Shadow Touched: A Paranormal Vampire Romance (A Touch of Vampire Book 1) by Becky Moynihan (great reads TXT) 📕

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When the final bell rang Friday afternoon, I was almost giddy with excitement. I hadn’t been to a slumber party in, well, ever.

“You ready?” Isla asked, bumping my hip with hers as we exited our science class.

I actually grinned, wide enough to flash my teeth. It felt good having something to smile about. “Totally. I just need to text my aunt real quick.” Hailey had picked us and Peyton up this morning in her flashy red SUV so we didn’t all have to drive—except I told Aunt Tess that Isla had picked me up.

The lakehouse was twenty-five minutes north of here, past where I lived but even more remote and covered in forest. We already had our overnight bags packed and in the car so we wouldn’t waste daylight.

Hailey and Peyton met us in the hallway, clearly as excited as I was. We practically pranced out of the school, drawing stares from all sides. So this was what normalcy felt like. I’d never been good at making friends quickly, so this experience was foreign to me. Foreign and wonderful. If I wasn’t careful though, this could all be taken away from me in the blink of an eye.

Aunt Tess couldn’t find out about this trip.

We were almost to Hailey’s SUV when I heard, “Where are you ladies off to?”

Turning, I barely suppressed a groan. “What do you want, Reid?” Yeah, I wasn’t Miss Congeniality anymore where he was concerned, so sue me.

But the others were.

“Oh, we’re just having a slumber party at my parent’s—” Hailey began, all googly-eyed and stuff.

I quickly cut her off, fully intending to apologize later. “It’s a girl-only thing. Sorry, Reid, you’re not invited. I’m sure the two guys you’ve been glaring at all week would hang out with you if you asked nicely.”

Speaking of, I could see them on the far side of the parking lot, leaning against a black, expensive-looking Lexus. Too far away to overhear our conversation, they were still watching us intently. Watching me, more likely. Argh, this really was getting old. Flipping my ponytail behind me, I gave them all the cold shoulder and rounded the SUV to the other side.

“Seriously, what’s a girl gotta do to get some anonymity around here?” I grumbled. Before I could climb into the back seat, someone pushed the door shut again. “Wha—?”

Reid’s hazel eyes suddenly filled my vision as he leaned forward, boxing me in with his hands splayed against the car. “Don’t go on this trip with your friends if you value their safety, Kenna,” he hurriedly whispered in my ear. “Your time is up. Come with me now or you’ll be putting them all in danger.”

I tried to shove him back, but he was built like a boulder. My heart skittered nervously, and I scowled at him. “Get away from me, Reid. If you don’t, I’m going to scream.”

He stared at me incredulously, then shook his head. “I’m not the bad guy here. I’m trying to help you. You’re—”

One second, he was there in front of me, and the next, crashing to the asphalt several feet away. A car honked and swerved, narrowly missing him when he rolled into traffic.

I clutched my pounding chest, too shocked to join the people rushing over to help him. Recalling how he’d flown through the air like a ragdoll, I looked for the person who’d shoved him. I most definitely wasn’t capable of doing that.

But the narrow space between the two cars was empty. I was alone.

“Kenna?”

Isla’s worried voice reached me as she hurried around the SUV. I moved toward her and promptly smacked face first into a wall. When I stumbled back, hands grasped my shoulders to steady me, then quickly fell away.

“Crap,” I muttered, cupping my nose. I looked up, startled to see Lochlan.

“I heard a struggle,” he said by way of greeting. “Everything okay?” His gaze kept flicking to the hand covering my nose, then to the rest of me—as if checking for injury. Despite how annoyed I’d been with his silent staring act this week, my body warmed under his perusal.

Stupid body.

“I don’t know,” I managed to say, then dropped my hand. “Does my nose look broken? You have a hard chest.”

A single dimple indented his left cheek, there and gone again in a blink. When he leaned forward to better see my nose, his scent drifted to me, a heady mix of amber, sandalwood, and natural male musk. Instead of pulling away, I had the strangest urge to lean closer and breathe him in. My heart fluttered like a drunken butterfly, further addling my brain.

Seriously, body, get a grip!

His head tipped to the side and a lock of shiny, black hair fell across his eyes. My fingers itched to brush the hair aside, because his eyes were—

“What’s wrong?” he said, a note of unease tainting his usually silken drawl.

Crap, had I been staring at him like a weirdo? “I . . . nothing. Your eyes are just . . .”

He blinked and averted his gaze with a frown. “What?”

“No, they’re—”

“I need to go,” he abruptly said, turning away. “Your nose looks fine.”

And with that, he took off.

All I could do was shake my head at his swift departure. “Your exit strategy sucks,” I muttered after him, even though he was long gone. Whiplash much?

Isla arrived then, her wide blue eyes ping-ponging from me, to where Lochlan had been standing, to Reid who was picking himself off the ground. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, and fumbled to open the car door. “Let’s just get out of here.”

The girls joined me soon after, casting me covert glances from their seats. Crap, time to do damage control.

“Sorry about that. Truly. I’m just having . . . boy troubles,” I finished lamely.

“Ooo, like love triangle problems?” Peyton said, turning in the front passenger seat to waggle her eyebrows at me.

I made a face. “Ugh, no, definitely not. More like stalker problems.”

The mood dramatically shifted to one of concern. Oops.

Isla