Warriors AU: Blackfoot's Reckoning

Chapter 2

Author's Note: Hello everyone! Just wanted to give a bit of news. So unfortunately my computer has stopped working. We recently got a new wifi box but my laptop is one of those laptops that only connects to one wifi. I tried looking up ways to fix that so that I can get my computer back but sadly there is no way. I have to get rid of my computer and buy a new one. I'm currently writing this on my mom's computer, but I won't always have access to it. If I don't upload on specific days, this is the reason why. I will still upload 2 chapters on Tuesdays and Thursdays since I will be working. I get paid on the 18th and will purchase a new laptop immediately (I start my spring semester of college on the 16th so this is very inconvenient). I will let you all know when I receive this new laptop. Thank you for understanding.

The medicine den was cold. Blackpaw curled her body tighter and squeezed her eyes shut, her belly aching horribly. I never should have listened to Wolfpaw. Her and her littermates had found a dead frog near the edge of camp, and she'd been so hungry!

"I'm sure it's fine," Wolfpaw had told her as she'd poked the frog wit a slender gray paw. "It can't have been dead for long, or we would have seen it earlier."

"Maybe..." Blackpaw had meowed doubtfully. She'd taken a sniff. The frog had seemed okay. Her stomach had rumbled, reminding her how long it had been since she'd eaten. At last, she'd taken a bite, teeth sinking into the frog's rubber flesh.

Big mistake! she thought now, remembering. She settled deeper into her nest in the medicine den. This was her second night here. He felt a little better. Maybe in the morning Sagewhisker would say she was ready to go back to the apprentices' den. And then she'd have something to say to Wolfpaw about her terrible advice.

Their mother, Blizzardwing, had stayed close while she'd been sick, and, without opening her eyes, she sniffed the air, taking in her comforting scent. Yes, she's still here.

There was another cat here, too, she realized. The new scent wasn't Sagewhisker's, nor was it her apprentice, Raggedpelt's. It was a tom... who was that?

"What are you doing here?" Blizzardwing asked quietly. There was a strange, unhappy note in her voice, and Blackpaw pricked up her ears.

"I was worried." The low voice was familiar. Hollyflower?

Why was the warrior visiting the medicine den in the middle of the night? What was he worried about? Without moving, Blackpaw cracked her eyes open just a slit.

Blizzardwing and Hollyflower were barely more than shadows, facing each other at the entrance to the medicine den. But every line of Blizzardwing's body was tense, as if she was ready to fight.

Why would Blizzardwing want to fight Hollyflower? Blackpaw wondered. She didn't know the older warrior well, but he'd always seemed pleasant enough.

"You don't need to be concerned." Blizzardwing's meow was cold. "Aren't you worried some cat might see you here? You wouldn't want them to get any ideas, would you?"

Hollyflower sighed. "Whatever you think, I do care about the kits. They're mine, too, you know?"

Blackpaw felt as if she'd been kicked in the chest. She gasped, then quickly muffled herself by pressing her snout to her flank. Hollyflower's kits? But... Hollyflower didn't have kits. He had a mate, Mudstorm. A mate who wasn't Blizzardwing.

Blizzardwing hissed. "Blackpaw and Wolfpaw and Flintpaw are mine. You left me to raise them alone because you didn't want to tell Mudstorm the truth. I don't need help from any cat, and especially not you."

Shock ran through Blackpaw's body, and she screwed her eyes shut tighter. She didn't want them to know she was awake. She had always wondered who her father was. Wolfpaw and Flintpaw and her had talked it over all the time, even when they were tiny kits.