Chapter 188: Her Enemy's Promise, Part 8, Taken

CHARLOTTE

My head bangs and with every movement, every vibration, every swerve, the throbbing pulses through from some epicentre, I think where I banged my skull as I fell. My knees too, feel stiff and heated. As I try to shift into a more comfortable position, pain stabs up from one ankle.

I can barely move. I'm lying on my side, one cheek flat down.

My baby...

Something soft, maybe a towel, sandy and hairy, presses against my face, smelling of seaweed and wet dog. I keep having to blink as with every jog of the car, grains of sand dislodge against my eyes.

From somewhere, I hear classic small-dog yapping. Excitement?

Or worry?

Scruffy...

My mouth is taped, very securely, the adhesive pulling and tearing at the softer skin of my lips as I try to work my jaw. My feet are bound; my wrists too, behind my back and too tightly. My hands went numb long ago and my fingers feel bloated.

My Master ties, binds or restrains me regularly, but it never feels like this.