Ry finished with the bomb, closing up the outer shell. Hell, he hoped he’d done this right.

He looked up and saw Elana’s steady gaze on him. He dragged in a breath. Her complete faith bolstered him.

“Ready?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Hell, no, but let’s do it.”

“I throw it, and we run like hell that way.” He pointed away from the entrance. “Then dive into the snow, and bury ourselves as deep as we can.”

She nodded, her body tensing.

Ry yanked her in for a quick kiss, then he pulled his arm back, and tossed the bomb.

Together, hand-in-hand, arms pumping, they powered across the snow-covered cavern.

He dived, and so did Elana, both of them scrambling into the snowbank. He twisted so she landed under him, and he could cover her with his body.

Boom!

Snow exploded. Ry felt a rush of cold, and heard rocks pinging off of other rocks. Please don’t collapse the fucking cavern.

Elana tried to move beneath him, but he kept her pinned down. He felt a rock hit his foot and he grunted. Then, something slammed into his left calf and he felt a sharp burn.

Then everything went quiet.

All except for one small noise. Clink. Clink. Clink-clink.

Cautiously, Ry sat up and pulled Elana up with him. As she dusted snow off her head, they looked around.

Coins and jewelry were raining down around them.

He glanced up, holding an arm up to shield his head. The blast had loosened the treasure hoard from the ceiling.

Elana looked up and laughed. She held her hands out and several Viking coins fell into her palms.

Ry looked at the tunnel, and saw the entrance was completely clear of snow. And a little larger than it had been originally, too. He was pretty sure Lala, the young girl—and explosives expert also known as Lastite Lala—Niklas and his brothers had adopted a few years back, would be proud.

Rynan smiled and Elana crawled over to him. She wrapped her arms around him and then proceeded to kiss the hell out of him. He tilted her backward and deepened the kiss.

“And here we were, imagining that you guys needed rescuing.”

Dare’s deep voice made Elana gasp in Ry’s mouth. Ry lifted his head and grinned.

A small group stood just inside the opening to the cavern. Justyn sauntered forward, looking around and shaking his head at the fallout from the explosion. “You are crazy, bro.”

“And you guys have perfect timing,” Ry said. “Arriving after we’d already saved the day.”

Justyn picked up a silver Viking armband. “And found the treasure, apparently.”

His brothers, and Milo and Sayer from the security team, were all wearing dark blue cold-weather gear. But standing behind them were four huge men, wrapped in fur coats and holding swords.

Ry recognized the dark-haired barbarian warlord in the center. Kavon Mal Dor. His brother-in-law.

Ry looked at Dare. “You called in reinforcements?”

Kavon inclined his head. “It’s good to see that you are well, Rynan.”

“Thanks, Kavon.” Ry stood and pulled Elana up with him.

“So.” Justyn grinned widely. “Didn’t expect to find you blowing things up and kissing the hell out of Elana.”

Elana smiled. “It’s been an eventful few days.”

Dare looked around the cavern. “Goldie and Arus?”

Ry’s smile melted away, and he felt Elana tense. He shook his head.

Elana leaned into him. “They didn’t make it.”

“Shit.” Dare’s chin dropped to his chest. “Damn, I liked her.”

“But we will collect her treasure hoard,” Elana said. “We’re going to put the Goldie Dangent Hoard on display for everyone in the galaxy to see. In memory of her.”

Ry hugged Elana closer. “We sure will.” He glanced at Milo and Sayer. “Can you guys get to work, collecting the treasure?”

Sayer nodded. “On it, boss.”

“I lost the Pathfinder,” Ry told Dare.

His brother nodded. “We found her. She’s in the cargo bay of the Sky Nomad.” Dare’s voice hardened. “She’s salvageable. We found some mercs-masquerading-as-pirates picking her over.” A pause. “They won’t be attacking any more ships in the future.”

“Good. There are a few merc bodies in here, too. Scum.”

Elana started coughing, a deep hacking sound that made Ry frown.

Justyn appeared and knelt down. He held up a medscope. “Elana, darlin’, your face just isn’t looking like its usual gorgeous self.”

She snorted. “Is that your charming way of telling me I look like hell?”

“Yep.” He turned on the light.

“I can see Ry is babying his left leg as well,” she said.

“It’s fine. Just a graze.” He watched as the blue light healed her face. But as she sat there, she started coughing again, one hand pressed to her chest.

He frowned.

Justyn clicked off the medscope and Ry saw her smile. Her eyes looked a little glazed, and she coughed again.

“Elana?” Ry said. “You feeling okay?”

She blinked. “A little dizzy, but that’s to be expected, right?” Then she looked up at him and he saw a white film spreading over her eyes.

Just like Goldie’s eyes.

Fuck. “Elana—”

She suddenly pitched forward, her body going into a seizure.

Justyn cursed. “Lay her out flat.”

Ry did as instructed, his heart hammering. “Elana? Elana, stay with me.”

Justyn pulled out a small scanner, running it over her body. “Something’s wrong with her.”

The others hurried over. “What’s going on?” Dare asked.

Ry kept his hand wrapped on hers. “Praxta Syndrome. Goldie had it, but said she was taking meds to keep it at bay. She said she wasn’t contagious.”

Elana’s body arched upward.

Justyn’s scanner beeped. “Praxta. It’s multiplying rapidly in her body.” He clicked the medscope back on, waving it over her chest. He shook his head. “No effect!”

Ry’s body went even colder. “There’s no cure for Praxta.” He pulled her shaking body into his arms. “Come on, Elana. I’ve finally found you. You can’t leave me now.” He heard the anguish in his own voice.

Justyn cursed again, shoving a hand through his hair. “Nothing else I can do. Maybe in the med bay on the Nomad—” his silver gaze met Rynan’s “—but she doesn’t have that long.”

No.

Her head arched back, blue foam appearing on her lips. He felt like he was being torn apart. Once again, he was helpless. He couldn’t do a thing to save someone he loved.

Suddenly, Kavon knelt beside them.

“I have a suggestion. My nanami might help?”

Ry eyed the barbarian. All the people on Kavon’s world of Markaria carried tiny nanami in their blood. The hybrid organic-microscopic machines gave them enhanced strength and protected them from disease and helped heal them.

“Will they put her in more danger?” he asked. “She’ll have them for life, right?”

Kavon nodded. “If she survives, they will make her stronger. But I’m unfamiliar with this illness, so I do not know for sure that they will cure it.”

Ry looked down at Elana. She was dying, and he’d do whatever he had to do to save her. “Do it.”

He kept a tight hold on Elana, not watching as Justyn nicked Kavon’s brawny arm, and withdrew blood. He did watch as Justyn injected the other man’s blood into Elana.

Then they waited.

Ry held her, rocking her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Milo and Sayer still collecting the treasure, but he didn’t give a shit about the invaluable artifacts. The most important thing was right here in his arms.

Please, don’t die. Live.

Her body was still shaking, and hope was sliding away. Ry felt like he had laser wire wrapped around his throat.

Then she went still, becoming completely limp in his arms. Perspiration had soaked her dark hair.

“Elana?” he whispered.

Her eyes flew open, and she sat up, sucking in air. She looked around wildly, and her hands gripped Rynan’s coat.

“You’re okay,” he said. “Breathe. Take it easy.”

She sucked in several breaths, and he watched the white coating in her eyes slowly recede.

“Elana. God.” He pulled her against his chest and she wrapped her arms around him.

“W-why do I feel like I was hit by a low-flying starship?”

“Try a dangerous, incurable disease.”

“Damn.” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I have to say that I’m feeling better and better every second.” She glanced at Justyn. “Did you do something to that medscope?”

Ry tilted her face back to his. “Somehow you caught Praxta off Goldie. We had to give you a dose of Kavon’s nanami to counteract the disease.”

“Oh.” She glanced at Kavon. “Thank you.”

The warrior inclined his head in response.

She looked back at Ry. “I’m okay. I’m not going anywhere, big guy.”

He pressed his nose to hers. “Good, because I’m planning to keep you right by my side. Always.”

When Ry looked up, Justyn was grinning at them. Even Dare had a smile on his lips.

“Another Phoenix takes the fall,” Justyn said.

And Ry couldn’t be happier. He pressed his lips to Elana’s ear. “How about we ditch this ice world?”

She moaned. “I second that idea. And FYI, Rynan, if we ever go on vacation, I want beach, sand, and sunshine. There will be no skiing.”

He laughed and it felt good. “Noted.”

* * *

When she stepped aboard the Sky Nomad, Elana was filled with relief.

She and Ry had just finished a decontamination program, and been given the all clear. Ry’s arm was locked around her, despite the fact that he was limping. In the drama of her brush with Praxta Syndrome and then getting off-planet, Ry had decided not to tell them he had a sliver of rock lodged in his calf.

Macho alpha males. Couldn’t live with them, and there was no way she wanted to live without hers.

She looked up into his face, the familiar, rugged lines that she’d memorized over the years. God, she was in love with this strong, sexy man and he was in love with her. Her stomach went hard and her mouth dry. What if everything went back to how it was before, now that they were safely back on the Nomad?

Their wild and dangerous adventure was over. What if everything Rynan had felt was just a result of the strenuous, life-threatening experiences?

“I’m thinking a shower is up first,” Ry said. “Then I need to check in with the security room—”

His words snapped her back into medic mode. “No way. Med bay. Now.”

He scowled. “It’s a scratch.”

“You have a rock lodged in your skin.”

He muttered under his breath. “I’ve got to make sure the treasure gets aboard safely.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Your brothers are securing the artifacts. All you need to do is focus on getting your leg fixed.”

He finally gave in, and she led him into the med bay. After she urged him up on one of the bunks, she pulled the flexible arm of the scanner over the ugly wound on his leg. For a second, it felt like she’d never left. That the crash on the ice world had never happened.

Swallowing against the lump in her throat, she focused on his injury. She studied the data filling the scanner screen, air whistling through her teeth. “You’ve cracked a bone, Ry. How the hell have you been walking around on this?”

He shrugged.

Macho men. She shook her head. The man was as stubborn as a rock. She carefully removed the small stone from his skin. “It’ll be healed up soon. Stay still under the medscanner.”

Silence fell, and with the uncertainty churning in her, she couldn’t quite meet his gaze. She needed some sleep and a hot shower before she dove into that conversation.

“You’re quiet,” he said.

She glanced up. “I guess I’m coming down off the adrenaline high.” Needing something to do, she probed his wound again.

His curse was low and pithy.

“I see you’re back to your usual grumpy self,” she said.

A rough hand cupped her cheek and tilted her face up to him. “You’re worried I’ll change my mind, and we’ll go back to our old selves, and the way things were before.”

She shrugged a shoulder. “Now we’re back…what if everything happened because of the stress of the mission—”

“You think I made a mistake? That I’ll decide I’m not in love with you?”

Her heart hammering, she lifted her chin. “Maybe. I’ve loved you a long time, Rynan.”

He pulled her closer to his bunk. “Elana, I’ve been in denial a long time. I’ve been an idiot for years. I’m not going back. You’re mine.” He yanked her closer, until his lips crashed against hers.

Relief poured through her, and she let it fuel her kiss. With tongues tangling, the kiss morphed into something hot and heavy.

Then in a fast move, Ry pulled her onto the bunk.

“Ry!” She straddled him gingerly, worried about his injury. “Your leg needs to heal.”

He lay back, one hand gripping her hip and the other sliding up to cup her breast. “Then I guess you’ll have to do all the work.”

Unable to resist him, she smiled. “Lucky I locked the door when we came in.” She reached down and pushed his shirt off his chest, uncovering all those hard muscles and sexy tattoos.

Hers. All hers.