Tangled

142 Lisa: Chained

The sound of water dripping is the first thing to break through the darkness of my mind.

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

It’s an erratic rhythm that leaves me uncomfortable.

The voices come next, soft, sibilant whispers. Evil. Whoever they are, they’d be the villains in any story.

Eventually, I realize the darkness is really just pain. Pain that throbs and aches in half my face. But why?

Vampires.

That’s why.

My eyes fly open when I finally remember, and I struggle to sit up, blinking into the darkness.

I can’t see anything.

Are my eyes open?

My hands won’t reach my face, yanking against

17:36

1/8

142 Lisa: Chained

something cold and hard around my wrists.

Manacles?

Swiping my hands around, I can feel the heavy, rusted chains holding me down, bolted to the floor.

Fuck.

This is…

Really not good.

Ava. Is Ava here?

I whisper, but

erratic plink, plink–plink of

the voices are gone.

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

sound slithers into my mind, coiling around my heart and squeezing with a mania of isolation and fear. I try to move again, the chains rattling like mocking

17:36 – )

2/8

142 Usa Chained

I scream, the sound

at the manacles, the metal biting into my wrists. Pain sears through my arms, but

twist, my skin tearing, blood trickling down my forearms. Sobs wrack my body, each one tearing out of

of me. I can barely stand, the shackles forcing me to hunch over.

Plink. Plink–plink.

to adjust to the darkness. Shapes slowly emerge from the inky blackness. Rough stone walls, a small window high above

in a cell.

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

up in some vampire’s dungeon like a gothic romance heroine. Except there’s no dashing hero coming to save me. No one

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the

to scream again, to rage against

magic or super strength hidden deep inside. I can’t shift into a wolf or melt into

and helpless against the

I hate this.

to Kellan. I’d hated how he was always around. Hated his grim determination to keep us safe, at the

he was here to tell me I

over this any

How can he possibly find me when I don’t

142 143 Chalice)

know where I

bitter. I let them

She won’t give up on me. She’ll tear this

Can they really go up

know anything about this world.

scared. I’m so fucking

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

thought. It’s maddening, the irregularity of it. I want to scream, to beg for

bite my lip hard enough to taste blood and focus on the pain. It grounds me, keeps

342 LISA Chamed

find me. That Lucas and the Westwood pack will tear this place apart stone by stone until they bring

have to believe that. Because the alternative is too terrifying

close my eyes and picture Kellan’s face. I imagine his arms around me, his voice in my ear telling me

moment, just a moment,

Plink.

mind and I can’t

my biggest concern just a while ago was his weird breeding kink and the biting. Of how he wasn’t great at foreplay. Of the