Alderheart wasn’t so sure that they had just been the weird dreams of a queen expecting kits. He remembered that the nursery had been damaged in the storm, though Cinderheart’s and Blossomfall’s kits had been safely bedded down with the elders. But who knows what might have happened to Dovewing’s kits, if they’d been here? “Just a moment.” Bramblestar, who had listened to all this in thoughtful silence, took a pace forward. “Did I hear you say Tigerstar? What did happen at the Moonpool?”

Alderheart launched into the explanation of how StarClan had sent Tigerstar back to be the leader of a newly revived ShadowClan. Bramblestar pressed him with questions, his gaze intent and his tail-tip flicking to and fro. Alderheart could tell that something was disturbing him deeply.

“I don’t like this,” he meowed when Alderheart had finished. “There’s something ominous about a Tigerstar leading ShadowClan again.”

Shock jolted through Alderheart as he remembered that once there had been another Tigerstar, the infamous cat who nearly tore the Clans apart in his efforts to control the whole forest.

He was Bramblestar’s father, and this new Tigerstar is his kin as well. No wonder Bramblestar has his doubts!

“Yes, I remember those days well,” Graystripe put in with a shiver. “No cat wants to go through that again. What will ShadowClan be now?”

“Honestly, you don’t need to worry,” Dovewing responded with an irritable twitch of her whiskers. “Tigerstar is the same reasonable, good-hearted cat you’ve known all along. And StarClan chose him and brought him back to life to revive ShadowClan. He must have a great destiny.”

Her eyes glowed as she spoke of her mate, and Alderheart could understand how badly she wanted to reassure her former Clanmates. But he could see she realized that the first happiness at her return had faded.

“Well, kits,” Dovewing mewed, gathering them closer to her with a sweep of her tail. “It’s time to go. We need to get back to your father and ShadowClan.”

For a heartbeat a frozen silence settled on the cats of ThunderClan. Alderheart’s belly clenched as he realized that they had all thought Dovewing was returning for good.

“You’re going to ShadowClan?” Sparkpelt exclaimed. “You traitor!”

Ivypool said nothing, only turning her back on her sister and gathering her kits away from her.

“I’ll come back to visit.” Dovewing’s voice was pleading. “I had to make this choice. I couldn’t be torn between my Clan and the cat I love.”

Her words did nothing to soothe the outrage that rose like a powerful scent from the cats who surrounded her. Even Whitewing and Birchfall looked deeply disappointed as they gazed at her.

Eventually Bramblestar stepped forward. “You need some protection for those young kits,” he mewed. “I’ll send a patrol with you to the ShadowClan border.”