CHAPTER SEVEN

"You idiot!"

The shout came from Bluestar, her eyes sparking with rage. "You ruined our chances!"

The cat whom she was yelling at, Yellowfang, stared back calmly. "Exactly how did I ruin our chances, Bluestar?"

"You let them fall in love!" the blue-gray she-cat roared. "I told you, 'Yellowfang, don't let them fall in love. Do whatever you can, but make sure they don't fall in love!' I did! But what did you do? You let them fall in love!"

"No, Bluestar. They were already in love. I just ... helped them along."

"You didn't even try!"

Yellowfang straightened. "And what about you Bluestar? Your love was just as against the warrior code as theirs is. And mine as well. Surely you have some sympathy."

"Oakheart was a mistake. Raggedstar, too."

"Love is not a mistake. It is only when it destroys what you hold dear that it becomes a mistake." Yellowfang's voice grew heavy. "And you failed in your task as well."

Bluestar's shoulders sagged. "Yes. We are doomed."

"No! We still have your secret weapon, Bluestar!"

"But she can't! We don't know where her loyalties lie!" Bluestar pleaded.

"Love may be our enemy sometimes, my friend ..." Bluestar leaned in, trying to catch what Yellowfang was saying.

"... But if we can get it to work for us ..."

As soon as Cinderheart started hanging out with Mousewhisker, I knew nothing good would come out of it. Lionblaze had the hugest crush on Cinderheart, so when Cinderheart announced she was expecting Mousewhisker's kits, he was understandably distraught. I tried my best to get him back on track—we were very good friends—but I was having my own problems.

Mothface had been continually slipping out of the den at night. I was sure something was wrong, but I couldn't figure out what.

To top it off, Icecloud was pressuring me to get a mate. She had recently become mates with Toadstep, and Ivypool had paired off with Bumblestripe. My excuse is that I wasn't sure who to mate with, but she was still bothering me.

Even if parts of my life were foggy, one thing was clear: I was having some serious tom trouble.

One night I snuck out of camp to follow Mothface on his nightly travels. I followed his scent to the WindClan border and—surprise!—found him sharing tongues with a pretty black-and-white she-cat. After I checked her scent, I was sure it was Moonpaw, also known as Kendra. I didn't get it: when they were humans, they hated each other.

I leapt out of the bushes and landed in front of the surprised couple. "Mothface! What are you doing with her?"

He looked around guiltily. "Moonfrost, you'd better go." The black-and-white she-cat nodded and flashed a curious glance at me before leaping over the border stream and dashing across the moor.

"What are you doing?!" I asked, furious.

"We're not doing any harm!" Mothface retorted.

"Not doing any harm!" I repeated in a singsong-y voice. "You're in love with Moonpaw! First it's just occasional nightly meetings. Then the meetings get more frequent. The next thing you know, you're in love, and she's you're mate! Then—BOOM! Kits come along! None of this is any good!" I paused to catch my breath, and Mothface muttered, "I don't sound like that ..."

I glared at him. "Why her, anyway? You two hated each other when we were—" I looked around and lowered my voice, "—humans." As far as I know, it was the first time any of us had ever announced we used to be Twolegs.

"No. I had a secret crush on her, and it turns out, she did too." He sighed. "Are you going to tell Firestar?"

"I should ... but Mothface, you're my friend. However, I want you to back me up whenever I need you to, and you've got to cover me if this ever crops up. Okay?"

"Okay," he said, and we had a deal.