Quick Water huffed. “The other leaders won’t risk their cats for Star Flower. She betrayed them.”
“That was moons ago!” Clear Sky argued. “And who can blame her for siding with her own father?”
Birch sniffed. “Would you be so forgiving if she wasn’t your mate?”
“Or so desperate to get help if the rogues had taken a different cat?” Thorn chimed in.
Clear Sky glared at the brown tom. “I’d fight just as hard for any of you! You’re my campmates!”
Acorn Fur lifted her tail decisively. “I’ll come with you,” she told Clear Sky.
Relief flooded beneath his pelt. “Thank you!”
“But what if Quick Water’s right?” Birch argued. “What if Star Flower went with them freely?”
“Even if she did, she’s carrying Clear Sky’s kits,” Acorn Fur told him firmly. “Her kits are part of our group. We must get them back.”
Alder glanced at Birch, her gray-and-white fur rippling. She blinked at her brother. “Don’t you remember how the group protected us after our mother died?”
Guilt pricked at Clear Sky’s belly. He’d killed their mother when she’d fought to protect her nest.
Petal had brought the kits into the group and raised them as her own.
Birch nodded, his gaze softening. “We’ve always had a safe nest to sleep in and prey to eat.” His gaze flicked around the gathered cats. “Star Flower’s kits deserve the same. They haven’t done anything wrong.”
Quick Water narrowed her eyes. “But can we trust their mother?”
Thorn frowned. “She may just be setting another trap.”
“Never!” Clear Sky bristled.
“She’s done it before,” Nettle reminded him. “She led us into One Eye’s ambush.”
Anxious murmurs rippled around the cats.
“What if she set up her own kidnapping?” Thorn gasped. “To gather the group leaders together.”
Blossom’s eyes widened in alarm. “They must be planning an attack!”
“Why would they do that?” Clear Sky snapped. “They only want prey.”
“Are you sure?” Quick Water’s tail swept the ground. “If they kill our leaders, we’ll all be vulnerable.”
Clear Sky stiffened as he saw fear bristling in the pelts of his campmates. He fluffed out his fur.
“You talk as though we’re helpless rabbits!” he snapped. “But our claws are as long as any rogue’s.
No one will get killed!”
Alder nodded. “We can’t let them scare us.”
“We have to fight to keep what’s ours!” Sparrow Fur agreed.
Clear Sky looked at her hopefully. “Then will you come with me to persuade the other leaders?”
“Yes.” Sparrow Fur padded forward.
Alder followed her. “I’ll come too.”
As Clear Sky blinked at them gratefully, Thorn cut in. “Is it wise for so many cats to leave camp?
It leaves us prone to attack. What if the rogues come back?”
“They already have Star Flower,” Clear Sky told him. “What else would they want?”
Quick Water growled ominously. “The food from our mouths.”
Clear Sky glanced at her bitterly. “Then you’ll have something to fight for, won’t you?” He headed for the camp entrance, looking back with relief as he saw Sparrow Fur, Alder, and Acorn Fur at his heels.
He ducked through the bramble barrier and took the trail that led toward Thunder’s camp. Would his son be more understanding than his campmates? Worry churned in his belly. Thunder had plenty of reasons not to help him. Clear Sky knew he’d never been a good father. And Thunder had loved Star
Flower before she’d chosen Clear Sky as a mate. As the path steepened toward a rise, he steadied his breath. After everything that had happened between them, could he count on Thunder’s support?
Chapter 2
Thunder pricked his ears at the sound of tiny paws pattering over wet leaves. He stopped, heart quickening, and signaled to Lightning Tail with a twitch of his tail. As Lightning Tail froze behind him, Thunder dropped into a hunting crouch and opened his mouth. Through the scent of musty leaves, he tasted mouse. It was the first ground prey he’d smelled since they’d left camp at dawn. The dripping forest canopy rustled as birds flitted from tree to tree, but the forest floor seemed dead, as though the recent snows had frozen all life.
The mouse moved again, and Thunder glimpsed fur beneath a trailing bramble, which spilled over the top of a rise. Keeping low, he crept forward. The mouse darted deeper into the bramble.
Thunder’s belly tightened with anticipation. He quickened his pace, then leaped, sailing through the air, his claws outstretched. He narrowed his eyes as he plunged through the spiky branches and landed squarely on the mouse. It struggled beneath his claws as he curled them around it. Tail lashing with triumph, he jerked his muzzle forward and bit through its spine. It fell limp, and he hooked it between his teeth. Barging out of the brambles, he ignored his scratched muzzle and proudly held up his catch.
Lightning Tail purred when he saw it. “I was starting to think there were no mice left in the forest.”
Thunder dropped the mouse at his friend’s paws. “The cold weather came too early.” He glanced at the frost-scorched berries, shriveled on the brambles around them. “It destroyed their food.”
Lightning Tail stared at the mouse. “Hungry prey won’t last long.”
Anxiety tugged at Thunder’s belly. What if the prey didn’t last until newleaf? “Perhaps they managed to store enough food before the snows came,” he meowed hopefully.
Lightning Tail glanced around. “The mice and squirrels might only be hiding until the thaw’s finished.”
“I guess.” Thunder tried to push away his doubts. “Let’s keep hunting.” He was leader. He was supposed to know what to do. But he couldn’t make prey appear out of thin air. He picked up the mouse and followed the rise, climbing over the roots that snaked across the earth. He knew there was a crop of boulders near the top of the ravine. Prey might have burrowed deep into the crevices there.
As he headed toward them, glancing wistfully up at the treetops, Lightning Tail fell in beside him.
Early sunlight glowed between the bare branches. Thunder’s thoughts flashed to the previous day.
He had helped move the heavy stone in the four trees hollow and watched as Clear Sky, Gray Wing, Jagged Peak, Sun Shadow, and Tall Shadow had laid Quiet Rain to rest beneath it. The old she-cat’s body was safe now from prowling foxes, finally at peace after her long journey and painful sickness.
He’d been privately glad to leave grief behind and return to the ravine. His friends had welcomed him happily, listening solemnly as he’d shared the news of Quiet Rain’s death, and murmuring with surprise when he’d told them that Gray Wing had left Tall Shadow’s group to return to the moor. I hope he has finally found his true home.
Thunder had never regretted leaving Clear Sky’s group and starting his own. Leaf, Pink Eyes, Owl Eyes, Lightning Tail, and Milkweed were loyal and brave, and he was grateful that they’d decided to come with him to the new camp. For the first time, Thunder was where he felt he belonged. On the moor, Gray Wing’s kindness had never eased Thunder’s craving for the love and approval of his father, Clear Sky. In Clear Sky’s camp, he’d never felt fully accepted. Now he knew that he no longer needed either of them. He was guided only by the needs of his group. They depended on him, and he was determined not to let them down. He was a leader.