If the night had been a dream then the morning brought with it cold reality.

"The drake hive has several entrances." MacKenzie stabbed his finger at various points on the map. "We can't cover them all. Any attack we make is futile because they have no loyalty, so they abandon their comrades to death and stampede for the nearest exit. But this time we have Ella," said MacKenzie, and it didn't sound to me like he was joking. "I've been thinking, and all the nonsense we've been talking, about protecting her by keeping her out of the fight, may be why we've always failed against the drakes in the past."

While the other three continued to frown, the dim light of an idea began to flicker into being in my head.

"Bait," I said.

"Not exactly," MacKenzie replied. "But in a way, yes."

"You're insane!" Inevitably, it was Alistair who had the most violent reaction to MacKenzie's plan. "You know what the drakes can do. We shouldn't be letting Ella anywhere near them."

"Ella is right here," I pointed out, hotly. "She can think for herself and make her own decisions."

"We just want you to be safe," said Duncan.

"And maybe the best way to do that isn't to use you to attract a bunch of drakes trying to kill you," added Callum.

"But that's the point," MacKenzie took charge once more, "they're trying to kill her—not us. If we attack, even if we kill every drake we can lay our hands on, then plenty will escape. And where do you think they'll be heading? If we attack without Ella, then that just tells them that she's unprotected."

"We're not saying attack without her..." began Callum.

"Some of us are," Alistair interrupted.

"We're saying that using her as bait isn't the best way to protect her."

"It's the only way to protect her," MacKenzie replied.

I nodded. "Because with me there, they won't run away."

The others were silent as MacKenzie nodded grimly. "Drakes may be cowards, but when it comes to females, they have a single-minded viciousness that overrules all their other instincts. They have Ella's scent, they know she's our mate, that makes her their number one priority. It's not just a question of using Ella to keep them in the hive, she can get the bastards just where we want them. Ella can trap them."

"But..." Alistair was still not happy, but this time I interrupted him myself.

"And I'm small enough that I can get out through," I scanned the map, "one of these tiny tunnels. They can't follow me through there, and you're behind them, then they're trapped."

"They may not be able to follow you," snapped Alistair, "but they can breathe flame up the tunnel after you."

"Then I'll have to be quick." I said it with more confidence than I felt—it was not something I had considered.

Fortunately, MacKenzie had, and pointed to the map. "Here. These smaller tunnels branch off in lots of different directions. The flame will follow the main airflow. You take one of the side tunnels and you'll be alright."

"Move fast, as well," said Callum, with feeling.

"I'm not saying this is the ideal plan," said MacKenzie, straightening up to address his clan. "But it's the one that gives us the best chance of ending this once and for all. We don't have the luxury of hitting and running. We need to devastate them. Leave none alive."

Alistair still wasn't giving up. "But if we risk Ella, then..." He couldn't bear to say it—too many memories. "Then it may all be for nothing."

"If you don't risk me then it's for nothing." It was time I spoke for myself. “Maybe you've gotten used to the clan MacKenzie being just the four of you. But now it's five. The only way to beat the drakes is for the whole clan to stand together. That's what being a clan means, isn't it? This isn't just the best plan—this is how it should be. When the whole of the clan MacKenzie stands together, there's nothing that can get in our way."

I thought it was a pretty good speech, and it was gratifying to see Alistair's head drop in resignation—I'd won him over.

MacKenzie smiled and nodded firmly. "Then it's settled. Come on, we'll attack tonight and there's a lot to do before then."

I'm not sure what soldiers do, or have done through the centuries, in the hours before battle. It was not an area in which I could claim any life experience and not one that I had ever thought I would enter.

My first priority was learning how to use a sword, which Callum taught me with a little help from Duncan.

"Like this." Callum showed me how to hold the sword, how to make a few basic strikes and blocks, and how to use its weight to my advantage, letting momentum do the work for me rather than wrenching my shoulder every time I tried to wield it. "You try."

I amazed myself with how swiftly I picked up the basics and how natural the sword felt in my hand.

Callum laughed at my astonishment. "It's in the blood."

"Yours or mine?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Same difference."

I wondered if his proximity was allowing me to borrow his skill, the bond between us sharing more than emotion and sensation, but talent as well. How deep did it go?

We headed up to the battlements and now it was Duncan's turn. Shifting into dragon form, he took to the air and played the part of an enemy.

"Go easy on her!" yelled Callum to Duncan. Then whispered to me, "Go easy on him."

Obviously, fire-breathing was out, but Duncan soared about me, weaving and diving, moving with incredible lightness given his size. The game was for me to touch him with the sword.

"I don't want to hurt him by accident," I told Callum.

But Callum shook his head. "Duncan knows what he's doing."

And he did. I don't think I had previously appreciated the control my dragon mates had when they flew. Duncan could turn on a pinhead, or come to a dead stop in mid-air. I was also surprised, once again, at how skilled I suddenly seemed to be, and not just for someone who had never picked up a sword before in her life, but for anyone. Duncan would probably have let me hurt him but he didn't have to worry. I handled the blade like an old master, I knew exactly where it was going to be at all times, never letting it get away from me or out of my control. Callum had taught me well, but this strange aptitude I seemed to have naturally acquired was the real secret.

"I think you'll be taking a few drakes down," smiled Callum as we finished up and Duncan shifted back.

For the rest of the day, everyone prepared mentally and physically in their own ways. Duncan worked out, clearing his mind and pumping up his body. MacKenzie sat with a sword across his knees, polishing it to a fine sharpness. I wasn't sure if he was actually going to use the weapon or if the activity just helped him to focus—a sort of “Zen” thing. Callum trained for a bit, putting himself through his physical paces in human form, then dragon, then shifting from one to the other in quick succession as he raced through the castle. Then he sat down and read a book. I didn't see Alistair, as he went out for a fly. I thought that he was looking forward to the battle more than any of the others—a day spent killing drakes was a good day in his book—but he also feared it the most. Not because of what might happen to him, but because of what he feared might happen to me, and that thought made the bad memories sharp in his mind. I found myself determined to stay alive so I didn't end up hurting Alistair.

As for me, I really didn't know what to do with myself. I had done a meditation course last year and had found clearing my head impossible. Today, that problem was redoubled. I tried sitting cross-legged on my bed and emptying my mind, but things kept jumping into it; my family, my friends, the kids at daycare. I tried to focus on happy things, like the events of the night before, but that just made me think about what I had to lose.

Abandoning meditation, I determined to clear my mind with activity, but I wasn't as fit as the guys and a run through the castle was enough to kill me before the drakes had even had a chance. In the end, nothing was adequate to passing the time or taking my mind off what was to come. The hours passed slowly and stressfully, crawling by and hung heavy with the weight of anxiety.

It was almost a relief when that distant bell rung somewhere in the castle, indicating that the time had come. We met in the great hall, at the massive doors. I had worn rough, practical clothes and the sword was belted at my side, and yet I felt oddly naked beside the guys, who were actually naked. Callum carried with him a chainmail jerkin that he handed to me with a forced smile.

"I don't know how effective it will be at turning away a drake's claws, but it's better than nothing."

"Did you make it?" I asked.

"Of course."

"Then I'm sure it will do the job."

Callum smiled again and helped me on with the jerkin. It had looked heavy, but hung surprisingly lightly on my frame. I wondered if that reflected Callum's skill as a blacksmith, or the strength I had gained through their blood. Or perhaps it was some special type of metal, like the chainmail that the what's-his-name wore in Lord of the Rings—an ex-boyfriend had made me watch that when I was seventeen; it was a long night. Whatever the case, it moved easily with me so I barely felt as if I was wearing it at all.

"This is brilliant. Can I have one to go clubbing in?"

Callum laughed and I felt like I had already helped a bit by keeping the mood light. I know they were all worried about me above all else, so anything I could do to make it seem like I was cool with this was to the good. Maybe acting cool would make me feel it. I hoped so, because on the inside I was quietly panicking.

I watched as the guys shifted. Duncan first, his golden body gleaming in the evening light that poured through the hall's long windows. Callum followed him, his violet scales a sharp contrast to Duncan, as was his manner—quieter and more restrained. Alistair was next, crimson and glorious. A color that seemed to reflect his heated personality and the anger that always bubbled beneath the surface. He lifted his head and roared at the high ceiling, Duncan and Callum immediately picking up the cue and joining in.

MacKenzie shook his head, with a little smile at the antics of his brothers, before shifting himself, a little slower, but somehow more majestic. Just as when he was human, I was not sure if MacKenzie actually was the largest of the four, but he seemed it, his broad, sapphire blue body dominating the room. When I had seen him as a dragon before, I had been so overwhelmed that I had not stopped to notice the details, but now I saw the scars on his belly that matched those on his human body. I wondered in which form he had been injured.

With a sharp bark, MacKenzie brought his brothers in line, then he lay down, looking in my direction. Even without the look, I felt his request for me to get up onto his back. Whether dragon or human, I was bonded to my mates; I felt their needs, their desires, their unspoken questions. As I climbed onto MacKenzie's back, I recalled my little speech earlier and realized that it was truer than I had even known. The clan of MacKenzie did not just fight together, they fought as one because they thought as one. If I had not been there with them, then a part of them would be missing. Perhaps it was absurdly optimistic, but that thought steeled me, and made me think that this war was winnable. We were not five individuals taking on hundreds. We were the clan MacKenzie, and that was something else altogether.

We paused there, taking in the true depth of the situation, quietly reflecting on these last hours of joy together. This was it.

“I love you all.”

I didn’t need to hear the words as their responses rang in my chest like a bell.

My heart was still in my mouth as MacKenzie made for the massive doors and we dropped out into the sky in a long, leisurely glide, but there was a determination in me, as well. Some things were worth fighting for.

The other three dropped into formation in the sky behind MacKenzie and we travelled in silence. I could feel their determination, and I hoped they could feel mine. For a while, we flew, the world spilled out below us, tiny and insignificant to a dragon flying above, and then I felt the tightness of apprehension pass through the minds of my companions. Up ahead was a sprawl of rocky outcrops, sharp and unforgiving, peppered with dark caves. We had reached the drakes’ hive.

As I watched, I saw drakes flying in and out. Suddenly, their activity became more frantic, they had seen us and were panicking.

Good.

They should be afraid. Hellfire was about to rain down upon them.