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

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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?

but there’s nothing.

plink, plink–plink of

voices are

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

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

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142 Usa Chained

and I scream, the sound

biting into my wrists. Pain sears through my arms, but I don’t care. I have to get

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

barely stand, the shackles forcing me to hunch over. My

Plink. Plink–plink.

my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Shapes slowly emerge from the inky blackness. Rough stone walls, a small window high above my head. The barest hint of moonlight filters through, only to be swallowed by clouds a moment

a

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

bubbles up my throat, escaping in a strangled laugh. I’m chained up in some vampire’s dungeon like a gothic romance heroine. Except there’s no dashing hero

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

my S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in

want to scream again, to rage against the unfairness of it

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

and helpless against the supernatural.

I hate this.

always around. Hated his grim determination to keep us safe, at the

I wish desperately that he was here to tell

this

can he possibly find me when I

142 143 Chalice)

where I am?

hot and bitter. I let them fall, too

Ava, of her fierce determination and unwavering loyalty. She won’t give up

will it be enough? Can they really go up

know anything about this

I know is that I’m scared. I’m so fucking scared and I don’t know

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

other thought. It’s maddening, the irregularity

bite my lip hard enough to taste blood and focus on the

342 LISA Chamed

Lucas and the Westwood pack will

have to believe that. Because the alternative is too terrifying to consider.

and picture Kellan’s face. I imagine his arms around me, his voice in my ear telling me it’s going to

moment, just a moment, I almost

Plink.

fills my mind and

how 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 slightly–better–than mediocre sex and then the aphrodisiac that had elevated it to good sex.