Oriel woke up with a start. She sat up quickly and looked around her. Tassian was still sound asleep next to her, his hand resting on her leg now. The forest was pitch black around them, the fire had gone out a while ago. 

The sun should be rising soon, she thought to herself. We slept too long.

Looking over at Tassian, she shook him awake. He rubbed his eyes as he looked up at her. "What's wrong?" He sat up beside her. 

She needed his eyes right now. She knew that he could see better in the dark and she needed him to look for her. Oriel knew that something was wrong. Her danger radar was kicking in. Someone was here, watching them. 

"There's someone here," she whispered to him. She looked over to where Borus and Draya were supposed to be keeping watch. She heard a low, annoyed growl come out of Tassian beside her. They were both fast asleep. 

'Where are they?" Tassian whispered to her. 

Oriel shook her head. "I don't know. It feels like they're surrounding us."

Tassian kept his eyes on the forest around them. "You're just feeling one person?"

Oriel nodded. He stood up and held a hand out to her to pull her up next to him. She still couldn't control her wings. They weren't responsive to her. She was starting to think that being able to feel one person surrounding them was caused by her mind. Whoever is trying to control her mind is making her feel this presence. 

She unsheathed her swords. "I'm going to wake up Borus and Draya." She walked away from him as he unsheathed his swords as well. Oriel stalked over to the two people and nudged them with her foot. 

Borus and Draya both woke up with a start. Borus looked up at her as he crossed his arms, annoyed. "Why'd you wake us up? I was having a good dream."

Oriel rolled her eyes. "Someone's here." Draya didn't waste any time getting up. Oriel nudged Borus' foot again. "Get up." She turned away from them and walked back over to Tassian. 

Tassian shook her head at him. "Eagle, I'm not finding anyone. Are you sure you're feeling someone?" 

Oriel nodded. She was starting to get annoyed at herself. What if she was just imagining it? She was starting to not trust what was going on with her body. She was starting to get scared. "I feel one person, but that one person is surrounding us." She turned around. "I have no idea where they are." She turned back towards Tassian and pleaded with him. "There's someone here, Tassian. I don't know where, but they're here."

Tassian placed his forehead against hers. "I believe you, Eagle."

"What if my mind is breaking and no one's there?" her voice shook.

"Eagle," Tassian sighed. "If you feel there's someone out there, I will not doubt you."

Oriel nodded as that feeling of someone's presence came closer. She pulled back from Tassian to look to her right. "They're getting closer."

Tassian slightly stepped in front of her and gripped his swords tighter. The forest was eerily quiet. The birds, the insects, and the animals were quiet. Nothing stirred. Nothing moved. Goosebumps formed on Oriel's skin. 

A cracking sound came from the forest in front of them, and an arrow shot through the air towards them. They both jumped out of the way before it could hit either one of them. Oriel spun on her knee and balanced herself. She looked across from her to see Tassian standing up and ready to fight. She reached out and felt a presence in front of Tassian, but another one behind her. A presence she hadn't felt before. 

Spinning around quickly, she met swords with a woman who she recognized; Xara. Her golden eyes shined as she cocked her head to the side. "You know, Oriel," her voice flowed over her. "I don't want to do this."

Oriel pushed back against her causing enough space between them. She widened her stance and held up her swords. "Why are you doing this, Xara?"

Xara nodded behind Oriel. "Dyso asked for my help." She lunged towards Oriel as Oriel jumped out of the way and slid one of her swords against Xara's arm, causing a thin cut through her sleeve. Xara looked down at her sleeve and huffed, annoyed. "You need to go back to our Queen, Oriel." Xara stood up straight. "I don't want to fight you. I have no reason to fight you. Just cooperate."

Oriel kept her stance firm as she rolled her eyes at Xara. "Queen Krathys will kill us once either one of us steps into that throne room."

Xara shrugged. "Probably."

Oriel furrowed her eyebrows together. She looked behind Xara briefly and saw Tassian fighting Dyso and another lizard man she's never seen before. She wanted to go and help him, but she needed to take care of Xara before she went to help him. Xara stepped forward as Oriel took a step back. She was hoping that Borus and Draya would stay out of the way for now.

Two black figures ran from the corner of her eye. She turned her head to watch two panthers with golden eyes ran on either side of Tassian. She watched with horror as one of them snapped at his hand, missing it by an inch. 

"Tassian!" Oriel tried to run past Xara but her foot collided with Oriel's chest and sent her flying on her back. Oriel clutched at her chest as she tried to get air back into her lungs. Her swords had flown and landed a little ways away from her. When she tried to reach for them, Xara came behind her and locked her with her sword at her neck. 

Xara bent down and spoke in her ear, "Watch your lover have a dance with my panthers." Xara chuckled. "You'll understand soon why we're here." Xara maneuvered Oriel's head to force her to watch. 

Tassian was now just fighting off the two panthers. Dyso and the other man were circling them. Dyso's eyes were psychotic with the other man's eyes looked bored. Oriel watched with wide eyes as one of the panthers latched itself onto Tassian's shoulder and pulled him down. Her heart broke as she heard Tassian scream out in pain. 

"Please," Oriel begged Xara. "Call off your panthers." She swallowed. "I'll let you take me to the Queen. Please, call them off."

Xara chuckled deeply. "I can't do that, Oriel. We can't risk Tassian following us and causing us problems. He won't leave your side. He won't let anyone else touch you. This is the only way for Dyso to get what he wants."

Oriel's eyes widened even more as she figured out what they were after. His ring. She watched as the other panther latched itself on his hand and began to shake his head back and forth. Oriel started to scream at the top of her lungs. Tears flowed out of her eyes. She felt helpless watching Tassian suffer. Watching Tassian get taken apart by a panther. 

Suddenly, the ground beneath them started to shake violently. Xara pushed away from Oriel as she continued to scream. Oriel slammed her hands down on the ground and caused a crack to form. Her tears flowed heavier as she screamed harder. The crack on the ground stretched over to Tassian and grew open. It swallowed the panther trying to tear the ring off of Tassian's hand before closing. When the earth closed, Oriel stopped screaming.

Suddenly, Borus came from the forest with two small daggers and ran off the other panther, Dyso, and the lizard man. Dyso locked eyes with Oriel before disappearing back into the woods. 

Behind Oriel, Xara was screaming. She lunged at Oriel before stopping slightly. "What did you do?" Golden tears were flowing from her eyes. "Bring my baby back!"

Oriel felt no remorse for having the earth swallow the panther. She wasn't sure how she did that, but she wasn't going to bring that panther back. She looked at Xara coldly. Heat radiated from her hands and she looked down to see flames settling on her hands. Looking back up at Xara, she spits, "No. Get. Away. From. Us."

Xara had a mixture of hurt and anger in her eyes. She looked like she was going to attack Oriel, but decided against it. She turned and ran after her last panther back into the woods. 

Oriel waited for a couple of seconds before running towards Tassian. She dropped to her knees before him and started to cry again. His left shoulder was bleeding heavily. She knew that it would take a while for those bite marks to heal properly. She swallowed as she looked over at his hand. Bite marks covered his hand, but somehow the finger that held the ring was still intact. She could already see the wounds healing on his hand. 

"Eagle," she heard Tassian whisper to her. She looked over at him and smiled as she cupped his face. "I'm alright, Eagle." He tried to get up and winced. Oriel quickly threw his good shoulder over hers and helped him stand up. Borus ran back over to them from coming out of the forest and took Oriel's place. 

Draya came over to Oriel's side and wrapped her arm around hers. Oriel looked over at her and saw a mixture of fear and anger on her face. All Oriel felt in her mind, chest, and heart was anger. Dyso did this to them. Dyso convinced Xara to participate in his sick game. Dyso was the one who convinced her to use her panthers to try to maul Tassian. She wasn't going to forgive this. She wasn't going to forget this. She wanted revenge. When she looked back over at Tassian she knew he was feeling the same inside. The look he was giving her told her everything. 

"We'll wait for your wounds to heal, Tassian," Oriel started, her voice strong and unwavering. "After that, we're going hunting."

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Author note: Thank you so much for reading this chapter and being patient while I was writing! If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a vote or comment!