Ry moved into a crouch, his muscles bunching as he watched the pirate ship. “We need to get it lower.”

Elana shifted, the boomer clutched securely in her hand. “You get it lower and then we’ll take the bastard down.”

He stared into her face, a face he knew as well as his own. He trusted this woman with his life and he felt something shift inside him. He nodded and then broke out of cover.

Ry powered down the slick street, dodging broken ruins and rocks. The pirates spotted him, the small ship jerking around and swooping in on him.

Yeah, come on, asshole. We have plans for you.

The ship dropped lower, but not low enough yet. Ry dodged around a statue, then leaped over a huge boulder. Laser fire sprayed the ground. He dived and rolled, and when he came back onto his feet, he spotted movement to his left.

Elana ran gracefully, but quick as a Raakhar gazelle. She was watching the ship, the boomer ready.

Time to end this. Ry veered off, aiming for a large statue. He leaped onto it, trying to find purchase on the slick surface. As he climbed up, he found himself face to face with a giant eye, and for a fraction of a second, he wondered who the hell had called this icy rock home.

He pushed up, balanced on the top of the statue. Hands by his sides, he turned his head, his gaze zeroing in on the pirate ship.

“Yeah, over here, you bastard.” Ry stared at the tinted glass of the cockpit. “Come and get me.”

The ship changed directions, aiming right at Ry. It descended until it was coming in directly at him.

Ry’s lips moved into a grim smile. “Got you.”

As laser fire erupted from the ship, Ry leaped off the statue, arms held out at his sides. He hit the icy ground, bending his knees as he slid to a stop.

“Elana!” He knelt down and held his hands out, cupped together.

She aimed right for him, sprinting fast.

Ry didn’t look up, but he felt the pirate ship moving in above him. He felt the hot gust of air it kicked up and heard the roar of the engines. He imagined its laser canon swiveling to take aim.

Elana didn’t slow down, trusting him implicitly. Her boot hit his gloved palms and he tossed her upward.

She flew into the air, throwing her arms above her head. God, she was something.

She slapped the boomer against the ship’s hull and then she was dropping. She hit the ground, rolled, and skidded to a stop.

There was a muffled thwump. Ry reached Elana’s side, gripping her arm. They watched smoke billow out of the side of the pirate ship.

It tilted like a drunken crewman before it wobbled crazily. Together, they watched it fly sideways, heading back out over the snow plain.

“Yes!” Elana punched a fist into the air and looked up at him. She jammed a celebratory elbow into his side.

Ry grinned. Damn, she was gorgeous.

The air between them changed, filling with something charged. He wanted to grab her and pull her in for a hard kiss.

His hands curled into fists and he watched shutters slam down over her eyes.

The elation and shared trust between them morphed into a chasm. One Ry wasn’t sure how to span. For the first time in his life, he wished he was good with words and emotions.

Elana cleared her throat. “We’d better get back to Goldie and Arus.”

* * *

“Well, that was exciting.” Goldie dusted off her trousers as Elana helped her out of her hiding place. “Nothing like a firefight with a starship to get the blood pumping.”

Elana smiled through her churning emotions. It seemed nothing could dampen Goldie’s spirits.

But as she helped a rattled Arus up, she heard Goldie cough—a harsh hacking sound. Elana frowned. That didn’t sound good. She made a mental note to check the woman over once they were safe.

“Too much excitement.” Arus muttered as he slipped an arm around Goldie.

“You can never have too much excitement, my boy.” She smiled at Elana. “You and Phoenix make a hell of a team. Shame you’re leaving after this trip.”

Elana tucked a strand of hair back under the hood of her coat. “We’ve worked together a long time. We know each other’s moves.”

Goldie tilted her head. “Sometimes when things are right in front of us for so long, we go blind.”

Elana frowned, trying to work out what Goldie was saying. Ry strode up.

“These ruins don’t offer much in the way of cover. We can’t stay here.”

“But they are simply fascinating.” Arus wandered closer to a giant statue. “I don’t detect any Earth influence. They seem to be very ancient.”

“You think people were living here when the Ventura crashed?” Elana asked.

Arus circled the statue, his handsome face lost in thought. “I’d need to do more study, but my gut says that these are older than even the Ventura.”

“Why would anyone want to live on such an unforgiving planet?” Goldie mused.

Ry put his hands on his hips. “My guess is that this place wasn’t always so cold. Look at these carvings.” He pointed to a slab of fallen rock.

They had artwork engraved on them and a sheet of ice covering it, almost like protective glass. Elana frowned. “Crops. In the pictures, they’re growing crops.”

Ry nodded. “My guess is that there was once a thriving culture here, but the climate changed and destroyed their civilization.”

Elana stared across the broken remains of the settlement. It made her sad to think of a once-thriving culture destroyed under the snow and ice.

Movement out of the corner of her eye made her tense and spin. She stared at a nearby hunk of rock. Nothing moved.

She frowned. Maybe she was starting to imagine things.

Another movement.

A small creature peered around the rock, curious blue eyes set in a white face. Elana gasped. “Look.”

Goldie made a happy noise. “Oh, hello there, little guy.”

The creature was about the size of a dog. It slunk toward them, staying low and cautious. Stars, it was incredible. It wasn’t covered in fur, but instead was covered in small icicles of white-blue ice.

Beep. “It doesn’t have a heat signature.”

The creature froze at the noise. Elana saw Ry had a scanner out.

“I don’t think he’s going to hurt us.” Elana took in the cute button nose and brilliant blue eyes. The animal seemed incredibly cautious, afraid almost.

“It’s made of ice,” Arus breathed. “Amazing.”

The creature moved, the faint light catching on its icy body. Inside, she saw the flicker of functioning organs.

Goldie held a hand out and stepped forward, but the animal backed up, then turned and ran. Within seconds, it disappeared into the ruins.

Ry slipped the scanner away. “Come on. We need to get to the mountains and find decent shelter.” He looked up. “There’s a storm coming.”

Elana hitched the straps of her backpack higher and set off. “I know I’d prefer a warm tent and a hot drink.”

Goldie snorted. “I want a hot bath and a hard, hot body beside me.”

A startled laugh escaped Elana. Arus was grinning and even Ry was smiling.

“Can’t help you with those, Goldie,” Ry said, striding ahead.

“You sure, young Phoenix?”

Elana watched the older woman’s bold gaze run down Ry’s body and Elana swallowed a laugh.

“I’m sure,” Ry replied firmly.

They left the ruins behind and soon Elana found herself knee-deep in snow again. Ugh. She’d always loved visiting the icy planets her ice-mining family had mined on, but she realized a quick visit for the odd snowball fight was not the same as being stranded in the frigid ice and snow.

Her chest tightened. She was certain Dare and the others would find them. Pretty certain.

They trekked on and Ry’s prediction turned out to be right. Snow started to fall.

It wasn’t too bad, at first. For a second, Elana even thought the big, fat snowflakes were pretty. But as the flurry started to thicken and the wind turned even colder, her gut churned. They weren’t going to make it to the mountain range. They needed shelter soon.

Finally, they reached the foothills at the base of the mountains. By now, she could barely see more than a few meters ahead. At her feet, dark rocks poked up through the snow, and she maneuvered around them.

Ry paused, gloved hands on his hips, and studied the terrain as best he could. “We’ll set up the tents on this side of that hill.” He pointed. “It’ll give us a bit of protection from the wind.”

She knew what he wasn’t saying. They couldn’t be choosy. They needed to get out of the wind and snow before they froze to death.

Ry and Elana got to work, quickly erecting the first good-sized survival tent. Thankfully, the things practically put themselves up. While Ry scooped snow around the perimeter of the tent to both anchor it and insulate it, Elana helped Goldie and Arus inside. Lines of exhaustion marred both of their faces.

“Now, you both have sleeping bags in your packs, and food,” she told them.

“Don’t go heavy on the food,” Ry warned. “We need to ration it. We don’t know how long it will be before we’re rescued.”

Goldie nodded her head tiredly. “Do you think the pirates will follow us?”

“Not in this storm,” Ry answered.

“Get some rest,” Elana said, fastening the tent closed.

With the wind tearing at their clothes and biting at the exposed skin on their faces, she and Ry quickly erected and anchored their tent. When they ducked inside, the howl of the wind instantly decreased to a dull roar.

The tent was fairly generous, but Ry’s big form dominated the space. He dropped down, sliding off his pack and laser rifle.

“Get a warm drink into you.” He held a small pack out to her.

Elana sat and cracked the small survival pack, feeling it instantly begin to warm up between her hands. She tore open the top and sipped. Hot chocolate. Perfect.

It wasn’t long before the small space warmed up. She knew the tent was made of a high-tech fabric that kept the heat in, and actually generated some heat of its own. She’d help Ry pick them out when he’d re-stocked the Pathfinder a few months back.

Not that she’d imagined they’d be using them anytime soon.

Ry clicked on a small light, before pulling a bundle from his pack and setting it on the floor. He opened the bundle, revealing the broken remains of the beacon. He selected a multitool, and got to work, trying to piece the device back together.

The temperature in the tent got warmer, and soon they were both able to shed their coats and cold-weather trousers. Elana dug in her pack for some food rations and held one packet out to him.

He grunted and took it, gobbling the contents up in a few bites. Elana picked at hers, watching as he worked on the beacon.

“Fuck.” Rynan muttered a string of curses. He tossed his multitool on the floor of the tent, and it bounced twice. Her gaze flicked up to meet his. His eyes were stormier than the snowsquall outside.

“I can’t fucking remember how to fix this.” He pressed his palms to his eyes.

“Take it easy, Ry. We just crashed, trekked through thick snow, and evaded a pirate ship intent on gunning us down. I think you deserve a rest.”

“Resting won’t get us off this hunk of ice.” He shook his head angrily and looked at her. “Guess you won’t be leaving the convoy quite as soon as you wanted.”

“That’s not really important right now.”

“No, I guess it isn’t.” Frustration crossed his face and he looked like he wanted to say something. Then his face went blank. He tossed back the rest of his food and drink, and shot to his feet, his head brushing the roof of the tent. He grabbed his gear and started yanking it back on. “I’m going to check on Goldie and Arus.”

A second later, he unfastened the opening. A blast of icy wind rushed inside, as he ducked out.

Once he was gone, Elana pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead on her them.

Apparently, Rynan Phoenix preferred the frigid snow to her.