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In a moment of sheer terror, my next footstep missed the ground and hit open air.
The world spun around me.
The vibrant greens of the jungle disappeared as I plummeted, the sensation of freefall taking over.
The last thing I heard was Talan’s scream of anguish before the vastness of space swallowed me whole.
* * *
The sensation of weightlessness was instantaneous, the very world slipping out from under me.
Had I run off a cliff?
Had I only missed a step?
I braced myself for the terror of the void, my lungs ready to scream, my heart ready to burst.
Neither of those things made sense, as the darkness below me yawned like the jaws of a giant monster.
But before I could fully register the nightmare of the endless abyss, my fall abruptly stopped.
A sharp tug on my wrist yanked me back from the brink of the void.
My eyes flew open, realizing that the handcuff binding me to Talan was all that kept me from being lost in the cold dark expanse.
I didn’t understand what was happening, what was going on.
There was too much information, too much going on.
Gasping, my gaze met Talan’s desperate, fear-laden eyes.
He clung to the edge of the platform with one hand, while the handcuffs bit into the wrist of the other, keeping us both from the perilous drop.
Using every ounce of strength in his powerful frame, Talan hauled me up and over the edge.
My ass found solid ground once more, but my mind still reeled, struggling to come to terms with what had just transpired.
The jungle, in all its vastness and danger, just… ended.
There was no transition, no barrier, just an abrupt cliff that plunged into an infinite sea of stars.
The cosmos twinkled at me, both beautifully and terrifyingly.
Talan’s arms enveloped me, cradling me close to his chest. “You’re okay, Riley. I’ve got you,” he whispered, his voice rough with emotion.
I tried to speak, but all that came out was a choked sob.
Tears streamed down my face, the horror of almost plummeting into the endless void shaking me to my core.
Talan stroked my hair, his touch a balm to my frayed nerves. “This is the edge of the platform, our Mating Game world,” he explained gently, as if talking to a terrified child. “Beyond this, there’s nothing but the cold, unforgiving vastness of space. If you’d fallen, you would’ve choked and reset.”
I clung to him, my body shuddering with the aftershocks of another near-death.
I took a deep breath and let myself cry into him.
It was too much.
Too much horror, too much shock.
