It had been a few weeks since the incident. Under normal circumstances, Chase would have distanced herself from her mate, found some alone time, but Rock seemed to have no idea what Chase knew. Besides, Lily would worry if her parents suddenly grew sour to each other, so Chase went back to her normal self, acting like nothing had happened.

It was early afternoon, and the sun was shining bright. The snow was back once more, and many of the cats had resigned to their den. Chase was sitting in there while Lily spent time with Daisy. Rock was speaking with another tod outside. Chase wasn't paying much attention to the conversation, until she heard her mate speak.

"Yeah, caught the little fellow right at the edge of our territory looking for prey. So I did what I had to do," she heard Rock say.

"Sometimes it's just what you have to do. This winter is tough," the other tod replied.

Chase stiffened and slowly sat up, beginning to feel sick to her stomach again. Rock walked in a moment later, staring at Chase confusedly.

"Are you okay?"

"Why did you do it?" she whispered.

"Do what?"

"You killed that cat," Chase growled.

"Chase, listen," Rock began.

"I can put up with you talking about cats that way, even chasing them away and giving them a scare, but you...I can't believe you. You would never do something like that," Chase thought in disbelief. "I smelled the blood on your paws that morning, but I couldn't believe it."

"I was angry, okay!" Rock exclaimed. "I'm sorry. I was angry that you were talking with cats with Lily. I couldn't sleep that night, and so I went out to hunt where I found that cat. They're nuisances, Chase. When will you realize that?"

Chase let her shoulders sink. "It's fine. It was too much to expect from you, that you wouldn't harm a cat. Every other fox has. I know I'm different in that way. I think I'm going to to go for a walk."

"Are we okay?" Rock asked.

Chase gave him a faint smile. "I'll get over it, okay?" She knew she would. Perhaps not at the moment, but she had been with Rock too long to leave him for this mess. It was disappointing and upsetting. She wanted to cry as she wandered through the woods. She had never missed Yew so much in the moment.

She supposed she'd hunt for a while to get her mind off of things. What was done was done. The cat was dead, and there was nothing she could do. She only hoped she could persuade Rock to act differently in the future. There was no need for such unnecessary violence.

Chase walked through the woods until she heard anguished cries ring out nearby.

"Oh no! Oh no!" came a loud voice.

Chase tilted her head. The voice definitely belonged to a fox, but she could not recognize the voice. Slowly, she approached the source of the noise. She peeled back some bushes, finding a young tod, probably around Lily's age, cursing to himself and walking in circles as he studied his tail.

Strange, Chase thought. Usually only young kits chase their tails like that.

"Hello?" Chase asked, stepping forward.

The young tod froze, apparently thinking he was alone. He looked distressed, though Chase wasn't sure why. He didn't appear to have any injuries of sorts. In fact, he seemed very healthy.

"Why are you yelling?" Chase asked.

The tod slowly collected himself. "Um, no reason."

Chase eyed him with suspicion. This fox was certainly from a different forest. He had a strange scent, one that was almost cat-like, though she supposed that was because he had come from the cat's territory.

"My name is Chase," she said, hoping introductions would ease his nerves. "I've never seen you before."

The tod, though collected, suddenly began to become an anxious ball of energy once more.

"That's because I'm not really a fox! I'm really a cat! Another cat turned me into a fox! I belong to the clans!" he exclaimed in a distressed tone.

Chase blinked. That had been a lot of information to take in. But judging by all the distress, she actually believed him. Was this what StarClan had sent her way? A cat to aid? Even if she had given up uniting the cats and foxes a long time ago, it seemed her time to act as a peacemaker had not ended yet.

Chase could not tell the cat she believed him though. It would cause issues with the other foxes, considering they were not fond of cats. Rock had just killed one. So instead, she figured she could offer him a warm home in the meantime while they sorted everything out.

"My, you young foxes and your imagination. That's silly talk. What is your name?" she asked.

The tod seemed disappointed.

I believe you, Chase thought, wishing to convey that thought through eye contact, but the fox just couldn't seem to get the message.

"My name is Stone," he said.

"Nice to meet you, Stone. Where are you from?" Chase asked.

Stone had seemed to be done sharing his dilemmas. He was very poorly pretending to be a fox now.

"Um...another forest far away. I came here looking for new foxes," Stone said.

"Well, you've stumbled into our hunting grounds. Follow me," Chase said.

Stone hesitated for a moment, but Chase gave him a smile. She was here to help him, and she hoped he trusted her. He reluctantly put a paw forward and began to follow. Chase gave him a warm smile and began to lead him to the others.

Finally, it was time to work with cats once again.

…

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reading CHASE. I am still shocked how rapidly this novel gained attention by all of you. I remember people excitedly eating up in the first few chapters, and I am glad to have seen the continued support throughout the release of the novel.

In case this was not made clear before and you were confused by the abrupt ending, CHASE is a prequel.I wrote this novel with the intention of creating a backstory for Chase, who is a main character in the The Cat and The Fox, another Warriors cats novel of mine.

So, yes. If you have not read The Cat and the Fox and want to know more, I would suggest picking it up after finishing this novel. Just as a forewarning, The Cat and the Fox, while a really popular work of mine, was written seven years ago in 2012. So the writing is going to be subpar to the writing you've seen here, but hopefully the story is still enjoyable.

I thank you all for your invested interest in this story. I am sorry if it did not turn out the way you wanted it to. I almost wanted to redirect the story to really fulfill Chase's goals and dreams, but that would not be true to Chase's story that plays out in The Cat and the Fox. I had fun writing Warriors from a slightly different perspective, and I hope you all enjoyed reading about cats from a fox's perspective as well.

Thanks for following me on this year and a half journey of writing CHASE. Please check out my other works, both Warriors and non-Warriors. I promise I have some really enjoyable stuff published on here.

Keep on reading,
Maeve