Through the next few moons, I kept going back to Edger. I knew it was the best option for me and my kits, but I hated it. My stomach had grown to four times it's normal size, due to extra food and the kits. Duchess said that I would have them any day now. I had made a decision that after my kits were adults, I would stop going to Edger. For good. Even if I was too weak to do anything. Now I was padding towards the twoleg, who was throwing out scraps. I planned to get food from Edger, then sit in the shade and groom myself. "Hello Edger," I sighed. I didn't bother purring anymore. It didn't matter anyway. He threw me my regular piece of fish, and I picked up the red scrap and padded to sit in the shade, next to the water and far away from Edger. I then curled up next to my food and tucked in. When I finished, I proceeded to groom myself. I felt a pang in my belly. I must have eaten too fast. But the pang kept coming back, and soon I let out a wail. "Duchess!" She lumbered to my side. I knew she was going as fast as she could, but it wasn't fast enough. "DUCHESS!" Her green eyes grew as big as moons. "Are the kits coming?" "What do you think fluff-brain?" I felt bad after I said it, but good god, it hurt!

It had been a while since I first started kitting. By now it was sunset, and the sky was turning red. That wasn't the only thing. The water that I was laying next to was now tinted with the redness of my blood, and three tiny kits laid at my stomach. "Are they okay?" I mewed for what felt like the billionth time. I was too weak to turn and look, and I had repeatedly asked, but Duchess had not answered me. "Duchess, ARE THEY ALL RIGHT?" She flattened her ears and looked at the ground. "No. They're dead." I let out a thin wail and collapsed. All I had gone through for them... "We'll try again," Edger said, showing absolutely no trace of sadness at the death of his kits. "Come to my den tonight." "No," I snarled, enraged. "No?" He asked. "After all I've done for you?" "All you've done to me you mean. It's your fault these kits are dead! You blackmailed me for extra prey, and you forced me to bear these kits and in the end they didn't even live because I went to your den, night after night! Well no more. I'm done with you Edger. Perhaps if you had been a better cat I would have happily been your mate. We could have had kits and happy lives, but NO. I'm finished with you Edger." He growled angrily. "Fine. I will never share my prey with you again, and I will personally make sure you are alone for the rest of your life. You could have been happy, Spark. But now you'll have to pay." He wheeled on Duchess. "And I'll start with you."