Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted novel Chapter 142

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?

“Ava?” I whisper, but there’s nothing.

Only that erratic plink, plink–plink of something dripping.

Even the voices are gone.

Plink. 

Plink–plink. 

Plink. 

That incessant sound slithers into my mind, coiling around my heart and squeezing with a mania of isolation and fear. I try to move again, the chains rattling like mocking laughter. Frustration rips through

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142 Usa Chained

my chest and I scream, the sound raw and desperate.

“Let me go!” I yank at the manacles, 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!” a

I pull and twist, my skin 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.

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

Plink. Plink–plink. 

Blinking hard, I try 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 head. The barest hint of moonlight filters through, only to be swallowed by clouds a moment later.

I’m in a cell.

A fucking cell..

142 Lika Chained

Hysteria bubbles up my throat, escaping 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 knows where I

1. am.

Plink–plink–plink.

The dripping picks up pace, as if mocking my

realization. I want to scream again, to rage against the unfairness of it all.

I’m just a human. There’s no magic or super strength hidden deep inside. I can’t shift into a wolf or melt into

shadows. Humans are weak and helpless against the supernatural.

I hate this.

My 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 freedom.

Now, I wish desperately that he was here to tell me I told you so. 

I’d take his smugness over this any day of the week.

Plink. 

Plink–plink. 

Plink. 

Plink.