After a seemingly long drive, Ryder finally arrived at Katie's. He had called her ahead of time, but all he said was that Marshall needed to be seen immediately and to be ready for the pups to be there. He pulled up and quickly ran in with an unconscious Dalmatian in his arms. 

He heard the pups gasp in the lobby, but he couldn't bother to stop and notice. He went straight to the operation room Katie told him to go to. The boy walked in and saw her waiting, and her eyes immediately widened once she saw Marshall.

"Oh jeez, ok, put him on the table now." She demanded. Ryder did what she asked and carefully set him down, not wanting to accidentally hurt him more than he already was. "What even happened to him?" She asked.

The boy looked down at the injured dally, knowing he just went through the most painful experience of his life. "J-just help him. I'll explain everything later." He replied.

"Alright then. You can go wait in the lobby while I do what I need to. I think the others are worried, you should probably check on them too." Katie responded. Ryder nodded and left the room.

Once he got back to the lobby, he sat down in chair ana he started to cry softly, which didn't go unnoticed by his pups. Chase jumped up on his lap and nuzzled him. "Sir, what's wrong? What happened?" He asked, pausing to look around for a moment. "Hey, where is Everest?"

Ryder let out a sad sigh before looking back up at the pup's worried faces. "Guys, I have some bad news." He stated, and he could see the looks of worry on their faces as he continued. "Everest, well, s-she was k-killed."

"W-WHAT?! " Skye shouted. Out of the pups in the room, she was naturally the closest with her, being the only other girl on the team. Her surprise was quickly replaced with despair, as she couldn't help but cry at her best friend's death. Chase jumped down and hugged her. He too was crying, as were the others. 

After a while, Skye turned back to Ryder. "W-what happened? H-how did she......die?" She asked, tears still running down her face. She almost wasn't able to force the words out of her mouth.

"I-I really don't know. I wasn't there, but from what I could get from the recording, Everest had an abusive ex who attacked them. That's why Marshall is injured, he tried to protect her." He explained.

"Oh no. What is his reaction gonna be? He's already pretty sensitive, and he was just forced to watch his mate die. That must've been traumatizing for him. I-I can't imagine what that would feel like." Chase said, giving a slight glance towards Skye as he finished. 

As if perfect timing, Katie walked into the lobby. "Good news. Marshall only needed some stitches and painkillers, he'll be waking up in a few minutes now so you guys can go see him." She stated, by then noticed how upset everyone was. "And can someone please tell me what happened?"

Ryder got up and explained to her what had happened, telling her about Damian's attack. Katie was shocked. "Oh, I see. I'm so sorry that happened." She told him sympathetically. 

"Thanks, but I'm a lot more worried about how Marshall is gonna take it. I hope he doesn't take the news too hard, but knowing him, I get the feeling he'll be really upset. " He replied. The girl nodded understandingly, as they all walked into the operation room.

Within the next minute, they all waited for Marshall to wake up. Chase and Ryder specifically were trying to mentally prepare themselves for whatever would come next. As promised, the dally slowly started opening his eyes.

"Ugh. W-what happened?" He asked as he slowly sat up in his bed. He looked around and noticed all the pups looking at him with sympathy written all over their faces. Well, all of them except one. "Ryder, where's Eve?"

Ryder sat down on the edge of his bed and looked at him. "Marshall, do you remember what happened with Damian?" He asked nervously, unsure of how the pup would respond.

"What do you-" Marshall tried to ask before cutting himself. The dally froze in place, as all the memories came back. The pups exchanged nervous glances after seeing the look of terror on his face. 

"N-no, t-this can't be h-happening. S-surely this i-isn't real. R-right? P-please, tell me this is just some s-stupid nightmare." He pleaded. Everyone felt terrible for him, they had no clue what to tell him. "Ryder, p-please. Please d-don't tell me my Eve is gone." He begged, choking on the tears building up.

"I'm so sorry pup." The boy whispered. It was all he could manage to get out. Surprisingly, Marshall didn't immediately start crying. He simply sat there in silence, as millions of thoughts raced through his mind.

The reality was slowly sinking in for him. The one who he cherished most in life, above anything else, had been ripped from his arms. Everest was gone. His Everest was gone. He didn't even get to say goodbye. His last memory with her was being forced to watch her be brutally killed. 

All the love they shared, all the memories they made, all of it was completely gone. A piece of his heart was gone too, one that would never fully be replaced. Marshall had always wanted to live a happy life with the husky. Have pups one day, grow old together, and pass on peacefully with the other by their side. But now, none of that was possible.

And as everyone expected, the dally suddenly broke into uncontrollable tears. To say he was upset would've been a large understatement. He felt completely broken. Chase, feeling awful for him, jumped onto his bed and hugged him, letting him cry on his back. 

After what seemed like hours, Marshall finally calmed down enough so that he could at least speak. Of course, everyone knew he wasn't fine. It would take much longer than this to truly get over her death. 

"I-I'm an a-awful mate." He croaked. Chase was just as surprised as the others to hear him say that.  "It was m-my job to p-protect her. I f-failed her. I was t-too weak to do a-anything. It's my f-fault that she's dead. I-I'm so sorry Eve."

"Pup, this isn't your fault. It's Damian's. You did everything you could." Ryder tried to reassure, giving the dally a small pet on the head, hoping that maybe it would comfort him.  

"B-but it wasn't enough. I'm such a f-failure." Marshall replied, clearly unconvinced. The boy sighed, realizing there was no point in trying to tell him otherwise. However, he did remember something that might cheer him up just a bit. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Everest's collar.

"Here, she would've wanted you to have this Marshall." He stated as he handed him the collar. Without saying a word, the dally took his own collar off and put Everest's on, along with his puptag.

"Thanks Ryder." He responded, his voice robbed of his usual joy. The boy smiled slightly and stood up. 

"Well, we should probably head back to the lookout now. Thanks, Katie, bye." He told her. He was about to walk out the door when Katie called out for him, causing him to stop.

"Ryder wait! I need to talk to you, in private." She called out. The two walked into a separate room, away from the pups. Judging by her concerned expression, the Ryder could tell something was wrong.

"What is it?" He asked worriedly, hoping that he wouldn't get any more bad news. Unfortunately, seeing how this day had been turning out, it didn't seem like anything would be going anyone's way.

"It's about Marshall. You need to keep an eye on him. He just lost his mate, it's gonna be really hard on him. Not to mention he had to witness her death, which from what I can tell was rather gruesome. That type of stuff is traumatizing." She explained. 

"Just make sure to there for him. And If you notice anything that seems off within the next month, call me. If something does go wrong, I might be able to help him." Katie added. Ryder nodded, and the two said their goodbyes.

On the ride home, it felt different. Like a piece of them had been torn out. Their normally vibrant personalities weren't showing, especially Skye's and Marshall's. Even once they pulled into the lookout, they still felt that looming feeling of grief. 

Most of the pups just went up into the lookout and simply laid there, trying not to break down again. Chase and Skye went back to their puphouse, so they could be alone with each other for a bit. The cockapoo still wasn't taking the news too well, but being with her love helped calm her down. Marshall on the other hand silently went to his own puphouse and locked the door, his cries still audible to the rest.

Ryder didn't know what to do. He cared for his pups like they were his own children. He hated to see them so depressed like this. Although he knew over time they would come to terms and mostly get over it, it was Marshall he was the most worried about. He knew how sensitive he was, and he also knew that Everest meant the absolute world to him. 

He had no idea what was going through his head, especially since he had to watch something as awful as his mate die. He was especially worried about what Katie had said, about possible trauma. Of course, he hoped that Marshall would, in time, accept it and stop blaming himself. 

But in the end, only time would tell.