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?

I whisper, but there’s nothing.

that erratic plink, plink–plink of something

the voices are gone.

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

isolation and fear. I

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142 Usa Chained

I scream, the sound

arms, but I don’t care. I have

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

I can barely stand, the

Plink. Plink–plink.

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

a cell.

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

a strangled laugh. I’m chained up in some vampire’s dungeon like a gothic romance heroine. Except there’s no dashing hero coming to save me. No one even knows where I

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

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

I want to scream again, to rage against the unfairness of it all.

magic or super strength hidden deep inside. I

and helpless against the supernatural.

I hate this.

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

was here to tell me I told you so.

his smugness over this any day

he possibly find me when I

142 143 Chalice)

know where I

and bitter. I let them fall,

determination and unwavering loyalty. She won’t

be enough? Can they really go up against vampires and

I don’t know anything about this world.

fucking scared and I don’t know

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

driving out every other thought. It’s maddening, the irregularity of it.

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

342 LISA Chamed

I have to believe that Kellan and Ava will find me. That Lucas and the Westwood pack will tear this place apart stone by stone until they

have to believe that. Because the alternative

my eyes and picture Kellan’s face. I imagine his arms around me,

moment, just a moment, I almost believe it.

Plink.

my mind and

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