Chained (Chained Trilogy) Read Online Free PDF Page A

man, uncoiling a whip from his side, his wicked smile showcasing a row of yellowed and rotting teeth, “you most certainly don’t. Let that rock fly and I’ll tear your back open before I make you lay on it and spread those pretty legs.”
    “Please,” the woman whispered, clutching the rock tightly. Her knuckles were scraped and bleeding from her fall, and her dark hair was soaked, hanging in her eyes. “Leave me be, I want no trouble. Just let me go.”
    “Aye, we’ll let you go,” said the first man, taking a step toward the woman, his hand never leaving the hilt of his shortsword. “Soon as we’re done, and only if you’re a good girl. Are you a good girl, lovey?”
    The woman grunted, hurling the stone before turning to flee. The stone connected with the first man’s head, causing him to bellow his rage and begin pursuing her once more. Deciding that she’d seen more than enough, Gwen quickly stood and notched the arrow to her bow once more. Maintaining her hidden position between the trees, she let the first arrow fly. It whispered through the air swiftly before impaling the first man’s wrist and knocking the shortsword from his hand. He screamed in agony as the arrow embedded itself into a nearby tree, imprisoning him there by his arm. As he struggled to remove the deeply embedded arrow, the other three ignored their prey to search for the source of the arrow.
    “Who goes there?” bellowed the largest man, drawing a broadsword from its scabbard at his back and turning slowly in a circle, searching the tangle of trees and brush around him. “Show your face, you coward!”
    “Oh, call me a coward, will you?” Gwen shouted from her hiding place, slowly slinking from behind the tree and slipping further into the wood. “Yet you hunt down innocent women for sport because no other will have you!”
    Eyes narrowed, the large man followed the sound of her voice, crouching as he stalked forward, searching for her through the veil of lea ves surrounding him. “’Tis a woman,” he said to his companions, his smile widening. “I’ll find you, you interfering bitch!” he called out to her. “And when I do, you’ll take the place of the cunt you chased off!”
    Gwen’s jaw clenched as she gripped the low hanging branch of a nearby tree, swinging herself up onto it before quickly scrambling to the next one and the next. Once she was high enough, she simply sat and waited, straddling the branch with her longbow in hand. As the three men came into view, Gwen slid another arrow from the quiver at her side and notched it to her bow, taking aim once more. She swiftly let loose with a volley of arrows, notching and firing four of them so rapidly the men on the ground hardly had time to register that they were being attacked before it was too late. Gwen paused, a fifth arrow notched as she surveyed the damage. The man with the whip lay dead, two arrows through his chest, and the fourth—who’d remained silent as his friends terrorized that poor woman—sat propped against a tree with the shaft of an arrow embedded in his throat.
    Only the large man remained, turning swiftly in circles and searching the trees. “Show yourself!” he bellowed, his voice laced with terror. “Come down here and face me!”
    Deciding to oblige him, Gwen climbed nimbly down from her perch and dropped to her feet on the ground just behind the large brute. At the s ound, he swiveled, prepared to strike with his broadsword, but was brought up short by the tip of an arrow pressed to his throat. Gwen held the bow before her, her fingers drawn back on the string. Though he was several inches taller than she, the angle at which she held the arrow ensured that he’d be killed the instant she released. He dropped his sword and swallowed, the bobbing of the bulge in his throat causing the arrow to prick his skin. Blood welled and trickled down into the collar of his doublet.
    “Here I am,” Gwen said, glaring up at him.
    “There you