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

him about the stalking thing. And the breaking and entering thing. And maybe the attacking August thing. Crap. If I mentioned any of those things, he’d know I was aware of his alter ego. I had no idea how he’d react to that.

“Two o’clock,” Isla muttered under her breath as we entered the building.

Speak of the devil, there he was, leaning against a locker across the hall from mine, his cohort Kade beside him. Not surprisingly, both their gazes latched onto me the second I walked through the door. I waited to feel fear—the sane, rational emotion to have under the circumstances. Instead, a dangerous warmth surged through me. Dangerous, because my body was obviously suicidal.

When Lochlan’s eyes skated down my front, landing on my bare legs, I blushed fiercely. Isla had let me borrow an outfit for the day, and since her pants didn’t fit me, I’d selected a jean skirt. A short one, made all the shorter by my taller frame. Paired with ankle boots, my long legs were on full display, and Lochlan was eating them up.

“Good goddess,” Isla breathed beside me. “He’s totally screwing you with his eyes. I think I just got pregnant.”

If I’d been drinking my coffee right then, I would have spewed it across the hall. “I can’t believe you just said that,” I whispered, mortified. She merely snickered. Okay, change of plans. I would not be confronting him right now.

When Isla headed for her locker, I veered toward mine, doing my best to ignore the eyes on my back. I opened my locker and a note fell out, fluttering to the floor. Before I could grab it, someone else did. I looked up to find Kade leaning against the locker next to mine, wearing a mischievous grin.

“Oh, little Kenna, the games you play,” he crooned, waving the note in the air.

Nervous energy shot through me. Was he referring to my knowledge of Lochlan being Shadow Man? Or maybe I was simply reading into things like a paranoid freak. What if he didn’t even know himself? Seemed unlikely since they lived together, but either way, I needed to tread carefully.

I tipped my chin up, adopting a bored expression—or tried to anyway. “I’m not playing any games. And that’s mine, so if you please.”

He tsked, but handed the note over. “Sure thing. I already read it anyway.” At my glower, he feigned hurt. “Don’t be mad at me. I’m just looking out for you.”

“Well, don’t,” I said coolly to cover up my nerves, tucking the note inside my English Lit textbook. “In fact, I’d like it if you and your friend backed off.”

At that, he instantly sobered, straightening to his full height. “Why, what changed?”

Uh oh. Maybe I should go back to being the girl who kept her mouth shut. I huffed as if annoyed with this conversation and slammed my locker closed, all while debating what to say. “What do you mean?”

“Yesterday evening, you came to see us. You wanted answers. So what’s changed since then?”

I chuckled flippantly, but it sounded strained even to my ears. “Why don’t you ask Lochlan? After all, he tells you everything.”

Flicking my hair behind me, I stormed down the hallway. When he didn’t follow, my knees weakened with relief. I actually liked Kade despite his teasing, but he was practically tied to Lochlan’s hip. It was better that I keep my distance from him too.

Whatever Lochlan was up to, I was almost certain that Kade was in on it.

I sat in the front row of English class, hoping to focus on school rather than the dozens of things plaguing my mind. Halfway through the period though, I remembered the note from my locker. Slipping it out, I peeked inside while Miss Finch was busy reading aloud from our assigned book.

Letters in blocky capitals read:

Stay away from Lochlan and Kade. They’re dangerous.

Well, crap. There was nothing like confirmation to get the heart pumping. But that wasn’t all, I suddenly realized. Kade had read the note earlier.

Fates, I was so screwed.

* * *

Someone was watching me.

Not a casual bypasser look, but a deep penetrating stare. I walked faster, my low heels clipping smartly against the tiles. I rounded the corner and spotted my destination. I could make it. I could—

“Did you get my note?”

The low male voice in my ear made me jump, and I dropped a book. Cursing under my breath, I stopped to pick it up, but someone was already holding it out to me. Startled to discover the person was Reid, I hesitated, then accepted the book with a muttered, “Thanks.”

“Keep walking,” he whispered in reply, jerking his chin toward our next class.

I did, since I was pretty sure by now that I’d misjudged him. I still didn’t trust him, but I didn’t think he was trying to silence me for witnessing August’s attack anymore. “I thought you weren’t supposed to be near me,” I whispered back, darting a quick look at his profile.

“I’m not. But I overheard your conversation at lunch yesterday.”

Uh . . . That was impossible. He’d been sitting on the opposite side of the cafeteria. What if . . . No, I didn’t want to think it. But I did anyway, wondering if Isla had broken my confidence and told Hailey and Peyton everything. I mean, they had known each other since grade school, but I’d hoped she was different. I’d hoped she would be that one person I could trust.

“I was wrong about you,” Reid continued, interrupting my worried thoughts. “The first time I met you, I thought I’d accidentally—Well, never mind that part. It doesn’t matter now. What matters is that, despite our differences, I don’t want to see you get hurt.

“There’s this story my dad told me when I was a kid. I thought it was just a fairy tale, but when Lochlan and Kade explained yesterday why they were here, I remembered that it was about these three dark princes who were cursed. And the only