I was panting, heart pounding from how close she’d come. I didn’t even know her, but the thought of something bad happening to her made my stomach knot. She was still terrified, staring up at me, eyes huge. I heard myself tell her she was going to be okay and she gave this tiny, almost imperceptible nod. Like she trusted me.

Like she wasn’t scared of me.

That feeling I had when I first saw her was back. Like something inside me had been caught and lifted by the wind. What was that? And the attraction... I’d felt it before, but now, looking into her eyes, it was ten times stronger, a force of goddamn nature. When I looked at her, I couldn’t stop. Those fine, delicate features. The lips, so soft, the creamy skin—

Across her throat, I saw a hair-thin line of red where the knife had pressed. He’d marred her.

I wheeled around with a growl, just in time to see the guy run at me, knife outstretched. Hot rage boiled up inside me and I took two big steps forward, my body filling the aisle, a protective wall between him and her. As he reached me, I roared right in his face and slammed a right hook into the side of the head. Get away from her!

I knew this was risky. The memories were right there, hanging above me like a thousand ton weight, ready to descend. Fighting like this could bring them down on me and then I’d freeze and this bastard would kill me.

But the only other option was to walk away. And I wasn’t going to let her be harmed. No way. I gave a low growl, dodged the knife, and thumped him again.

The guy went staggering back, but stayed on his feet. He was tough: there weren’t many guys who’d still be standing after a punch from me. He wasn’t as big as me, but he seemed to be all lean, wiry muscle. And he knew how to use a knife. I saw now that he had a buddy, over on the other side of the cabin. That guy was struggling with the two guards I’d met earlier. Another two guards lay dead on the floor.

This wasn’t some crazy guy with a knife. This was a professional hit. They’d waited until she was on a commercial flight, the one place her guards weren’t allowed to carry guns. Then they’d bided their time until the middle of the night, when half the guards could be silently killed in their sleep. Someone had planned to kill her. A vicious, cowardly attack... but well planned. It would have succeeded, if I hadn’t heard her scream. And the assassins were well trained. My eyes narrowed, an unsettling thought scratching at the back of my mind.

The guy I was fighting stabbed at me again. I swayed back out of the way and as he stepped under a light, I got my first good look at his face. His skin was weirdly pale and stretched tight over his cheekbones. His dark hair was slicked back and plastered to his scalp with gel: it made him look almost skeletal.

I landed a good hit on his ribs, feeling my training coming back. He panted in pain and his lips drew back in a snarl. “Who are you?!” His accent was thick, something guttural and European.

I risked a glance at where the two guards were fighting the other assassin. The young guard had him in a headlock and the old guard had pried the knife from his fingers. “No one,” I muttered.

There was one other person in first class, a woman about the same age as the Princess, her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her run over to the Princess, unfasten her seatbelt and help her up out of her seat. They started backing towards the curtain that led to economy. Yes. Good. Get her out of here. The guy I was fighting was tough, but I was holding my own. Once the Princess was safe, I should be able to take him down.

The guy I was fighting could sense the tide turning. He looked at his buddy, already restrained. He looked at me and the murderous rage on my face. He looked at the Princess, backing away to safety….

He pulled something from his belt and threw it. It hit the exit door in the side of the plane and stuck there. It was only when I saw the red light flashing on it that I realized what it was.

I turned and ran at the Princess. Launched myself at her and bore her to the floor even as I screamed at her to get down!

The force of the explosion knocked me forward, heat scorching my back. Then I was being pulled backwards by a howling, gale-force wind.

I craned my head around and saw the ragged hole where the exit door used to be. The hole everything was now being sucked out of.