Mintfeather's Secret

Chapter 24:

"So... you guys are mates now?" Robinfeather asked as he stared at Thrushwing and Darkriver.

"Uh..."

"Yes." Darkriver mewed confidently.

"What?!" Antpelt growled angrily as he glared at Thrushwing. "You two are mates?!" Thrushwing sighed as many other cats that had overheard glanced over at the small group.

"Yes, we are. If you have a problem with it, you can just stuff your muzzle!" Darkriver hissed at the ginger tom.

"Hey guys." Redfang huffed as he sat down, his amber eyes full of exhaustion.

"Are you alright?" Thrushwing asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah, just tired. Nightstar is making us all train. But it's brutal." He mewed. Thrushwing growled.

"I know exactly the type of training he's doing already. Excuse me one moment, I need to go speak with him." The light brown tom started padding away, but Robinfeather stopped him.

"Thrushwing, I don't think that's a good idea." He mewed. Thrushwing opened his mouth to argue, but shut it and sighed in defeat.

"You're right." He mewed.

"Let all cats old enough to catch your own prey gather!" Nightstar called. The clan gathered before the leader and stared up at him.

"It is time we've made two apprentices into warriors, and two kits into apprentices." Nightstar mewed. He glanced down at the two she-cats in front of the clan, who stood proudly. Two more kits tumbled out of the nursery and sat at their side. "Skypaw, Ripplepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, even if it costs your life?" Nightstar mewed. They both nodded. "Then from this moment on, you shall be known as Skyshine and Rippleshine. As for you two," Nightstar turned his gaze to the two kits, "Nightkit shall be known as Nightpaw, and her mentor shall be Darkriver. Mousekit shall be Mousepaw, and his mentor will be Thrushwing."

"This will be interesting." Thrushwing mewed as he touched noses with Mousepaw. Darkriver padded over with Nightpaw beside her.

"Should we go show them around the territory?" Thrushwing nodded.

"Alright, come on you two." He mewed as he led the small group out of the camp. Mintfeather padded out of the medicine den and sat beside Robinfeather.

"Hey." He greeted awkwardly.

"Oh hi." Robinfeather mewed. "Can I ask you something?" He asked. Mintfeather nodded his head curiously.

"Yeah." The grey tom waited patiently for the ginger speckled tom to speak.

"Do you have feelings for Thrushwing?" Robinfeather asked quietly. Mintfeather's eyes widened with shock.

"H-how did you-"

"It's easy to tell. Why did you break off the friendship with him?" Robinfeather asked.

"Oh... Speckledfern knew about my feelings for Thrushwing, too. He told me it would be best if I cut all ties to him so I wouldn't get hurt and I could focus on my duties as a medicine cat. But after I ended it... I realized it just made things worse. I feel worse everytime he's near. And I know how much I hurt him, but I still feel shocked at how bad it affected him everytime. After Speckledfern died, I realized that I made the biggest mistake of my life. I want to apologize and go back to the way things were." Mintfeather sighed.

"Well, surely you want one thing to be different?" Robinfeather mewed. "He confessed to you, didn't he?"

"Yeah... he did." Mintfeather mewed.

"And you love him back, don't you?" Robinfeather inquired. Mintfeather frowned and nodded.

"Of course." He mewed.

"Well then, you'd want to take Thrushwing as a mate, right?" Robinfeather mewed. Mintfeather blinked.

"I would." He mewed sheepishly. "Do you think I still have a chance, after all I've said to him?" Mintfeather asked nervously. Robinfeather looked doubtful.

"You might not. I don't know where Thrushwing's head is, but apparently he's taken Darkriver as a mate." Mintfeather felt like his heart was just crushed.

"What?! Why?!" He exclaimed.

"I don't know. But if I know one thing, I know that he doesn't love Darkriver. I can see it in his eyes. He still has feelings for you." Robinfeather mewed. "I wonder if Darkriver knows that he doesn't feel the same way she does?"

"She does." Redfang's voice mewed behind the tom, and both cats turned their attention to the ginger tom.

"What makes you so sure? And how long have you been standing there?" Mintfeather asked.

"I just overheard you talking about Darkriver and Thrushwing's mateship and how he doesn't feel the same way she does. And I know that she knows because I might have been eavesdropping on them on accident." Redfang mewed, flicking his tail.

"Oh." Robinfeather mewed.

"Thrushwing and Darkriver left camp and he asked her if it was true that she had feelings for him. She asked if he wanted to be mates and he replied that he wanted to say yes so he could make her happy, but he was still in love with someone else." Robinfeather noticed the slight gleam in Redfang's eyes when he said that and narrowed his eye suspiciously. "Then she came up with the idea that they would be mates, and if he still doesn't love her by the end of newleaf, they won't be mates anymore." Mintfeather frowned.

"That's a rather short time." He mewed.

"She must be confident." Robinfeather mewed.

"Yeah..." Mintfeather broke off, feeling nervous.

This couldn't be good.