Read Chained (Brides of the Kindred) for Free Online Page A

“Sorry…not much…help.”
    “It’s okay,” Maggie told him. With a final
shove she rolled him up on one side, exposing his bound wrists. A very tight,
muscular ass was also exposed and she realized, to her embarrassment, that he
wasn’t wearing any kind of underwear under the ragged loincloth. Well, what
did you expect—silk boxers? she asked herself, quickly pulling the cloth
back in place. It’s not like Lady Pope’nose’s dungeon is a five star resort
hotel! He’s lucky to have anything on at all.
    Trying to put the glimpse of his naked
flesh out of her mind, she got back to the problem at hand. His wrists were
chained together and connected to the wall behind him by an even longer,
thicker metal chain. But there didn’t seem to be any kind of keyhole or locking
mechanism in either part of his restraints. Maggie looked at the chains and
then at the strange, knobby key in her hand. How the hell was this supposed to
work?
    Experimentally, she waved the gray metal
knob key over his bound wrists. To her relief, the chains parted immediately
and simply fell off with a clank and a clatter.
    Perfect—now to deal with the collar.
    Maggie was a little afraid to touch it
after the huge jolt she’d gotten earlier but she set her teeth and forced
herself to reach for the latticed metalwork with its blinking yellow lights. To
her relief, she felt nothing but a mild tingling in her fingertips as she
touched it. It had a complicated series of rods and levers holding it closed
but Maggie loved puzzles. After a few moments of fiddling with various
components, she found the pattern and was able to pull the horrible thing off
him. It fell with a clatter and a splash into the little brook and the blinking
lights went out.
    Good riddance! Maggie turned back to the prisoner and noticed that he
had yet another collar on. This one was a plain, flat black leather one
with no lights but it still made her fingertips tingle when she touched it.
Hmm…well, that one would have to go too.
    “Wouldn’t do that,” the prisoner growled
softly as she set to work, trying to find the opening to it. “That’s
my…inhibitor. Dangerous…without it.”
    Maggie paused but only for an instant. “Is
it giving you pain?” she demanded, still tugging on the collar.
    Slowly, he nodded. “Always.”
    “Then it has to come off.” She reached
into the pocket in the folds of the ridiculous green dress and produced a
small, sharp pair of nail scissors. She hadn’t had any idea what she would do
with them when she stuck them into the hidden pocket—maybe she’d imagined using
them as a lock-pick of some kind. But now she was glad she had them.
    “Hold still,” she warned the prisoner. “I
don’t want to slip and cut you.”
    “All right.”
    “Uh…” She hesitated again, the scissors
poised to cut.
    “What?” He looked up at her, one eyebrow
arched in question.
    “It’s just…I mean…you’re not going to kill
me once I set you completely free, are you?” Maggie blurted. “I mean…I really
don’t want to die. I’m only twenty-five and—”
    He surprised her by laughing hoarsely.
“Don’t you think… you should have thought of that… before you started stripping
off my chains?” He spoke haltingly, as though his tongue was too thick in his
mouth.
    “I…I guess so,” Maggie whispered.
    “You must think I’m a real bastard. No, blondie,
I won’t…won’t hurt you. I’m…in your debt…” He looked up at her, his eyes
meeting hers. “And you…you’re in my dreams.”
    “I dreamed of you, too,” Maggie whispered
as she snipped the black leather collar from his neck. Was it her imagination
or did those strange, pale blue eyes turn briefly red? “For the past few weeks.
I…I don’t know why.”
    “Neither…do I.” He coughed weakly.
“Water…please.”
    “Oh, of course!” Remembering how thirsty
he had always been in her dreams, Maggie cupped one hand and scooped up some
cold, refreshing water from