A/N Hey guys! I just wanted to say a huge, big, fat thank you to all who have review thus far. It makes me so happy that other people like this story :) I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to each and every one of you…I've been super duper crazy busy lately. I will definitely be working on that :) Also…I had some writers block with this chapter…I'm 100% liking it…but let me know what you think! Anyways, on with the story!

"And why did he think this was a good idea?" Falco mumbled.

When the sun had sunk below the horizon, Santana had ordered his group to head out in search of Riddick. I was kind of hoping he would leave me with the other mercs, but that hope was quickly shot down, when he tied a rope to my cuffed hands, and dragged me out with them.

"Wouldn't want them to steal my prized bounty."

I mentally rolled my eyes. It wasn't like they could drag me off in their ship, with the power cells being locked under a bomb lock.

I was being dragged behind Santana, as Diaz and Vargas were on our sides, guns at the ready. The other four patrolled ahead…If I didn't have such a bad feeling, I would have found their stances funny. They kept jumping at every little sound the desert made. Who could blame them? In the whole five minutes that I met Riddick, he scared the ever loving shit out of me. I glanced at were Luna was walking… He had gotten his hand gun back, but he didn't have it out. I could tell he was expecting something to happen by the way his eyes would shift back and forth. He had a cut above his left eye and some bruising. I quickly looked away out of guilt. I had caused him pain for no reason…it would have been justified, had my plan worked….and not road blocked by Riddick. I bit my tongue…I was still pissed at him for it.

Santana jerked my rope, which caused me to stumble. I shot him a glare, which he couldn't see, as his back was to me. My wrists were becoming raw and sore from where the rope was digging into them. I was getting really tired of being carted around, like a fucking show pony.

The group stopped and I nearly ran into Santana, as Nunez indicated we should stop. The road grew quiet, as Nunez held up his gun in front of him. We had stopped in front of a sandy clearing, with cliffs on all sides.

"Why did we stop?" Santana barked.

Nunez looked over his shoulder at him, "Something doesn't feel right."

"Get your pussy asses moving." Santana snarled.

While the group moved forward, moving at a very slow, fear filled pace, I couldn't help but glance around. As much as I hated to admit it, Nunez was right….something wasn't right.

Nunez stopped again, which agitated Santana.

"What the fuck is it now?"

"It's quiet." Rubio whispered.

"Of course it's fucking quiet."

I was starting to get a chill up my spine. I looked at the sand underneath my feet. It looked calm and perfect….really weird.

Santana growled and shoved the end of my rope into Diaz's hands. "Watch her."

Santana stomped off towards where Nunez, Falco and Rubio were scouting out the perimeter. I wiggled my hands, uncomfortably. I was getting a creepy feeling…like a predator was just waiting to pounce on us. I jerked my head to the right. Something had moved in peripheral vision. My eyes narrowed as I tried to make out what it was…but all I could see was the dark desert. Diaz shuffled his feet, side to side. Apparently I wasn't the only one who was paranoid.

"Afraid the boogey man is going to get ya?"

"Shut up." He jerked, his eyes going wider in fear.

"You know, they said that Riddick could easy snap the neck of men twice his size."

"Shut. Up." Diaz said through clenched teeth. By this point, he had a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead. To be honest, my stomach was in knots with fear too…but I wasn't going to show my fear to the likes of Diaz.

Gunshots made both Diaz and I spin around. Falco stood with his gun still smoking, looking in between one of the many rocks that surrounded us.

"What the fuck was that?" Nunez spat.

Something shot by Rubio, causing him to jump and fire his gun. Whatever it was, it was taunting the men. My heart began to race, as I began to take steps back. I gasped as my back came into contact with one of the stones. I had nowhere to go, and Diaz still had the rope clenched in his hand. Santana began twisting and turning, trying to get a look at whatever was out there. The blur shot by again, causing the men to fire off into the blackness of the desert night. Luna, who had been silent until this point, began to murmur under his breath. Diaz scowled and smacked him on the shoulder.

"Go see what's out there, boy."

Luna looked like he would rather gargle a cup of nails, but he did as he was instructed. He cautiously made his way over to where the others were still panicking. I pressed myself against the stone as much as I could.

"Fuck this." Rubio snarled and he began stalking forward.

"Wait-"

There was a loud snap, and then Rubio fell to the ground. His leg had been mangled in what looked like a modified bear trap. I nearly gagged, as I could see his bone sticking out of his leg. Rubio cried out for help, his gun going off in the process.

The mercs raised their guns and looked around.

"Riddick is here. He's fucking using our own traps against us!" Falco shouted.

"How the fuck did he manage to steal them?" Nunez whispered nervously.

Something knocked a bunch of rocks off the higher up cliff, as it went by; causing several to fall and startle our little group. Everyone turned to look.

My eyes darted back and forth, but all I could make out from the blur, was that it had fur. I glanced up, as a pebble hit my head. I had to do a double take…I could have sworn I saw shinning eyes peering down at me. Diaz yelled and fired his gun…which was quickly followed by growling. I held my breath…he had dropped the rope in the confusion. I quickly wrapped the loose end around my right hand, holding on tight so no one else could grab it. I pushed myself off of the rock and took a couple steps to my right. If I could just get away….

My foot hit something metal. I stopped dead in my tracks and peered down. There was a tiny sliver of metal shinning through the sand…I quickly dusted it off with my boot, and my breath caught in my throat; it was another one of those bear traps. I quickly looked around….the whole area was probably covered. We had walked right into a trap. I was just about to yell, when Rubio's screams were cut off. Everyone turned in horror, to see him being dragged into the shadows, by none other than Riddick. I had only glanced at his retreating form, before a rain of bullets followed him.

"Riddick!" Santana screamed. The men continued to shoot, not really hitting anything. Luna stood still, his gun raised. He took a step back and my hand shot out.

"Luna!" I half whispered, half yelled.

He turned to look at me, his eyes wide with fear.

"Don't move."

I glanced down at his foot…it was barely an inch away from one of the traps. I pointed to his foot and he glanced down. Luna gulped and stepped forward again, out of harm's way. He nodded his thanks and quickly glanced back at Santana. The idiot was firing off in all directions. One of the lights that been surrounding us, was knocked out, leaving half of the clearing in darkness. There was a yell and a sickening snap, followed by a thud. I turned to look at where the lamp had fallen, to see Nunez sprawled out on the ground, with his head twisted in the wrong direction.

I stepped away from the bear trap and continued to inch my way backward. My breath was coming out in short gasps, as my fear began to rise. My back came into contact with something hard. At first I thought it was another boulder…until I could feel the heat coming off of it. My mouth opened to scream, only to be covered by a rough hand. I was dragged backwards into the shadows…Santana and his men were too preoccupied to notice.

I began to struggle, in vain, because my hands where still tied in this damn rope. Whoever it was, wrapped their arm around my waist and pulled me closer. I looked up over my right shoulder, and into the shinning eyes of Riddick. My heart leapt into my throat, as our eyes locked. He held me tighter, as he sniffed my hair.

"Strange." His voice sent shivers down my back.

He moved his head, to the other side of mine.

"Silly girl. Trying to go on your own. Didn't you hear, that I could snap the necks of men twice my size?" He growled in my ear.

My face heated with a blush, as he echoes my taunts to Diaz from earlier.

I took a deep breath in and out through my nose. Was he mad?

His removed his arm that was around my waist, and with his free hand, pushed the hair off of my neck. I shivered again, at how close his lips were from my sensitive flesh.

"We gotta stop meeting like this, you and I."

I said nothing…his hand still on my mouth. I squirmed under his touch and he chuckled.

"Been a long time since I smelled someone like me…very…animalistic."

My breathing became more frantic…and it wasn't just fear that was causing it.

"We'll have more time to get acquainted…later. For now, go back to your clueless captor."

My knees nearly buckled. I probably would have fallen, had Riddick not had such a strong grip. He released me and stepped back. I flew around to look at him. He had that infuriating smirk on his face.

"For the record, I don't like being man handled." I snarled at him.

He chuckled and took a step forward. As a reaction, I took one step back. We were secluded in the shadows of some of the larger rocks. I could hear Santana's angry voice in the distance.

We stood there, studying each other. This was the first time I could actually get a good look at him. He was tall, almost a foot taller than I was; his body was covered in muscles and scars. His clothes look worn and ragged…but it only added an edge to his look. My gaze travelled up his body to rest on his eyes. The intense stare he gave me, sent a hard drive of lust, straight down my belly. As if he knew what I was thinking, his smirk grew wider. I quickly looked away and over my shoulder, in the direction we had come.

"Three down." I heard him say from behind me.

I turned to look at him, only to discover he had disappeared….again. How the hell did he keep doing that? Normally I could detect the movements of people around me…but Riddick was like a damn shadow. Never knew when or where he would pop up. I could hear Santana scream in anger. I quickly walked back to the clearing. A hard lump formed in my stomach. Nunez, Rubio and Falco were all dead; though only Nunez and Falco's bodies remained. Luna looked like he was going to throw up. He took a huge breath and pocketed his gun. Diaz was kicking the ground to reveal more of the traps. The ground was splattered with blood…I guess the trap worked. Santana was livid. He was cursing and jumping.

I rolled my eyes; he looked like a fucking toddler to me.

I realized my mistake, as Santana stalked over to me and punched me in the jaw. The impact sent me flying. My head smacked a boulder and I was seeing stars.

"You think this is funny, bitch?" He spat in my face.

I coughed, and I could taste my own blood. My anger grew and something in me growled. I was done being the damsel in distress, and the something agreed. I leapt up and through my head forward. I was satisfied with a crunch as my head connected with his nose. I jumped and kicked him square in the chest. It caught him off guard and he went flying. I landed back on my feet, crouched and snarled. Diaz came charging towards me, and I ducked just as he swung his gun for my head. I kicked him into the sand, and I landed on his back. I swung my still tied hands down on the back of his head. A hand came down on top of my head and clenched my hair. I was ripped from Diaz's back painfully. I began to struggle, only to be stilled by the coolness of the knife pressed against my neck. My breathing was ragged, as Santana pressed the knife harder.

"You little bitch. I should carve you right here." He licked blood off his lips.

"You really need to come up with a better insult." I gasped.

He stuck his nose in the crook of my neck. I stomped on his foot. He didn't loosen his grip, but the pressure on the knife was lessened a bit. He laughed darkly.

"There's that famous Furyan temper. I was beginning to think you were holding out on me."

"Fuck you."

"If only…" he mumbled.

I didn't have a lot of time to mull that statement over, as he brought the hilt of the knife down on the back of my skull. Right before I lost consciousness, I could have sworn I heard an animal growling, deep inside my mind.

A/N She's finally standing up for herself! Yay! Are you guys as happy about that, as I am? I am so glad that Reana is starting to discover her animal side (muahaha) and who doesn't like a little more Riddick? Anywhoo, don't forget to leave me your thoughts. Thank you to all who have reviewed, favorite and followed. Means the world to me :)