"It isn't as bad as it seems my flower." Shadow mewed to Rose. The black tom was sitting beside her in her dream, his pelt still dull.
"How, Shadow?" Rose sniffed sadly, her stomach swollen with life. "Timber has kits with another cat!"
"Let me show you something." Shadow stood and held out his long tail. Rose wrapped her tail with his and soon the scene around them changed. They were at a nofur's den, a black cat lay outside with kits tussling around her, one was a gray tabby she-cat, and the other was a brown-and-white tom. Shadow looked down at the cats a flick of unknown emotion.
"How is showing me Timber's family going to make me feel any better," Rose huffed. "It just makes me angrier."
"Anger has no room in your heart, my dear." Shadow mewed, his narrow face and eyes focused on the black she-cat. Rose snorted a remark but watched the two kits.
"I bet I can climb higher than you!" The brown-and-white tom taunted his sister. The gray tabby curled her nose and flicked her tail.
"I bet you can't!" She mewed. Stella placed her paw on her daughter's tail to stop her from jumping. The little gray tabby pouted as Stella scolded her and her brother for roughhousing.
"This is pointless, Shadow." Rose mewed irritably. Shadow lifted a paw.
"Keep watching…"
The kits turned their attention to the woods and smiled wide with raised tails. "Look, Stella dad's home!" The tom meowed, running out of Rose's view. Rose waited to see Timber appear with a cheating smirk on his face, but only saw the ginger tabby that had attacked her.
"What is this?!" Rose meowed with astonishment. Shadow raised his chin disappointedly and gazed down at Rose.
"Don't you see, flower?" Shadow mewed sadly. "Stella is the cheater. She lied to Timber, saying she was expecting his kits…she betrayed him, and he was oblivious."
"How did he find out?" Rose mewed, her lungs coughing for air.
"I told him…I couldn't let the lies continue." Shadow mewed.
"So I truly am his mate!" Rose meowed, a glimmer of hope thumping in her heart.
"Yes…but you better wake up now." Shadow meowed, his blue eyes turning red. "I wouldn't want you to die after you have just completed the Fifth Promise: Love when Angry."
"Wake up before I die…what?" Rose mewed. Shadow blinked and the foggy depths of her dreams faded and her heart dropped when she saw the one thing she was most afraid of.
The forest was engulfed in fire.
"The sixth promise: Run when tired."