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?

whisper, but

that erratic plink, plink–plink of

voices

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

and squeezing with a mania of isolation and fear. I try to

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142 Usa Chained

scream, the

me go!” I yank at the manacles, the metal biting into my wrists. Pain sears through my arms, but I don’t care. I have to get out. I have to find Ava. “You can’t keep me here!” a

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

shoulders slump, the fight draining out of me. I can barely stand, the

Plink. Plink–plink.

Rough stone walls, a small window high above my head. The barest hint of moonlight

in a

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

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 coming to save me.

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest

want to scream again, to rage against the unfairness of

There’s no magic or super strength hidden deep inside. I can’t

Humans are weak and

I hate this.

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

wish desperately that he was here to tell me I told

smugness over this any

How can he possibly find me when I don’t

142 143 Chalice)

know where I am?

bitter. I let them

and unwavering loyalty. She won’t give up on

really go

know. I don’t know anything

scared. I’m so fucking

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

my head, driving out every other thought. It’s maddening, the irregularity of it. I want to scream, to beg for

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

342 LISA Chamed

me. That Lucas and

the alternative is too terrifying to consider.

Kellan’s face. I imagine his arms around me, his voice

a

Plink.

mind and I can’t stop thinking about him.

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