Chapter 17:

Tigercloud crossed the border onto ShoalClan territory. She needed to speak with Leopardfur.

A wave of fishy scent engulfed her nose. She almost gagged. She didn't like fish. Tigercloud walked no more than a few steps into ShoalClan territory when a cat barreled into her.

"Intruder!" The cat yowled.

"Tigerpaw! Get off of that cat!" Tigercloud heard a familiar voice meow. "That's no way to treat any cat!" It was Leopardfur. The young she-cat got stepped off of Tigercloud and started grooming herself. Leopardfur and Alphaclaw padded out of the bushes. They both stopped dead in their tracks when they recognized her. Leopardfur looked at Tigercloud's swollen belly.

"What are you doing here?" Leopardfur spat. Tigercloud was taken aback by the coldness in Leopardfur's voice.

"I needed to talk to you," Tigercloud meowed. She stood tall, not letting Leopardfur know she had hurt her.

"Who are you?" Tigerpaw asked her.

"I'm Tigercloud," Tigercloud meowed.

"My father named me after you." Tigerpaw meowed.

"Who's your father?" Tigercloud asked with interest.

"Alphaclaw."

Tigercloud stared at her. Then she looked at Alphaclaw.

"I never stopped loving you." He whispered. Tigercloud just stared at him.

"Ahem." Leopardfur meowed. "When did you start expecting kits?"

"I found out yesterday." Tigercloud meowed.

"Whose are they?"

"Nobody's." Tigercloud meowed.

"You have to go now." Leopardfur meowed. Tigercloud nodded and was escorted off ShoalClan territory by the small patrol.

"Where were you?" Wolfwhisker asked Tigercloud when she got back.

"I was just taking a walk." Tigercloud lied. She could say that now because she was a queen.

Wolfwhisker nodded. Tigercloud padded over to her new nest in the nursery. She didn't want to have kits. She still wanted to be a warrior. She didn't want the responsibility of being a mother. She especially didn't want the kits to be Snowbush's kits.

Tigercloud sighed. Life wasn't fair. Tigercloud decided that this was the day she would tell Snowbush that the kits were his. Tigercloud stood up and padded out of the den. She looked around and saw him alone by the fresh-kill pile. She padded over to him.

"Snowbush." She snapped. He spun around to look at her.

"What?" Snowbush asked her.

"I need to talk to you." She meowed flatly.

"Okay." He meowed and followed her out of camp to the same pond where he had rejected her.

"So you know I'm expecting kits right?" Tigercloud asked him. He nodded. "They're your kits."

He just stared at her. "I don't want anything to do with them." He meowed. Then he left, just like the first time.

KVeronicaP (beta editor) pointed this out to me, Leopardfur is Tigerpaw's mentor, and they were just patrolling the border with Alphaclaw. Alphaclaw's mate was a rogue that died when Tigerpaw was born.