Redhawk Caldera hold onto your heart.

"Mommy," whispered Eljay, and his ears fell flat while his tongue ran across mommy's face. He could feel her shallow breathing on his tongue each time it ran out and along her snout. He crawled closer, pressing his head against her neck and licking the fur along her spine. "Don't worry, mommy. I'll always protect you." He closed his eyes and breathed into mommy's fur, didn't even notice when her breathing came to a halt.

Tears started to slide down his cheeks, a stirring in his chest at the exact moment that mommy's heart stopped. He simply knew. He didn't need to look, didn't need to realise that her body's shallow rise and fall had faltered. He just felt it, in every fibre of his body.

"I hate you," he sobbed into mommy's fur, but the words weren't meant for her. "I wish you were dead," the normally peace loving boy said with a shaky voice. He wished they were dead instead, the puppies, because he couldn't live without his mommy.

And as soon as that he shot back to the only thing he knew. He couldn't cope, not without breaking himself into a million pieces in the process, and so, he simply did not. "I'll keep you safe, mommy, I won't let them take you away. I'll always protect you, mommy..." and he closed his eyes, wrapping his paws around his mommy's neck, burying his face in her fur. He would stay here, he would guard mommy as he had promised, and he wouldn't let anyone take her away from him.

maybe a good time for someone else to pop in? @Elwood ?