"He was in the dream!?" I gasp, feeling stupid and mis-led. All this time Shadow had looked familiar, and I was so eager to get out of the human-place I'd forgotten.

"Yes!" Midnight hissed, clearly excited. She steals a glance at Shadow now, who is watching Diamond do one of her signature flips.

"He told me he leads a pack of dogs back there, though," I say to Midnight. There's no reason to say out loud what needs to be put forth: Shadow joining us on the way to Cheetah Pride.

"But he doesn't seem happy leading them. I can tell," Midnight advised. Her purple eyes were challenging because she knew she spoke the truth. Shadow hadn't sounded happy when he'd talked about it. In fact, his tail had drooped just a little.

But how did I ask a thing like that to a dog who was a leader?

"He wouldn't leave his pack to join a pride."

"You have to try," Midnight argued. If course I knew she was right. So far, my dream had led me to all the members that were in Cheetah Pride now. Shadow was the last animal, no kind of cat but instead, a dog, to appear in my dreams. He'd been there in the grass-fields with my Pride.

"I will." I promised her. It would be hard to ask and an awkward approach, but Shadow seemed like a good fit already. He held himself very differently from a wolf. I could tell because now he was urging Diamond to run in circles while he turned quickly on his back legs, trying to stay in front of her. It was goofy and a warm sight to see, the older brown dog whirling in a circle.

"This is the only chance to do it," Midnight urged me. I knew she was right, and sighed stubbornly.

"Shadow," Midnight calls across the grass.

The light is bright in my eyes as I watch the red-brown dog walk up. Diamond doesn't linger because Hannah calls her back to wait for the prey to arrive.

"That one could keep me busy beyond my years," Shadow jokes as he comes up. Midnight pricks her ears, clearly telling me this is a perfect opening.

Taking a breath, I turned to Shadow. How weird must it be to ask a dog to join a cheetah pride with cats?

"If you want, you could come with us to the fields upland. You told me that the city has been getting worse," I say softly, using the dog word for a human-place.

"There would be good hunting and a lot more freedom." I go silent then, not knowing what else to say. Shadow already knows about the wolves, because I told him sullenly about why we were traveling somewhere so far, and through human-places to get there. He'd said that no cats like us had passed through in his lifetime, meaning cheetahs rather than human-cats or strays.

"When you go there, you are hoping it will be free of wolves?" Shadow cocks his head again, the way he did yesterday. I'm taken aback and don't know what to say. After a second he has the silence filled, though.

"Wherever a dog can reach, a wolf can reach, too."

Shadow stares at me thoughtfully and I realize what he's saying. I'd wanted to be free from wolves, so how would a dog be much different? And how true are my expectations of Cheetah Pride about wolves if dogs were welcomed?

His words, for a few moments, haunt me. But then I realize the reason that wolves wouldn't be able to reach Cheetah Pride is because there is many cheetahs there, to protect each other, and even Ash's pack would be no match.

Or at least, I hoped. My mother couldn't have been wrong.

"None of us would treat you as a wolf. Wolves have just harmed us a lot in the past, but I can assure you that we don't see dogs as the same." Midnight had moved forward to stand at Shadow's paws now, her black fur unruffled and smooth.

Shadow's looking away now, and I feel a twinge of uncertainty rush through me because it looks like he's going to say no.

"It sounds like a wonderful idea, but I don't think I can leave the dogs back there without a leader."

And we can't wait on you to appoint one.

Shadow looks thoughtful, though, as he stands up.

"I've always wanted to live in the wild, somewhere with less tall buildings and trees. With easier terrain, you know."

"In the grasslands there is lots of open space," I say. How is it that I like Shadow after just meeting him? He was a dog and yet he'd helped us so much.

Before the dog can answer, I ask him to stay for prey. Aspen and Storm have all spread out to look for it while Fallan rests near-by. Hannah is out of sight while Diamond walks up, telling me she is tired of waiting for prey and wants to get some herself.

"You don't have to ask. Just stay where you can hear the others like usual."

Hannah was the first back, with a younger finch in her jaws. She offered it to Fallan immediately, and soon Diamond padded up with a mouse. Still so glad to be away from the smell of humans, I waited for my food contently. I was glad that Hannah was on her paws now. She still wore the same sad face, but less so since Blaze had died.

"She's small and young but scared of nothin,'" Shadow says. He looks comfortable to be laying on the grass resting, even so close to cats. The fact that Shadow has a liking for Diamond makes me wish he would join us more. He's watching her as the rest of the hunters show up.

After everyone had shared the pile of prey no one was left hungry. Three days around the human-place had felt like starvation, so that meant a feast. My stomach had felt hollow or sour the whole way.

"There will be even better prey farther away from the humans, so next time we can all get full.." Storm says though a burp. He steals a glance my way and then at Shadow, who seemed to be lingering still.

Floppy ears flopping, the long-legged dog stood up and nodded to Storm, then turned to me.

"There's a lot of rabbits on this hill higher up, I hear. You'll find good hunting on your way. I have to get going-."

"Aww. Bye, Shadow!" Diamond yells from somewhere farther away. Fallan is near her and yells the same, to my surprise. Maybe she is in a better mood as well, because of the change of scenery and a meal.

"Thank you so much. I wish I could return the favor," I say, which was a last attempt at offering Shadow a stay. Instead of answering, Shadow dips his head again and looks up with thoughtful wrinkly eyes.

"Perhaps you can, one day."

After Diamond watches the old dog leave she seems sad, and I feel a bit of the same. The hills have grown cloudy and a steady rain picks up, lasting until morning. By the time Fallan has rested and Diamond has practiced her hunting skills with Storm, we move out.

Storm woke up after me and his fur is still ruffled from sleep, as well as keeping up half the night watch. I have the urge to smooth a tuff of fur down.

"What?" His eyes catch mine now, dark green and playful. They match the color of tree leaves at night, in a Great Spot-lit forest.

"You like the way my morning fur looks?"

Laughing, I let a purr throb through my voice as I reply. His morning fur, if anything, was funny.

"So you're saying it looks bad?" Storm pretends to look angry but a smile plays on his muzzle. Suddenly my stomach is buzzing and my paws are filled with energy.

"Yes, I am." I manage to finish saying. I don't know how because then I'm barreled off of my paws and he's wrapped his own gently around me.

It's easy to break away because his grip was so loose, like I'm delicate as a kit. For some reason, it warms my pelt and soon we're battering each other just for fun.

His paws are a lot bigger than mine and cover my much smaller ones up. Now my paws are on the ground under his, but he isn't stepping on me so much as setting them there. I look up and there's his eyes, dark green and full of depth like a pine forest. It's easy to get snatched up in a cat's gaze, but I didn't know that until now. My heart is steadily pounding, nervous and excited all at once.

"I bet my fur really looks nice now," Storm jokes as he steps away. He looks happy, a wide smile planted on his face. I kind of hope I look that way too because seeing him smile so much is contagious. And impossible not to, because his fur is a complete mess of tufts and tangles.

"I can always groom it," I say out loud and then regret it. My fur is hot and I feel like I've said the wrong thing now. Why did I say that? It was odd, and would probably throw off the mood.

But Storm doesn't react bad.

"Only if we could groom each other's," he says, and nudges me towards the other cats. We're walking towards them quickly and I can tell that the moment has made Storm happier. However, he clearly doesn't want to turn anything sour so he hasn't pushed me too far. It was like he knew my boundaries, just like Midnight did. Although she had pushed them before, when I needed it to keep myself going.

My paws are tingling, in a weird way. My heart feels swollen from playing with the muscular black cheetah. The rest of the Great Paw light, I keep looking over at him.

The morning pasts swiftly after that, and soon it's time for me to check on Fallan again and help her walk. After moving beside her shoulder, I ask her how she's doing but she hesitates.

"It's not so hard to walk on now and feels better when water runs over it, instead of burning." I can tell that Fallan has much more hope than she's had since the accident. It must be that we're finally close to where we're destined to be.

"Are we going to be there soon?" Fallan asked suddenly. I knew what she meant as I looked at her, and shifted to let her lean on me some more. She shakes her head.

"I don't need help unless it starts acting up again," the cheetah said and stretched with only a wince. When she was walking again, it looked like she was already getting used to her broken leg and holding it close to her body.

"We are very close. It should be only two paw-fulls of days before we reach it." Fallan's tail was now lifted happily, until she glanced at her leg.

"I won't be able to run ever again, will I?"

Her words make my heart ache. I felt so bad for Fallan, and she'd been the most energetic cat besides Diamond for this whole trip. Now she would never frolic around me again, asking pestering questions. Her leg would always stiffly stay beside her, instead of supporting her weight like it was supposed to. The memories of the accident threaten to swamp me, but I push them away.

"Probably not. I'm sorry, Fallan." The smaller cheetah did something I didn't expect then, and turns towards me.

"It's okay, really. At least I'm not dead. I wasn't that good of a hunter or fighter, anyways."

Anger hardened my heart for a second, but I let it go with a sigh. I was mad that this had happened to her, knowing it was unfair. But before I could say anything about how she still didn't deserve this, Fallan spoke again.

"Blaze saved my life and gave his while doing it. Hannah must be feeling so sad..."

"Go talk to her, then." I urged.

"I will. And I can take a watch shift tonight, if you want. At least I can help that way- and I promise I won't fall asleep. I can't wait to get to Cheetah Pride!" Fallan yowled way louder this time. Her caterwaul was heard by Diamond, who raced up to her and started chatting.

I turned away and Midnight was there.

"Shadow should have came with us." I blinked my eyes, knowing she was right. The grass around her unfocused for a second as I let myself be sad over the missing piece to my dream that was never fufilled.

"I know. I'm sorry. Maybe he'll come to us, like Blaze and Aspen did. For now all we can do is make it where we've been heading all along."

Midnight seemed content with this, and nuzzled my leg quickly before joining Aspen again. I touched my nose to her flank before she turned away, then announced for everyone to halt. I was hungry, and we needed to hunt.

After that, later on in the night when almost every cat but me, Fallan, and Storm had fallen asleep, I watched my sister and the tom with my head on my paws. We'd made a good distance today and my legs were weary, but I had to make sure Fallan wouldn't fall asleep. My eyelids were heavy, however.

"I'll keep an eye on her. You can rest."

My fur tingled at the sound of Storm's voice. Then his green eyes were there again, right in front of mine. His warm breath bathed my muzzle.

"Unless you'd like to prove that discussion from earlier?"

It was hard to answer. He'd caught me off guard, and embarrassed me a little. Was it a mistake to say that earlier, if he was going to tease me about it now?

"Because I sure do," the black cheetah said with a friendly smile. He was looking at me, but really looking at me this time. His eyes were staring into mine, studying them and searching for an answer.

I had to break out into a purr, because I wanted us to groom each other, too. Soon Storm's purr throbbed together with mine and he was leaning over me to wash my flank.

It felt amazing, even blissful. Storm's tongue along my spine was warm and gentle, and he groomed until every knot and tangle was teased free. I groomed his fur with less effort, the relaxation making me sleepy. How long had it been since I'd groomed my ears and tail?

"Thank you," Storm said as if I had done more than him. I lifted my head because I'd fallen asleep for just a second. Even his fur gently brushing against mine like this felt great. Like, safe. If that makes any sense.

Don't get me wrong, I used to despise the idea of something like this. But I'd had no idea what I was missing out on. Though I wasn't the tom-struck type, Storm was different... He wasn't pushy and knew boundaries, as well as how to respect those around him.

"You don't have to thank me. I'm glad you..." My words were cut off, because I didn't know how to end my sentence. Glad he'd shown up when the wolves had? Groomed me? Stayed with the pride all this time, helping me hunt and lead? Because really, it was all of that and more. He'd saved my life, waking up after I'd dragged his unconscious body so far amist the flames. And after I had passed out from the fatigue, he'd done the same for me. I was alive because of him.

"It's okay. I know what you mean," Storm whispered, his voice vibrating through to my body. His was closer against mine now, warm and firm. In fact, I found I could sink into his fur because it was so thick... More comfortable than laying on grass, by far.

"Goodnight," I said, my head dropping onto my paws. I was so drowsy but it felt nice, to just sit awake next to him with the stars above. His tail, around mine a second ago, swept around to hug my whole body closer.

"Goodnight, Spirit." I sort of wished he would call me something more intimate, but the thought dispelled.

It was gone in a second because Storm licked my cheek and nestled his muzzle right beside mine.