Chapter 9

"I'm an animal." Riddick moved before Xander had a chance to do anything like sick his guards. Riddick had planned on this being an easy fight, but the second Xander blocked his attack and side stepped to draw the blade of his sword down Riddick's arm he realized this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it was.

"You underestimate me Riddick," Xander chuckled as he watched Riddick grab his bleeding arm. "Just because I'm a gentleman and you're, as you so colorfully put it, an animal does not mean that you will win." He circled the dais smirking. "It's a pity really, that someone like you, with your talent and power, should fall. How about I make you a deal?" He smirked and glanced over at Kyra who was fighting the guards detaining her. "I'll let you live, let you travel the galaxy looking for your next victims, but I keep Kyra."

Riddick growled, his vision going red. "Kyra's not yours to have." He moved again, swinging with a right hook that caught Xander off guard and knocked him back. He didn't like that very much. He countered with a swing of his sword and Riddick barely missed the blade. He went on the defense to avoid getting struck by the blade. He kept backing up until he reached the edge of the dais, nearly falling off of it. He growled and pushed his legs, jumping over his head, flipping over and swinging again. This time he managed to catch Xander in the back, right over the sweet spot. Unfortunately it wasn't deep enough to do any real damage. If anything it only slowed him down a little.

Xander growled and turned facing him, his sword going up, getting ready to attack again, but Riddick still had the upper hand. He ducked under the sword and drew his blade over Xander's stomach, spilling more blood. It dropped in pools at Xander's feet. Riddick smirked and kicked him in the gut where the new wound was. Xander fell to the floor and coughed up blood, it spilling from his mouth. "This is where you end." He drew his blade over his neck; cutting the cords and watching him fall to the floor.

No one in the room moved, the guards stood there, stock still unsure of what had just happened. Kyra broke free of their hold on her and ran up on the stage, wrapping his arms around his neck and pressing her body against his. Riddick pulled her into his arms, holding her close and kissing her head. "I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner," he whispered into her curls. Kyra just shook her head and held him tighter. Riddick scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the room. No one tried to stop them; no one said a word as he carried Kyra back to the ship.

He didn't put her down even as he strapped into the pilot's seat and took off. He just held Kyra tight through the initial turbulence until they were safe in the quietness of space. He put the auto pilot on and let it handle the control and stood, taking Kyra to the back of the ship and sitting down on the bed with her. "Kyra, look at me."

She slowly lifted her head and Riddick noticed her makeup had been running, which meant she'd been crying. He felt horrible. He never should have let them take her. He should have been stronger. He should have never let them hurt her. "I thought you were dead," she whispered. That broke his heart. That was the second time she'd whispered those words to him. That was it. For Kyra's sake and his own, he was going to get stronger. He wasn't going to let this ever happen again.

He kissed the top of her head and looked at her. "Careful who you're talking to, Kyra." He smirked and slowly reached around behind her to begin unthreading the corset of her dress. She just smiled, unquestioning of his motives for taking the dress off. Once Riddick one the battle with his patience over battling the strings that laced the back of her dress he smoothed and sides of it down her arms and helped her to stand so he could pull it off. Riddick was pleased to see that she wasn't wearing anything under it.

He pulled Kyra back onto his lap and cupped his face, placing a heated kiss against her lips. He pushed her back against the cot and between the two of them managed to work him out of her clothes. For the first time in his life Riddick was making love to a woman, not just fucking her.

Kyra lay in his arms, naked beneath a blanket and cuddled into his side while he held her. She felt completely at home in his arms. Safe, secure, wanted, loved. That's when Riddick surprised the hell out of her. "I love you," those three simple words whispered into her hair. Kyra looked up at him, a little shocked. "I mean it, I thought I was going to die when you were gone, I had no idea what happened to you. No idea where to find you. I thought I was going to go crazy."

Kyra smiled and lay back down in his arms. "I love you too; I think I have since we got off that creepy planet." She giggled at the memories. "We sure have been through a lot together haven't we?"

Riddick nodded and pulled her closer. "We sure as hell have."

Kyra smiled and placed a kiss on his chest laying her head on it. Riddick tightened his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. She just smiled thinking how right this was. They were nearly asleep when the computer's alarm system started going off. "What the hell?"

Riddick smirked and got up, walking over to the monitor. "I had a system installed so I don't have to check the records every day. If our names pop up, the computer lets us know." He logged in and sure enough there were bounties out on both of them, higher than what Xander had them for. "What's your favorite game?" he asked grinning over at her.

Kyra smirked. "Who's the better killer?"

Riddick grinned. "Let's play."

Four months later Kyra was sitting in the copilot's chair watching the stars pass by while Riddick sharpened his knives beside her. Kyra was blankly staring out into space, her head resting against her hands. "You know," she said, not looking over at him, "I think we should land somewhere soon, I'm getting restless."

Riddick chuckled and with a few simple key stroked they were on route to the next available planet. "This one's known for its convicts, you sure you want to land?" he asked.

Kyra smirked, one of her canines showing between her lips. "Absolutely."

Riddick smirked. "Good."

Riddick and Kyra were back to their old ways, landing whenever they were bored of playing it safe in space and keeping it down on the low. Usually when they would land they would run into trouble with the locals, every now and then they would run into a bounty hunter but it was never anything they couldn't handle.

They always did say, old habits died hard.