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

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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?

whisper, but there’s

that erratic plink, plink–plink of something dripping.

voices

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

of isolation and fear. I try to move

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142 Usa Chained

I scream, the sound

Pain sears through my arms, but I don’t care. I have to get out. I have to find Ava. “You can’t

body, each one tearing out

shoulders slump, the fight draining out of me. I can barely stand, the shackles forcing me to hunch over. My muscles burn from the

Plink. Plink–plink.

emerge from the inky blackness. Rough stone walls, a small window high above

in a cell.

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

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. No one even

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of

want to scream again, to rage against the unfairness

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

Humans are weak and helpless against the

I hate this.

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

he was here to tell me I told

his smugness over this any day of the

how? How can he possibly find me

142 143 Chalice)

know where I am?

and bitter. I let them fall,

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

it be enough? Can they really

know

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

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

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

don’t. I bite my lip hard enough to taste blood and focus on the pain. It grounds me,

342 LISA Chamed

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

believe that. Because the

I imagine his arms around me, his voice in my ear

just a moment, I

Plink.

my mind and I can’t stop thinking

he wasn’t great at foreplay. Of the slightly–better–than mediocre sex and then the aphrodisiac that had elevated it to good sex.