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

the voices are gone.

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

of isolation and

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142 Usa Chained

and I scream, the sound raw

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!”

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

can barely stand, the shackles forcing me to hunch over. My muscles

Plink. Plink–plink.

to force my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Shapes slowly emerge from the inky blackness. Rough stone walls, a small window high above my

in a

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

in some vampire’s dungeon like a gothic romance heroine. Except there’s

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

up pace, as if mocking my S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to

again, to rage against the unfairness of it

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

are weak and helpless

I hate this.

always around. Hated his grim determination to keep us safe, at the expense of our freedom.

desperately that he was here to tell me I

this any day of the

How can he possibly find

142 143 Chalice)

where I am?

hot and bitter. I let them fall, too tired to fight

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

enough? Can they really go up against vampires

know anything

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

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

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

to taste blood and focus on the pain. It grounds me,

342 LISA Chamed

Lucas and

believe that. Because the alternative is

around me, his voice in my ear

moment, just a moment, I

Plink.

Bren’s face fills my mind and I

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