When Thunder’s mother, Storm, had died in the debris of the Twoleg den, Gray Wing and Turtle Tail had been able to save Thunder, but his littermates and mother had been lost forever. Her fur was so soft, her eyes so beautiful… Gray Wing’s tail drooped and pain stabbed through his heart. I’ll never see her again.
“Look, Thunder has caught a bird! He’s going to be a great hunter.” Turtle Tail’s voice jolted him from his thoughts. When Gray Wing glanced at her, he saw instantly that she was being deliberately cheerful. It’s almost as though she could see what I was thinking. I suppose Turtle Tail knows me so well she even knows how to distract me if I’m sad.
“So he is,” Gray Wing agreed, shaking himself.
Thunder brightened at the praise, and the other two kits came crowding up. “We’re going to be brilliant hunters too,” Acorn Fur announced.
“I’m sure you are,” Turtle Tail responded. Blinking, she turned to Gray Wing. “These must be Hawk Swoop’s kits. They’re big and strong, too. Look at them!”
“Maybe you’ve been away longer than you realized,” Gray Wing meowed. But the hurt in Turtle Tail’s eyes made him immediately regret his words. “I mean, long enough for… well… ,” he stammered. “I missed you, Turtle Tail.”
The she-cat’s eyes shone. “I missed you, too, Gray Wing.”
He turned to the kits, suddenly aware that they were watching the two adult cats and drinking in every detail of the conversation. “This is Lightning Tail, and this is Acorn Fur.”
“Good names,” Turtle Tail mewed, happiness returning to her face. “I’m Turtle Tail.”
“Lightning Tail got his name because he’s always hanging around with Thunder,” Gray Wing explained. “They’re our own little storm in the making!”
Turtle Tail’s eyes gleamed with amusement and she touched noses with each of the kits.
“Go and play,” Gray Wing gently told them. He wanted to talk to Turtle Tail without the three of them listening in on every word.
They didn’t need to be told twice. With yowls of pleasure the kits went racing off, chasing one another around the gorse bush.
“How are you getting on in the Twolegplace?” Gray Wing asked, feeling suddenly awkward. He didn’t want Turtle Tail to think he was criticizing her again. “Did you make it through the cold season okay?”
“Yes, it was nice,” Turtle Tail replied lightly. “Very cozy and comfortable. Bumble and I had extra company, too—not long after I went to live there, another cat came to join us.”
“A rogue?” Gray Wing asked, finding that hard to believe.
“Oh, no,” Turtle Tail replied. “The Twolegs went away, and when they came back, they were carrying a cat—a big tom. He told us he had lived with another Twoleg, but one day his Twoleg suddenly stopped coming to feed him.”
You can’t trust Twolegs, Gray Wing thought, but he had the sense not to say it out loud.
“So then the tom went to live in a place with a bunch of other cats. They were all really unhappy and whiny there, and he said that they could hear dogs barking close by. They were all cooped up together. Then the cat—they called him Tom, by the way—”
“Tom?” Gray Wing interrupted. “They called a tom, Tom? I’ll never understand twolegs.”
Turtle Tail shrugged. “Anyway, he was taken away from there by our Twolegs, and came to live with me and Bumble.”
“Did you like him?” Gray Wing asked. “Was he friendly?”
Turtle Tail hesitated, looking down at her paws. “Oh, yes, he was friendly,” she replied at last. “We got on fine.” Then she gave her pelt a shake. “It was time to leave, though. I missed my friends on the moors.”
Turtle Tail is returning to us! Pleasure raced through Gray Wing’s body, but before he had a chance to say anything, the three kits came charging back, chasing one another in circles, and skidded in a patch of loose soil, unable to stop in time. Lightning Tail barreled into Turtle Tail, who lost her balance and fell onto her back, her legs and tail waving as she let out a yowl of pain and discomfort.
Gray Wing’s eyes widened with shock as he looked at her, seeing her swollen belly for the first time. She’s expecting kits!
“Are you hurt?” he asked anxiously as he went to help her up.
Turtle Tail leaned on his shoulder, panting as she regained her paws. For a moment she was silent. Finally she let out a short puff of breath. “I’m fine… I think.”
Gray Wing’s gaze swiveled back to the three kits. Lightning Tail was cowering behind Thunder, his expression horrified. Gray Wing beckoned him forward with a flick of his tail. “Come and apologize to Turtle Tail,” he ordered sternly.
Lightning Tail cringed as he approached, his head down and his tail trailing behind him. “I’m really sorry,” he mewed.
“It’s okay.” Turtle Tail gave his ears a swift lick.
“Just remember not to go dashing around without looking where you’re going,” Gray Wing told him. He paused briefly, then added, “Now I thought I told you to go play.”
He waited until all three kits had bundled off, squeaking excitedly. Turtle Tail is having kits… who would have expected that?
“So,” he meowed to her, angling his ears at her swollen belly. “How did that happen?”
“How do you think it happened?” Turtle Tail hissed. Then her eyes softened. “I made a mistake,” she went on. “I missed you all so much. Tom seemed strong and friendly, I thought I could move on and make a new life with him. But when I realized I was expecting kits, he… he changed.”
Gray Wing felt a growl rising up in his throat. “If he hurt you…”
“Oh, no!” Turtle Tail assured him. “Tom was still friendly, but he didn’t want to make any plans for the kits with me. And Bumble seemed uncomfortable any time I mentioned them.” Turtle Tail flicked her tail-tip. “But neither of them would admit that anything was wrong.”
“So what did you do?” Gray Wing asked.
“I begged Bumble to be honest with me. She didn’t want to, but at last she told me that the Twolegs would take my kits away and give them to other Twolegs.” Her voice shook a little. “I would never see them again once they didn’t need milk from me anymore.”
“That’s dreadful!” Gray Wing exclaimed, pressing his nose into Turtle Tail’s shoulder. How could a family be torn apart like that? In the mountains and now here on the moors, the cats pulled together. Everyone helped look after the kittens—it was unthinkable that any cat would give up on their young. Well, until Clear Sky rejected Thunder, Gray Wing reminded himself.
“Bumble said Tom had asked her not to tell me the truth. And now… well, I’ll never trust kittypets or Twolegs again. I’ve learned who my real friends are, and all I want is to come back to you all.” She fixed her gaze on Gray Wing, her eyes wide. “Do you think the rest of them will have me?”
He felt his heart melt under her earnest gaze. “How could they not?” he mewed, glancing again at Turtle Tail’s rounded belly. For some reason, thinking of Turtle Tail carrying another cat’s kits made him feel uncomfortable. “This is where you belong.”
Gesturing with his tail, Gray Wing led Turtle Tail to the top of the hollow.
“Wow!” she exclaimed, her eyes stretching wide with admiration as she looked over their home. “What an awesome place! Much better than the old camp.”
Gray Wing nodded. “We’re safer and more sheltered here,” he said, indicating the gorse bushes with his tail.
As they headed down the slope, Shattered Ice popped out of the tunnel he was digging with Jackdaw’s Cry, earth scattered over his white pelt. When he spotted Turtle Tail he halted, his eyes narrowing.