" said kit, trying to sound cheerful "I heard that there are seashells on the shore"

She hoped that it would distract her, for now. As they both turned away, Kit glanced at Jade, as she felt pity and remorse. He didn't even get the chance to say goodbye she thought, and she sincerely hoped that he would be well enough to face his daughter once more. Neither of them could hide the truth much longer.

They met up with Utah and the small group arrived at the beach. After playing for a long time on the shore digging for shells and running away from the waves that hit the shore, Clover suddenly stopped and looked up at Kit. 

"When is mom coming back? I miss her!" Clover said and her ears fell back as she let out a small whimper.

"Me and mom often went to the beach to play, I wish she had gone with us today but Ruby said I couldn't see her anymore, why is that?" Clover really hoped for answers from Kit. She was of course her new best friend forever. Both Ruby and Maggie had told her that her mother had to leave and her father would tell her soon why but he was sick and Clover wanted her mom to take care of him.

Kit inhaled sharply at the question. Beside her, Utah's ears faltered. Kit desperately wanted to tell her, she had the right to know, it was her mother after all. But she felt as if she didn't have the right to exlpain. Kit wondered how she and her kin managed to get so heavily involved. One second, they were friends, and now she had become involved. Of course, she didn't mind. She was more than pleased to help out their family in whatever way she could.

The way Clover looked up at her caused her insides to quiver, for she understood that Clover trusted her.

"Clover she-" Kit searched desperately for the right words " I'm sorry. Clover, sweetie...your mom is not coming back. Ever"

Utah hung his head, for he understood the inner turmoil his sister was going through, and that it would all end badly

"Something happened to her, and she can't come back. Thats why you're dad is sick." she explained, each word stabbing like a new shard.

"I...I don't understand" Clover stuttered and tried to put the things together in her head. She then looked up at Kit and Utah with tears in her eyes. 

"Is she mad at me? Doesn't she want to see me anymore?" Clover sobbed and looked around confused.

"I didn't know that they were going to hurt her, They asked me to bring dad with me but he was busy talking to you so he told me to ask mom. They promised they would show me the beautiful stones they had found if I brought dad, but when I came with mom they were angry and started to hurt her. I didn't know they were going to do that!" Clover had started to speak in hurry it was all so confusing for her that she started to cry even more.

Despair filled Kits insides. She was so young and innocent, yet she had to face such a trail, a trail that she was still unaware of. Kit sat down and took a deep breath, and drew Clover close to her.

"No, she loves you VERY much. She could never be mad at you, if anything at all, she misses you like crazy"

"But she can't come back" added Utah "In fact she left me a message to tell you"

Kit threw him a "what are you doing" look. As far as anyone knew, Aiyanna had no last words.

"She said" went on Utah ignoring Kits expression "That she loves you very much and that your Daddy will take care of you, but you have to take care of him too"

Kit was impressed. Of course, Aiyanna said no such thing, but she was almost certain that she would say something like that. She then thought about what Clover said, about how Jade was supposed to be the victim, not Aiyanna. Her blue eyes widened as she realized something. When she first met Jade, Clover had desperately wanted to show him something "very important", but she had dismissed since Jade had been talking to her. So Clover retrieved her mother instead, thus bringing to her death.

It was all her fault. Kit wanted to forget about it, but the truth stared right in her face. If Kit had never chosen to converse with Jade, his mate may still be alive today. Kit felt horror well up inside at the realization, then the questions came. Does Jade realize this? Would he hate her now? Should she sever all alliance with his family. What about Clover?

Utah recognized Kits expression and stood up

"Hey clover, lets go play in the waves. Then we can go check on your father. How does that sound?"

He then turned to kit and murmured

"I don't know what you're thinking about, but I know that you need to figure something out" his tail brushed his side

Kit nodded, hardly listening and stood up as well. She realized that she had to talk to someone about it, and realized that Jade had the right to know. Did he blame himself for her death?

Clover followed Utah to to beach to play in the waves. She had already started before Utah arrived after her. She looked up and noticed that Kit wasn't there anymore but thought there was a reason