!!!This is is a Wattpad book, also published on Amino and Ao3. If you are reading this on a site such as Teenfic.net or any site that is not the three originals stated above, it has been STOLEN from me and I advise you to redirect yourself to the si...
No moon shone in the sky and everything was darker than dark.
A looming figure however, still conversed through the trees and undergrowth of ThunderClan's territory, glowing white and firey among the darkness.
She panted as she ran farther and farther in the direction of ShadowClan territory, pushing on to get as far away from ThunderClan and the Clan's new leader as possible, her mind foggy with the longing for sleep.
The wriggling in her belly was what kept her pressing on despite her exhaustion, the thought of the tiny lives within her, concealed among the long white swatches of her extremely thick fur, told her that she needed to escape. No one knew about these kits, not even her closest friends, no one could know, lest she be tossed or left to waste away.
Well, she wasn't going to give Featherstar the pleasure. She would leave on her own terms, be a warrior and a queen on her own terms. She didn't want to live there anyway under his leadership.
Thoughts of the long working hours under his command, the short spouts of sleep the warriors were allowed to have, filled her mind. Of Pansycloud, expecting kits with a WindClan cat, frail and left in the nursery to starve, until one night she disappeared without a trace. Of her conversation with Clearpool, her best friend, who covered for her as she snuck out of camp, promising to not let Featherstar win.
The memories brought tears to the exhausted she-cat's eyes. Pansycloud had been her friend too, Clearpool's own sister, Featherstar's own daughters, and the large ginger and white she-cat, dependably strong but meek at heart and under corrupt orders, hadn't been able to do anything about it.
Who knew where Pansycloud was now. Wherever you are, I just hope you're alive, she thought.
The ShadowClan border was just up ahead now and the sky was just beginning to lighten. She breathed in the familiar approaching scents, the scent of ShadowClan that she had never thought of as a reek as so many ThunderClan cats did, but had instead always found akin with their own.
She stumbled over her paws as she slowed, but she didn't fall. Her stomach groaned unappreciatively and she brought her thick, matted tail up to wrap around herself as she took the last little steps to the ShadowClan scent-line.
“Peonybloom!” a gentle, deep voice reached her ears, making her heart leap and twirl in her chest.
“Stagleap,” she breathed, wheezing to catch her long-lost breath.
The dark chocolate tabby tom seemed to materialize out of the shadows, his vivid green eyes glowing with love and concern as he fell forward. Peonybloom shut her eyes tight in relief as he curled his head around her lowered neck, his paws came up to gently push her to sit down, and when she leaned into him, he took her weight despite how lean and small he was compared to her.
“I'm so glad you made it out,” he whispered in her ear.
Peonybloom, sitting down, nodded against his chest. “Of course I did. I wouldn't let that mange-pelt find out about these kits in a million moons and another million against letting him throw me out and do who knows what to us all.”
“I know. Of course you wouldn't,” Stagleap purred, before leaning back to look into her eyes. “Now come'on, it's time to go home, to your new home.”
“My real home,” Peonybloom insisted, straining to rise to her paws.
Stagleap nodded. He pressed his forehead to her's momentarily, before helping his mate into ShadowClan's territory.
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