CHAPTER THREE

Kylie heard his footsteps as he entered the space craft through the breached hull and cautiously made his way through the wreckage. His footfalls were quiet, almost undetectable in the surrounding silence, but Kylie knew he was there.

She held her breath and pressed herself closer against the wall. She had hidden herself behind an interior support beam, but it wouldn't be long before she was discovered.

A shadow fell across the wall opposite her.

She froze and clutched the steel length of pipe she held tighter. As a weapon it was pretty pathetic, but it was all she had. Her heartbeat pounded hotly in her ears until she was certain the intruder--whoever he was--would surely hear it. She thought briefly of Captain Terran, lying on the cockpit floor and slowly freezing to death. She couldn't let that happen.

With a deep cry of primal fear, she leaped out from behind the post, the bar raised threateningly over her head, prepared to do battle with whatever menace waited.

She blinked.

The corridor was empty.

Suddenly, from behind her, a steely arm clamped itself across her chest and hauled her back against an unyielding body, nearly lifting her feet from the floor. She caught the glint of a blade as it was pressed against her throat.

The swiftness of the assault astonished her. She hadn't heard a thing; had no sense of anyone behind her. The steel pipe fell to the floor with a clatter. Her hands grasped at her attacker's forearm, clawing at his flesh in a desperate attempt to stay the knife that was pressed against her neck. Beneath the coarse, heavy fabric, his arm was layered with corded muscle.

Kylie tried to twist around enough to see who held her, but the headpiece of the thermal survival suit obscured her vision. Her breath caught when her attacker suddenly bent his head and inhaled deeply, following the line of her shoulder upward, along her neck, to her jaw.

"Mmm," he growled softly in her ear. "It's been a long time since I've smelled female."

His voice was a deep, low rumble.

Shivers chased themselves down Kylie's spine. "What do you want?" She hated the way her own voice sounded. Like she was scared.

Her captor gave a low laugh and bent his head close to her ear, his voice a husky rasp. "I don't think you want to know what I want." He thrust her abruptly away. "What I need, now that's something different. I need whatever power cells weren't destroyed in the crash."

Kylie staggered when he released her and flung out a hand to steady herself. Her mind worked frantically. The only reason he could have for wanting their power cells would be to power another ship. And if he did, indeed, have another ship stashed somewhere on this frozen rock, there was no way he was leaving without her and the captain. She turned to face him, the tinted face shield of her thermal suit giving him an eerie bluish tint.

He was enormous; a giant of a man with thick dreadlocks that hung down past his powerful shoulders. Chunks of ice clung to his hair and eyebrows, and a long, ice-encrusted beard obscured most of his face. The long, tattered cloak he wore was covered in a frozen coating of snow. He wore thick layers of heavy, coarse clothing that made him seem even more immense.

But most unnerving of all were the small, dark goggles he wore. She didn't need to see his eyes, however, to know he was watching her. His gaze was like a palpable thing, making her grateful for the encompassing thermal suit that effectively shielded her curves from his scrutiny. Which made her recall why she had come to the aft cabin in the first place.

"There's a—a passenger," she stammered. "She's been injured, and if I don't get her into a survival suit, she'll die."

The intruder didn't indicate by word or gesture that he even heard her. He had tilted his head back and was slowly surveying their surroundings. Kylie didn't think his eyes, hidden behind the goggles, missed anything.

Kylie frowned at him. "Did you hear me? I have to help the other passenger." She made a helpless gesture. "I—I don't know where the power cells are." Her gaze shifted to the lockers directly over his head, where the survival suits were stored. "Do you—do you think you could hand me one of those?"

He turned his head back in her direction, and Kylie forced herself not to cringe. Instead, she tipped her chin up and stared boldly back at the dark goggles. She knew he would have trouble seeing her face clearly through the tinted face plate. Fine. Let him see what it felt like.

Without taking his gaze from her, he reached up with one hand and yanked a suit down from the overhead locker. He tossed it to her, and before Kylie could utter a word, turned and made his way toward the rear of the ruined craft.

With narrowed eyes, Kylie watched him disappear. Her heart continued to pound rapidly in her chest. She turned back toward the cockpit. Captain Terran was conscious, but just barely. She rolled her eyes toward Kylie when she bent down beside her.

"Wha--?"

"Shh." Kylie worked the other woman's legs into the survival suit and pulled it up to her waist. She worked swiftly and kept one eye on the door to the cockpit. "I'm going to get you out of here."

Captain Terran moaned softly, and fumbled at the length of metal that had impaled her shoulder. "Shit…what the hell…?"

"Listen to me." Kylie spoke softly and urgently to the captain as she struggled to work the survival suit higher. "There's a man on board…a strange man. He's come to take our power cells."

Captain Terran stared at Kylie in bemusement. "A man…?" She was shivering uncontrollably and her speech was slurred. Her gaze shifted to some point beyond Kylie, and her pupils dilated. She made a gasping sound, but no words came out.

"Shh. Don't talk." Kylie bent over the captain's body, probing the entry wound of the metal sliver. "I don't know who he is, but I think he may have a ship somewhere on this planet." She cast an uneasy glance to where the man had vanished, keeping her voice low. "If he intends to leave, we're going with him. But first, we have to get this damned thing out of your shoulder."

She grasped the sliver with her gloved hand and tugged. Captain Terran moaned, but the sliver of metal didn't budge.

Kylie gasped in pain and snatched her hand back, staring in dismay to where the sharp metal had sliced cleanly through the fabric of the glove, to her hand. Blood seeped from a gash across the palm of her hand.

"I can't get it out," she whispered in horror. "I can't--"

"Because you're soft…very soft. And you don't have the right technique."

The deep voice came from directly over her head, and with a gasp, Kylie fell back. That was twice she hadn't heard him come right up behind her. The intruder leaned over her and with one gloved hand, grasped the metal shard, twisted it once, and yanked it free. He flung it away.

Captain Terran's eyes were closed, and she moaned softly. Blood began to ooze from the wound, and Kylie quickly wrapped it with material torn from the Captain's sleep suit.

"C'mon," she encouraged softly, "sit up and I'll help you put your thermal suit on." She supported the Captain's shoulders and together they worked her arms into the suit. Kylie pulled the headgear closed and secured the fastenings, and the Captain collapsed back against the wall with a grateful gasp.

Kylie leaned back on her heels and stared up at the man. He loomed over her. Behind him, near the breach in the hull, were two power cells. He had secured them onto a makeshift sled that looked suspiciously like one of their sleeping pods.

"I see you've found what you were looking for." Kylie indicated the power cells. "So, I'm guessing you have a dud ship out there that needs power. Considering how you've helped yourself to what's ours, I'd say you owe us one."

The man smiled, but Kylie was convinced that it didn't reach his eyes. "You're welcome to ride with me," he said, "if you don't mind traveling with a convicted murderer."

Fear laced through Kylie. A murderer? Why would a murderer be stranded on Fresion? Hiding out, she guessed. Why else would anyone be on this God-forsaken chunk of ice? The last thing she wanted was to travel with him, but she had no other options.

"Fine. Give me a hand with her. We can strap her onto that sled with the power cells."

The man turned and walked toward the sled. "I only have room for one of you." He angled a look back over his shoulder at her. "You decide which one."

Kylie leaped to her feet and strode after him. "What are you talking about? You'll take both of us, or I'll--I'll destroy those power cells!"

With a suddenness that stole her breath, he turned and pinned her against the wall. His body was pressed against hers so that despite the thermal suit, she could feel the coldness that seeped from him. He was close enough that his breath against her face plate caused it to fog, clear, then fog again.

"What are you going to do, Princess?" His voice was gently mocking. "Destroy them by royal decree? I don't think so."

Kylie stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"There were four people on board this ship. The ship's roster tells me there was one pilot, two dignitaries and one Princess Kylie of Axion traveling to the Helion System. One of your dignitaries flat-lined before you ever made it out of your own galaxy. The other dignitary died in the crash. That leaves just the pilot and the princess." He paused. "And you sure as hell ain't no pilot."

He released her.

Kylie bent over, gasping for breath. "Who I am doesn't matter." She raised her eyes and looked at him. "Please. Take us both."

He turned and gazed out toward the frozen tundra that surrounded them. "No room for a third passenger. I travel light."

Desperate, Kylie laid a hand on his arm. "If it's a matter of weight, then the two of us combined don't equal your own weight. If your craft can take two large men, then surely it can take one large man and two small women." She paused. "You can't just leave us here to die."

He looked pointedly down at her hand on his arm. Kylie snatched it back. He continued to stare at the bloodied palm-print she'd left on his sleeve. "Fine. If you can keep up, then you can come along. I set the pace."

Kylie nodded her agreement and turned back to Captain Terran. She wrapped an arm around the other woman's waist, helping her to her feet.

"Oh, and Princess?"

Kylie turned back to where the man was strapping himself into a harness hitched to the sled. "What?"

"Just so we're straight on one thing...I don't take orders from any man. Or woman. So long as you're with me, you play by my rules. Got it?"

Kylie nodded. She'd abide by his rules. For now. But once they reached the Helion System, the rules were going to change.

She'd make sure of that.