Curse woke from his sleep, excited at the fact he was going to meet Saltstar that night. Then his heart sunk; he wasn't going to meet her. Ever again. He hadn't seen her in at least a moon now.

Padding out of his makeshift den on the border of what Saltstar told him was ShadowClan. He could never get used to their scent.

Saltstar had had an odd scent as well. It smelled faintly of milk, like she had been around kits.

Dismissing it as nothing, he broke into a run and chased after a mouse. After killing and eating it, he couldn't hold his need anymore. He had to see her.

Running quickly through ShadowClan, he made it through their territory without being spotted. He made it to ThunderClan, with the border that smelled almost like Saltstar, but not quite. Crouching in the bushes, he waited for a patrol to come by. Saltstar had told him that ShadowClan was the most heavily guarded border, so he didn't have to wait long.

A patrol came by. Curse hissed and crouched back further into the bush when the white she-cat wasn't in it. However, one of the younger cats heard him. She told the others to go ahead; she wanted to do some hunting.

Curse looked around. Should he try and run, or fight?

"I know you're in there!" called the she-cat. "I recognize your scent from before." Before? Curse blinked. Lifting his nose, he sniffed. It was one of the apprentices who was spying on him and Saltstar the second time they had met. What was her name again? Sandpaw?

Standing, he called, "Hello, Sandpaw." She seemed surprised that he knew her name.

She crouched and hissed. "Get out of our territory, loner," she spat.

He shrugged, the stepped across the ShadowClan border. "Is this better?" he mewed innocently.

Sandpaw flattened her ears, then deciding better of it, she turned and ran to catch up with her patrol. "Don't let me catch you on our territory again!" she called over her shoulder.

"Or what?" he muttered.

Saltstar knew what was happening. She could feel it inside of her, and she knew that Acidclaw had already figured it out. Every time he saw her, he just gave her a sad look and padded away.

She heard the bramble tunnel rustling and knew her dawn patrol was returning. She just sighed and rolled over in her nest. Getting to her paws, she figured she'd better go find out what they had to say.

Stripedpelt led the patrol, with Thornwing and his apprentice, Robinpaw. Sandpaw had also gone along, but she wasn't with the two toms and the other apprentice.

The ThunderClan deputy padded up to her. "Nothing to report," he mewed. "Just ShadowClan marking their borders well, as usual."

Saltstar cocked her head. "Where's Sandpaw?" she asked.

"She went hunting," Stripedpelt replied. After he had said it, his apprentice burst through the bramble tunnel.

"Ah, there she is," her mentor mewed. But she has no fresh-kill, Saltstar thought.

Sandpaw spotted her and ran over. "I saw that loner!" she mewed excitedly.

Saltstar's blood turned to ice. If Sandpaw said anything about Curse, the rest of the Clan would know what she had been up to.

"Come to my den," she muttered to the apprentice. Sandpaw ran ahead, beating Saltstar to her den.

"I saw him!" she repeated, sitting. "He was in our territory! I chased him away!" She tilted her head. "You do know who I'm talking about, right? That loner you were talking to! The one you didn't chase off?"

Saltstar hissed, flattening her ears. Sandpaw flinched backwards, green eyes wide open in fear. "Of course I know who you're talking about!" she hissed. "What were you doing away from your mentor, anyway?"

The apprentice opened her mouth to argue, but Saltstar cut her off. "Take care of the elders for the next eight sunrises! And no training, no patrols, no hunting, no nothing!" she spat. "Maybe then you'll learn your lesson. Now, out!" she growled, turning her back on the young she cat.

Sandpaw stomped out, fuming. Why was Saltstar so angry with her? Well, she had lied about chasing him out, but surely her leader couldn't know about that?

Her friend, Robinpaw, bounced up to her. "Hey, Sandpaw!" she mewed cheerfully, then her tone became more serious as she saw her friend's face. "What happened in there? Thornwing told me to go hunting again, but I had to wait until I saw you."

"Saltstar is making me take care of the elders for the next eight sunrises," Sandpaw growled. Robinpaw gasped.

"For what? Doing what you're supposed to? All you did was chase off that loner," the brown apprentice pointed out.

"But it was the sameloner Saltstar was talking with! And have you seen her lately? She's getting pretty..." Sandpaw hesitated, searching for the right word. "...big. And she smells like milk all the time. What could it mean?" She eyed Saltstar as the ThunderClan leader padded out of the bramble tunnel with Graytail.

Curse followed his nose, searching for ThunderClan camp. Scenting two cats, he crouched down and tried to distinguish the scents. One of them he didn't know, but the other one was Saltstar, but she smelt... different again.

The two cats padded through the ferns across the clearing from him. Saltstar stopped, whiskers twitching.

"Is something wrong?" the gray cat asked, confused. She shook her head and continued walking beside him. They were talking about something he didn't care about; patrols, fresh-kill supplies, threats from the other Clans, etc.

After they disappeared into the trees on the other side of the clearing, Curse decided to follow them and see if he could get Saltstar alone again. He waiting a few heartbeats before following them, paws light on the mossy ground.

They walked in a huge circle, going back to their camp. Curse bit his lip, thinking of ways to get the white she-cat by herself. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the two cats pad into their camp.

He also didn't notice himself padding in after them.

The entire Clan froze, some right in the middle of licking or eating. Saltstar whipped around, hissing, then stopped when she saw him. A striped gray cat stood, glaring at Curse. A light brown tom looked between Curse and Saltstar, then hissed, flattening his ears. The rest of the cats did the same. Only Saltstar remained unhostile, staring at him with wide blue eyes. His eyes flicked down to her belly. It hung down, much larger than usual.

"It's that loner!" Sandpaw bounded out from a den that smelled of mouse bile. She stopped when she saw the Clan hissing at him.

The same gray tom that had glared at him before stepped forward. "Get out of here!" he hissed.

A black cat padded out from a den that smelled of herbs. His eyes were milky white; he was blind, but he turned his eyes on Curse as if he could see him.

"Hush, Stripedpelt," he addressed the cat who had hissed at him. Then, turning back to Curse, he mewed, "It's you."

Curse blinked. Did he know this cat? "Umm..." he answered, not sure what to say.

The black cat chuckled. "I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Acidclaw. And you're Curse," he added.

Curse shook his head. He didn't care about this blind old cat. "Saltstar!" he called. "Are you..." he trailed off, twitching his ears toward her bulging belly. She looked away, then nodded curtly. He gasped.

"Are they... mine?" he asked hesitantly.

"No, I just love breaking the warrior code so much that I go off with more toms!" she replied sarcastically, turning her head back to him, fury in her eyes. Then, realizing what she had just said, gasped and flicked her eyes around the clearing.

Everyone was staring at her. Everyone. Saltstar flopped down on her stomach, covering her eyes with her paws, not wanting to meet any of those accusing stares.

She heard Emberheart hiss at the loner, telling him to get out.

"Emberheart's right!" Stripedpelt mewed. "You have poisoned Saltstar!" He yowled furiously, and she heard the sound of paws scuffling in the dirt. She looked up and look her paws off her eyes. "No!"

Stripedpelt hurled himself at Curse, paws outstretched and claws unsheathed. But Curse was ready. He stepped nimbly out of the way, and her deputy hit the ground with a thud, but pulled himself to his paws, hissing and spitting.

Stripedpelt tried again, darting toward the loner, intending to attack him, but Curse swiped him with his claws, then leaped on top of him. Saltstar's view was obstructed in a whirl of flying fur as the two toms fought.

Then, as quick as it had started, it was over. Curse stepped back, blood on his claws. He looked as if he was in shock, staring down at the mound of striped fur in front of him.

Saltstar forced her eyes down to her deputy. She cried out when she saw him, and sprinted over, pushing Curse out of the way. She heard him turn and run into the forest. The other cats were still too shocked to follow him.

Tears sprung to her eyes as she looked at Stripedpelt. He was laying on the ground, his fur laced with deep scratches. He was gasping for air, flanks heaving.

"Acidclaw!" Saltstar wailed, and the medicine cat stepped closer, but Stripedpelt coughed. "No," he meowed hoarsely. "It's too late for me. StarClan is calling my name."

Gazing up at her with stars in his eyes, her deputy took a few more breaths, then faltered and stopped, his head thudding back on the ground.

Stripedpelt was dead. Saltstar yowled her grief to the sky, while the rest of the Clan looked on.

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes. Several warriors whirled to face it, fur bristling, thinking it was Curse again. But Saltstar never saw who it was. A crippling pain gripped her belly, and she yowled again, this time in pain. Acidclaw immediately jumped into action, leading her toward her den, gesturing for Honeyfrost and Smokepaw to follow.

"The kits are coming," he murmered to his apprentice after they were in her den. "Fetch some borage." Then, turning to Smokepaw, he nodded his head toward the den entrance. "Guard the den." Smokepaw nodded and ducked out.

"Acidclaw..." Saltstar began, but yowled as more pain came. She collapsed in her moss nest, breathing heavily. Honeyfrost came back in, carrying leaves in her jaws.

"What's happening out there?" the medicine cat asked her.

"ShadowClan are attacking," Honeyfrost replied simply, dropping the leaves. ShadowClan! Saltstar struggled to get to her paws, but fell again.

She yowled. More pain. Acidclaw turned back to her and pushed the borage leaves toward her. "Eat these," he meowed. She gulped them down, then winced as more pain came.

After two kits had been succesfuly delivered, Saltstar was panting and licking her new kits at the same time as another slid out onto the floor. Acidclaw nudged it toward her, and she licked it, too.

Outside, she couldn't ignore the yowls and screeches of fighting cats, but what could she do? She was stuck here...

Smokepaw yowled from outside the den. Saltstar whipped her head around as Earthstar, leader of ShadowClan, burst in. His eyes flicked to the kits next to her belly, and he chucked. "Well, well, well," he snarled, grinning. "What do we have here?"