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

Kade snickered, but bobbed his head in consent. I glared at him, not trusting his sincerity. He crossed his heart and raised a hand. “Scout’s honor.”

“It’s three fingers, not two,” I said after a moment, letting go of the tray. Lochlan relaxed and settled back in his chair, stretching a long leg out beneath the table.

“I’m so sorry, girl!” gushed a female voice, bustling around me in a swirl of pink skirts and vanilla body spray. Did Kade just sniff her as she passed? “I was trying to talk some sense into Peyton before you arrived, but you snuck on by me.” Isla set her tray down to my right and bent to give me an awkward, one-armed hug. “I really am sorry. Hailey is too. I know that looked bad.”

I gripped her shoulder to return the hug, clinging like a lost kitten. My eyes started to burn and I squeezed them shut. Yeah, I’m a bit obsessed with her, I admitted to myself. Which worried me. If I was forced to leave Rosewood before my eighteenth birthday, losing her would crush me. Still, I was willing to take that risk. Now that I’d tasted true companionship, I didn’t realize how starved for it I’d been.

“It’s okay,” I murmured, relieved beyond measure that she was still my friend. When she pulled away to sit down, I quickly blinked the moisture from my eyes, then realized with a start that we had an audience.

Or more like I did.

I cast the barest of glances at Lochlan, confirming what I already knew. He was closely watching me—which was normal for him but felt different this time. He’d observed a vulnerable moment. He’d seen a chink in my armor, and I felt naked under his piercing gaze.

Flustered, I cleared my throat and shifted my attention to Kade. Fates! His wicked smirk was almost worse. My last hope was Isla, who was flicking glances between me and the guys. I straightened in my seat, saying, “Um, Isla, this is Lochlan D’angelo and Kade . . .”

“Carmichael,” Kade supplied, extending his hand across the table. “Nice to meet you, Isla Andrews.”

She arched an eyebrow before shaking his hand. “You know my last name.”

“I make it my business to know anyone associated with Kenna,” he said with a wink.

Her eyes narrowed. “As do I.”

Uh, okay. I peeked at Lochlan under my lashes, who was studying the two in contemplative silence. As if he’d felt my gaze, his eyes snapped to mine. The blackened depths seemed to pull me in, seeking to unravel my every thought. My breath hitched, but I refused to look away. I swallowed and his eyes tracked the movement.

“So when did this happen?” Isla said, jolting me out of my trance.

Suddenly parched, I reached for my bottled water. “When did what happen?”

She gestured around the table. “This threesome thing.”

I choked on my water.

Kade guffawed.

My face burst into flames.

“This isn’t—” I wheezed, only to be interrupted by Kade.

“We can make it a foursome, if you want.”

“Kade,” Lochlan chastised. All eyes turned his way, but his attention remained fixed on me.

Kade clamped his jaw shut and threw me an apologetic look. After a beat though, he muttered, “Isla started it.”

She harrumphed, clearly not finding him all that amusing. “I just don’t like being left out of the loop, and there is definitely something going on here. I need details, lots of them. What do you guys want with Kenna? And don’t blow me off. I will find out, one way or another. My dad is the sheriff, after all.”

I gaped at her. Wow. Go, Isla.

Kade whistled softly, openly staring at her with new appreciation, then jerked his thumb at Lochlan. “Don’t look at me. Ask him.”

Isla flicked pink-tipped blonde hair out of her eyes and blinked expectantly at Lochlan. I propped my elbows on the table and grabbed a fry from my plate.

This should be interesting.

9

“We’re here on business,” Lochlan finally said, taking his eyes off me to answer Isla’s question.

“What kind of business?”

“Family business,” he replied cryptically.

“Was it a coincidence that you arrived shortly after I did?” I broke in, asking the question that had been plaguing me for weeks.

His gaze fell to his untouched food. Clearly he didn’t want to divulge why he was here, but now that my question was out, I wouldn’t back down. I needed to know. Too many weird, unexplainable things had been happening lately, and my gut told me that Lochlan had answers to some of them.

Time crawled by as I waited for his reply. Nerves got the better of me and I grabbed my bracelet, twisting it round and round my wrist.

Eventually, he peered up at me through his dark lashes and said one word, a word that shot ice through my veins. “No.”

Fates. My suspicions were right. They had followed me here.

I let go of my bracelet to pinch my thigh. Now three people were following me, if I included Shadow Man. What the crap was going on? Was I in danger from them? Had my aunt been right all this time, or was I becoming as paranoid as her? I pinched my thigh harder.

“Whoa, easy there,” Kade murmured soothingly, raising his hands. “You don’t need to be afraid of us.” I jerked my gaze to him, startled at his intuitiveness. He gave me a reassuring smile, but I was too busy internally freaking out to listen.

He shot a look at Lochlan, whose dark eyebrows had slammed down over his eyes. So not helping, guys! My fingers trembled from pinching so hard.

When I winced from the pain, Lochlan said, “We’re here to find a missing person.” He leaned forward, as if readying to give chase in case I bolted. “That’s what we do—follow cases. It’s a family business, as I said.”

I stared at him, not understanding. Missing person?

Isla came to my rescue. “And you think Kenna is that missing person?”

His silence