“Tigerstar?” A voice echoed through the dark, intimidating forest. “My darling, are you there?”

The sound of crunching leaves announced the answer. “Yes,” There was warmth in the brown tabby tom’s voice that only very few cats ever heard. “I am here.”

The cat revealed herself by stepping out from behind a stone. Sunlight casted dramatically onto her golden fur, and her tail was held up high in pleasure at the tom’s presence.

“Tigerstar!” She mewed joyfully and padded over to him, each step she took of her delicate paws seemed to beat like a heart.

“Sasha!” Tigerstar lifted his tail into the air and purred softly as the she-cat butted his shoulder with her head.

“My love, my mate.” She murmured and licked his cheek. “I thought… I thought something had gotten you, since you never came to see me.”

“Please forgive me,” Tigerstar rumbled deep in his chest. He licked her ear and continued, “I had some business to attend to first.” He looked away, his eyes looking at something, ambition burning in them like the fiery depths of hell.

Sasha flinched as he looked back at her and saw a trace of that hunger before he blinked it away. He ignored her fear and mewed, “Sasha, our love, our passion, is all at stake, there” –

Sasha shook her head and touched her lips to his. Her cheek slid across his, each other’s love being absorbed by their passion to meet. She whispered in his ear, her voice quivering, “Tigerstar, I’m expecting kits.”

Tigerstar stepped back, his eyes glittering not with a father’s excitement, but with the excitement of ambition. “That’s great!” He meowed and asked, “How many do you think there are in… your belly?”

Sasha glowed with pride as Tigerstar glowed with ambition. “Two, maybe three.” She answered, hardly suppressing a purr of joy. “Oh, Tigerstar, we have children!”

Tigerstar ignored her. He was thinking of his plot to kill, to murder, and how these coming kits will help. With my blood and Sasha’s rogue blood, they shall not be a disappointment! And with that thought, a pulse thumped inside him, a pulse of equal ambition.