A loud scuffle broke through my sleep and I opened my eyes blearily. Juniperpaw slept by my side, and I almost got embarrassed and shoved him away before I remembered yesterday's events. Smiling, I snuggled in a little closer before something poked me on my shoulder.

"Eww! Stormpaw and Juniperpaw are snuggling!"

I scrambled backward and hit my head on the roof of the den. "Ow," I muttered, glancing over to see who had spotted us.

Lambkit stood there next to her sister, cringing. She opened her eyes a moment later and saw me standing there instead of laying down, and she squealed and fell into Rosekit, who was staring at me, dumbfounded. "Are you two mates?" the ginger she-cat asked with a giggle.

I couldn't find the words to answer, and Lambkit yowled, "You are mates! Ewwwwww!" Rosekit and her sister bolted out of the den, leaving me sitting there, mortified.

To make it worse, Juniperpaw was waking up. I was afraid yesterday was all a dream when he looked at me strangely, but then his body relaxed and he grinned. "Morning." The tom walked over and licked me on the forehead before exiting the den. I followed.

Outside, the sun had already risen. This explained the lack of apprentices in the den. I felt heat rise to my cheeks as I thought of what they must have thought as they saw us sleeping so closely, but I quickly shoved it down as Foxpaw approached. "Hey there, Foxpaw!" I greeted him warmly, touching my nose to his. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"You either," he purred, rubbing against me before laying down. "So, what's been going on lately?"

I hesitated. Should I tell him about my relationship with Juniperpaw?

As I was deliberating and making general small talk, the lilac tom I happened to be mates with trotted over and sat down next to me. Foxpaw's eyes widened as he looked from me to Juniperpaw, and back to me, and then finally said, "Did you do it?"

Juniperpaw grinned. "Yup. We're mates now."

I glanced at my brother. "You knew he liked me?"

"Yeah, of course! He's my friend."

Next to me, the tomcat shrugged. "I guess we were both pretty oblivious." Then he snuggled in a little closer, and I'm pretty sure my heart melted.

Foxpaw groaned and covered his eyes with his paws. "Gross! Try to keep the snuggle time to a minimum, okay?"

I smiled, reluctantly withdrawing from the warmth of his flank. "Deal." I didn't know why, but I was still a little bit self-conscious about the whole "mates" thing.

Juniperpaw looked over at me. "Want to go for a walk? Get away from all of this judgement?" He gave my brother a playful shove, and I chuckled.

"Sure. See you later, Foxpaw." The lilac tom and I stood almost simultaneously and intertwined our tails as we exited the camp.

It was just like yesterday. The birdsong was loud and clear, and it rejuvenated my body. I sighed in contentment. "I'm really glad we got to know each other this well, Juniperpaw."

He smiled broadly, and a purr resonated through his throat. "Me too, Stormpaw. Sometimes, I'd see you in the camp talking to your sister, and I'd think about the way your beautiful eyes sparkle as you talk about training, or the way your fur ripples when you sit down... just these small things that turned into a giant crush. And- I'm sorry, I'm blabbing." Embarrassed, he turned his head away in the most adorable way, and I gave him a lick on the cheek.

"No, you're fine. There's no reason to apologize." Our pace slowed as we reached the BurntClan border and I sat down, shoving my muzzle into his fur. This felt like a repeat of yesterday's events, and I was happy to relive them. Everything was so peaceful...

Until it wasn't.

"Stormpaw! Run!" Juniperpaw screeched as a familiar furless paw tried to snatch me up. Finally, it succeeded, and I was ripped away from the warmth of his pelt. I twisted and writhed in fear, my heart in my throat. I caught a glimpse of the same face I had seen just a few days ago, the face of the twoleg kit.

But it wasn't the only one. Surrounding it was four others, adults this time, of various colors and genders. They looked me over with cold eyes, inspecting me as I snarled and hissed. I could see my mate out of the corner of my eye, the older feline practically running in circles he was so frantic. Finally, he shouted, "I'm getting help, Stormpaw! Hold on!" and then darted away faster than I'd ever seen him run. I couldn't focus on the feeling of fear from being left behind over the absolute panic from my current situation.

If it wasn't already bad enough, I saw a small square of a thorn-like material in long strands all knitted together. I had seen this before, or heard stories at least. Called mesh nets, they weren't exactly mesh-like, but entrapped a cat or animal. It was completely barbaric. There were stories of cats who were taken away in these mesh nets, never to be seen again.

I wasn't going to let these creatures take me away from my family. I'd rather die.

"Applefoot! Hawkfur! One of you go get some reinforcements. We need to chase these twolegs off our- holy StarClan! They've got a cat! No, an apprentice! One of you, go quickly!" A she-cat's voice rang through my ears, a welcome sound. I was beginning to get shoved towards the mesh net, my eyes wide and yowls loud. The pounding of paws was evident near me, and my hopes spiraled in all places. "Hold on!" The she-cat shouted, but she was too late. I was shoved into the mesh net, right up against the thorny wiring, which wasn't quite as sharp as brambles, but the thinness of the strands cut into my pads and was horridly uncomfortable. Another body was shoved into mine and I gasped. The same she-cat who tried to save me had been caught as well! I frantically leaped for the exit, but it was no use. The twolegs closed it a millisecond before I made it out, and I slammed into the thorny branches at full speed.

"Cloudwing! No!" An unfamiliar voice screamed.

And then, an achingly familiar one. "Stormpaw! It'll be okay! We'll find you!" Cherrypaw yelled as a blanket of darkness was whipped over me and I began to move away from my home.