"How much longer until we're out of these mountains?" Aspen asked for the first time, spiking a small bought of annoyance in me. It was obvious I didn't know the answer!

"Until we can see a way out," Midnight joked affectionately, shrugging her shoulder and then shaking out her fur. Light snow-flakes landed on it again which would melt and just make her pelt wet all over again.

In the three days since the storm we had first taken shelter by digging in the hardened snow underneath a few boulders. The weather had lasted the rest of the day and into the night, then by the time we had woken again it'd calmed.

I was thankful that such a storm had not lasted days on end as I'd waited in-patiently in the shelter, the sharp fangs of wolves fresh on my mind.

As we'd woken the next morning I'd heaved a sigh of relief and urged the Pride to get moving again.

Now it was lightly snowing again but there was no ice or rain to slow us down anymore than the sludge on the ground was.

I trudged along grumpily now, flicking the mixture of mud and snow away as it stuck to my paws and clung to my legs.

Because of the storm and downfall of the previous days the snow had gotten dangerously deep, and Midnight and Aspen were covered to their shoulders in some places.

Plus, prey would be using the excess snow as a covering and way to burrow underneath the ground. We all had this in mind now and often lowered our heads to sniff the ground in a faint hope that there might be something below.

No hope yet, but with me, Storm, Aspen and Midnight hunting I was hoping we might find some prey today since the last three hadn't treated us kindly.

Perhaps the Sky-cat was just keeping the prey hidden from us- or she just had no control over where the creatures burrowed. Whichever one it was, I only hoped we could find something to feed the smaller cats today.

Midnight walked along Aspen's side determined, shouldering her way through the snow with her whiskers holding clumps of the white stuff.

Aspen's ears were pricked, his white chest and muzzle barely visible among the rest of the snow.

"Maybe we should turn the other way or split up," Storm advised when we still hadn't found any prey. It was early morning and I'd decided a successful hunt was what we needed most now.

Fallan had twisted her back leg after going off on her own while most of the Pride had been asleep, claiming she had meant to find some prey for Diamond. She'd admitted that Aspen had not abandoned his watch duty after all, and instead she had left without anyone knowing so as to 'not worry anyone.'

Returning with the shamed look on her face and her now-thin belly swaying from lack of prey, I believed that the cheetah had set out to hunt for herself.

Back then Fallan had almost always insisted on hunting alone and now I believed her old ways were being rekindled. The Fallan I knew would not only go out on her own at night for herself but eat any sort prey she found whiles.

Of course, we were all hungry but one thing Fallan enjoyed more than anything else was food.

Her ankle really had been twisted; upon sight it was swollen and red, and the cheetah's fur had been freezing and slightly wet. I simply couldn't see Fallan putting herself in such a state just to feed something other than herself.

Was I being too harsh on her by predicting this was why she had left?

I didn't know, but I chose to trust what my head was telling me.

"Spirit."

Midnight spoke, snapping me away from my thoughts about the short tan cheetah.

"I think we should split up like Storm suggested. It gives us more of a chance."

"Sure," I said. There was no harm in doing that as long as each cat had at least one companion with them. Which Midnight knew better than anyone else.

"I'll go with Aspen," I said before Midnight could rule anything out.

She gave me a confused glance, then sighed and rolled her eyes. I simply turned my head away, not wanting the cat to know (even though she probably already did) that I hadn't wanted to hear her nagging about Storm or be nagged by Storm himself.

In the few days since I'd thanked the tom for his kindness I'd avoided talking to or speaking about him until I figured out the best way to approach. Of course, I had regarded him with politeness, but never spoke unless I had to.

"Okay. We'll go this way to try and see if there's anything farther up the mountain." Storm bunched his muscles and pulled himself up the slope, a short ways back where we'd come from. Then he led Midnight around the slope and disappeared behind a bluff.

"Right," I muttered and turned to Aspen, who stared up at me with his sharp yellow eyes. A snowflake landed atop his pink nose and melted quickly, distracting me for a moment.

"You want to go this way?" the tomcat asked. I simply nodded, a bit sullen because of the weather and intense problems swirling throughout my head.

Me and Aspen rounded the mountain until we came to a cliff that would certainly send us falling to our deaths. As we turned around and started following a trail off course he just had to try and spark up a conversation, oblivious to my expression and stiff walking.

"So Storm doesn't seem like a bad cat..."

I choked back a snarl at the last second, outraged. Aspen too! Really?

How much more of this breathing down my neck about Storm was I going to have to deal with? It was enough with Midnight probing me to form a bond with the tom!

"What has Midnight told you?" I asked, suspicious. For why would the tom have said anything about Storm if Midnight hadn't told him to? He didn't often give me his personal opinions- and for good reason.

But Aspen simply looked taken aback and nervously flattened his ears as he rounded a heap of snow.

"Nothing. I have my own opinion too, you know," said the orange and white cat while causing me to raise an eyebrow. His tone hadn't matched the way his words were organized but it bothered me all the same.

Aspen rushed to correct himself, obviously in an effort to show he hadn't meant to come out rude. That counted for something, I supposed as I let my anger slip away.

"It's just that I know you've been very lenient around him. You treat me nicer than you do him and Storm was here long before I was."

Is that true? I shook my ears out and denied it.

No way was I still treating Storm like an outsider. I let him go along hunts with us, share prey at night and lay wherever he liked.

Not next to me, though. That would just be weird.

Shame suddenly burned through my pelt and I felt smaller as I looked down at Aspen. I had been denying a lot of things lately, but thinking about a future with Storm only threw into the mix!

Just being around the tom made me feel squeamish and out of place. I wasn't meant to have a mate if I felt like that each time...

Was I?

"I didn't mean to offend you. All I'm saying is you can't keep pushing him aside forever. It's clear that Storm just wants to be friends with you... He even told me so."

Aspen's words drained the blood from my body. Had he really talked to Storm about me? What other cats in the Pride were saying things about this?

"What else did he say?" I blurted, suddenly shy and eager to know more at the same time. Jeez, what was wrong with me? If I couldn't even figure out what my feelings were half the time, I'd never be able to take a mate!

Not that I'll ever want to.

That part I was certain of as I looked at Aspen. One of his ears were flattened as if exasperated. He must've thought he'd already given too much away but I still leaned forward eagerly.

Too late. He'd been the one to say something from the start- now I was going to make sure I got the rest out of him.

"Well, he just told me he doesn't know why you're so distrustful towards him." Aspen's yellow eyes blinked kindly at me, patient as he opened his mount to taste the air for prey.

"I'm guessing he just feels like everyone has someone but him, if that makes any sense." The tabby-cat's white paws shuffled in the snow.

"I know I would feel lonely if I didn't have any close friends in the group like you and Midnight."

I flashed a questioning gaze the tom's way as a stale rabbit trail hit my nostrils.

"Like how Hannah has Blaze, and you have Midnight, and Diamond's best friend is Fallan and-"

"I get it," I said, dismissing the idea. What Aspen didn't know was that the rest of our hunt I would be thinking about his words deeply.

As we followed the rabbit trail down a winding path, my paws and ears grew numb but my thoughts did not.

Aspen's words has struck something in me more than I could explain.

Was Storm really that lonely in our group? Did he think we were treating him as an outcast?

What if he left one day? I couldn't find out why the fact bothered me- it had to just be because the dreams had foretold he was destined to make it to Cheetah Pride with us. That counted for more than anything else.

Perhaps I'd been wrong to ignore Quri's warning in my dreams. Aspen had said that he'd noticed my stiffness towards the large black cheetah. Did that mean everyone else had, too?

Now I knew for certain how I was making Storm feel and it made my bones burn with shame as my mind started listing off all the kind things that the tom had done for me.

He'd offered me his own prey, brought me to safety after the forest fire, went out in search of food for the pride each night, always worked his hardest, tried to help me up the rocky mountain-side...

There was many more things I could list off like playing with Diamond, offering tireless assistance, standing up for me when the others were opposing my leadership and standing guard many hours of the night.

Come to think of it, Storm had been standing guard almost every night for the last two days and organized the shifts when I'd been too tired. This cat had even helped me lead the others to a better future, one where we took precautions against the wolves.

And what had I done for him? To him?

Treat him like he was not worth my time and accept nothing but letting him into the pride. I had done only what felt like my duty and nothing else.

What a shameful cat I was... And I hadn't even realized it until now. Sure the Storm thing had bothered me a lot, but I'd had Hannah and Blaze's occourances on my mind too. The wolves were always on my mind, a constant reminder each time I closed my eyes- and traveling each day took up all our time.

Really, I'd had the time to think all of this through but no answer had come to me but denial. Now I wasn't so sure what was wrong with me; only that I had been treating Storm badly from the start.

Was that fact enough to make me change my ways?

--------------------------------------------

The rabbit trail ended up leading down a sheer slope so steep that even a mountain goat would have had trouble navigating it.
Plus with snow everywhere it would have proved even more dangerous to navigate.

After turning my paws away I'd slipped on an icy rock and scraped my leg. Soon after it'd numbed so that the only thing I could feel was the freezing wind hitting my face.

Midnight and Storm had found a single tiny mouse out of pure luck and almost immediately Storm had offered it to me.

"I don't want it," I murmured as the snow began to stop falling.

"Just give it to Diamond when we get back. But thank you," I added while feeling like I didn't quite fit my fur.

Storm had said nothing but dipped his head after offering a surprised stare. I'd looked away, a bit embarrassed.

How many times had I even said thank you to this tom? Like twice? My pelt burned shamefully.

It felt like I'd been mean to almost everyone around me. Turning a new leaf felt like the right thing to do, and I knew now that I needed to start being friendlier towards Storm and Aspen.

After all, they treated me kinder than my own sisters did.

After heading back, four days had passed and I'd slowly begun my descent into a bit more accepting cheetah.

Hannah and Blaze had done nothing but regard me with an even frostier coldness than before but I couldn't bring myself to care. As long as Hannah was not leaving the Pride I had other things to worry about.

Midnight and I conversed about the dream only once after we had the last time and thankfully it'd gone more smoother than before.

"I'm going to try and be more open than I have been," was all that I could sum up in words.

"But I won't be trying to move toward anyone as a mate."

Grudgingly Midnight had accepted this then retorted that she had only wanted that from the beginning. Me and my friend had closed the conversation for now, and I knew she looked upon me approvingly as I regarded Storm with less nervousness than before.

It still made my fur tingle as he moved around me or walked a bit closer than I wanted, or offered me morsels of prey that were not mine for the taking.

A few days ago after catching a grouse the sturdy cat had offered to share it with me, Blaze and Midnight. Provided that Diamond already had something to fill her belly, of course, I had shyly shared it with them.

Moving forward to take a bite, Midnight crouched down beside me to resume her eating and pressed her fur reassuringly into mine.

The small gesture had brought me warmth and I wondered, oddly, if she was proud of me for stepping out of my comfort zone. How long had it been since I'd felt that?

I found that I kind of appreciated the feeling. It was sort of nice feeling something other than the constant stab of hunger in my belly and aching of numb paws.

Apart from anger, worry and pain that I faced on a daily, that was.

Hannah seemed to be a lost cause but I still felt a small sort of sadness when I looked at Fallan. Often she seemed lonely whenever Diamond wasn't feebly playing with her or Hannah was cuddling up next to Blaze.

I hardly noticed how close the two cheetahs were getting anymore, and chose to ignore it rather than seethe over the fact that my sister had become fond of such a insipid cat that had thistles for fur.

It was evening time now and as we stopped to get a drink I realized that darkness was going to be upon us early again tonight.

Luckily we'd all had an early start because of my wake up call and that meant I would let everyone lay down earlier tonight.

"Spirit, I think there might be hope for us yet."

Aspen spoke from below, surprising me. I hadn't realized how close the little tabby tomcat had moved until now. His yellow eyes blinked up at me through the descending gloom.

"I think I can smell trees and forest smells carried on the wind from up ahead."

Shock pulsed through me, causing hope to tingle through my paws like adrenaline.

I flattened my ears and lifted my head higher, breathing deeply to bring in all the scents. Nothing came to my nostrils but fresh snow and a very, very stale scent of mountain goat.

"I can't smell anything," I said and let my head droop lower at the ill-found hope that'd coursed throughout me. How foolish it had been to even think we might be out of this mountain range soon... Deflated, I almost sat down right there to sulk.

"I don't know, Spirit. Aspen has a pretty good nose."

Midnight swept her tail along my legs lightly, clearly trying to restore the small kindle of an idea that we might be out of these difficult trials soon.

"She's right and I can vouch for him. He always smells the prey first when we're hunting."

I had known this, but didn't say anything about it in the effort not to come out rude. Hope ebbed the ends of my fur once again, so strong that I had to push it away.

If Aspen wasn't right, that hope would have just placed more stress on my shoulders if we didn't make it out soon anyways. Now I would be clinging onto this hope until we made it out.

"Cold-paws' has to be at its ends soon." Midnight spoke with stress filling her voice and I threw a comforting glance her way. The she-cat probably wanted this season to end just as much as I did.

In the day that followed I banished my thoughts of stopping early in the night and pushed the Pride even harder than before.

It was warmer today and as the Great Paw rose it was no longer permanently hidden behind the clouds. A few rare moments throughout the day it revealed itself, peeking out between the white fluffy mounds gathered along the Sky-cat's pelt.

Maybe the snow would even began to melt soon.

The prospect of better weather made me feel a bit better, so as we stopped I groomed myself for the first time in days.

Sitting guard at night provided the time, anyways, after I'd told Storm it would not be his turn to do so tonight. Around midnight I was supposed to be trading places with Hannah, and whether she was reliable at keeping watch or not I'd decided it was only fair.

The night dragged on slowly and I felt myself growing bored, itching to go off and scan the landscape or night hunt.

But I knew I couldn't do that because it would leave everyone unguarded. The wind chill swept through my fur as I huddled against an outcrop of snow and shuffled my paws to keep them warm.

A leaf suddenly blew past my ear and without thinking I grabbed it with an outstretched paw, pinning it to the ground.

Nervously I swiveled my ears around and leaned forward to peer down below where the pride were sleeping to make sure all were still there.

Midnight and Aspen's forms blended together in one furry heap of rising and falling pelts. I guessed it would've been warm sleeping so close to someone else like that and recalled how Midnight's pelt always felt like a mini heat source at night.

On the nights that I had to keep watch she'd begun sleeping closer and closer to the tom and now was wrapped up in his paws and tail. I could see them becoming mates at some point later on and gazed at their sleeping forms below.

Movement caught my eye as my breath continued to leave billows of air in the night. Among the sleeping figures I saw one rise, causing my fur to stand up.

Nervously I told myself it was one of my own cats, someone apart of the pride. But the feeling in my belly still didn't waver until the black-pelted cat jumped up beside me on the rock of which I was perched.

"Can't sleep?" I asked, trying to ignore the awkward feeling that threatened to make my fur tingle. Each time Storm chose to speak to me when everyone else was asleep proved to be more weird than the last.

This time, though, I wouldn't let that happen. This time my thoughts and feelings would not distract me or get in the way.

I was determined this time.

"No. It's very uncomfortable without a nest," he advised as he sat next to me just a few paw-steps away. I was at least thankful that the tom had provided me that space- unlike Blaze who'd used to lean into my personal space quite too often.

"I wanted to go night hunting but I couldn't leave the pride unguarded," I said, a bit hopeful that Storm might offer to take my place for a while. But the tom did not respond and simply curled his tail over his paws to stare down the snowy slope.

"I'm sorry. It should be easier to do that whenever we get out of here," he said with a small sigh. I averted my eyes and silently agreed. Something told me he did not like the idea of letting me go night hunting on my own.

"Aspen is right, you know. We aren't far from getting out of these mountains and soon Cold-paws will begin it's end."

My chest tingled with a new hope. If Storm believed it as well as Aspen and Midnight, that felt like I should too.

After all, when had this cat ever lied to me? Never, as far as I knew.

"Thank you, by the way. For letting me into the Pride. I had nothing left and this gave me something."

I shuffled my paws in the snow and kept my gaze away, feeling sure that I could sense Storm's muzzle turned my way just now. A nervous tingle fizzed through my pelt and I shoved the feeling away angrily, annoyed that it always returned when I felt the slightest bit shy.

"It was nothing," I said in a small voice. I might be able to take the edge off of my nervousness but words coming out shyly was another matter.

"Yes it is," he said persistently. This time I was forced to look at the thick-furred and broad-shouldered cheetah next to me, even if only for a few seconds.

"Then... you're welcome." I almost started laughing at my own inconvenience and turned to look at the layout. There were many large bumps and outcrops of snow that hid the jagged parts of rock.

"Your pelt is pretty," Storm said after taking a big breath that I realized had been a sign of effort to say the words. Was he really that scared about complimenting me?

Did it matter?

Why'd he do it in the first place?

My head felt woozy as I scrambled for something to say in reply.

A throbbing purr came from Storm's throat before I could reach out and grab the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm sorry I've approached you so oddly. I've just been trying to be friends, and I have realized that maybe I've not gone the right way about it... "

"No!" I blurted, feeling shame and embarrassment and regret running through me all at once. Suddenly I wasn't so tired and couldn't sit down anymore.

"I mean, I'm sorry. I've treated you wrong from the start. I've never been very appealing toward toms or natural around new people, and it's hard for me to trust and-"

"It's okay," Storm said. Startled, I realized I was looking into his eyes and had been for more than a few seconds. This was the first time that had happened, like... Ever.

I knew I was over-exaggerating and sat down again quickly but kept my head inclined his way. Storm kept staring for a few more seconds and finally lifted one of his paws to lick the bottom of his pads.

Wincing, I watched from the corner of my eyes as he drew it back.

I didn't have to ask to know that it was because his pads were rubbed raw like the rest of ours. Multiple times had I seen Fallan's or my own leaving stretches of blood in the snow.

Distracted, I turned my head quickly when I realized that Storm had begun speaking again.

"I hope you know that you can trust me. I despise the wolves just like you for what they've done in taking away my home, and I would never take part in anything that could harm the Pride." The black cat swiveled his ears back as if the next words were hard for him.

"I-I've never had anything like this."

Taken aback, I widened my eyes a bit. What did he mean?

"Cats around me that might actually care and enjoy my company, I mean." He hurried to correct himself and slid out his claws to inspect them, a small frown on the cheetah's face.

"Even my mother and siblings were cold-hearted. And nobody else ever wanted to be around me."

I studied my paws just as he was doing, unsure what to make of what this cheetah was saying.

It must've been hard, I decided. To never have anything close to a loving mother, a best friend or a mate...

My thoughts surprised me so I dispelled them quickly as soon as I realized that Storm was still waiting on a reply.

"I'm very sorry," I said, actually sincere about my apology. Would I have been able to stand going through what I had while knowing that my mother never loved me?

It was best not to wonder, I decided, as I also knew I wanted to say more to this cat who had gone through more than I'd ever imagined.

"I understand how hard that could have been and I will be less lenient now that I know you mean no harm."

Storm looked slightly confused but also gave me a half-smile which caused many emotions to run through me at once. I immediately wondered if I'd said too much or too little.

Actually, I had still surprised myself. Rarely had I ever spoken in such depth about feelings that haunted my mind on a daily basis. Perhaps I could've been proud, even.

"So you still want to come to Cheetah Pride with us?" I asked, a little unsure of what I wanted the answer to be. My feelings felt misplaced for some reason because I knew that I felt sorry for Storm, but didn't know what else was stirring beneath my fur.

"Well who other cats would I rather travel with?" Storm said with amusement and I gave a small smile in return. He had given me his answer like it was the only one he'd ever consider.

And that was enough for me to trust him.