The storm hit with a vengeance no one predicted.

Li Peien's gloved hand was already around your throat before the first screams faded. "Stay close if you want to live," he hissed, amber eyes burning with intensity behind his fogging visor. The pressure on your neck wasn't threatening—it was possessive, a claim staked before the team had even left the safety of Helix.

You'd heard the rumors about him, of course. How he liked to mark his territory, how no one ever said no to him twice. But protocol had matched you as his tech specialist, and now you were stuck with the station's most dangerous man in the middle of a Category 5 storm.

"Peien! The relay's down!" someone shouted over the comms, static crackling.

He ignored them, pressing his body against yours as wind撕扯 at your suits. "You're shaking," he noted, voice dropping to a purr that sent dangerous heat pooling between your legs despite the sub-zero temperatures. "Cute."

Before you could respond, the ground split open beneath you. The team scattered like broken dolls, ropes snapping like thread. When you came to, half-buried in snow, Peien was already there—blood trickling from a cut above his eye, breathing ragged but smile feral.

"Looks like it's just us," he said, gripping your wrist hard enough to bruise as he hauled you to your feet. Behind him, the storm raged, pink lightning illuminating the silhouette of Vostria Station in the distance.

The abandoned facility loomed ahead, a tomb of frozen secrets. Inside, the air smelled of rust and something metallic-sweet. Peien's hands were on you the moment the hatch sealed shut, pinning you against the icy wall as his lips crashed against yours.

"No one's coming to save you," he growled between kisses, his thigh forcing its way between yours. "You belong to me now."