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

I didn’t mean to put that look on her face, but I needed more out of life than she was willing to give.

So, despite the nagging guilt, I continued down the road. When I reached the final dark stretch between Hailey’s lakehouse and theirs, I kept my eyes peeled for deer. They loved streaking across unlit roads like this. Sure enough, something flashed in my peripheral and I flicked a glance out the passenger window. Nothing but inky black woods greeted me. I focused on the road again.

Only to find someone standing in the middle of it.

My heart practically leapt out of my chest. Slamming on the brakes, I made a split-second decision and wrenched the wheel to the right. The car veered off the road and plunged into a shallow ditch, coming to a jarring halt.

Gasping for breath, I fumbled to unbuckle my seatbelt, certain I had hit someone this time. Seriously though, why did this keep happening to me? I needed to call the police. I picked up my phone to dial. No, wait. I should see if the person was all right first.

The moment I stumbled from the car, my ankle boots sank into the damp earth. I fell onto my side, but managed to clamber up the slight embankment on my hands and knees. When my feet hit the road, I frantically searched for the person.

“Not again,” I whimpered as my search came up empty. Maybe they’d rolled into the ditch on the opposite side. I crossed the road, cursing the darkness. Only a watery half moon lit the way. I needed a flashlight. Oh, right. My phone was still clutched in my hand.

“Hello?” I yelled into the ditch, attempting to press the flashlight icon with my trembling fingers. No response. The only sound was my thundering heartbeats.

Before I could shine a light on the area, something whooshed past me from behind, stirring my hair. I whirled with a yelp, but nothing was there. It happened again and I jerked around to face the dark woods. And that’s when I saw them.

Two glowing red eyes.

Freaking fates. What game was Lochlan playing at? I was going to kill him for this. “That wasn’t funny!” I shouted, still shaking from adrenaline. “One of us could have been seriously hurt.”

When he didn’t respond, when he didn’t move from his spot in the woods, doubt nearly suffocated me. Lochlan had never endangered my life before. In fact, he’d come to my rescue whenever I was in need.

I still wondered if he planned to kill me someday, but I doubted it would be like this. Because this. This didn’t feel right. This didn’t feel like Lochlan at all. And I had a sinking suspicion that the eyes in the woods weren’t his.

Before I could completely freak out, I managed to press the call button on my phone.

Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he’d pick up and I’d hear his voice in the woods. Maybe this was simply one big misunderstanding.

After two torturously long rings, he finally answered. “McKenna?”

Tendrils of fear wrapped around my throat.

When I failed to respond, his voice sharpened. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s,” I whispered, “not you.”

The red eyes blinked out and I choked back a scream.

“McKenna?” Lochlan’s voice shot through the phone like a thunderclap. “Where are you?”

My numb legs shuffled backward toward the car. The car that was laying in a ditch. The car that was currently useless. “Down—” I tried to swallow and failed. “—the road.”

“Don’t hang up,” he barked, sounding exactly like Shadow Man. “I’m coming.”

“H-hurry,” I breathed, listening for approaching footsteps. I’d never felt more exposed or helpless in my life.

Something tapped my shoulder and I whirled with a frightened squeak. At the sight that greeted me—a man with midnight skin, gleaming red eyes, and for-real freaking fangs—my limbs deadened. His black lips stretched into a wide, toothy grin. “Looking for me?”

I’d never felt such cold, terrifying fear. So cold that I couldn’t move. Couldn’t scream. Couldn’t do a single thing but gape in silent horror.

“McKenna?” Clear alarm shivered through Lochlan’s voice, but I was too petrified to respond. “McKenna, answer me!”

The man tipped his head in mild amusement. “Let’s put the bloke out of his misery, eh?” In a flash, my phone went soaring out of my hand. It clattered onto the road several yards away. “Now,” he said, leaning toward me, “I want you to run.”

When I remained frozen, he frowned, then bent his head to breathe me in. A shiver of revulsion racked my body, but I otherwise stood perfectly still. Every instinct I possessed demanded I not expose my back to this man, and I was going to listen.

Even when he moaned and whispered, “Mint and freshly fallen snow,” I refused to move. Even when he straightened to peer down at me with carnal lust in his eyes. “The rumors are true then. He’s found another. What did he do, feed you his blood? Clever, but he shouldn’t have left you alone. For decades, my greatest desire has been to taste the blood foretold to be more intoxicating than any other, and now, I finally have my chance. Nothing is going to stop me, not even you.”

My brain was slow to register his words, but when he slid his tongue along a fang, I couldn’t stay still a second longer. I spun and bolted. My car was a sitting deathtrap and the woods were too treacherous without a flashlight. I had no choice but to remain on the road. My boots pounded the asphalt, my frenzied breaths loud in my ears. So loud that I almost missed the whoosh.

A hand shoved me from behind and I went flying. With a pained grunt, I hit the ground and rolled several times, scraping my cheek. Before I could come to a stop, I was up in the air again, held aloft by my jacket. The