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

plink, plink–plink of

the voices are gone.

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

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

the sound raw and desperate.

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

tearing, blood trickling down my forearms. Sobs wrack my body, each one tearing out of my throat. It’s useless. The chains hold fast, unyielding.

of me. I can barely stand, the shackles forcing me to hunch over. My muscles burn from the awkward position.

Plink. Plink–plink.

stone walls, a small window high above my

a

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

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

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

pace, as if mocking my S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the

want to scream again, to rage against the

a human. There’s no magic or super strength hidden deep inside.

are weak and helpless

I hate this.

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

desperately that he was here to

over this any

how? How can he possibly find

142 143 Chalice)

know where I

my eyes, hot and bitter. I let

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

they really go up against vampires

know anything about

that I’m scared. I’m so fucking scared

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

irregularity of it. I want to scream, to beg for it

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

342 LISA Chamed

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

to believe that. Because the alternative is too terrifying to

face. I imagine his arms around me, his voice in my ear telling

just a moment, I almost

Plink.

fills my mind and I can’t stop

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