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Chapter 1

Rose was the first one up this morning, and the pale rays of the sun were starting to warm her up. She wasn't happy, even though she was currently the dominant female of her group of meerkats, the Paws. Her mother Honey had passed away a few days ago because of her illness and Rose had assumed dominance of her group, but she knew it couldn't last forever. She was strong and pretty but everyone- all the females- in the group were waiting for her to fail, so they could snap up her position, and she knew it.

Her sister Thorn was her main concern. Thorn and her little group of followers were watching her every move. Rose and her weren't litter sisters and she knew for a fact if they were, tensions between the two of them would be even higher.

As the sun rose ever higher in the desert sky, a few other meerkats started to climb out of the burrow. Rose' rather nervous friend Katie was scrambling out of the burrow, her brown eyes wide with anxiety, and Rose walked over to her.

"Hi, Katie," she said sweetly. Katie jumped.

"W-what? Oh, er, hi Rose," she stammered. "I'm sorry, I-I just…oh, I had a bad dream."

"You did? What was it?" All meerkats knew to take warnings and signs from their dreams seriously. Sometimes they were omens of what was to come. Katie had always been very in tune with the messages of the Gods and could read Sky-diamonds aswell. Ever since Sorority died, their last Night Reader, everyone had been waiting for Katie to take up the role, but she didn't seem to want to.

"Oh, nothing important," said Katie airily. She bent her head closer. "Nothing changing with you and Thorn, Rose, at least."

Rose smiled. "Good. I don't know if I'm cut out for this but I don't want Thorn to get it."

Katie smiled wanly back. "I don't think anyone does, do they? She's still asleep. Maybe we should leave her and the others babysitting today."

Rose laughed. Thorn hated children and had always avoided responsibility of looking after them. Even if they were hers she knew that she'd make everyone else look after them.

Another meerkat bounded up to them- Rose' best friend, Zeni, who was always carefree and happy, no matter what happened.

"Hi Rose, hi Katie!" she said breathlessly. "Are we going out hunting yet? I'm starving, really I am!"

"Yeah, everyone is," came an unwanted gravely voice from the burrow entrance. A darker coloured meerkat stood there glaring at them- Thorn, of course. "Can we go soon?" Without waiting for an answer she started nodding in the direction of the dunes and her group instantly began to head in that direction. Rose tingled with anger. It wasn't her sisters decision to make, was it?

"Yes, we'll go soon, but not everyone's up yet, Thorn. And we need to sort out who wants to babysit Honey's pups today."

Thorn rolled her eyes. "Fine, just choose someone, and be quick. I don't want to have to wait all day."

Katie rolled her eyes and Zeni scowled. "Oh my… Thorn, you're not going to die of starvation, you know. You can wait. Honestly!"

Zeni shook her head as Thorn's eyes flashed, but she turned her head in disgust, not bothering to start a fight with her litter mate.

Katie grimaced. "I'll babysit, Rose. I'm not that hungry today."

Rose blinked. "Are you sure? You babysat the other day, too."

"Really, I don't mind. Just pick a few other people to stay with me, will you?"

Rose didn't have to pick- a small gaggle of teenagers were bounding over. "Oh, we'll help you, Katie! Won't we, Gareth?"

Her friend mumbled something and the girls behind him giggled. Maree, the girl who had first spoken, glared. "Look, Rose, we will, and Gareth will too. Are you guys staying?"

Another three nodded, the others looked shifty. But Rose was happy with that. "That's great! Thanks, guys, that's a big help. We'll save you some food…you should take it in turns to come and grab some."

Maree and her friends instantly dived down into the burrow to find the pups, whilst Katie smiled at Rose. "Great. It'll be me babysitting all of them now, not just the kids."

Rose sighed. "I'm sorry, Katie. We're going to have to go now, we're already running late."

Katie waved her off and Rose squeaked and headed off in the direction opposite to where Thorn had wanted to go, over to the Tree place, where lots of bushes and trees grew.

As she ran, she noticed her friend Micaya close behind her. He looked tired.

"Did you not sleep well last night or something?" she asked him, slowing down a little. He shook his head.

"No, but I don't know why. Maybe I'm worrying about something?"

"About what?"

Micaya swallowed. "I don't know. But Katie kept making noises in her sleep."

"She told me, she was dreaming."

Rose had to break off as she noticed Thorn taking over the group. "Thorn! Go back!"

Thorn hissed but did as she was told. Micaya smiled. "Troubles, Rose?"

She sighed. "With her, yes. You know she wants to be leader of the group. She thought she was going to be after Honey died. But now I took over and…I can't do my job properly because I feel like she's watching me all the time."

"Chase her out, then," he said, lowering his voice.

"I've thought about that, but I'd need a real excuse. And I don't know who'd win in a fight. What if she did? I'd be chased out!"

"You should think about it. There is one way to make sure you keep dominance over the group…"

They'd reached the Tree place already and they slid down the hill into the bushes, the group splitting up for a good days hunt. Rose and Micaya strayed over to a bush to eat together, whilst Zeni and a few others chatted by the rocks at few tails' lengths away.

"You should think about settling down, having pups, you know," said Micaya, trying to sound casual. Rose looked away. Everyone knew that he had always had a crush on her and he wanted to be her mate, but she didn't love him back. He was a great friend but she just didn't fancy him and she didn't think she ever would, though she didn't want to tell him because she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"Well, when I meet the right meerkat, I will," she said fairly, sniffing for some food. "But only then. I'm not falling in love with any loners. I want someone I can rely on!"

"But in this group, there's only a few people not related to you that you can be with," Micaya pointed out. His eyes seemed to add, And I'm one of them.

"Look, Mick…" she said, using his pet name. "Let's just eat for now, okay? I'll know when I meet the right one."

Sighing, he started to dig for a scorpion. She blinked slowly. She didn't want to hurt him, but what choice did she have? Rose wanted to fall in love and have pups- it was one of the best ways to secure dominance- but she didn't know when, or how to make it happen.

Luckily for her, love was just around the corner.