The next time Noah opened his eyes, the dark, black velvet of the night sky had given way to the soft gray of dawn. The first thought that crossed his mind was Izzy. He looked over at her and smiled. She slept peacefully, on her stomach with one arm draping off the side of the bed. Slowly, Noah sat up, peering out the window at the deep green of the treetops, thinking how beautiful the color looked against the early morning sky.

And then, his eyes widened and he bolted out of bed.

“Izzy!” he yelped, already reaching to pull on his pants from the day before, which he’d carelessly thrown onto the floor. “They’re here.”

Izzy groaned and rolled over, clearly unhappy at the idea of leaving sleep behind. Noah went over and shook her by the shoulders.

“Wake up, Izzy! The wizards are here.”

This time, his words seemed to register with Izzy. She sat straight up and swung her head to look out the window. Noah looked out as well. In the distance, hundreds of black dots were approaching through the sky. The wizards were flying at top speed, not bothering with invisibility shields. He knew they were from Falcon Cross because, even from this distance, he could see the giant Falcon Cross military banner they were carrying, rippling behind one of the wizards on the front lines.

“Shit,” Izzy said. “I need to get dressed.” She bounded out of bed, completely naked, and started scrambling around the room looking for her clothes. Her bare breasts bounced invitingly against her chest as she moved, and Noah had to look away. As much as he would have loved to throw her back down on the bed and do a repeat performance of their romp from last night, he would have to wait. The Falcon Cross Wizards would be here in mere minutes, at the speed they were traveling. They would want to arm themselves with the artifacts and start heading for the battle with Saul.

Noah felt a shiver of adrenaline run down his spine as he pulled on his shirt. Depending on how far away Saul’s army was from here, the final showdown with Saul might take place today, even. After spending so much time searching for dragon stones and trying to thwart Saul’s plans, it felt strange to realize that today might bring an end to this war, one way or another.

Noah looked over at Izzy, who was now dressed in her Falcon Cross uniform and was pulling her hair into a tight bun. He felt his heart tighten with fear, a strange emotion for a dragon like himself, and certainly not a feeling he would have wanted to admit he had. After all, he’d given Izzy such a great deal of grief over how afraid she’d been of meeting Saul. But this was different. His fear wasn’t for his own life, but for Izzy’s. He’d only just discovered that he loved her. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her, but he knew there wasn’t much he could do to protect her in the battle that was coming. Things would be chaotic, and life-or-death situations were sure to be the norm. Noah clenched his fists. He realized, with searing clarity, that his life would not be worth living without her in it.

He crossed the room slowly, and pulled her into his arms from behind. With her back pressed against his chest, he buried his nose into the top of her hair, slightly messing up the bun she’d so carefully made.

“Noah!” she said in protest. But she didn’t pull away from him, and he tightened his hold on her. His arms fit perfectly around her, and, for just a moment, he closed his eyes and tried to memorize the way she felt.

“Noah,” she said after a few more seconds, trying to wriggle free. “We need to get out there. The wizards will be here in minutes.”

“What’s the matter?” Noah teased. “Are you embarrassed to be caught with me like this?”

Izzy let out a longsuffering sigh. “No. If anything, I’m proud to be seen with you. Quite honestly, I’d like to shout from the rooftops that I’ve found a man like you. But there’s a war going on, in case you’ve forgotten. And we need to get weapons in these wizards’ hands as soon as possible.”

“I know. But before we go out there, I need to tell you something.”

Izzy didn’t reply, but Noah could feel her breathing accelerate. He took a deep breath himself and then plunged forward with the words he was burning to say. He knew it was a risk to try to explain his feelings to Izzy right now, with only minutes to spare before they would be surrounded by hundreds of other people. He wasn’t sure how she’d react, and he worried that she would think he was crazy for saying what he was about to say when they’d only just discovered their passion for each other. But he knew that there were no guarantees beyond this moment. It might very well be now or never. Noah held Izzy tighter, and whispered into her ear.

“I love you, Izzy.”

One small, almost imperceptible tremor passed through her body. Noah wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad sign, but he had no choice but to keep plunging forward.

“I’ve watched all my clanmates find love, and, quite frankly, I thought they were crazy. I didn’t understand how they could get distracted by a woman in the midst of the war. Now I understand, because you’re not just any woman, Izzy. You’re my lifemate.”

“Lifemate?”

“It’s something we shifters believe in. Sort of like a soulmate, but deeper than that. Every shifter has a lifemate out there—someone they’re destined to be with. From the moment we’re born, fate works to bring that person across our path.”

“And…you think I’m that person for you?”

“I know it, Izzy. When you make love with your lifemate, a lifemate bond is formed. I felt that bond last night. I felt a burning in my core, a warmth that told me that I was home. That I’d finally found you, my lifemate.”

Izzy sucked in her breath and turned around to face Noah. “I…I felt a warmth, too. It was so strange, unlike anything I’ve felt before. Is that the lifemate bond?”

Noah hadn’t even realized he’d been holding his breath, but now he exhaled. His heart began pounding with excitement. Izzy was confirming for him that they were meant to be together, and that made him slightly dizzy from happiness. His heart warmed as he looked deep into her eyes. “Yes. That’s the lifemate bond. It’s unbreakable. At least, for shifters it is. You’ll have to make your own decisions about what you want, Izzy, but for me, there will never be anyone other than you now. I will spend the rest of my life, however long that might be, protecting you and loving you. I need you to know that before all the other wizards get here and we head off to fight for the dragon ruby. I don’t know if we’ll make it through the battle alive. God, I hope we do. I hope we have decades ahead of us, for me to love you and treasure you and spoil you. But just in case this is the end, I had to tell you how I felt. I had to say I love you. I know it’s sudden, and a complete change from the things I was saying when we first left Falcon Cross yesterday. But it’s true. I love you. With everything in me, I love you.”

Izzy’s eyes misted. “I love you, too. I can hardly believe I’m saying that. I thought I hated you at first—”

“I probably deserved to be hated.”

Izzy grinned. “No comment on that. All I’ll say is I’ve seen past your rough exterior, and to your heart. To who you really are. And I love who you are. I love you. You make me a better person. A braver person. I hope with everything in me that we make it through this battle and this war, because I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I care for you.”

Noah bent his head to kiss away her tears, and then kissed her lips. “If I do have to die today, at least I’ll die a happy man.”

“Don’t say things like that,” Izzy said, her voice catching in her throat.

Noah sighed. “There are no guarantees. You know that. But I’m going to do the best I can to make it through this. For you. For us.”

“For us,” Izzy repeated. Noah kissed her again, and then, through the window, he saw the first of the Falcon Cross Wizards landing in the clearing outside. His moment alone with Izzy was over. It was time to equip the soldiers for war.

Noah reluctantly pulled away from Izzy, and turned to leave the window. Izzy followed him without a word, and together they went outside. They stood tall and proud, watching the wizards fly in.

The Falcon Cross army had grown over the last several months. The incoming soldiers only accounted for about half of the army’s total numbers, and yet, there were still enough soldiers here to make an impressive showing. They flew in to land without slowing down, the gold threads in their black uniforms glittering in the slowly rising morning sun. Noah felt a rush of pride in his chest. He was part of this. He had helped build and train this army. The wizard-dragon shifter alliance had been a good one, and he still had hope that this alliance would be enough to defeat Saul. As the wizards continued to fly in on their sleek, military broomsticks, Noah suddenly saw a familiar face.

“Raven!” he said, waving her over. Izzy whipped her head around at the sound of Raven’s name, then went running toward the wizard commander. Raven was one of the top military officers in the Falcon Cross army, and was also the lifemate of Noah’s clanmate, Owen. Noah was happy to see a familiar face in the sea of soldiers, and he hoped that Raven had some good news about the battle against Saul. As Raven approached, though, her face looked grim. She embraced both Noah and Izzy warmly, but her voice was strained when she spoke.

“I can’t tell you how glad we were to get your message yesterday. Things aren’t looking good for us at the moment. The army with the dragon stones is barely ahead of Saul’s army. At this point, it looks like Saul will overtake them tonight. And his army is strong. Our scouts have brought back word that hundreds of dark wizards are flying with shifters behind them on their broomsticks. Saul has been demonstrating the ruby’s power just for fun, it seems, and every time he does his army cheers and gets more riled up.”

“And?” Noah asked. Raven knew right away what he meant by the question.

“And, the rumors about the ruby appear to be true. It holds an incredible amount of power, more than the other dragon stones combined. If we manage to win this war, it will be thanks to the artifacts from the redwood dragon vaults. Your insistence on recovering this base camp might just save us.”

Ordinarily, Noah would have felt a puff of pride at knowing that his work might be the determining factor in a victory. Now, though, he felt sick to his stomach. The war was coming to a head, and success was far from guaranteed for the side of good. There was nothing left to do, though, except keep moving forward. Noah watched as the last of the wizards landed. They didn’t all fit into the clearing, and scores of wizards had moved back into the forest so that there was enough room for everyone to land.

“Was this place unguarded, then?” Raven asked. Noah glanced over at her, but she was also looking out at the army and didn’t meet his eyes.

“It was guarded,” Izzy said before he could speak. “By a monster created from a Monstrum spell.”

Raven turned with wide eyes. “You’re kidding me.”

“No,” Izzy said shaking her head. “I wish I was. I just hope there aren’t any more of those monsters with Saul now.”

Raven sighed. “There’s only one way to find out. Let’s get this army loaded up with artifacts and get going. If we hurry, we can reach the rest of our army just before Saul gets to them. They’re going to need our help.”

Noah took charge then. He felt adrenaline pumping through his veins as he began yelling out orders. Izzy stepped up to help as well, and they began quickly organizing the soldiers into groups. For the next several hours, Noah led the groups to the different vaults, arming them with the powerful ancient artifacts hidden away in the vaults. Wizard soldiers donned jewels, swords, helmets, and other armor that hadn’t seen the light of day in decades. Noah stole glances at Izzy every chance he got, admiring the way her cheeks glowed from the exertion of organizing and arming such a large group. He wished he could take her back to the cabin where they’d been last night, and shut out the rest of the world. He wished he could kiss her and make love to her like there was no tomorrow.

Because, he realized as the last of the wizard soldiers was armed, there might not be a tomorrow.