Sorry for the long wait! Necro was gonna write this chapter buuuuut she decided to be a butt and change her mind :P

But it's okay. She said she'll help when school lets out c:

PCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

~Kenny

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Lionpaw hadn't seen much of Swiftflame after she was declared deputy. Venomstar seemed to be trying to keep them apart, Lionpaw noticed. He said nothing about it though, knowing he had notion to complain.

But, they still snuck out at night to see each other as often as they could, and they grew ever closer.

"He isn't hurting you, is he?" Lionpaw raised a brow, looking Swiftflame over. She was in one piece, yes. But she was missing several patches of fur. It was obvious due to her skin being pink underneath.

"No...." Swiftflame said quietly, frowning. Her ears flattened, and she looked away.

"Liar. Tell me what happened." Lionpaw's eyes clouded over with rage, golden flames licking his pupils.

"Nothing...." Swiftflame backed away, staring at her paws. Her tail folded itself between her legs in fear.

"Don't lie to me. I'll ask him myself if I have to." Lionpaw threatened gently, his eyes narrowed to slits. Venomstar must've sworn her to secrecy about this, Lionpaw guessed.

"Nothing! I told you nothing happened! He just got mad about how I organized patrols and- I've said too much already!" she yelled at him, tears in her eyes.

"Swiftflame...." His gaze softened a little and sighed, his ears flattening. "If he hurt you, you have a duty to tell someone. The clan will turn against him." he said quietly, moving towards her.

"No! Don't you touch me!" Swiftflame snapped and backed away from him rapidly. Lionpaw felt hurt, but he pushed that aside.

"Swiftflame... Please... Don't push me away. I want to help you." Lionpaw said quietly, lowering his head.

"No! You haven't done a single thing to help me this entire time. All you do is sit in that stupid den and do what Camofur says. Don't you ever think about coming and finding me? About maybe actually helping me when my fur was being torn to shreds?" the she cat snapped, her fur bristling along her spine. Her temper was non-existent by now. She had lost it, and there was no going back.

"I-I didn't know!" Lionpaw argued weakly. "I would've killed him if I were there..." He shook his head. He already knew he was going to lose the argument, but he would go down so easily.

"Really? Is that why you're sitting around on your sorry rump doing nothing but follow orders? Because last time I checked you said you were going to kill him. But.... Hmm... Oh yeah, that's right. HES STILL ALIVE!" She took a step towards him, her tail lashing.

"Because I was trying to do it so that I wouldn't get exiled..." He backed away. It was his turn to cower, and he hated it. But he couldn't seem to force his body upward.

"So?! Who cares?! The clan would be much more peaceful without you in it! The same goes for my LIFE!" the she cat yelled at him, before bounding off back to camp.

Lionpaw sighed. He'd done it again. Screwed it all up again. He slowly padded onward into the forest, absorbed into his thoughts as he wandered.

Fine. You want me to kill Venomstar? So be it. he thought to himself, scowling. At the next opportunity, he would try to kill Venomstar.

At this point, he wasn't really thinking about Venomstar. All he really wanted was for Swiftflame to care about him as much as he cared about her.

He knew they could never be mates, but that didn't mean they couldn't pretend.... At least Lionpaw thought so. He knew eventually another tom would catch her eye, but he planned on scaring them away. She was his and his alone, and he'd make sure the clan understood that.

With these thoughts on mind, he snatched up some marigold and plodded back to camp. He was NOT looking forward to going back, but he was looking forward to sleeping. Then he could tell Tigerstar what he was planning, and possibly get some help.

However, when he padded into camp he lost all of those thoughts.

Seiftflame stood directly outside of Venomstar's den. The leader was with her, standing a little bit behind her. She met Lionpaw's eyes directly, and turned away from him to face Venomstar.

She nuzzled the leader, hard, but affectionately. Venomstar looked surprised, but smirked and nuzzled her back. He forced Swiftflame down and bit the edge of her ear off. "Mine." he growled.

All the while, Swiftflame stared at Lionpaw unwaveringly. This was to spite him, Lionpaw guessed. And it did.

Lionpaw's legs shook with the rage contained in his body. He stiffly padded away to the medicine cat den, unable to watch any longer. Had Swiftflame not been there, he'd have killed Venomstar in one fell swoop.

He laid the marigold out to dry and laid down in his nest, smoldering on the inside. His thoughts swirled around in his head like a tornado, but stopped as he fell asleep.

So she wants to play leader's pet, huh? Two can play at that game.