I did it. I joined yet another forum and got another pile of challenges to work on. This latest forum is called FlowerClan and is run by Hollyleaf1243. I'm Frostpaw there, and I'd love if you came and joined us to rave about chocolate!

This is another genre challenge. My genre this time is crime. This is pretty new to me, so please let me know how I do.

Disclaimer: Warriors and the rights to it are not mine.

Wrong

Shimmerpelt crouched at the edge of the camp clearing, her head ducked. The Clan bustled around, heading off to patrols and engaging in normal PetalClan life. Shimmerpelt stared at a plump-looking rabbit at the edge of the freshkill and imagined its flavourful juices seeping into her mouth, taking hold of her senses...

But she made no move to get it and an apprentice grabbed it. Flamepaw. She winced. As his mentor, she was supposed to take him out for training occasionally. Yet another thing she'd done wrong.

To her relief, Flamepaw took it to the elders' den. Maybe some other cat was teaching him respect and the warrior code.

Shimmerpelt had all but forgotten it.

She stood up and crept around the edge of the camp clearing. This day, she would fix it. She would fix her wrongs, and she could deserve it again. Deserve to eat, to live, to train...

Throwing one last look around the camp, Shimmerpelt crept out through the main entrance. She noticed that the few cats who had seen her leaving quickly looked away. No one spoke to her these days. She hadn't gone out on a patrol in so long.

She'd done that all wrong too.

It had all begun when Shimmerpelt was barely a moon into her apprenticeship. It had been Leafbare then, Shimmerpelt's first. Her mentor, Barkfur, had taken her out on a patrol at the StormClan border. The gruff warrior had been instructing her when she slipped on a large patch of ice and tumbled down the small hill that marked the border. Onto StormClan territory.

At the bottom, Shimmerpelt had pulled herself up, frightened to be on the space of the cats all of PetalClan said were so horrible. Shimmerpelt had come face-to-face with another apprentice. A grey furred tabby tom with black stripes. He'd met her eyes as she froze.

Barkfur had called down to her, not even bothering if to ask if she were all right. "Can't you even do a border patrol without messing up? Get up here!"

The apprentice had glanced up the hill. "It must be slippery," he'd said, sympathy in his eyes. "I won't tell anyone. Go."

Shimmerpelt had found herself hesitating. "Thank you." She'd scrambled up the slope.

Barkkfur had scolded her all the rest of the patrol. "It's a good thing," he'd said, "that there were no StormClan cats there. At least this snowfall will cover up your weak scent."

Shimmerpelt hadn't corrected him. And at her first Gathering, she'd met the tom again. His name had been Steeppaw. Now it was Steepcliff.

The two cats had always met at Gatherings. But it had been Shimmerpelt's idea to meet outside of camp, at night time. And so they did, all through Leafbare and on until they'd become warriors. Then on after, meeting more and more.

And now it was all his fault. All Steepcliff's fault that Shimmerpelt was a stranger of her own Clan, that she'd forgotten the warrior code.

And that she was expecting kits.

Shimmerpelt had made so many mistakes in living in her Clan. So many. She'd earned countless things she didn't deserve, like her warrior name and her apprentice. She'd kept so many secrets.

Today, she'd arranged to meet with Steepcliff in their place. Far from the Gathering tree, far from their camps, but not too close to the twolegplace, was a special tree that they climbed whenever they met. Its wide branches provided enough room to sit and sleep and its height provided constant fun. Few patrols came to their spot; it was far away and near an owl's nest, scaring away prey.

It was nearly sunhigh when Shimmerpelt leaped onto a low branch and settled on a higher one that dangled out from the tree. A while passed before she felt the familiar warmth of Steepcliff's pelt against hers.

"Sorry," he said softly, licking her ear gently. "Windrush - our deputy - was trying to send me out on a patrol."

Shimmerpelt closed her eyes. "What did you do?"

"Went out, and then said I smelled something and ditched the patrol." He laughed. "I don't care if I get in trouble. I'm with you."

Shimmerpelt nodded slowly, her eyes creeping open.

"Are you all right?" Steepcliff looked at her worriedly. "You seem... different."

"I don't deserve anything," Shimmerpelt said in a low voice. No matter what she was going to do, she would explode if she didn't say the words to someone. "Nothing. I lie and I sneak. And then I do everything wrong."

Steepcliff shook his head. "I'm sure it's not that bad."

Shimmerpelt stood up. "I don't even remember the warrior code! How am I supposed to follow it if I don't remember it?"

The grey tabby stood up too, shaking the branch slightly. "Hey, it's okay. I can help you remember."

"No, Steepcliff," Shimmerpelt said, her gaze darkening as she stared at him. "There's more. I'm expecting kits."

He tried and failed to hide his surprise. "Kits? Well... that's okay. We can run away, and be together all the time!"

Shimmerpelt looked at him in disgust. "I'm not leaving my Clan."

"Then I'll join it!" Steepcliff smiled encouragingly. "I'll join it, and we can always-"

"No!" Shimmerpelt nearly shouted the word. "No! This has to end. Our meetings, us being mates... it's just not possible!"

Hurt entered his eyes. "How can you say that? It's been possible before."

"Things have changed." Shimmerpelt glared at him. "I never want to see you again."

Steepcliff closed his eyes. Shimmerpelt waited for him to object.

"Fine," he said finally, his voice a near-whisper. "Fine, even though I love you." His eyes opened again, meeting her own. "Goodbye Shimmerpelt."

She blinked. "That's it?"

He frowned. "What do you want?"

She leaned forward until they were nose to nose. "I want you gone." Before he could react, her paw flashed out lightning fast. Shimmerpelt watched coldly as blood spurted from the wound on his throat.

Steepcliff raised a paw to the blood and winced at the pain. He sat back down, apparently already weak. His eyes still met Shimmerpelt's, without a flash of anger.

"I still love you," he croaked. "And you'll still have my kits."

Shimmerpelt took a step back, balancing on the end of the branch. "They're not yours. They don't deserve to have a cat like you for a father." She didn't say that she meant that they were her kits, and that made it so that they deserved what she did. That they didn't deserve an amazing cat like Steepcliff because Shimmerpelt was too worthless.

She stared at him as the light began to fade from his eyes.

Then she heard a voice beneath her.

"You killed him!"

Shimmerpelt's gaze jerked over the edge of the branch. A group of StormClan cats stared at her in unconcealed horror below. Of course. Steepcliff had said he'd been on a patrol. Why wouldn't they have come looking for him?

They obviously seen her kill him. And maybe they'd heard more.

Shimmerpelt couldn't even kill her mate without messing up.

With moons of practice to her advantage, Shimmerpelt scaled down the tree. There was no way she could return to her Clan now. StormClan knew the truth, and they'd share it right away.

Shimmerpelt sprinted away, towards twolegplace. She felt the blood of her mate in her claws. She'd have to clean it out.

She heard the patrol giving chase, but she beat them to twolegplace and they didn't dare to follow her in there. Shimmerpelt would have to find a new way of life. She'd have to stay to the shadows and raise her kits without a Clan for support.

She'd done everything wrong.

I hope you enjoyed that.

Remember. A story takes two hours to write but a good review takes two minutes. Thanks in advance!