"Do you want to go hunting?" Ripplelight asked, padding over to where Dewshine and Thornstrike were sharing tongues. A flash of jealousy and anger tingled in the pale gray tom's paws, and he felt it get stronger as Thornstrike touched his cheek to Dewshine's flank, whispering something. "Well? What do you say, Dewshine?" Ripplelight growled, his tail-tip flicking with annoyance.
"Oh, sorry!" Dewshine backed away awkwardly. "Yes, I'll go hunting with you. Can Thornstrike come with us?" Her voice was persuading, and with a gusty sigh, Ripplelight reluctantly nodded. The three cats headed into the forest, separating as they each caught whiffs of prey.
Ripplelight pricked his ears as he heard a small scuffling in the bushes nearby. Crouching down, the ArrowClan warrior, stalked forward, his paws barely making a sound. With a bare of his teeth, Ripplelight leaped at the small creature, discovering that it was a mouse, and swiftly sank his teeth into its exposed spine. A chilling crack sounded in the air as blood spurted out of the prey.
In the end, the patrol had caught much more than they could eat. Ripplelight had killed three mice and two squirrels, while Dewshine had came back with two voles and a shrew. Ripplelight smirked as Thornstrike showed his catch, which was only two shrews and a mouse. As the sun was setting, Ripplelight caught up to Dewshine and trotted beside her. "Did you see what I caught?" he boasted. "It was even more than Willowstar's!"
"Yeah." Dewshine didn't seem excited or even proud that Ripplelight had killed more prey than their leader. Instead, she gazed at Thornstrike with an odd emotion in her eyes. Ripplelight recoiled, shocked, as he recognized that emotion. It was the look that Silverstrike had given Thornstrike in the battle. There was love in her bright blue eyes.
Ripplelight hissed, digging his extended claws into the ground. For the past two moons, he had watched Dewshine and Thornstrike together, sharing tongues, going on patrol. And when they had announced that they were expecting kits, all hope in Ripplelight sank. His claws always ached as he thought about sinking them into Thornstrike's throat, clawing the life out of him.
"Ripplelight! Come see our kits!" Dewshine purred, her thick fluffy tail that used to twine with Ripplelight's rested on Thornstrike's shoulder. Three kits bounced forward, gazing at the pale gray tom with wide eyes.
"Who are you?" a silver tabby she-kit mewed, wrinkling her nose. "Mama, do you know who this is?"
With a snarl of rage, Ripplelight lunged forward, pinning Thornstrike down. He placed a paw over the silver-gray tom's throat, breaking into a sickening purr. "Thornstrike!" Dewshine yowled, and with shock, she bowled into him, clawing at his underbelly that was exposed. Together, she and her mate drove Ripplelight back, before the tom collapsed, blood swirling all around him.
Welcome Ripplelight to the Place of No Stars; the Place of Eternal Night; the Dark Forest.
A/N: This is my last challenge until I'm a warrior of the Clan of Frozen Mountains! I know it's kind of short, but the word limit was 400 and this is 491!
~Icyz9
4-18-2016
