Chapter 2
Sandpaw watched Firepaw as he was padding to the medicine den. She could see that he wasn't hurt, he was just going to visit his secret mate, Spottedleaf. The thought of It made her wanna hurl. She quickly turned around, bumping into Graypaw.
"Hey, have you seen Firepaw?" Graypaw asked.
"Oh, he's In the medicine den." Sandpaw quickly replied.
"Why? Is he hurt?" Graypaw pushed, worried over his friend.
"You don't wanna know." Sandpaw mumbled.
Sandpaw quickly went to the fresh kill pile, wanting anything to get her mind off Firepaw. She pushed through all the cats hovering over the pile, and gasped when she saw It.
"There's no fresh kill!" Sandpaw heard whispers through the entire crowd.
"What are we going to do?"
"We need hunting patrols!"
Sandpaw quickly ran away from the crowd of cats. When she broke free of the crowd, she went in the forest to hunt.
"Ugh. Why does Firepaw have to love Spottedleaf? Why doesn't he love me?" Sandpaw whimpered.
"What's this about Firepaw?" Sandpaw heard a growl coming from the bushes. She dropped down and got ready to fight. But then the cat emerged from the bushes, and she identified him as Tigerclaw.
"Oh! Tigerclaw! I thought you were some kitty pet or rouge! That's a relief." Sandpaw tried to distract him from what she said.
"What did you say about Firepaw?" Tigerclaw snarled, stepping closer to Sandpaw.
"Oh...uh nothing!" Sandpaw lied.
Tigerclaw unsheathed his claws, and lifted one up. "What did you say about Firepaw!" Tigerclaw threatened.
"All cats old enough to catch their prey meet under Highrock for a clan meeting!" Sandpaw heard a call from camp.
Sandpaw took the chance to get away from Tigerclaw, and ran to Highrock. Thankfully Tigerclaw did not follow behind her, he just walked in the woods.
The clan meeting saved me this time, Sandpaw thought, but what would've happened If It didn't?
Firepaw nuzzled closer to Spottedleaf, drinking In her sweet scent. There was a rustle In the leaves behind them, sending an alarm through Firepaw. He quickly sat up and moved a few paw steps away from Spottedleaf.
"Spottedleaf, how are you feeling?" Firepaw saw Yellowfang and Graypaw come in.
"Hey there Firepaw! I was looking for you everywhere! Come on, let's get ready for our warrior ceremony!" Graypaw exclaimed.
"Oh yeah! I almost forgot!" Firepaw sat up straighter.
Firepaw followed Graypaw out, giving Spottedleaf a quick nod before he left the medicine den.
"Hey, what was that nod for?" Yellowfang asked Spottedleaf, watching the two toms leave.
"What? Oh, uh, nothing. He was just being friendly!" Spottedleaf quickly answered.
"Spottedleaf, when you became a medicine cat you took an oath, and If your with Firepaw…" Yellowfang pressed.
"What? No! Nothing's going on!" Spottedleaf said more reassuring.
"Just remember that...I made the same mistake a long time ago.." Yellowfang mumbled, "Oh, sorry. Forget I said that. Now let's look at that paw."
What if this is a mistake? Spottedleaf thought, what If I'm steering him away from his real destiny?