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

that erratic plink, plink–plink of

the voices are gone.

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

a mania of isolation and fear. I

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142 Usa Chained

chest and I scream, the

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!”

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

the shackles forcing me to hunch over. My muscles burn from

Plink. Plink–plink.

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

in a

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

a strangled laugh. I’m chained up in some vampire’s dungeon like a gothic romance

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

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to scream again, to rage against the unfairness of it

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

Humans are weak and

I hate this.

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

he was here to

take his smugness over this any day of the week.

he possibly find

142 143 Chalice)

know where I am?

eyes, hot and bitter. I let them

her fierce determination and unwavering loyalty. She won’t give up on me. She’ll tear this world apart to find

enough? Can they really go up against vampires

don’t know anything about this world.

I’m scared. I’m so fucking

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

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

and focus on the pain. It grounds me, keeps me from slipping into

342 LISA Chamed

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

to believe that. Because the alternative is too terrifying

arms around me, his voice in my ear telling me it’s going to be

a moment, just a moment, I

Plink.

least until Bren’s face fills my mind and

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