Mated To My Mate's Worst Enemy (ARIA) novel Chapter 245

Chapter 245

Chapter 245

Chapter 245

IVORY

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“Yes,” I confirmed, not slowing our pace. “Keep moving. Whatever’s down there, we don’t want to give it opportunities to reach us.”

We crossed another narrow bridge, this one barely eight inches wide and crumbling at both ends. I made it across and turned to watch Aria navigate it.

She was halfway across when disaster struck.

The bridge gave way beneath her feet.

There was no warning so she could jump to safety. Just the ground underneath her was suddenly absent, the stone crumbling into nothing, her body dropping straight down into the trench with nothing to arrest her fall.

Her hand shot out reflexively, fingers scrabbling for purchase on the edge of the gap. She caught it-barely, her grip tenuous on stone that was also crumbling, that wouldn’t hold her weight for more than seconds.

“Ivory!” Her voice was strained with effort and pain as her injured abdomen protested the sudden violent movement of catching herself.

I was already moving, dropping to my knees at the edge of the gap, reaching for her with my good arm. My injured arm I kept braced against the ground, using it for stability despite the pain that shot through it.

“I’ve got you!” I said, my fingers closing around her wrist. “Hold on!”

But even as I said it, I knew we had a problem. Aria’s grip on the crumbling edge was failing. I could feel her fingers slipping, could see the store breaking away beneath her hand. And her weight combined with my leverage position meant I couldn’t simply haul her back up-I’d need both arms for that kind of pull, and my injured arm wasn’t capable of bearing that much load.

Below her, something moved in the darkness. I couldn’t see it clearly but I heard it-scales scraping against stone, something massive repositioning itself. Another serpent maybe, or some other enhanced creature the Ghost Counc had placed down there to ensure that falling meant death.

“Can

you climb?” I asked desperately, looking for any handholds she might use to help herself up.

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Chapter 245

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“The walls are smooth,” Aria gasped, her legs kicking uselessly against the stone. “There’s nothing to-”

The edge she was gripping crumbled further. She dropped another few inches before catching a new grip, her face contorting with pain as the movement wrenched her wounded abdomen.

Behind me, I heard new sounds. The earth manipulation accelerating again, responding to the crisis maybe or just following its programmed pattern. The trenches were widening rapidly now, the bridges disappearing at visible speed. In seconds, there wouldn’t be a path forward or back. We’d be stranded in a collapsing maze with Aria dangling over a pit containing unknown threats.

I had to make a choice. Pull her up using my injured arm despite knowing the damage that would cause, risking permanent injury to save her now. Or find another solution in the next few seconds before the choice was taken away from us entirely.

“Aria,” I said, forcing calm into my voice despite the panic trying to override rational thought.

“Listen to me. Can you swing? Build momentum and swing yourself toward that section-” I pointed with my chin toward a wider section of bridge to our left, still intact for the moment, “—and I’ll pull you that direction. We’ll land together and keep moving.”

“I can’t,” Aria said, her voice breaking. “My grip is failing. I can’t—”

“You can,” I interrupted firmly. “You didn’t survive everything we’ve been through to die falling into a trench. Now swing. That’s an order!

Something in my tone must have gotten through because Aria started moving her legs, building small swinging momentum. It wasn’t much-she didn’t have the strength or the grip security for large movements-but it was something.

I used it. Timed my pull to her swing, adding my strength to her momentum, dragging her sideways as much as up. My injured arm screamed in protest but I ignored it, focused entirely on the single goal of getting Aria to solid ground.

We tumbled onto the wider bridge together, laning in a heap of tangled limbs and pain. My arm was on fire, possibly re-torn, definitely worse than it had been. Aria was gasping, clutching her abdomen where blood was seeping through the bandaging-the violent movement had reopened something.

But we were both on solid ground. Both alive. Both capable of continuing.

“Get up,” I commanded, pushing myself to my feet despite every protest from my body. “The maze is closing. We have to reach the center now or we’ll be trapped.”

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