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

hard enough to leave a bruise. “Once,” I mumbled, wholly uncomfortable with the direction this conversation had taken. “He grabbed my bare waist about a week ago to keep me from falling. Why?”

When Lochlan didn’t say anything, I peeked at his face.

What I saw made me suck in a surprised gasp.

He quickly turned away.

“Your eyes.” I moved to see them again, but he continued to dodge me. I frowned. After years of being taught to respect privacy, I almost backed off and dropped the subject. But an unexpected determination stole through me as a need to know what he was hiding overroad everything else.

I reached out to touch his face, saying, “Lochlan, I just want to—”

Faster than I could track, he caught my hand.

“Don’t.” The word was most definitely a command, albeit spoken quietly. Goosebumps erupted over my arms and legs, my body’s response to the word.

“Why?” I pushed, unable to let this go yet.

“Because there’s nothing to see.”

I stared at my fingers clasped firmly in his gloved hand, then shocked myself by saying, “They’re beautiful.”

He stiffened and dropped my hand, still refusing to look at me.

And because his penetrating stare wasn’t on me, I had the courage to continue. “It’s what I wanted to tell you earlier today. I thought your eyes were just black, but up close, they’re the deepest of reds.”

His shoulder moved in a dismissive shrug. “Just a trick of the light.”

I frowned again. Seriously, why was he being so weird about his eyes? I opened my mouth to ask him, but before I could, a faint howl shivered through the trees.

Lochlan’s spine snapped straight. “Get back to your friend’s house,” he abruptly said, flipping his hood up to further hide his features. “These woods aren’t safe at night.”

“Lochlan,” I called after him when he took off, his form quickly engulfed by the encroaching darkness. But he didn’t return, leaving me to face the long trek back alone.

“Yeah, just run off and leave the girl alone to get lost in the woods,” I grumbled under my breath, then spent the next several minutes complaining to an absent Lochlan while I struggled to follow the trail. I really needed my phone’s flashlight right about now. “Maybe if you’re lucky, I’ll get eaten by a bear. That’ll stop me from giving you awkward compliments about your unusual eyes. Oh, but don’t worry. I’ll make sure not to get eaten on your property. Wouldn’t want you to feel responsible for my untimely death.”

Snap.

Fates, not again!

Before I could freak out and take off running, I heard a familiar female voice call my name.

“Peyton?”

“Kenna!” she said again, flashing a bright light in my face as she hurried over. “We were so worried. Why are you out here? Are you okay? There’s a truck out front and we thought someone had kidnapped you, or maybe killed you and dumped your body in the woods.”

I snickered and shielded my eyes from her phone’s flashlight. “I was thinking the same thing earlier.”

“This isn’t funny, Kenna.” Peyton lowered the light with a huff. “We were seriously worried.”

I curbed my laughter, stepping closer to better see her face. “Sorry I worried you all. Where are the others?”

“We split up. It was Hailey’s idea. She said there was too much ground to cover as a group, but . . .” Peyton pressed her trembling lips together, her brown eyes unmistakably filled with terror.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen while I was gone?” Fates, did Reid go after one of them?

“No, I’m just . . . I’m . . . I’m afraid of the dark, okay?” She winced at her own raised voice and peered nervously into the darkness.

Ah crap, I felt really bad now. “Well, you’re not alone anymore. It’ll be all right.” I awkwardly wrapped an arm around her, not used to hugs, let alone giving them. She buried her face in my neck and clung tightly for a moment, then pushed away, sniffling.

“Don’t tell Hailey, okay? She thinks I got over my fear years ago.”

I mimicked locking my lips shut with a key and she huffed a weak laugh. “It’s okay to be afraid, you know,” I said as she texted Isla and Hailey that I’d been found. “We’re all afraid of something.”

She looked up from her phone. “Oh? What are you afraid of?”

Being lied to. Moving again. Leaving my new friends behind. Never experiencing a deep, meaningful connection with someone.

But I wasn’t ready to share those fears with her, or with anyone else. So I simply shrugged, replying, “Axe murderers. Getting stuffed into a basement freezer.”

Her laugh was genuine this time, and I smiled at the sound. “Let’s go,” she said, tucking flyaway strands of black hair behind her ears. “There’s a hot tub calling my name.”

With the help of Peyton’s flashlight, the trail was much easier to navigate. We spent the time talking about her four younger siblings, perpetually exhausted parents, and pet rabbit named Twitchy.

“Twitchy?”

“You know, because rabbit’s noses always twitch? Hey, I named him when I was eleven.”

My laughter abruptly ended when I heard another snap.

“Must be the girls,” Peyton said, her earlier fear gone. “Over here!”

“No, wait,” I hissed, grabbing her arm. She looked at me questioningly, but I didn’t explain, too focused on listening to the quiet surrounding us. Something wasn’t right. It was too quiet. Not even the crickets were chirping.

A low growl suddenly rumbled through the darkness, making every hair on my body stand on end.

My grip on Peyton tightened. “Run,” I breathed.

“W-what?” she stammered, her voice shaking with fear again.

More twigs snapped, closer this time.

“Run!” I shouted, and took off at a sprint, yanking her after me.

She stumbled, but quickly regained her balance, following my lead. I let her go and flew down the trail, relying on my instincts more than the flashlight’s chaotic beam.

Over our pounding feet and labored breaths, I could hear something chasing us, something far swifter than we were.

Fear-tainted adrenaline shot through my limbs, giving me an extra burst of speed. “Faster, Peyton!”