Selena couldn't move. She could barely breathe, let alone think.

Her body refused to answer or even acknowledge her desperate attempts to do something. It felt like time was standing still, but Selena knew everything that was about to happen with crystal clarity like it had already come to pass.

"Jake," she tried for the last time, knowing it was ultimately futile. "Jake, you need to run, now!"

Neither of the men moved. The harbinger had cast her a dark look and Selena didn't need to ask why. Nayanors were insanely possessive, that much the Union could piece together from their limited knowledge. And there she was, trying to protect another man from her fated mate.

It felt unreal even to think that. The seven-foot-three hunk in front of her couldn't possibly be her fated.

Won't be. Not now, not ever.

"You try to defend him?" the Nayanor warlord asked.

His deep, powerful tone cut straight to Selena's very core. It carried easily through the cold air although the harbinger didn't raise his voice. She felt like she had to stand attention. People probably did when that man spoke.

Selena considered. From the Nayanor's point of view, she had to look insane, trying to protect a man who was clearly hurting her.

She wasn't a Nayanor, however. Seeing people die in front of her eyes wasn't something Selena wanted. Not just Jake, anyone.

Hearing screams from the distance reminded her that a lot of people were dying somewhere hidden from her sight.

"Don't kill him," she asked. "Please."

The harbinger looked at her like she'd lost her mind. Selena wasn't entirely sure she hadn't, but she wasn't the type to think burning up in one fire was better than the alternative. She didn't want either of them and she didn't want Jake to die either.

It seemed Jake had other ideas.

The knife in his hand wasn't going to do anything to Nayanor armor, especially when matched with a sword that made the blade in Jake's hand look like a toothpick. There was no way he could physically hurt the warlord, but there was a way.

Selena let out a startled scream when Jake grabbed her, pulling her in front of him, the knife at her throat. She could feel the cold metal pressing against her skin.

"Now," she heard Jake's voice from behind her. "We're gonna walk away from here, you got it? Unless you want to see the pretty girl get cut, you let us go. Get your toy soldiers and get the fuck off my planet!"

Gods, Selena thought.

She could see why Jake thought that threatening her was his only way out of there. She had no idea why he also thought that provoking a Nayanor warlord was a good idea. That had to be one of the stupidest ideas in existence.

As for Jake, Selena couldn't believe it. She'd known he was crazy, but this was beyond anything he'd done to her before. The knife was close to drawing blood and she was starting to fear that Jake could actually cut her throat by accident. When Jake backed away, pulling her with him, the blade did connect.

Selena cried out in surprise and pain.

The harbinger hadn't moved. Only the look in his eyes had changed.

If she'd thought he'd looked menacing before, it had been a pale shadow of the malice that now reigned in the warlord's eyes. The light gray eyes were like the epicenter of a storm, ready to unleash his wrath upon them.

Jake laughed.

"See?" he demanded. "They're not so tough. I always thought Nayanors were supposed to be badass, but they're just as pussy-whipped as the guys here on Terra. Backing down in the name of some girl."

Selena tried to pull herself free, utterly fed up with being used as a human shield, but Jake didn't let go.

The harbinger didn't move and didn't say a word.

The hovercar was right beside them now. Jake had to choose soon between keeping the knife on her and opening the door, but they didn't make it as far as to make that a problem.

Selena slipped on the ice. Before she could curse her choice to wear heels that day again, Jake roared in pain.

She dropped to the ground, crawling away from him and saw the reason for the cry.

There was a long dagger protruding from Jake's left shoulder.

It had been so fast. Selena hadn't even seen the harbinger move, but it was obvious he'd thrown the blade.

Jake dropped the knife, leaning heavily against the hovercar as he panted, trying to pull the dagger out, but it had gone straight through his shoulder. Selena watched in horror as the harbinger approached, calm and deadly.

"No!" Selena screamed, trying to dash between them. "Just leave him! Don't!"

It was too late. The harbinger didn't even look her way as he reached the hovercar. Jake tried to strike at him, going for the warlord's eyes, but he was swatted away like a fly. A powerful, armored hand shot out and grabbed Jake by the throat, lifting him into the air like he didn't weigh anything.

The sight would have been unreal if it hadn't been so terrible. Jake wasn't some skinny, lanky boy, but a grown man who was used to beating up others. And there he was, dangling in the warlord's grip like a marionette.

Jake's hands tried to pry the fist from his throat, his eyes finally going wide with fear as he seemed to realize how deeply outmatched he was. The armored hand didn't even waver and then Selena heard a choked cry from Jake as the fist closed slowly.

Selena made one last desperate attempt to save Jake, who was turning purple from the lack of oxygen.

She threw her entire weight on the hand holding Jake up, wanting to make the harbinger drop him, but impossibly, it didn't work. The warlord barely seemed to notice he was holding up two people now in his extended hand.

"Mercy," Selena asked. "Please, show mercy. He is nothing to you, let him go!"

The gaze of those stormy gray eyes turned to her slowly and the iron will Selena saw reflected there gave her the answer long before the warlord said:

"No."

She let go. Jake tried to gargle something to her, but the sound was barely a word. Selena felt tears running down her cheeks as she backed away.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't want to be with you, but I didn't want this to happen! I didn't want you to die because of me..."

All of her pleas had done nothing, but for some reason, that made the harbinger turn his head sharply to her. Selena stood there, shivering before his gaze, finally registering the cold.

It happened as fast as it had before. The harbinger lifted the sword and in the next second, Jake groaned as the blade sliced into him. It was wider than his bicep and Selena knew there was no coming back from that wound.

The groan didn't last more than a fraction of a second, but she kept hearing it in her head as Jake slid off the blade onto a pile of his blood on the ground, red on white snow.

Silence set in the world as Selena stared, unable to tear her eyes away.

"Why did you ask me for mercy?" the deep voice asked.

Selena didn't look up. She knew it was over. There was nothing she could do to stop the warlord from taking her with him. It was the last time she'd see Terra and Selena knew she'd never forget the sight of Jake dead in the snow.

"That's the thing with Terrans," she said quietly, kneeling down beside Jake to close his eyes. "We don't need a reason to ask for mercy for someone."

Selena stood, anger giving her courage she might not have had otherwise.

"He didn't have to die," she said, looking the harbinger straight in the eye. "He was no one to you, no match for you! You could have just knocked him unconscious or –"

"No."

He really seemed to love that word. Selena searched for arguments, but she didn't think any of them would sway the warlord. Nayanors simply didn't exist in the same realm of logic as she did.

"He was hurting you," the voice said then.

"Yes," Selena whispered. "Yes, he was. But I wanted him away from me, not cut to pieces before my eyes."

The harbinger didn't answer. She assumed he had nothing to say to that, considering he'd already given her his opinion on the matter.

"What's your name?" he asked as the fighter approached again.

Our ride's here.

"Selena," she said. "His was Jake."

"His name will be forgotten," the harbinger said roughly. "Terrans only live until they die and then their names are lost. Mine will live on forever."

Selena looked at him, sheathing the bloody sword on his back.

"I am Ragnar," the harbinger said. "And you are my fated. You are mine to protect now and I swear I will, just like I did today."

She didn't answer. What did she have to say to a man who thought protection was synonymous with murder?

The fighter landed a little away from them and Selena didn't resist when the warlord took her away from the planet of her birth, never to return.

Protected, however, was the last thing she felt.