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

here anyway. The guilt would destroy any desire I had for human connection. Better to move where no one knew me.

I glanced at the oven clock for the umpteenth time. Noon. I pulled out my phone to check for messages again. Nothing. Still no word on Peyton’s fate.

“You’re quieter than usual,” Aunt Tess said from the dining room where she was finally putting up curtains. A blue bandana was wrapped around her vibrant red curls, a sure sign that she was in “designer” mode. That was her thing. No matter how short our stay, she always insisted on decorating the place. I, on the other hand, barely unpacked the boxes in my bedroom, let alone painted the walls or added homey touches. I never understood the point.

I tucked away my phone and resumed cleaning. “Just tired. Isla and I didn’t sleep at all while I was over there.”

“Too busy talking about boys?”

I paused my cleaning, cloth suspended over the glass.

“I’m just curious, Kenna,” she said with a laugh. “I knew you’d start dating eventually. It would explain why you’ve been so secretive lately.”

Panic flooded me. What was that supposed to mean? I continued cleaning, hiding my inner turmoil. I knew she was fishing for information, but I wasn’t going to give her anything this time. “Nope, still not dating anyone. What about you? You haven’t told me about the mysterious friend you visited all night long last week.”

Now it was her turn to pause halfway up the stepping stool. I could feel her eyes on me, but I held my breath and kept cleaning, hoping she’d finally open up to me. She sighed and said, “It was just a meeting, nothing more. A discussion about how best to keep you safe.”

“Safe from what?” I blurted, pinning her with an exasperated look. Usually, I avoided this ongoing and fruitless conversation like the plague, but after last night, I was feeling a bit unhinged. “What do you know that you aren’t telling me? I’m not a little kid anymore. I can handle whatever it is.”

She stepped off the stool to stand in front of me, her brown eyes softening in an almost maternal way—not that I believed the look was genuine. “The world is a dangerous place, especially for girls like you. As your legal guardian, my only thought is to protect you. Certain people, certain things, want nothing more than to find and destroy you. I won’t let that happen, and that’s all you need to know.”

When my lips pursed, she grasped my arms and squeezed them. “I know you hate moving and that I don’t tell you everything, but this is what your parents would have wanted, Kenna Joy. They’d want you safe, no matter what, and that’s what I’m making sure of.”

Great. She had pulled out the parent card and made me feel guilty again.

With a final squeeze, she released me and resumed her task. In the past, I might have been appeased by her cryptic reply, but not anymore. Why was the world a dangerous place for girls like me? And what was out to find and destroy me?

Only two months and four days left of this paranoia.

An hour later, just as I was taking a water break, my phone buzzed. Seeing Isla’s name, my stomach twisted into knots and I quickly answered. “Any news?” I rushed to say, slipping outside through the slider door.

“She’s completely fine, Kenna!” came Isla’s excited voice, crackling a bit due to poor reception. “Not a single scratch on her.”

My abject relief was quickly replaced with bewilderment. I closed the slider behind me with a little too much force. “What? But . . . but the animal. I saw—”

“She said it grabbed her shoe instead of her leg, which was why there were no bite marks on her. In all the chaos, she dropped her phone and couldn’t really see the animal though. They’re ruling it a black bear attack. Maybe a mama bear protecting her cubs.”

I sank onto the wooden deck stairs. “So where was she all night?”

“When she ran from the bear, she got lost in the woods. But get this. Reid found her walking along the side of the road about an hour ago. That gray truck we saw yesterday was his. He just happened to be out hiking and camping in the woods nearby.”

I stared at the treeline without seeing, my poor mind desperately trying to keep up.

Before I could utter a reply, Isla spoke again. “Anyway, I’m heading home to get some sleep. Peyton’s pretty shaken up so probably won’t answer any calls this weekend. Plus, she needs a new phone.”

“Thank you for calling me, Isla. I’m so glad Peyton’s all right.”

“Me too, girl, me too.”

I ended the call shortly after, assuring her that I was fine too. But I wasn’t. Guilt was still chipping away at me. Sure, Peyton wasn’t dead, but she’d spent the whole night alone in the woods. She must have been terrified.

And a black bear? I wasn’t an animal expert, but the thing that dragged Peyton off the trail had been huge. Much bigger than a black bear.

Then there was Reid’s mysterious appearance. I knew he’d been in the area yesterday, so he very well could have been out camping, but it felt like more than a coincidence that he’d found Peyton when he did.

I dropped my face into my hands and groaned. Maybe the best thing I could do was put this whole disastrous weekend behind me.

* * *

By Monday morning, my tired brain had begrudgingly accepted defeat. I couldn’t explain everything that had happened, but at least Peyton was alive and well. The sheriff also hadn’t called Aunt Tess, so I was cautiously optimistic about my chances of staying here.

I exited my Honda, still a bit sore as I crossed the school parking lot. Halfway to the building, I stopped dead in my tracks, nearly toppling over. There, not twenty feet away, was a familiar gray truck. And standing