“He killed a cat who’d helped raise him!” Quiet Rain fought back a cough, her voice breaking.
“And he will never forgive himself.” Thunder realized that he was actually defending Clear Sky.
“He learned from his mistake and he’ll never let anything like that happen again.”
Quiet Rain watched him, her gaze curious. “You must love your father very much.”
Love him? Before Thunder could answer, he heard paw steps crunching outside. Opening his mouth, he tasted the scents of Clear Sky and Star Flower. Fur brushed against the bramble den.
“She doesn’t want to see me again.” Clear Sky’s whisper sounded through the wall.
“Don’t be mouse-brained,” Star Flower answered him sharply. “She’s your mother and she’s sick. I just wish I’d had a chance to talk to One Eye before he died. But I didn’t. You must make your peace with Quiet Rain before—”
“Before what?” Quiet Rain cut her off. Her old ears were as sharp as Thunder’s. “Who’s out there, planning my death?”
Star Flower padded through the entrance. She locked eyes with Quiet Rain, then slowly dipped her head. “I didn’t mean you were going to die. I just wanted Clear Sky to understand how important the time we have with our kin is.”
Quiet Rain’s gaze slipped past her toward the entrance. “Well, come in, Clear Sky.”
Thunder moved aside to let his father slide into the den.
Clear Sky crouched in front of his mother. “I thought you didn’t want to see me again,” he murmured miserably.
Star Flower snorted. “She won’t if you whine like a kit.”
Quiet Rain’s whiskers twitched with amusement as she blinked at Star Flower. “Who are you?”
“I’m Clear Sky’s mate. My name is Star Flower.”
Quiet Rain’s gaze flicked between her and Thunder. “What do you two see in this fox-heart?” she asked, glancing at Clear Sky, who pressed his belly to the earth.
“Get up!” she snapped at him. “These two deserve better than a sniveling piece of prey.”
Clear Sky straightened. Thunder felt a wave of pity for his father. He had never seen him look so defeated. Suddenly, he realized where Clear Sky must have inherited his arrogance—and his cruelty.
“Don’t be too hard on him, Quiet Rain,” Star Flower murmured softly. “A lot has changed for him this past moon. He’s only recently learned that I’m carrying his kits.”
“You are?” Quiet Rain blinked, then turned to Thunder. “You’ll have siblings.”
Thunder’s mind whirled. Star Flower’s kits would be his kin. But I live in a different camp now.
He would never truly know them.
A mew interrupted his thoughts.
“Quiet Rain?” Gray Wing was outside the den. “May we come in?”
“Who’s we?” Quiet Rain narrowed her eyes against the light as she peered toward the entrance.
“Me and Jagged Peak.”
“Very well.”
As Gray Wing and Jagged Peak filed in, Thunder shuffled closer to the edge of the den, the bramble wall jabbing at his cheek.
Gray Wing dipped his head to Quiet Rain. “How are you this morning?”
“I’ve been better,” Quiet Rain grunted. She looked at Gray Wing’s injured leg. He’d washed the blood from the fur, but a ring showed where the Twoleg trap had dug in. “How’s your leg?”
“Sore, but I can still hunt. I just caught a shrew in the forest.”
“I caught a wren,” Jagged Peak chimed in. “I can get it for you if you’re hungry.”
Quiet Rain shuddered. “No.”
“But you must keep your strength up,” Gray Wing urged her. “If you don’t eat, you’ll never get well.”
Jagged Peak frowned at him. “Don’t nag her. She’s sick.”
Clear Sky nudged between them. “If she wants food, I’ll get it.”
“She doesn’t want food,” Jagged Peak snapped. “Haven’t you upset her enough already without bullying her now?”
“I wasn’t bullying her!” Clear Sky bristled. “I was offering her food.”
“Be quiet!” Star Flower shouldered her way between them. “Your mother needs rest. More than that, she needs to see that her kits can get along without fighting!”
Thunder blinked at Star Flower, a realization hitting him like icy water. Perhaps Star Flower would have been the wrong mate for him, in the end. She was ruthless and cunning in a way that Thunder couldn’t ever be. But she was just what Clear Sky needed—a smart, no-nonsense cat who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. With Star Flower’s reason to curb his temper, Clear Sky might become the strong leader he always wanted to be.
And perhaps he’ll be a better father to her kits than he was to me. Sadness twisted Thunder’s heart, but he ignored it. I’m not a kit anymore. I’m a leader. What’s past is past.
“Quiet Rain?” Jagged Peak’s anxious mew jerked him back into the moment. The tom was sniffing his mother’s matted pelt.
Quiet’s Rain’s eyes were closed, her flanks trembling with each breath.
Thunder stiffened. “Should I go and find Pebble Heart?”
Gray Wing turned to him with wide, anxious eyes. “Perhaps she’s just sleeping—”
A shriek cut him off. “My kits!” Holly wailed from the clearing, her cry sharp with fear. “Where are my kits?”
Chapter 20
The kits! Clear Sky was first out of the den. The numbness, which had clung to him since Quiet Rain had clawed his nose, melted. He skidded to a halt beside Holly. “When did you see them last?”
Her eyes were wide with panic, scanning the camp as though she might have missed something.
Clear Sky thrust his muzzle closer. “Holly, answer me. When did you see them?”
She froze and met his gaze. “This morning… when I chased them from the den. They’d been begging me to let them play in the snow. Fern was still sleeping. I just wanted some peace.”
“I shooed them away from Thunder and told them to go and find something useful to do.” Jagged Peak stood a tail-length away, guilt brimming in his blue eyes.
“Don’t blame yourself. This is no cat’s fault,” Clear Sky told them sharply. “But we must find them, quickly. They could freeze in this snow.”
Thunder and Gray Wing stopped beside Jagged Peak.
Star Flower padded past them. “Where should we look?”
Clear Sky’s mind whirled. This forest was wide, and every tree looked the same. It would be easy to get lost among the straight, dark trunks.
Tall Shadow ducked in through the camp entrance. “I can’t pick up any scent of them near camp,” she puffed. “The wind is too brisk. And there’s no sign of paw tracks. Only the ones Mud Paws, Mouse Ear, and Sun Shadow left.”
Thunder’s eyes lit up. “They might have gone after them!” He began to pace. “They watched them leave. They might have followed in their tracks. They have such small paws; it would be hard to see their prints in churned-up snow.”
Tall Shadow nodded. “In that case, they’ll be heading for the moor.”
Jagged Peak started for the camp entrance. “I’ll follow the tracks.”
“I’ll come with you,” Holly told him.
Thunder swished his tail over the snow. “I’ll head for the oak forest, in case Mud Paws went that way first.”
“Let me come.” Star Flower stared at the orange-and-white tom. “I grew up in the forest, and I can show you every hiding place.”
“Why would they be hiding?” Thunder argued.
“When they realize how cold and hungry they are,” Star Flower countered, “they’ll find a sheltered spot and wait for help.”