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?

I whisper, but there’s nothing.

that erratic plink, plink–plink of something dripping.

voices are

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

mind, coiling around my heart and squeezing with a mania of isolation and

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2/8

142 Usa Chained

scream, the sound

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

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

slump, the fight draining out of me. I can barely stand, the shackles forcing me to hunch

Plink. Plink–plink.

hard, I try to force my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Shapes slowly emerge from the inky blackness. Rough stone walls, a

a

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

up my throat, escaping in a strangled laugh. I’m chained up in some vampire’s dungeon like a

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

my S~ᴇaʀᴄh the Findɴovel.ɴet website on

I want to scream again, to rage

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

Humans are weak and helpless against the supernatural.

I hate this.

around. Hated his grim determination to keep us safe,

was here to tell me I told you so.

this

possibly find me when

142 143 Chalice)

where I am?

let them fall, too

won’t give up on me.

it be enough? Can they really go up against vampires and

I don’t know anything about this world.

I’m so fucking scared

Plink.

Plink–plink.

Plink.

every other thought. It’s maddening, the irregularity

I don’t. I bite my lip hard enough to taste blood and focus

342 LISA Chamed

That Lucas and the Westwood pack will tear this

have to believe that. Because the alternative is too terrifying

around me, his voice in my ear

just a moment, I almost

Plink.

mind

my 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 sex and then