The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom #1)(92)

Moving closer.

“We have to last until they can reach us in a boat.”

Her eyes jerked to the distant pier, the opening still concealed by the tide. Then to the cove where two boats had been launched. There was no way they’d make it in time.

As if to punctuate her thought, one of the sharks darted toward them before veering off at the last second.

“Shit,” Aren snarled.

The creatures were swimming closer, and Lara sobbed as something smacked against her foot.

The soldiers above began firing arrows, the bolts slicing into the water all around them, blood blossoming when they struck true. Then, seemingly as one, the fins disappeared.

“Aren!” Ahnna’s scream echoed from above, and a second later, an enormous fin was slicing through the waves toward them.

“Let me go.” Lara made the decision because she knew he wouldn’t. “Without you, I’ll drown. But if you let it have me, you’ll have a chance.”

“No.”

“Don’t be a fool. We don’t both have to die.”

“Quiet.”

Aren’s eyes were fixed on the circling shark. “I know you, old girl,” he muttered at it before glancing up. “You’ll come in for a taste before you come from below for the kill.”

“Let me go!”

“No.”

Lara shoved away from him, tried to swim, but Aren dragged her back, kicking hard. Pulling her with him.

The shark darted toward them. So fast. Too fast to dodge. Infinitely too fast to out-swim. Fear, primal and base, took hold of her, and Lara screamed.

“Now!”

A steel bolt attached to a cable sliced through the air from above, exploding through the shark’s side, but the creature kept coming as though the instinct to hunt mattered more than the wound it had been dealt.

Lara screamed again, choking on water, watching it drive toward them, mouth opening to reveal row after row of razor-sharp teeth.

The cable attached to the bolt went taunt.

In one violent motion, the shark was ripped out of the water, its enormous body thrashing through the air before it slammed down against the sea, fighting against the cable leashing it to the bridge.

Water surged over Lara’s head, and the shark’s tail slammed against her with the force of a battering ram, tearing her from Aren’s grasp.

She floundered, not knowing which way was up. Not knowing where the shark was. Where Aren was. Bubbles raced past her face, obscuring her vision while she kicked and fought. Then hands closed on her wrist, pulling her to the surface.

“Swim!” It wasn’t Aren’s voice, but those from the soldiers above, Ahnna’s voice loudest of all. “All the blood is drawing them in! Swim, goddamned you!”

He dragged her through the water, the waves growing more violent with every surge. And above, the skies grew darker. Lightning flashed in the distance.

Aren stopped swimming.

He treaded water, his breathing ragged with the effort of supporting them both.

Lara saw what he was looking at.

The nearest pier, bristling with metal spikes, the ocean slamming against it with the ferocity of the coming storm.

“You need to . . . grab . . . one of the spikes,” he gasped. “Don’t let go.”

And without waiting for her to respond, he hauled her toward the pier.

The waves caught hold of them with irreversible momentum, launching her and Aren at the stone and steel.

There would be one chance. Only one chance.

Lara sucked in a deep breath, marking the spike she’d reach for. The steel that would be her salvation or her damnation.

Aren twisted at the last minute, taking the impact. Lara fumbled blind, knowing she had only a second.

Her hand closed on the spike even as she felt Aren let her go.

Holding on took all her strength as the water dragged at her legs, her arms shaking with the effort. For a moment, her body hung out of the water, then the waves crashed into her again. She clung to the metal, managing to get her legs over and around it, breathing as the water retreated again.

“Aren!” She searched the water for him, terror filling her heart.

“Here!”

He was dangling from the spike where it was embedded in the rock. But he wouldn’t last long.

The water pummeled them again, then above the noise, Lara heard her name. Looking up, she saw Ahnna dangling from a rope above, another line in her hand. She swung it in Lara’s direction. “Grab hold!”

The heavy rope whipped past, and Lara reached for it, nearly losing her grip as she did. Again and again the rope swung past her, but she couldn’t reach it.

And Aren was running out of time.

So when the rope swung past once more, Lara lunged, knowing that if she missed, she’d fall in the water and that Aren was past the point where he could help her. But that he’d try anyway.

Her balance wavered, her fingers reaching and grasping and catching hold of the rope.

Lara’s legs slipped and she was dangling. Silently thanking Erik for every pull-up he’d forced her to do during training, she hauled herself up, hooking the loop under her armpits.

Swinging hard, she caught hold of the spike and crawled hand over hand toward Aren, barely keeping her grip as the water surged against her, drowning her with every pass.

“Grab on to me,” she screamed even as a wave knocked her free from her perch.