Saphira's POV:

I sat on a rock as I watched Darien carrying Serena along the road. I couldn't quite hear what they were talking about, but whatever it was, Serena looked like she was teasing Darien and it involved a couple of rather heated kisses.

Considering the approaching rain-filled clouds, as well as how Darien had her wrapped up in a blanket, he was planning to return to the house before the rain arrived. They got closer and Darien glanced up to nod at me. I knew that he had been aware of my presence the moment he rounded the bend.

Serena couldn't see me due to how she was being held and sat up to see who Darien was looking at. Her face lit up when she saw me, and I smiled at her enthusiasm. She was always so happy and cheerful.

"Hey, Saphira, how is it going?"

I remained sitting on the rock on the edge of the road. The faint darker tint in Darien's eyes was a subtle sign, although he probably wasn't even aware of it. "Well, and yourself?"

Serena grinned mischievously, "Would you believe me if I said that Darien was kidnapping me?"

"No." The hormones coming off of those two left me with no doubt as to what stage their relationship was at. I doubted that either of them were aware of how easily I noticed it. Dranek were very good at picking up subtle signs and body language.

Serena started laughing at my immediate and certain answer. I smiled in amusement as I realized that Serena found my response hilarious.

Darien was gazing down at her with a tender expression, "Trying to get me in trouble already?"

It always surprised me at how his expression changed whenever he looked at Serena, although it shouldn't surprise me considering the power that any mate bond had. He was very protective of her, and as far as I was concerned, that was a good thing.

Serena wasted no time in lightly kissing his cheek, "I am pretty sure that the kiss kind of gave the game away."

His eyes never left hers, "Very likely."

I averted my eyes politely and decided that the clouds were a safe thing to watch. I knew that their public displays of affection could easily embarrass Serena if others watched, although she seemed relaxed enough around me that my presence didn't cause her any embarrassment.

The clouds were picking up speed in their approach and wisps of rain started to appear under them. "You may wish to speed up if you want to reach the house before the rain comes."

As I expected, Darien wasted no time in starting to jog back to their house. I glanced back and watched as they rounded another bend in the road. I did not worry about their safety since I had already patrolled that area and made sure it was clear. Even if I did miss anything, I was quite certain that Darien could handle it, or at the very least he could hold it at bay until one of the Dranek heard the fight and came to assist.

I got to my feet and headed in a different direction. I quickly climbed a tree and easily travelled through the tree canopy. I had no plans to go anywhere near the village until tomorrow. Their bond was still developing and they needed time to themselves.

When we had guided Darien to Serena, I had known that the bond was fairly new from their reactions. I had sent word to the elders and they had agreed with me, the singer's mate bond was more important than the reason we were searching for her. The forests on my home world had been in decline for centuries, so allowing their bond a few months to settle was not going to change anything back home.

Until I had spoken with Serena, I hadn't realized just how new it was. I had tentatively inquired yesterday about how they had met. Serena had spoken freely about how they had first seen one another eleven days ago, and then she had gone on to explain about the events that had brought them to this planet.

I growled lowly as I recalled her story and my nails bit much deeper into the tree bark than necessary. I felt my hair start to rise up in response to my anger at what she had gone through.

As far back as I could remember into my childhood, I had heard stories about the magical singers and their abilities. My parents and the elders had all hoped to find one to save our planet, and I had shared that hope too. Fifty years ago, I had joined the search for a singer.

We had finally found one and learning that she had been kidnapped, in one way or another, five different times in less than two weeks was an outrage to my sensibilities. Everything I had been taught said that they were to be protected and treasured, yet dozens of Tarulk wanted her dead, even though she had done nothing wrong. I simply had no words to express how that went against everything I stood for.

I felt like screaming a fierce battle cry into the air as a warning to any who may wish the gentle singer harm, but I refrained since the other Dranek fighters in the area would undoubtedly hear it and come.

I paused in a tree and took a deep breath as I tried to get a handle on my emotions. The sky-blue skin on my arms was a reflection of my still-lingering anger. A visible sign as to how agitated such thoughts made me.

I exhaled slowly as I calmed myself by force of will. I couldn't change the past, but I could certainly continue to protect Serena in the future. If any tried to harm her while I was around, they would swiftly regret their actions. I was not considered an elite fighter among the Dranek for no reason.

I shook my head and continued moving through the trees while keeping an eye out for any larger predators. This planet seemed to be crawling with all sorts of predators, which was a stark contrast to my home planet where predators were few and far in-between.

The presence of fifty Dranek in the area had spooked most of the local predators and they had left the area. We had chased off anything that may harm the singer if it didn't leave on its own power.

The forest was quiet though, and it wasn't long before my skin paled to its normal coloration. I headed to the Dranek camp which was located on the hill that overlooked the village. We had carefully chosen its location. It was close enough that we could see the village, but not close enough to hear anything unless Darien shouted.

Patrols ranged around the village almost non-stop, although if Serena and Darien left the village, then the patrols shifted to circle them at a large distance. Other than myself and the five other personal guards, the others kept out of sight and hearing.

I landed on a large branch beside another Dranek elite fighter, Draik. He didn't bother looking up as he continued polishing his sword. I lightly swatted his shoulder with my tail, although he would have known it was me.

We had trained together for far too many years for him to have suddenly forgotten the sound of my toenails against the tree bark.

He looked up from where he sat, "Rain chased them in?"

He knew I would not have returned to the camp if they were not inside the village. I took a seat beside him, "Yes. How have the patrols been?"

"Quiet. The feline to the north has finally given up its attempts to approach the village. It has completely disappeared. Everything else is quite spooked by our patrols. A messenger came in while you were gone."

My ears perked up with interest as I leaned back against the tree trunk, "What information did they bring?"

"Not much. They are switching a couple of the long range scouts with more experienced ones. The main team is remaining the same though. They aren't stopping their searching on other planets for more singers, but the searches are no longer so urgent now that we found one."

In other words, other teams would keep subtly searching for others with the rare ability. "Any word of what is occurring along the battle lines?"

"The elders have sent word to the fighters along the battle line to stop the advances, although they are encouraging scouts to sneak behind the lines and search for a singer as long as they can remain unseen. All Dranek know that we have located a singer, but considering she has been on this planet for such a short time, the elders think there may be a Tarulk singer around from how the Council originally behaved."

I hummed lightly in thought, "That is a good possibility, although I kind of doubt it since they never realized that Serena was a singer."

"She has only been on this planet for a handful of days. There wasn't much time for them to notice and she rarely ever uses her singing ability."

His logic made me sigh heavily in acknowledgment of the truth. Unless we checked every single person on this planet for glowing eyes, there was no way to tell if there was another singer in hiding, never realizing that we would never harm them.

A few drops of rain hit the covering over us and heralded the arrival of the storm. I watched the raindrops as I idly commented, "Either way, I am very glad that a singer's eyes glow, otherwise our search would be next to impossible."

He nodded in agreement, "The fact that she practically walked into our camp would have helped, but even if her eyes didn't glow, the way she hummed before she ate would have given it away."

His words reminded me of something. I asked, "Did we ever find out exactly how she got so close to our camp without someone spotting her?"

He frowned in the same perplexity that I still felt. "We found a few tunnels here and there, but they weren't close to where we found her. Then again, those scrat things can apparently hide their tunnels well enough that even Darien didn't spot them. The Tarulk barely fit in those tunnels, so there is no way we can go in and check where they come out."

I watched the rain as it fell through the dense leaves around us. Serena had practically made it to our camp without being spotted, even though there had been quite a few rings of sentries between the camp and the battle line.

Not a single Tarulk scout got past any of our watchful sentries, regardless of how they tried to sneak across, and yet Serena had been nervously walking down the middle of a path before encountering an off-duty scout who had been just leisurely walking around the perimeter of the camp.

It was perplexing to say the least. I shook my head to dismiss the puzzle. I was simply glad that she had escaped those scrat unharmed and even happier that she had ended up on the wrong side of the battle line.